Another Defection!?

[GP Racer]

Well, there's one hell of a rumor being posted on PaddockTalk web-site Rumors Section:

"Champ Car - Two Car Team To Sink The Ship?"

"Yes, that's the rumor"

"That one of the CCWS 2 car teams will jump ship on Friday and dive into the cash pile at the IRL money pit".

Hmmm, very interesting. This is a very pro CART web-site, and they wouldn't post this news lightly. Is all not well at OWRS, again?

Any guesses on who this team might be? :confused:

[rush1]

The pickings off the carcass are very, very slim. The series formerly known as CART is little more than a pay driver club league these days.

I would start with the teams who have a sponsorship package that could fund a team in the IRL Indy Car Series. I doubt it would be the Mexican contingent. Newman-Haas has the sponsors, I don't know who else would have a solid sponsorship package.

[MLM]

I saw that rumour@ MSF (and, I think, someone reported that he/she saw THAT MSF rumour @TF). I'm not sure if it isn't one of those whacky rumours...but then,this has been a whacky year.
(ps...I'm not entirely convinced on the veracity of www.champweb.net. They obviously picked up that from AR1 or from the forums. It may or may not happen...if it does, it would be HUGE! However, I wouldn't get your knickers in a wad, my friend. )

[MLM]

Ooh, my bad...it was paddocktalk.com and NOT champweb.net.
Hey, GP, did you see the rebuttal ("But will someone please get their befuddled head out of their a** "I gotta admit, THAT was good! )

[climb]

.. anything more to support this rumour?
It's not sufficient, IMo, to set up a realistic discussion, i suppose.

[Down F0rce]

I'm not so sure about this. This is from the same site that said Tony George was attending champcar races wearing a trenchcoat and fake beard so I wouldn't read to much into it. Not right now anyways.

[MLM]

Originally posted by Down F0rce
I'm not so sure about this. This is from the same site that said Tony George was attending champcar races wearing a trenchcoat and fake beard so I wouldn't read to much into it. Not right now anyways.

I remember reading that (like someone isn't going to be conspicuous wandering around a paddock area dressed like THAT in the middle of summer! )

You did make a goodpoint, Down FOrce....I doubt if a "defection" would take place this weekend.
But, maybe, down the road.....hmmmm, who knows.
Anything's possible in the world of OWR in the US!

[Tim Northcutt]

This is probably bogus....


But just to speculate....

Bachaelart entered a car at Indy two years ago with Johnny Herbert as his driver....Conquest has never really been flush with $$$, but everything I hear is that he's pretty loyal to OWRS....

Russo moved up from Toyota Atlantics, so he doesn't have the deepest history with OWRS, but I doubt that it is him...he also seems loyal...

Coyne has always been a CART/OWRS stalwart, but he hasn't even named drivers yet for a race that happens this weekend....

Walker was the guy on the fence over the past few months...he has Cummins as his sponsor, and they have had decades of association with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the "500"....but he only has a One-Car team at this time....

Newman-Haas isn't about to "sink" by running two cars....they are healthy....and Newman is pretty anti-IRL....

Maybe it's Gentilozzi.....

Nah...we'd have to throw him back....


I'll believe it when I see it, gang....it's very late to be making a Series change....

[Testure]

Yeah, it doesn't seem very likely, irrespective of the timing. As Tim notes, there aren't really any obvious candidates left in Champ Car who'd move over. Rahal was pretty much the last team that people had been speculating about for a good while. Hopefully that divergence of teams will be good for both series.

Having said that, an announcement on Friday, at the start of a season-opener (i.e. maximum PR pain for Champ Car), would be pretty despicable. I hope that such people aren't running racing teams.

[racefanatic]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
But just to speculate....

Bachaelart entered a car at Indy two years ago with Johnny Herbert as his driver....Conquest has never really been flush with $$$, but everything I hear is that he's pretty loyal to OWRS....

Yeah, he also ran a full season in 2002 with Laurent Redon before going to CART. I agree though, he seems loyal.

The only team I can think of is Rusport since during the off-season they said they would run "either a CART or IRL team." But come on guys, ChampCar doesn't need any more bad news! This doesn't need to happen, especially not this season.

[GP Racer]

I only posted this because Mike Sulka, who runs paddocktalk, is pretty reliable, and doesn't go for sensationalism. Also the site is very Champ Car friendly.

Could it be Russo? Didn't he lose alot of money on all the CART stock he owned, when they went belly-up? Wasn't he an angry guy, and threatened to torpedo the OWRS buyout? I think that was him.

Anyway, I'm no fan of Gentilozzi, and OWRS, but even I hope this isn't true. I mean Friday is their opening day. Boy, I could only imagine the fireworks!

[D.R.T.]

Originally posted by rush1

I would start with the teams who have a sponsorship package that could fund a team in the IRL Indy Car Series.
sponsorship package.

