Barber Dodge Pro Series - Cancelled for 04!

[Andy Roberts]

Just found out that the 2004 Barber Dodge Pro Series, part of the official CART Ladder System has been cancelled due to the current uncertainty within CART. This is a real blow to junior open wheel racing in the USA, and especially for drivers like myself who have spent all year trying to raise the funding for thee championship this season. Such a sad loss of such a brilliant championship with such a great history with drivers such a Montoya, Brack, Herta, Hunter-Reay and AJ Allmendinger all coming through its ranks.

Below is a copy of the press release from Barber Dodge on the news. More details can be found at www.barberdodge.com

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Skip Barber to Elevate Status of the National Series
and Not Run the Pro Series in 2004

LAKEVILLE, Conn. (Feb. 2) - Skip Barber Racing School LLC announced today that it plans to further elevate the profile of its highly successful Formula Dodge National Championship Series (FDNC) Presented by RACER in 2004 to provide even more visibility to one of the most important series for aspiring professional race car drivers. As part of its 2004 schedule, the National Series will be supporting the 52nd running of the Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring, Mar. 17-20, and the CART-Champ Car race at Road America Aug. 6-8. In addition to an announcement concerning increases in scholarship funding for FDNC competitors, its complete schedule will also be released shortly.

The company also announced that it will not run the Barber Dodge Pro Series in 2004 in order to update the series for the future and focus on the National Series. The move was precipitated by the widespread uncertainty in U.S. open-wheel racing resulting from the ownership status of CART-Champ Car.

“The delay settling the ownership status of CART-Champ Car, our sanctioning body, prevented us from adequately preparing for the 2004 season,” said Aaron Hollander, President and CEO of Skip Barber Racing School. “We were unable to negotiate a sanctioning relationship that would allow us to operate a viable series for our drivers and sponsors. Having said that, we look forward to the possibility of continuing to work with and support CART-Champ Car in numerous ways this year and in the future. We wish them nothing but success.”

Hollander went on to say, “We are exploring all alternatives for 2005 that meet the requirements of a changing marketplace. Skip Barber Racing participates in nearly every facet of motorsports and we are afforded a large number of opportunities for continued growth. We are very optimistic about the future of racing in North America.”

“Skip Barber Racing School has a 28-year history of providing unique and innovative programs to help up and coming racers achieve success,” commented Divina Galica, Senior Vice President of Racing. “We will spend this year focusing on the Formula Dodge National Championship Presented by RACER and evaluating all of our options for 2005. Those include the possibilities of a new car, and/or race team ownership, and/or race team sponsorship and management. The fact is, Skip Barber Racing has trained more of the world’s racecar drivers than any other organization. With all other Skip Barber businesses in a strong growth mode, it allows the company to offer positions to those currently associated with Barber Dodge.”

Skip Barber Racing, headquartered in Lakeville, Conn., is the world's largest racing school, available at 20+ tracks across North America. It also owns and operates seven open-wheel road racing championships. Other components include the Dodge/Skip Barber Driving School, a Corporate Events department and the innovative Special Projects Group, which as part of its responsibilities is active in the emerging youth/tuner/drifting market.

-end

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[jklein6419]

this really opens the door for formula BMW

[Flatspot]

Statement from Champ Car
Bring on the Bimmers

[Fogelhund]

While it is disappointing to see a feeder series go down the tubes, there is no question that some rationalization in the junior formula ranks made sense.

[gttouring]

i don't think speed and grip wise Formula bmw is actually goin g to take barber dodge proseries' place.
the dodge cars have already more power, i would think they may introduce a bigger feeder car to replace it, based on power and such the formula dodge has 150hp, the proseries had 265hp, and toyota atlantics had 240- with a more customizable setup, hence training drivers for the bigger series, something needs to fill the gap in power in the 400 or so hp range, and FBMW isn't it, maybe formula renault, or FF2000/continental

[mountainstar]

With FF2000, Frenault, Fbmw, FMazda and Barber Dodge in the market something had to give. The dodge cars were getting long in tooth and I think drivers were looking to other catagories. I don't believe it had anything to do with CART, it all came down to car count and that wasn't there.

[jjspierx]

Barber Dodge Pro may have more Hp than atlantics, but they are heavier, and they are an old chassis, they don't handle that well. The Formula BMW, will probably handle better than Barber Dodge Pro, thats my guess, as the BMW's are very new design. The Barber Dodge cars are just an old Reynard Tube Frame Chassis, with Fiberglass body panels. I'm pretty sure the Formula BMW are a carbon fiber monocoque.

