Big money

[power&glory]

So, um, just wondering how long all you people are expecting your open-wheeled nascar to survive after guys like ganassi (4 cars) penske (3 cars) and andretti-green (3 cars) with all their honda and toyota money cause the EXACT SAME PROBLEMS and misery that those same big money sharks caused in CART, and run the earl into the ground. I'm giving you 2 years, to be generous.

[rush1]

All those car owners you mentioned will not be buying into a publicly traded company like CART, nor will any of them get a seat on an IRL board of directors because there is no board. Tony George is President and owner of the Indy Racing League which is owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation. Guess who is president and majority shareholder in that corporation? Tony George and the Hulman George family! CART was formed by the owners and their power derived from the bylaws set forth in the articles of the corporation. Will Tony call in the lawyers to rewrite the corporate bylaws and give the owners a say in how his league is run? yea right!

Besides in two years CART will be kaput and they will have no where to race their cars if not in the IRL

[Flatspot]

You never know what will happen. TG has changed the rules enough so far along the way. Let's suppose for a moment that the big team owners want a say, Tony says no and they refuse to race (a private company strike if you will). He may just make a few adjustments to stay alive. Shareholders, owners, or not these boys hold some big cards. If they started thier own league before why couldn't they do it again?

Where else will they race? I believe Penske and Ganassi have cars in that other series. I think they call it NASCAR. I give Andretti 2 seasons before he's there too. If you don't think NASCAR has a say of what happens at IMS your kidding yourself. I think Bernie has some pull there too. Don't you?

[trow]

On;y one exclusion from your question flatspot; it's called leader's circle!

[rush1]

Ecclestone and the France family have contracts with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway corporation to stage races at IMS. Once the contracts are up maybe they renegotiate their contracts. It seems to be a good deal for all involved. NASCAR and F1 get to race at the worlds most famous race track and the George family sells more tickets.

is that what you call pull?

The IRL existed 5 years before any CART teams joined and would be fine without them

[Flatspot]

It appears to me that IMS needs NASCAR and F1 more than NASCAR and F1 need IMS. Both have thrived very well without IMS. Is that what I call pull, yes. Is it absolute say so, no.

It also appears that TG feels he needs the big teams as he has paid a bunch of $$$ to get them, when their contracts run out they may ask for more (in the way of say so or otherwise) or threaten to walk so again yes, they have pull.

As for the IRL being fine without the former CART teams, that is the point of this thread the IRL would probably not only be fine without these guys, they'd probably be better off in the end.

[rush1]

TG paid money to Penske and Andretti to run in the IRL?

[Flatspot]

In essence, yes. The money moves in big circles. As an example, how many tracks does Penske have ownership in that the IRL now/will run on, and how many Penske owned tracks did CART run on and now they don't/won't. It is obvious that the IRL is willing to pay more for these deals than CART or Penske wouldn't have gone. The deals may all be "arms length" but it's still the good 'ol boys club raking in the dough. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. That's not to say its wrong, but it is what it is.

[racer69]

No matter who is paying for it, teams are moving over from CART to IRL, at the end of the day that is all that really matters.

As for the length of time they would stick around, TG may have made them sign agreements securing theoir committment for a set number of years, does anyone know how long Toyota/Honda have contracts with their teams?