Who said you need a sponsor for IRL, dont you only have to do a deal with TG and Honda and your away

[rush1]

Its funny, I never hear anyone complain that F1 teams or NASCAR receive countless millions from car manufacturers. But somehow Toyota and Honda spending money in the IRL is criticized. I think its sour grapes.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by D.R.T.
Who said you need a sponsor for IRL, dont you only have to do a deal with TG and Honda and your away

In the same way that you only had to deal with Joe Heitzler two years ago....

Or Chris Pook last year....

Or Gentilozzit, Forsythe, and Kalkhoven this year if you're running in the new OWRS....

Tommy Kendall danced around the question on "Windtunnel" last night by saying that he had not spoken directly with any of the three about the "race team welfare" issue, but it was his understanding that teams were getting funds from OWRS to make sure that the car count would be 18 for Long Beach...

But unlike the past, the money is supposedly being used to acquire drivers like Justin Wilson, as opposed to just giving the teams the cash and letting them hire thier own drivers 9some who would be paying for seats, etc., to free up the "welfare" for actual team operations)....

[Tim Northcutt]

IMPORTANT NOTE:

the "race team welfare" term is MINE...not Tommy Kendall's, nor Dave Despain's....they addressed it as funds from OWRS to help teams race....

Didn't want to start a firestorm over an issue or create a misunderstanding on this, nor did I want to put words into Tommy's or Dave's mouths....

[jjspierx]

http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html...rticle&sid=578

Paddock Talk stated that it was a false rumour.(*as the vultures stop circling*)

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by D.R.T.
Who said you need a sponsor for IRL, dont you only have to do a deal with TG and Honda and your away

Do you see any IRL cars, running around the track without any sponsorship, or with drivers names(eg.Jimmy or Ryan) on the side? Didn't think so...

Glad the rumor was false.

[Flaming_Wuzzle]

Ideally, I'd like to see this be the last year of Champ Car/OWRS/whatever its called. Then all the teams jump ship to the IRL. And if I remember correctly, I heard that the IRL would start road racing in the near future..

[bugeye]

I have avoided asking this question because I don't want to restart an old fight. But if OWRS folds and the remaining teams go to the IRL, and IRL starts racing on road courses and street tracks, don't we end up with CART again but just with a different owner?
The schedule cannot be expanded enough to keep all of the current ovals as well as the new venues. Those IRL fans who supported the lesser oval tracks will be left out.
Or am I wrong.

[Tim Northcutt]

It may become an issue....but I don't think that the road course portion of their schedule will be more than a few races...probably four at the most....

My predictions for circuits:

Mid-Ohio
Road America
Sears Point
Road Atlanta

Think about each one for a little bit, then you'll see my logic....

[climb]

I think that TG mostly cares about Long Beach, Road America, Vancouver, and a race in Mexico.

[Tim Northcutt]

Long Beach would be an obvious choice due to Toyota's involvement....

The Mexican promoters seemed real attached to OWRS....

I hope they NEVER go to Vancouver....what a boring street circuit!!!!

I think Road Atlanta will be thee due to the Panox/G-Force ties to the series...

Mid-Ohio has been dropped by OWRS, and it sits in the heart of IRL Country....big fan base to draw from and not far from Sam's hometown of Defiance, Ohio....lots of Hornish fans would go just to watch him run in their own backyard....

Sears Point has the West Coast desirability, and it has relationships with both NASCAR and the ALMS....those ties and connections are strong....and they provide a possible open door for the IRL to enter....

Road America has been the red-headed stepchild of the OWRS for years...and IMO, it is the best road course in North America....It would have to be on the list....

[GP Racer]

I say forget about both Canada and Mexico.

They are so solidly, and militantly behind Champ Cars, that it would be a complete waste of time to try and compete with them. I don't see either country supporting this series, even if Champ Cars go out of business. The Canadians are especially vocal in their support of OWRS, and equally vocal in their total disdain for the IRL and TG. So why waste the time and money, and be ridiculed in the process?

The IRL simply cannot repeat the mistakes of CART, which was to forget about its fan base. Being that there will only be about 4 road races, there are plenty of good tracks here to invest in. If CART proved one thing, its that no matter how many fans a Mexican or Canadian race pulls in for a weekend, which are wildly inflated anyway, its not enough to carry a series.

The IRL needs to stay at home, and let OWRS travel the world.

climb, my friend, I hope your wrong!

[Tim Northcutt]

Long Beach would be an obvious choice due to Toyota's involvement....and it was the only race that Tony bid on at the CART funeral in court back in January...

But LB usually is either:

a "street parade" or

a "crashfest" in the first turn or at the hairpin....


But the place seems to be a big happening each year....

even though most of those people ar showing up for the events surrounding the races...and most never show up for another race the rest of the season....

Personally, I would rather see LB made wider, and let the ALMS run there....but that's just me...

[rustyfan]

The current layout isn't half as good as the old, classic one. I still miss it.