Looks like Robin Miller OWNS you!Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilf
Printable View
Looks like Robin Miller OWNS you!Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilf
Just a few points. IC, I hope you'll clue us in on any more details coming out of Indy, especially in the wake of the announcement from IMS. So long, Tony George.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
For those of you out there who were so skeptical of Robin Miller (and I'm not accusing anyone in particular), the crow is fully sauteed and marinated and ready for your delectable consumption. With all due respect Mark, it is Robin Miller who is more right than wrong, a thorough reporter who doggedly researches his facts, while Rush Limbaugh sits at his chair on his radio show, creating a fantasy world (while reportedly remaining sober and clean of drugs) from events he sees on the evening news. He openly says he hopes his President fails, one of the most unpatriotic things I have ever heard mentioned by anyone (even John Wayne said he hoped JFK was successful). Obama pretty much leaves him alone, allowing Limbaugh's comments to speak for themselves, which is smart on his part. Obama and his staff only respond to most outrageous lies and gross inaccuracies, which they have to since you don't to just stand there all the time and get beat up without a response. To call Rush Limbaugh an idiot, would be offensive to idiots everywhere.
Robin Miller can take a lot of pride in his reporting on this. Nobody else was even close on this at the time he reported it. Just imagine if the Indy Star hadn't caved into pressure from IMS and Miller was still there and had reported under their banner - they would be bragging about this until the Indiana cows came home.
What we now have to do, as fans of open wheel racing, is consider George's ouster in the larger perspective of what the future holds for open wheel racing, and the IRL in particular. The IMS gravy train is over, the series needs a new chassis (or new chassis', or bring back the Panoz, just get rid of the current ugly cars) and at least two more engine suppliers. What if Honda says "That's it, we're done" at the end of the current contract? Where would that leave Indy Car racing?
I can't help but wonder what would have happened in reunification negotiations if The Three Amigos held on for one more year (I say that even though I was yelling as much as anyone to put it together) or TG was ousted last year. I am sure that is what is going through Kevin Kalkhoven's head right now. I am also sure you would have heard some choice comments by Paul Newman if he had lived to see this happen. You got that 'I told you so' look on your face right now, don'cha Paul?
What is certain in the short term is that now, the IRL will have to find a way to stand on its own two feet. That will be difficult in this economy. The league will still benefit from revenue from race events, that won't stop, but IMS will not catch should it begin to fall. Who out there can come in and right the ship on a better course?
Humpy Wheeler? Hmmm, could be, as promoter. Wait and see.
NASCAR? Hell no. It got what it wanted from the open wheel war, which is now synonym status with the term "racing" here in the USA. Besides, they have an open wheel division, called the Whelen Modified Tour (great racing, the best at any track they go to), and NASCAR pays scant attention to them.
By the way, NASCAR didn't buy Grand Am, NASCAR's Jim France created it with some help from Penske and others.
Roger Penske? Wow, after his helping to form CART in 1979, after very partisan comments at the time the split began, then being drawn back to the irresistable lure of the Indy 500, and full time in the IRL in 2003, and now to take back the series and rebuild it? Wouldn't that be ironic. He could do it, and he certainly has the contacts to bring in a title sponsor which the series desperately needs, but he's got his hands full after the recent aquisition of Saturn from GM. Though he might if he could buy the IRL at a firesale price should the league tumble.
Well, to Our Good Friend Tony George, I can say only this, as I said in another thread. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. In 2008, you got it. Now you left it, with some help from your sisters.
Was it worth it?
Chap, don't know any more details than appear in the news release. It APPEARS that they have gone to dual managements in each case -- Belskus for the bucks and Chitwood for the operation at IMS and Angstadt for the bucks and Barnhart for the operation at IRL, all answerable to the board of which TG is a member.
Then again, some of it may be TG's decision -- 19 years, 12 of them in a split, the split's fixed, he's content to run his race team. If I had his money, I'd want to go fishin', too, when I wanted to.
I might add that it's not too different from when Bill France Jr. ran NASCAR. Most of the time, the NASCAR administrative staff stayed home and Bill Gazaway was boss of the race track.
OK, that certainly seems to be the consensus, based on reports from the Indy Star, ESPN.com, Robin Miller at SPEEDTV.com, and Motorsport.com. Although I am a little perplexed why he left the CEO position at the IRL. My impression is we haven't seen the last chapter in this, maybe more will become clear by the time of the Brickyard 400. Tony George also has yet to, as he promised, present his own statement about the transition, which he said he will do next week. Look forward to hearing from you when that happens, IC.Quote:
Originally Posted by indycool
Don't forget, that until Big Bill finally died, and racing rags in the day made this point, Bill Sr. was still the ONE person truly running NASCAR, no matter who had what title.Quote:
Originally Posted by indycool
NOTHING happened without his OK.
True, but Gazaway lasted into the France Jr. regime. And yes, Chap, we'll probably see more when TG talks.
Praise the Lord!Quote:
Originally Posted by indycool
Robin was right on the money. Robin's assessment of Tony in his latest column (basically retelling the story of how CART and Tony danced around each other as he formed the IRL with lots of money and no know how)is also dead on the money. I still feel no pleasure though in the outcome.
The Sisters wanted him not to do this in 95. I wish like hell Mari Hulman listened to the girls.
He is gone however, and that is good in the sense a new direction and face can be put on the series, bad in that the money flow will be stopped or at least slowed at a critical time.
All of this speculation comes back to the Indy 500. Does Mari Hulman want to change the 500 or possibly risk killing it? No one will enter the 500 based on the money and purse for that one race if they have no series to offset costs and provide value for sponsors year round. It is not viable for a Roger Penske to put a team together with the money and infrastructure to win this one race if he cant offset it with a whole series.
So therefore, if the IRL dies, the Indy 500 will die, or have to radically change formula. Does Mari want Silver Crown cars at the speedway? I have no idea what she is thinking, but by being the deciding factor on that board, she allowed Tony to do what she did, and she was the one who finally caved in to the sisters and put a stop to it in the end.
This is interesting times, and Mari Hulman may be the one person who may decide the fate of the IRL in the end. Not much has been said about that, but I suspect it will be. What worries me, is Mari let Tony spend 700 million dollars on a Quixote like pursuit of mediocrity.......THAT sort of judgement is scary.
Well, Mark, not that I agree or disagree with what you have to say, but Robin's figure went from $600 million to $700 million in three days, so therefore, I'm not sure I believe his figures, either up OR down..