Andretti announcment due Tuesday

[KC]

Tuesday is the unofficial announcement date for the Michael Andretti driven and Barry Green owned Indy 500 effort. I wonder if the CART teams will work together a little to help each other out or will it be dog eat dog.

[SevenGrain]

I hope the deal will stick, this announcement was to originally be made on March 13th. The sponsor details had to be worked out, (i.e. what's it going to cost me beyond what I've already committed to your CART effort)
Im sure that there will be some co-operation, as there is strength in numbers. The Andretti effort is said to have some support from the Panther IRL outfit. Whatever the case, with Andretti, Penske, Ganassi, and Luyendyk now out of retirement, it should be the best Indy 500 since CART left.
I think that in 2002 many more CART teams will be back to the 500. If they start taking starting positions away from the IRL, look for Tony George to figure out a way to handicap CART. Perhaps he'll bring back the "25 and 8" rule. That's what started this whole mess in the first place.

GO MICHAEL!!

[gomick]

has anyone ever challenged tony georges position - although i am happy with the irl championship now, more rounds and drivers.....

still, i would love to see the CART cars at indy.

[Liz]

I think the two sides have been "challenging" each other for many years now. The Man Who Ruined Indy doesn't want cooperation, he wants total domination.

I'm sure that if the Champ Car pilots start beating the sox off the "regulars", something will be done to be sure it doesn't continue.

The press about the IRL race i Phoenix has tended to be very scornful of the Penske pilots, although after stating that "Gil crashed on his way to the pits", Autosport did concede that he was drilled from behind by another driver and pushed into a third...and although the article claimed that Helio was no match for Hornish, it did concede that Helio's engine blew up, which was not exactly Helio's fault.

[TheShadow]

While I have concerns about TG deciding to bring back rules that favor IRL teams at the Speedway, I think that this year will seem like the "real" Indy 500 is back.

If CART does go ahead and match the IRL rules, and in turn all of the CART teams run better than the IRL regualars, we might then see him bring back the 25 and 8 rule. I hope not.

I saw Tony at a Carmel gas station a few weeks back. While I did say hello, I did not feel it was the time or place to lobby him not to do something that he should not do.

My question to him would have been why bring back the 25 and 8 rule? If CART commits to the IRL formula he will have "won". IRL will continue on and the CART teams, and all of their prestige, will make the 500 better than ever.

Even if he decides to quit losing money on the IRL, he can now can the series without losing face. He wanted lower costs. Fine,CART is now saying yes to that, so his formula has prevailed. End of story. Happy days are now here again.

Lets hope that the nightmare is drawing to a close!

Kurt Maxwell
MaxSport
Motorsport Marketing
Indianapolis, IN. USA

[Liz]

Erm, how is it lowering costs when the Champ Car teams have to run two entirely different sets of spec cars for the privilege of driving in one single race?

And since the Champ Car teams that do make Indy are the ones who have the financing to do this, and are clearly much more professional and organized group than the IRL guys (who do wonders with the budgets they get, I will agree, but listening to Greg Ray try to patch his car together after two excursions into the wall when he didn't have enough parts to do it right, kind of made me wince.)... I can see this becoming "Well, they won because they've got more money than us."

[TheShadow]

IF-CART does adapt the IRL rules package it will mean lower costs.

Bets/hopes here are that this will happen. CART teams can run Indy with the same motors that the IRL uses.

There may not be a point of IRL continuing on much longer if that happens.

KM

[Liz]

Yes, they can run Indy with the same engines the IRL uses. BUT THEY CAN'T RUN IN CHAMP CARS WITH THOSE ENGINES. So they need two separate cars and essentially two separate teams (except for the pilots) to run a one-off non-points race.

How is this cheaper? I can't see it myself.

Besides, say you're Roger Penske and you put your two championship contenders in a one-off, non-points race in different spec cars from what they usually use. And one of them trips over Buddy Lazier and is spun into the wall and breaks his leg, and the other one is "sandwiched" by two guys who don't look in their mirrors and suffers a concussion. Both guys are out six races and you have trashed your entire season - for a one-off, non points paying chance to show off.

I just don't see the point of it.

[wallbanger]

I, of course, agree with Liz wholeheartedly. In addition to her cogent, coherent and comprehensive statements I would add that it is inevitable that a full-time IRL driver will eventually win one of these "mixed company" affairs.

Such a misfortune would not only give gloating rights to the Inheritor's boys and girls until the situation can be rectified but it will certainly create a PR nightmare for those who are seeking, in earnest, to kick CART's reputation and notoriety up a notch.

As I've said since the split was announced:
"No one affiliated with CART (including its fans) has any business at the Indianapolis Motor Spedway until which time as there is a signed treaty that formally returns IndyCar racing to its former status!"

[TheShadow]

Can you people read?

[KC]

When all is said and done, there is very little difference between an IRL team and a CART team's costs. The equipment packages are very similar in prices. A lease arrangement from Honda costs a little more than a buy arrangement from Oldsmobile when the team must do all of the engine building or hire it out, especially with the attendant engine failure rates in the IRL. The chassis costs nearly the same price.

The problem that many of the IRL teams will face in the event of a unification between the two series, is that most of the CART teams have larger budgets and can afford to spend more on track time, engine development, and chassis modifications. Last year's Indy 500 illustrated the fact that a well-funded and well-executed team can run one event and win it over the teams that run every race. I don't think that this is what Tony George envisioned when he created the IRL. In the event of a unification the incoming CART teams will raise the budget bar much like we see in F1 right now.

[TheShadow]

Good to see that someone is paying attention.

You are right about car costs. It is the budget for testing and R&D is the real difference between CART and IRL budgets.

The point is not really about the projected savings of the IRL formula if it were adopted by CART. What I am saying is that Tony George needs a way of saving face.

If CART has the SAME formula as IRL, then they can run at the Speedway without changing equipment, as they must do now. Tony gets all of the CART guys back, but without giving in to them.

If CART is running to IRL rules, what then is the purpose of continuing to lose money with the joke called the IRL?

KM

PS-
Liz-It goes without saying that if CART stays with their current formula that there is no savings, just additional cost, should they run at Indy.
You are clearly a master of the obvious.