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OK, we can do that. Tell you what, IC...next time I'm in Indy (which is not at all impossible, I have relatives there), we can hook up and see if we can come up with a plan to heal this split and present to the open wheel community at large and see what kind of response we get. Then we'll have to go to the kart track...Quote:
Originally Posted by indycool
Summertime. Whiteland kart track, the oldest one in the country, now with a big NASCAR style bank in it! :)
Chaparral and IndyCool, please get stated on the plan. Then we can all go to the kart track in Indy and celebrate with a little four wheeled aggression. I will probably get tossed for bumping but it will be fun anyhow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaparral66
In my my mind, the argument that the split ended ended in 2004 is off a bit just like the argument the OWRS incarnation of ChampCar carries on the traditions of American Open Wheel Racing. Both fall short of the truth.
I also think that The Amigos (except for one) are opportunistic "foreign fighters" who are keeping this tragic and devastating civil war going for reasons that have nothing to do with the best interests of the people in the nation in which the war is being fought. They still ride on a red tide of hate and fear because those are the only things left to save them. But the tide is going out now. The OWRS owners have all but lost this war yet they just won't admit it because some of them have checkbooks to match their needy egos. That won't go on forever. The truth is that the reasons for the split have shifted and the differences between what CART was and IndyCar is have diminished. Spite is all that keeps the war going now that the commercial proposition of the Amigo's vision for the Champ Car World Series has been largely invalidated.
On the subject of truth, I think it is interesting that the truth about the comparative lap times between an IRL car and a ChampCar at Sebring this past week has not surfaced. Someone should look deeper for the answer. I hear the lap times were very close. If indeed so, a few folks here won't be able to handle the truth because it punctures their elitist bubble. I looked back in this thread at the haughty and indignant reaction to the fact that the lap times for Champ Cars (the last time they ran) and Indy Cars at Mid Ohio and Milwaukee were virtually the same and I chuckled. Horror of horrors! Another reason to hate bites the dust.
What I am getting at, and Chaparrall66 has touched on it, is that we all have more in common than some want us to realize. I am neither a "ChampCar-World-Series-guy" nor an "IndyCar-Series-guy". I am a "One-Sport-Will-Be-Better-Than-This-Nightmare-Guy. Common sense tells me that I am not alone.
So, the point of this thread is what happens next. I hope that a wave of common sense and compassion for the fans sweeps over the warring factions in this sport. I also hope that the wave touches us here. We are all passionate nut cases on this board and this is proven by the things we focus on. The average fan could care less about the leaders, the politics or the the business side. They just want the sport to be better than it is and that starts with having one series with all the best drivers, teams and tracks. My feeling is that this will happen within a year because there is no good reason that this should go on any longer. We are down to a pathetic six US races (three of which likely pay little or no sanction fee), a 14-18 car field of spec racers and only seven confirmed drivers two months before Long Beach. This is not progress -- no matter how much happy spin Mark C. or Sanguin put out.
To me, the situation with Walker is a sign that this is not making sense any longer. I don't buy all the explanations. He is a racer of the first order and he has a driver and team that are true championship contenders. His absence at Sebring says to me that he either has no money to go racing or that he has lost faith in ChampCar. Think about what happens next if either or both of those things are true.
Also reflect on the number of posts and replies to this one thread. From my perspective, the nearly nine hundred replies and over 36,000 views gives a very strong clue as to what everyone is really thinking.
Excellent post, Chaimwitz.
I would respectfully suggest to you, ChaimWitz, that some people would rather have two series from which to choose rather than being force fed one merged series that features Beaver Patrick going in circles in Nashville and Iowa. That's all. Simple as that. Not spite. Just don't care for the product being offered.
Although I doubt that any joining of the two series will be 100 percent what ANY and EVERY individual wants to his/her own liking, april, I believe you to be in the minority.
Here are the lap times from testing-
Feb, 2008:
1- "Fearless" Franck Perera, #24 Conquest Racing, 49.806 seconds, 120.636 mph, 205 laps
2- Graham Rahal, #2 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 49.950 seconds, 120.288 mph, 238 laps
3- Alex Tagliani, #21 PKV Racing, 50.173 seconds, 119.754 mph, 281 laps
4- Oriol Servia, #22 PKV Racing, 50.178 seconds, 119.742 mph, 288 laps
5- Justin Wilson, #1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 50.207 seconds, 119.673 mph, 269 laps
6- Franck Montagny, #7 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.209 seconds, 119.668 mph, 207 laps
7- Bruno Junqueira, #19 Dale Coyne Racing, 50.507 seconds, 118.962 mph, 247 laps
8- Alex Figge, #29 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 50.521 seconds, 118.929 mph, 247 laps
9- Simon Pagenaud, #34 Conquest Racing, 50.702 seconds, 118.504 mph, 186 laps
10- Enrique Bernoldi, #8 Rocketsports Racing, 50.714 seconds, 118.476 mph, 255 laps
11- Paul Tracy, #3 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.732 seconds, 118.434 mph, 179 laps
12- David Martinez, #28 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 50.736 seconds, 118.425 mph, 255 laps
13- Ernesto Viso, #4 Minardi Team USA, 50.800 seconds, 118.276 mph, 164 laps
14- Mario Moraes, #11 Dale Coyne Racing, 50.930 seconds, 117.974 mph, 241 laps
Rumor has it they are 3,4 or 5 seconds faster than the other series tests at Sebring.
Walker will have an announcement, others are grasping at straws, he said no to believe the rumors.
The only reason this thread has so many views is because the author keeps bumping it up.Anyone can do that. But it also shows how many care about Champ Car.
You make it sound like they were qualifying down there.
Push-to-pass for sanguin PR? Weather? What specifics were each team on each side testing or was each team on each side going for outright speed? On a track neither of them runs a race on. With 200 mile-an-hour race cars going 120 miles an hour.
Weak.
You should read today's "Murphy The Bear" for more interesting possibilities. In it, he states that Eric Bachelart has sent the second DP-01 back to storage and that he and "two others" from CCWS have retained Zak Brown and Just Marketing to pursue IRL sponsorship...no matter what any of us thinks, a lot of surprises, both good and bad, will occur between now and LB and thereafter...and as such, this thread has more teeth than any other for a reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by sanguin
A blogger who has been wrong many times with "rumors" about CC.Quote:
Originally Posted by heelntoe
You should read this-
wrap-up from Sebring-
"Conquest Team Owner Eric Bachelart was very satisfied with the performance of his entire team throughout the test.
"We worked really hard these past four weeks just to get ready to run two cars. We have reorganized our engineering department and put a lot of work and effort into preparing this test the best way possible.
"We're happy to have had two talented drivers to help us out in preparing the season. They both did an excellent job. It's good to see Franck P1 after only four days in a Champ Car. With Simon, I don't think his performance reflects his potential. We worked on giving him a set-up and a car that he was comfortable with but we never quite got there with him. Now, we are going to go back to the shop and debrief and get ready for the Laguna Seca test. We have good sponsors behind us this year and the whole team has high ambitions. It's good to see that we could run at the top at this first test in Sebring."
http://www.motorsport.com/news/artic...16&FS=CHAMPCAR
don't believe the bear.