Portland Town Meeting

veeten · 27 Feb 2003, 05:43 (Ref:518931)

A lot of things discussed tonight, and we may get to see some of the things finalized pretty soon.

Hey Lee, you did notice which direction he was going, engine-wise...

Jay · 27 Feb 2003, 07:47 (Ref:518983)

One good moment was when a child asked why we don't call Champcars Indycars anymore, and Chris Pook's response was "You can go to crapwagon.com to find the answer to that" He then gave a more serious answer..

Omega99 · 27 Feb 2003, 07:49 (Ref:518984)

That's pure gold!

¡As-de-mim! · 27 Feb 2003, 18:00 (Ref:519483)

He said he's open to conversations about reconciliation with the IRL.

"My door is open, and my phone is hooked up, but I can't wait around for it to ring. I have to get on with the series," Pook said.

He also admitted to being concerned about what might happen if some of the teams that left CART for the IRL want to return.

"We've got some teams that joined us in good faith -- one has mortgaged his house," Pook said. "It would be nice to have some of those teams come back, but I don't want to shove teams who reached out to us out the door."

¡As-de-mim! · 27 Feb 2003, 18:17 (Ref:519502)

Hildick said the economic impact of the race is about $35 million.

"The bottom line is that this thing rolls into town, puts all its money into the community, and leaves." Hildick said. "There are no smokestacks. It fills the hotels and restaurants. It is why we want to do anything in our power to keep it in Portland."

I would think that CART is entitled to 10-20% of that.

The Snout · 27 Feb 2003, 21:03 (Ref:519667)

"My door is open, and my phone is hooked up, but I can't wait around for it to ring. I have to get on with the series," Pook said.

Did you notice the tone it was said in. I think Pook gave up any hopes there a long while back, yep his door is open but he isn't expecting a guest.

"We've got some teams that joined us in good faith -- one has mortgaged his house," Pook said. "It would be nice to have some of those teams come back, but I don't want to shove teams who reached out to us out the door."

It was obvious in no uncertain terms that Chris isn't going to shove a smaller loyal team out if a "name wants to come back home" (his words). Crowd cheered at that and rightly so. They'd have to go over the 22 car limit cause no one current is going anywhere.

One thing Pook didn't mention was how at St.Pete's he said that an American driver program was being sorted out. There were a number of questions on having more American drivers and thought he may throw that out at them, however maybe without anything solid yet he decide to leave that one for now.

Lee Janotta · 27 Feb 2003, 21:47 (Ref:519717)

Quote:

Originally posted by veeten
Hey Lee, you did notice which direction he was going, engine-wise...

And Heitzler had his IRL engines... We've put the fear of peasant revolt into bigger men than Pook.

veeten · 27 Feb 2003, 23:22 (Ref:519816)

Quote:

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
And Heitzler had his IRL engines... We've put the fear of peasant revolt into bigger men than Pook.

hmmmm... all 2 of you, eh? Okay...

Snrub · 28 Feb 2003, 03:09 (Ref:520050)

The rumour of all rumours: Pruett said Mansell was bugging Patrick to give him a ride. Did I miss a joke or is this for real? How big and how old is he?

Pruett and Vasser also said a lot of guys are regretting their decision to move to the IRL. Dario mentioned specifically.

Someone really needs to challange Pook on the "cheap n/a 800hp" 3.0L V10.

The Snout · 28 Feb 2003, 03:19 (Ref:520057)

Thing is maybe teams aren't coming back any time soon but some drivers may come back when they're off contact at some time.

racer69 · 28 Feb 2003, 05:49 (Ref:520121)

But the only driver who was under contract when moving was Scott Dixon.

The Snout · 28 Feb 2003, 10:29 (Ref:520273)

Yeah Dario was mentioned as regretting now moving cause at the time he was sold that Cart wasn't going to be here, a few are regretting it according to Jimmy at the Town Meeting last night. When I say maybe they may come back when off contract I mean it in that context, not on when they made their choice at the time.

Liz · 28 Feb 2003, 11:59 (Ref:520328)

I guess Mrs. Judd is disappointed that she has no audience in The Other League ... personally I don't want Mr. Judd back as he's been really nasty about CWS. And of course nobody wants Mikey back. but the other guys can apply for any vacancies as they come up. They'll have to fight Max for them though!

macdaddy · 28 Feb 2003, 17:22 (Ref:520609)

Pook wants to turn CART into a kind of retirement home for F1 drivers, and I don't like that idea. Not one bit. I would rather up-and-coming young talent. CART could lose its identity if it ended up with a grid of 40-year-old F1 retirees.

"We have Mika Salo hanging around. Any of these guys that are out there, after they're done with Formula 1, if they want to stop by and visit us on the way to retirement, the more the merrier."

And here's something that may have TG a bit worried...

"First of all, I think Formula 1 needs to be back in the United States at a level where it was when Formula 1 was running at Watkins and then at Long Beach and at Detroit. It's very, very exciting, very good, very high quality. We need Formula 1 to be back in this country strong again, not in decline as it is at the moment. We all need to look up to something. It's a good pinnacle to look to. We're going to work with Formula 1 to see if we can help them get back up where they belong."

Omega99 · 28 Feb 2003, 23:08 (Ref:520923)

Quote:

Originally posted by racer69
But the only driver who was under contract when moving was Scott Dixon.

True, but the others left so that they could get contracts. They stuck with their former teams, and what would you do in their situation? Take the ride you know you can get with a team you've been with a while take the risk of not having a ride at all? They were sort of forced to follow their teams.

As for engines, I REALLY like turbos. That's where this power curve that's putting the car on edge and causing the sliding (without traction control) that we all know and love this year. Yes, I realise we could accomplish the same thing with a V-10, but who doesn't like the sound of turbos? How bout a compromise with Turbo V-10? Now that would be freaking fast! (and unsafe, but meh...)

Snrub · 1 Mar 2003, 01:05 (Ref:521023)

Everyone seems to think that you have more cylinders on an engine of the same displacement that you automatically gain a LOT more power.

If CART did a turbo V10 I wouldn't object. The point is that forced induction is the easiest and cheapest way to produce big peak power and wider power band. I'm fairly sure a n/a 3.5L V8 has more power potential than a 3.0L V10.

Even CART keeps saying that the "power band" is reduced this year and the drivers are doing more shifting. I find that hard to believe. Last year with the same power, less boost @ 150% RPMs, no one was driving around at 6000RPM. Even with a turbo, the breathing characteristics down low should have ment a lot less power. The extra torque this year would back this up. I'm no expert on this stuff, but there are general pricinples that aren't rocket science.

Personally I'd be happy to see the traitors come back, even Michael!

CART has room for more cars, despite CART's insistance that less is better. These guys have a certain amount of power and money that would be benificial to CART, regarless of its position.

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