Chicago

[camcartfan]

Anyone hear anything about the Chicago date? It's the only race not yet confirmed.

[sgw2]

It wont happen.

Pook is keeping it "on the schedule" for now in an attempt to dissuade th camps of Adrian Fernandez and Michel Jourdain from entering the Indy 500.

That race cost CART $3.2 M last year, second only to Miami's $5.5 M tab. With Europe projected to cost CART as much as $7.5 M, Chicago is an extra expense that can't be justified.

[captain crunch]

I'm a cart supporter,but i find it hard to justify for cart to run a race on the same day as indy.I know cart is trying to keep as many drivers and teams "on side" but the 500 is the 500.

[sgw2]

Captain, everyone knows Pook is bluffing with Chicago.

So the effort will fail and Fernandez will go to Indy. The only question is whether he'll get a sub for Lausitz. I think he will, since Brand Hatch only costs him 3 days of track time at Indy, but Lausitz would put him in a desperate situation - I doubt he'd be willing to rely on a rookie like Roger Yasukawa to set up his car.

For Michel Jourdain, it is a much better situation. He can get some time in the car between Brands and Lausitz, but leave the setup to the capable hands of Kenny Brack. He'll would simply be a week two qualifier should his sponosrs want him in that race.

[Tiresmoke]

Pook is playing a good hand here. Chicago is a bluff, but I think they can pull the trigger on a race there anytime they want. Fernandez and Jourdain in Indy would be a let down. The chicago race should be changed to a sanctioned practice or something.

and i disagree captain crunch, the 500 is NOT the 500. hasn't been "the spectacle" in a long time. it banks on its history and hasn't even come close to "those old days". in fact, last year the 500 was the 499. this year, it'll be a parade of the ugliest and pointiest dallara's i've ever seen.

[sgw2]

I think the 500 has been on the road to recovery since Ganassi crossed the line in 2000. The Press no longer considers IRL and Indy a joke. The heavy hitters are back; Penske, Nunn, Ganassi, Rahal, and Andretti. That IRL ex-Champions Brack (2nd in CART in 2001 and now back in Indycar) and Stewart (reigning NASCAR WC Champion) have done well eslewhere has raised the stature as well.

As you say Tiresmoke, Pook can run Chicago, but that risks angering his coalition on the BoD when CART needs to be very careful with the budget, and it risks creating a rift with the Mexican contingent - now a critical coponent in CART's survival plans. In the end I think Pook will back down.

Personally I'd have combatted Indy very differently. I'd move Fontana's race to Memorial Monday, the Day after Indy and the World 600, but still a holiday, and run a big US race then. Instead of renting tracks in Europe, I'd cut a deal with Panoz for Road Atlanta on May 18th (second week qualifying). This way I keep CCWS front and center in the US market during the month of May when casual fans tune in. Yet avoid a direct battle in the Mid-West or prevent teams from crossing. (Fontana's late season race I'd replace with Las Vegas at night.)

[f1manoz]

Er, who really gives a **** what the IRL does?

[The Snout]

Personally I'd have combatted Indy very differently. I'd move Fontana's race to Memorial Monday, the Day after Indy and the World 600, but still a holiday, and run a big US race then. Instead of renting tracks in Europe, I'd cut a deal with Panoz for Road Atlanta on May 18th (second week qualifying). This way I keep CCWS front and center in the US market during the month of May when casual fans tune in. Yet avoid a direct battle in the Mid-West or prevent teams from crossing. (Fontana's late season race I'd replace with Las Vegas at night.)

Yep I'd have done a similar thing. Cart said at the town meeting last year that we can't let Indy have the month of May to itself, yet we're bugging off to Europe and then getting back and doing nothing for a few weeks. I've always liked the idea of a marque event, and we have the right name for one 'US 500' top name, so we should try and build it up. Only question is will Cart have any SuperSpeedway's to build it on after 2003. ISC isn't exactly keen for us.

Question for Americans. Is there any other obvious date than Memorial Weekend that Cart could hold the US500 on in order to make it special and grow tradition. Like July 4 comes to mind for example.

[sgw2]

Snout,

Memorial Day is so pseudonymous with Racing that no other date comes close. July 4th is traditionally when you go to a Baseball game, and Labor Day (September in the US) is Football season.

CART's failure in May is due to the myopic Midwestern strategy. (Michigan - US 500, Gateway Saturday before Indy small race.) Not even NASCAR dares race in the Midwest at that time. Pook is an Englishman, and his May strategy is even worse IMHO. The only CART news that will be seen by Americans in the month of May will be the release of the annual report and the river of red ink flowing across it.

[The Snout]

Then Memorial Monday racing we must go.

[Snrub]

Originally posted by sgw2
That race cost CART $3.2 M last year, second only to Miami's $5.5 M tab. With Europe projected to cost CART as much as $7.5 M, Chicago is an extra expense that can't be justified.

Are you sure there was a net loss of $3.2million for Chicago and $5.5 million for Miami? That seems like an awfull lot relative to the amount of money CART lost last year.

[sgw2]

Srub,

It's all available on-line in the Quaterly reports (symbol MPH). CART lost $22 M in the first 9 months of 2003, an Q4 is expected to be a loss of $3-4 M range.

These two races did stick out. I think two others stick out as well; the TV time buys (net loss $6.5 M), and Scott Dixon's ride ($1.7 M to Ganassi).

For 2003 I doubt Miami will cost as much, and hopefully they'll sell more than the paltry 14,000 tickets they managed this year. While there is reason to expect Miami's financial picture to improve, there is no such optimism with Chicago. In fact the losses at Chicago were held down because the track reduced it's rent to cover money it had still owed CART for previous years! There is no such accounting trick to play like that again this year.

Don't trust me, go read CART's own finacial statements.

[Snrub]

I'm not trying to discredit what you're saying, I just want to make sure I'm understanding everything correctly. Reading it the way I interpreted things would put 40%+ of CART's losses due to 2 races.

"In its third quarter Securities & Exchange Commission filing, CART reported it had spent $5.5 million to launch the race"

I'm not sure this means net loss of 5.5, perhaps it means CART dumped 5.5 mil to get the thing going and then had ticket sales, etc. that made them some money. For instance it does cost CART to put on Toronto, but then they have revenue which is greater than their costs.