Gordon Kirby Article

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From Cart.com....... http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...le.asp?ID=8038

Dick Eidswick was a key man in shepherding the Champ Car World Series through last fall and winter’s bankruptcy proceedings. Given his skill in negotiating those rock-strewn fields, Eidswick was asked by Jerry Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven and Paul Gentilozzi to continue as Champ Car’s new president and oversee the rebuilding of the series. Eidswick has considerable experience running a wide variety of companies, making him uniquely qualified for his current job.

“I think of myself as an entrepreneur,” Eidswick says. “I started several businesses, had some success with them, and have mostly worked for small, emerging businesses. Occasionally I would get involved with a more mature business, often when it was in trouble. That gave me some experience running companies as the CEO and also an understanding of how to resolve problems and issues.”

Eidswick was introduced to the Champ Car World Series by Kevin Kalkhoven. He and Kalkhoven first worked together in a company called ComShare that was founded in the sixties.

“I’ve known Kevin for thirty years,” Eidswick remarks. “We used to work together in one of those entrepreneurial companies. I was more the operations executive and he was the marketing and sales executive in a company called ComShare in the computer time-sharing business through the boom in that industry. I left that company in 1982 to start another business and Kevin left in about 1985 to become CEO of a company in California. He went on and had some very successful companies, and so did I.”

Eidswick met Jerry Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi last year when Forsythe, Kalkhoven and Gentilozzi formed OWRS to buy CART’s assets. “Kevin and Jerry have been working very hard,” Eidswick says. “They are not absentee owners at all. They work with me daily on the challenging issues of the future. We have a good and consistent vision of where we’re going with Champ Car and how we’re rebuilding it.

“Paul has helped this transition a great deal. His knowledge of racing and the business aspects of the sport have been very valuable to me and the whole organization. He put forth a tremendous effort to get the agreements in place that Champ Car needed in order to get the series off the ground, and he’s done a very good job.”

Eidswick initially concentrated his attention on sorting out last winter’s bankruptcy proceedings. “They asked me to come in during the awkward time when the company was put into bankruptcy to make sure that the employment of the company was stable and the management employees were focused on getting the 2004 season accomplished and to keep their eye on that target rather than worrying about all the issues taking place in the courtroom. My job really was to make sure that the company held steady during that period of time so it could have a season. It worked out well enough to where they asked me to continue on after that.

“Then I had to learn a little bit about the racing industry because I didn’t have any experience in it. Fortunately, Champ Car has a number of very highly qualified people in key positions and they were very helpful in bringing me along and also preparing for the racing season.”

Eidswick is proud of the job Champ Car has done over the past three months as the organization defied the dire predications of many pundits. “The people in the company can put on the show as we’ve proven six times now,” Eidswick said in Toronto. “It’s performed nearly flawlessly in spite of the fact that many people thought we had some serious problems. So I felt pretty good about that.

“Along the way we’re trying to make sure that we correct the problems of the past and that is largely behind us now. The issues that were associated with the difficulties of the company have largely been set aside. There are still a few issues but we’re working on them one at a time.

“The organization had been reduced significantly during the difficulties of 2003. When I came here I found some holes in the organization that needed to be filled. We’ve filled most of them and continue to strengthen the organization. I would expect to bring some more people on board as we refine our strategy.”

Eidswick and his group are working hard to tie up agreements with its racetracks for 2005. “In the past six weeks our attention has started to focus on 2005 and beyond. Our number one priority by the end of the summer is to get the 2005 schedule out. We want to do that so the teams, the series, and everyone associated with us, including the promoters, have enough time to get sponsorship and to prepare for the races.

“It’s our top priority right now. It helps the teams with their sponsorship, it helps us with our planning, and it helps our TV partners and the fans and everyone involved in the Champ Car World Series. I think sixteen is about the right number of races. I think that is what is reasonable for this series.

“Our focus right now is really on the longer term issues and to build the series through sponsors that we have now. We need to make sure we take care of them and have a good, positive relationship with them going forward. We show renewed respect for those sponsors and we’ve tried very hard to secure longer term relationships with them. In addition to that, through Tom Moser our VP of marketing, we’re establishing new opportunities for sponsors to come into the series and benefit from what we deliver to them.”

Eidswick sees no reason to make any dramatic changes to the overall framework of the Champ Car World Series. “Champ Car has been blessed with some of the most brilliant drivers and challenging racetracks from ovals to road course to street courses. You put that combination together and it’s the most exciting racing series in the world. We have that working for us and we’re going to do more of that. When you get right down to it, it’s not really rocket science. It’s about doing what works and what people like. Our plan is built around providing exciting racing with exciting and interesting drivers competing on the most challenging race courses in the world. The drivers in particular have a consistent attitude that they are driving the best cars on the best circuits against the biggest competition they can face. To a person, they are very committed to this series.”

Eidswick has been impressed and entertained by the competitive battles he’s witnessed on and off the track among the drivers and teams.

“Quite frankly, I get amused when they have these little squabbles among themselves about the details and about how very, very competitive it is when you talk about slight changes in rules or performance on the track affecting the outcome. To me, that shows that we are on to a very good thing. And I have found the drivers interesting and very friendly. I think their willingness to reach out to the fans and give the fans what they expect has been very commendable.”

The passion of the fans has also made a large impression on Eidswick. “I am very, very impressed with the Champ Car fans,” he remarks. “They come up to us at the races and encourage us to continue along the path we’re on. They’re enthusiastic and they’re loyal. They show up in large numbers at the races, and they call us on the ‘phone and e-mail us.

“The most impressive thing that I saw was that during the hearing in January we had something like 4,500 e-mails encouraging us to do what we did. They provided very positive feedback for what we were doing. It’s very clear that they enjoy the style of racing that we have.

“If you look at the history of Champ Car over the last four years, we didn’t lose the fans. They kept coming. We drew between 2.3 and 2.4 million spectators in each of those years, including last year. So the fans didn’t go away. The company had trouble but the fans didn’t go away. It’s a pleasure for me to be able to thank them when we’re at the races. I try to do that whenever possible.”

Eidswick freely acknowledges that learning about racing has been his most serious test. “I think my biggest challenge was my learning curve. In other businesses I could bring some knowledge of industry into play. Here, when I’ve had to make a move I’ve had to seek out help from others, particularly the owners, because I don’t have that experience.

“Over time I’ll pick that up and become more effective, but until then I’m highly dependent on getting counsel from them and building and strengthening the organization, and I’m really happy to have that resource. One of the things we’re doing is trying to improve the value equation to our sponsors, one of our most important sources of revenue, and trying to make those values consistent to what we offer these different companies and businesses that want to participate in this exciting sport.

“There’s a huge awareness of Champ Car, mostly from the racing industry. We would like very much to extend that out to a much broader audience. One of the challenges ahead is to find ways of doing that.” Eidswick will remain as Champ Car’s president until he is satisfied that the series is established on a solid footing on all fronts. “I want to be here long enough to get the Champ Car World Series back on track. I want to have it to where it is able to sustain itself and be clear of trouble, and I’m sure we can achieve that goal.”