[evo]

The Barber Dodge Pro Series cars are carbon fibre monocoque cars as well. Have been since 98 I believe. Hopefully they will bring it back in 2005 with new cars.

[gomick]

disappointing news - but hopefully they will be back better than ever in 05....

[Aircon]

Why does everyone have this thing about HP in open wheelers? Power to weight is where it's at and even then, a lower powered formula can teach you an awful lot more while keeping the racing close.

[Andy Roberts]

Yeah the BDPS cars are carbon fibre monocoque cars and we undergrowing a significant update for this year both to the aero package along with a power hike.

jjspierx - just wondering why you say they don't handle well? I spent 2 days at Sebring testing in April last year and they handle superbly and are the most physically demanding cars I have driven so far. Much more demanding than FFord and Formula Renault. They have a big power to weight ratio and require a great deal of skill to get on the edge and keep them there. Very challenging cars to drive and such a shame its had to be cancelled for 2004.

[Tenoch]

Why worry about feeder series that dont feed.

[Andy Roberts]

Montoya, Brack, Herta, Hunter-Raey, Allmendinger, Maia, Bell and the list goes on.

[jjspierx]

Originally posted by Andy Roberts
Yeah the BDPS cars are carbon fibre monocoque cars and we undergrowing a significant update for this year both to the aero package along with a power hike.

jjspierx - just wondering why you say they don't handle well? I spent 2 days at Sebring testing in April last year and they handle superbly and are the most physically demanding cars I have driven so far. Much more demanding than FFord and Formula Renault. They have a big power to weight ratio and require a great deal of skill to get on the edge and keep them there. Very challenging cars to drive and such a shame its had to be cancelled for 2004.

Andy,

I would expect them to handle better than a Formula Ford. And I suppose I should not talk having only driven FF2000, and Formula Mazda. While not having driven the Barber Dodge Pro cars, I've seen them in action several times at multiple tracks. I shouldn't have said they don't handle very well, but comparetively to Toyota Atlantic or other newer Formula cars they don't. While I don't doubt you the fact that they are more physically demanding to drive(I had assumed that myself), I don't think they handle as well as a Formula Renault. Fran-Am 2000 at St. Petersburg, was only something like 2/10ths of a second off the pace of Barber Dodge Pro, and thats with 83 less horsepower than Barber Dodge(granted FR weigh less than a BDP car). I think BDP really need to improve upon the cars if they are to remain competitive and a viable option for up and coming professional drivers. I thought this year they were supposed to have a revised aero package and a new look for the cars, but I guess we won't know now. The 2004 Formula Mazda is finished and already being tested for this season. Its got 240HP, 6 speed (no lift)sequential gearbox and according to Bryan Sellers, is only about 2 seconds off the pace of an Atlantic car. Plus Fran-am is becoming increasingly popular, and are releasing the V6 this year. I love watching the BDP races, even more so than the Atlantic races sometimes, because the on-track action is more fierce, and the cars look harder to handle, they slide around more. I would really like to see the series come back in 2005, hopefully with an updated car.

[Andy Roberts]

Fingers crossed it should will be back in 2005 as well with the new aero pacakge. Didn't realise the FR was 2/10ths of the BDPS car but as you say they do weigh a lot less.

We have just started getting the FMazda races on Sky Sports over here (something to show during the winter months) and they look pretty good actually. What sort of budgets are they for a season?

[Kicking-back]

Maybe Barber Pro and Toyota Atlantic could get together and come up with one replacement series.

[jjspierx]

Originally posted by Andy Roberts
Fingers crossed it should will be back in 2005 as well with the new aero pacakge. Didn't realise the FR was 2/10ths of the BDPS car but as you say they do weigh a lot less.

We have just started getting the FMazda races on Sky Sports over here (something to show during the winter months) and they look pretty good actually. What sort of budgets are they for a season?

I don't remember Andy, I researcted it about 2 years, ago and I remember it being pretty expensive. I think its somewhere around 80-100k, which is pretty overpriced for the car you are driving I thought, except that they do have a television package which is nice. Now that the 2004 car is out though I'm sure the price is a little steeper now though.

[Tenoch]

Maybe they produce but how many of last years 20 someodd were from the feeder system and now is not the time to worry about the second top rung.