Racing Rumors

[boom boom]

Mika Salo finally at PK racing?

I just heard the race announcers on Cart.com radio say that Mika may replace Max.... Anyone else here anything about this?
I would rather see him get a second car along side max

[Jay]

yeah...last week Mika said something like.. "if not Montreal, maybe Denver or Miami" (paraphrasing). I'm pretty sure it would be replacing Max though. They want to run two cars next year, and I'd assume Mika in one of them.

That said, we've heard things like this before and they've come to nothing...so... wait and see. I don't think it'll have the front runners shaking in their boots either way.

[macdaddy]

Two new rumours from ChampWeb...

We spoke to a PK Racing official today, and they have all of the equipment for a second car, but do not have the personnel. They are hoping to have a second car ready by Miami for Mika Salo.

Speculation in Montreal has Korean Tire Manufacturer, Hankook Tires, entering some form of the Champ Car series by 2005. They may start off in the Toyota Atlantics or Barber Dodge.

[3state]

Sorry, I should have posted my comments re Mika in this thread. Anyway, I hope it is a second car and not a replacement of poor old Max, for Max's sake as well as that of the series...

[3state]

Given that Carl Russo is involved in the potential buyout of CART, does that mean we could see his team, RuSport move into CART as a fully-fledged CART team next year? that'd be great...

[macdaddy]

Roger cleverly used the word "retiring" in his press release.
But in reality, Gil deFerran is starting a 3-car CART team next year, and he's bringing Marlboro and Mobil-1 with him. He's already signed Jacques Villeneuve.

[¡As-de-mim!]

Upon hearing that news, Sarah Fisher ended her negotiations with McLaren and will be the third driver.

[macdaddy]

Remember when deFerran's agent was in the RA paddock?
Probably nothing more than wishful thinking on my part.

[Jay]

lol...I can't believe Champweb posted that as a rumour. I think less of them for it...

[¡As-de-mim!]

Gil has suffered two concussions in that other wonderful series and I'm not sure he wants to risk further injury, although Champ cars have been relatively incident free this season.

[Jay]

I think he's done racing....but then again, I'm just guessing. Can't see why he'd continue.

[Liz]

I foresee him in the engineering end of car racing from now on if he continues; he has an engineering background and Derrick Walker always spoke very highly of his knowledge about that end of the business.

As long as he doesn't go to work for AGR, it would be much safer for him to be working in the garage.

[Bizzo5000]

That was the first thing I thought of when I heard of his "retirement". I was thinking, "He's comming back". Who knows. Maybe he just go sick of dying every week.

[Muzza]

(May I suggest that we close this thread? It has become too long, and with too many subjects listed. This makes it difficult to be followed up. Also "our" CART forum would be much richer if each of these very interesting subjects would have a thread of its own)

About Gil's engineering background, I believe he does not have such a degree, but does possess a much deeper - and broader - knowledge on this suject than the average driver.

His dad, Luc De Ferran, is the former president of Ford Brasil Truck, Commercial and Heavy Vehicles Division, and he (now retired) enjoyed a long and successful carrer with the Blue Oval. Gil was actually born in Paris, when his dad was serving a stint with Ford France.

Gil is very close to his dad. Luc was "that old fellow" that was on the front seat of the (ugly) Chevy pick-up that Gil and family rode on the celebration lap in this year's Indy 500 victory. Gil gre up surrounded by Ford engineers, and talking to them.

Let me also add that Luc De Ferran's influence was instrumental for the success of Formula Ford in Brazil (now sadly gone...)

Cheers,

Muzza

[macdaddy]

Muzza's got a point, but the way this season has been going (Silly Season never ends), a "Rumour" thread is always handy!

[Jordi]

Look, why delete such posts? I prefer to allow rush1's words to be seen. He may have to eat them...

Jordi

[macdaddy]

[macdaddy]

Here's a post in this thread from last June, a recap of some of the rumours we've endured:

As early as September 2002 rumours surfaced regarding Bernie Ecclestone and CART. But the rumours certainly didn't stop there! We had Ganassi running Schekter in CART with Coors. Shortly followed by talk of a 2-car Emmo team. And then of Mario running a team for Inineon, maybe out of the Newman/Haas stables. All the while, speculation runs rampant as PT is still under gag order. Meanwhile, there's gonna be an F3000 team switching to CART to join Panther Racing, Team St.George, and a new team from Barry Green. In Panther's case, they were swapping drivers with Penske, bringing deFerran back to CART with Pennzoil. Teams from Coyne and Johannson come up in conversation, to join the likes of Morello, Gugelmin, Michael Shank, Dick Simon and Arciero. And a satellite Forsythe Racing team, giving Gerald four cars. Perhaps Villeneuve? Carpentier is said to be losing his ride to make room for PT. Eventually we find out it's actually Tags being left out, but he'll be okay because he's being picked up by Newman/Haas. That is, if they don't sign McNish first. Or Justin Wilson. Or Ricardo Zonta. Now Pollock's name comes up, and likewise JV's resurfaces. Mo Nunn is staying! With two cars! Red Bull is coming, and Brack returns to Rahal to partner Jourdain in CART. New team coming onboard from JAG Racing, and another new team being formed by Andretti's Motorola crew members. Have I mentioned Minardi? Or Bryan Herta driving for Wayne Thomas? How about Wayne Taylor's 2-car team? It's pretty certain by now that JV won't be returning, and so that fourth Forsythe seat is going to Yoong and his Petronas sponsorship. And yes, Philipp Peter and Infineon are going to Patrick Racing. Of course, during all of this, nobody really knows for sure whether or not Newman/Haas is even staying in CART. Brand Motorsport officially announces one-offs in Europe. Likewise Team Arden with Tomas Enge. Giorgio Pantano will pilot the Sunoco car for BC Motorsport. Now it looks like Herta to Patrick, Papis to Rocketsports, and Johnny Herbert to PK Racing. No, wait, that's Mika Salo to PK. All the while, Pook is promising a "major European ownership contingent." Whatever happens happens, at least CART is going to Spa!

[Emfa]

And THAT is exactly why this rumour thread is so much fun!

[rush1]

What rumors have come to fruition? Has There been any good news for CART since september 2002? New sponsors perhaps?

[macdaddy]

Any news, good or bad, come out of the "other" series since May?

[rush1]

How about Sam Hornish and Penske. The IRL has owners that can pony up $4 mil or so to keep the big boys in their series? How about CART, Players leaves with their cash very soon and that is not a rumor.

And Macdaddy, you should not feed the "trolls"

[The Snout]

And again the mods stand silently by.

[Liz]

I believe Gil has some engineering training although I'm not sure he finished his degree -- before he became invisible I used to pay rather a lot of attention to him.

A birdie with a rather large beak told me that the Players cars will continue to run in their familiar colours. Other countries not controlled by Mamma and Da-Da beckon them and their cars, the taxes they pay, and their fine Canadian drivers ...

[Liz]

From 1985-1987, Gil competed in the Brazilian Formula Ford 1600 Championship Series. He earned his first victory in the series in 1986 and went on to win seven races and the championship in 1987. At the same time, de Ferran was a student at the Maua Engineering College in Sao Paulo, Brazil studying mechanical engineering. He juggled studying and racing until 1988 when he left for the United Kingdom to focus his attention on his racing career.

That's from the Penske website and is what I was thinking about.