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What you have here is a situation where Champ Car teams, many of whom don't have a lot of sponsorship, having just boaught new cars, now are faced with having to do that again, and having to get to know these cars in a short space of time. That's both expensive and time consuming. That's why I continue to say 2009 would be a better time for this "merger" to happen. Gives the sport time to promote itself, and teams time to court new sponsors for a reconstituted series.Quote:
Originally Posted by tamburello
Chaparral66, I think the reality is that there is simply no money to run the 2008 ChampCar season. The Amigos have obviously turned off the tap of dollars and lies so it will never happen. And why on earth would Tony George want to support a competitor that is a (twice) proven business loser? The consolidation plan that has apparently been offered includes low cost, or free cars and engines plus cash to ease the teams' move over to the Indy Car Series so that appears to me to be the last best option to make our sport whole again. It won't make everyone happy but it is better that it happens now rather than never. What the sport needs now is peace, unity and stability -- the sooner the better. In racing and in life, those who succeed make the best of the situations they encounter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaparral66
Has anyone seen Sanguin today? I wonder why he is not here defending ChampCar and the Amigos against all logic in this dire hour of OWRS history? Has he been influenced by Mark Cippolini's 180 on the subject of a 2008 unification?
Latest update from Robin Miller on Speed News:
TG and Robert Clarke are 2-3 hours from a meeting with Honda of Japan to move Motegi.
Robin also said no matter what KK has said in the last few days, when RM talked to him on Thursday KK said that he and Forsythe were all for TG running the series, but the big thing they needed was Long Beach.
Walker has an IRL car in his shop, he dosen't have a sponsor and Craig Gore owes him 1.5 million from last year.
Carl Haas has told his staff he is not sure what series they will run yet, and when Robin talked to Carl today he said he "would know in a couple of days" and may switch merger or not.
On KK saying the deal could collapse because of RM's story, RM remided him that in 2006 it was a cc owner that leaked the story and the story will not have any effect on the Honda people in Japan. The he says in about a 24 hours period said "Gerry and I are together" then "There is no deal", then " it is not going to happen", the " it is based on motegi", so KK must be confused.
For those of you in the Indy area, RM and Derrick Walker are scheduled to be on Dave Furst's half-hour sports show on Channel 6 at 11:30 p.m. Indy time tonight.
Here's hoping you give us the 411 on that chat, IC.Quote:
Originally Posted by indycool
Okay, Miller said the meeting was going on at Motegi as they spoke, called it the biggest story in this kind of motorsport in a decade and that Indy would be much better because of it, he excoriated KK for saying the media was at fault in the merger talks by reporting it. He also thought that the IRL contingent that went to Motegi had several plans to present to resolve the issue and Honda could come out of it looking like heroes if everyone over there made music.
Walker was generally PC about things and said the CC people tried hard to make the series right and he'd run both series if he could find sponsorship. They showed B-roll of a Dallara in his shop that he said was loaned to him by Kent Baker and said he'd been working on an IRL program for some time. It was said to be the car that P.J. Jones drove at Indy last year.
Both seemed quite positive toward the melding of the series and felt it was going to happen now. Miller said initially when he talked to Paul Newman, Newman was thinking it was better for '09, but later seemed to agree that it'd be better now.
It is good for the Amigos that the deal is almost done with Tony George because the word filtering back from my sources in Europe is that one (or more) of the European dates is shaky and could come off the calendar. Since Assen seemed to be fairly successful crowd-wise, and since I hear that Jerez is strictly a track rental deal, that must mean it's Zolder. Champ Car recently replaced the promoter (and they're suing him, I hear!) and the word is the new guy wants out, having been unable to raise the sponsorship and being unsure about what Champ Car will be bringing. If true, this would mean both Assen and Jerez are stand-alone flyaways with no event to share the costs with. Which domino will fall next? It sounds like 2007 is beginning to happen all over again but this time there is no spin or bluster that can suspend disbelief. To quote Dr. Jack, "What happens next?"
I won't be surprised this time CC promoters are backing out. Although the talks in Japan will end up 2009, I have no idea how CC could go on for another season (2008). 12 schedules? 12 cars? Who's paying and who's interested? It's probably not a bad idea to just fold 2008 away so some CC teams can start moving and attend few IRL races. That by 2009, they should be competitive. Don't tell me, Atlantics could be the temporary replacement for IRL/CC for this year.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChaimWitz
Bourdais, the last Champ Car champion.