CART’s quiet No. 2 man...

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... we all know so much about CART's No. 1, Chris Pook – but who is the No. 2 man in the background...David Clare?

Interesting article from autoweek by Bill McGuire:

David Clare is CART’s quiet No. 2 man

>> David Clare, left, and Sebastien Bourdais celebrate Bourdais' pole at March's race in Monterrey, Mexico. (Photo by LAT Photographic)As CART’s CEO and designated savior, Chris Pook serves as both spark plug and lightning rod for the struggling series. If with a provocative public statement he can diffuse a troublesome issue, or create a diversionary one, he’s not afraid to make it all about him. Much of the hope for CART’s future has rested solely on the power of his personality. The secret of magic is misdirection, and Pook, a gifted natural salesman, was made for the job.

But Pied Piper for CART, Inc., is more than a full-time position, so over the winter Pook found a chief operating officer to handle the daily chores of running the sanctioning body. While Pook stands front and center, taking both the bows and the blows, David Clare is back minding the store. And that’s just the way the quiet man likes it. “I don’t particularly want to be out there in front of the media,” says Clare. “That’s not my role.”

Clare, 48, and like Pook a native Brit, was trained in finance and accounting, and originally had no thoughts of a career in racing. “I worked for a national newspaper in the U.K., and discovered part of my job was to promote the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. I was interested in cars but I wasn’t really into motorsport. I stood at Druids and listened to the Brabham BT 48 with the Alfa V12 going past and thought well, this is interesting. At that point I thought I would get a job in motorsports somehow and try it for a year. That was in 1978.”

Circulating his resume, Clare landed a position with the Toleman Formula Two team, then highly successful, but when the operation moved up the ladder to Formula One it was suddenly less so. “In 1981 we went into Formula One as a very under-prepared team, which was a great learning experience as we didn’t qualify for 10 races. It was an interesting period for me,” says Clare. From 1984 to 1986, Clare worked as accountant-administrator for Carl Haas’s unsuccessful Beatrice F1 project. “When the team folded up Mr. Ecclestone acquired some of the assets, and asked would I like to come work for him.”

That led to nine years as “a direct deputy of Bernie Ecclestone with the Formula One Constructors Association,” according to the press release announcing his appointment as CART’s chief operating officer. Does that mean something like a second in command to the F1 boss? “That was never my title. I had the office next door,” Clare says. Rumors, many of them leaking from CART itself, have Ecclestone interested in purchasing the company, and though Ecclestone has remained silent on the issue, Clare’s F1 connection has fueled the fires. “Mr. Ecclestone was in no way involved in my hiring,” says Clare. At the same time, Clare refuses to speak to the buyout stories, saying only, “It wouldn’t be appropriate to comment.”

Whatever the source and whoever the buyer, the buyout talk is largely driven by CART’s mounting losses. Without an infusion of major money, some observers can see the end of the road for CART as a major racing series. Beginning this year with $86 million, Pook and the board of directors have already budgeted $45 million in subsidies and support to its race teams, in order to fill the grids to the required minimum. While no CART official will ever say so, the heavy spending might be designed not only to turn the company around, but to make it a more attractive buyout candidate. Whatever it is, it’s a bold strategy, with no looking back. “We’re very much in a rebuilding phase,” says Clare. “People didn’t believe the series was going to reappear this year, and it required a commitment. Obviously we’ve been in a turnaround situation. Decisions were made whereby we provided support for certain teams. That situation is very much for 2003. We’re very aware that the situation has to improve for 2004. We’re concentrating on fixing the product and the package, but we’re also working closely on costs and cash-flow positions to make sure we are able to look forward to 2004 and 2005.”

Talk of 2005 leads to another well-circulated rumor: That Clare is Pook’s handpicked successor, and will take over the top post when Pook’s contract expires at the end of next year. “I wouldn’t say that’s part of the plan. There have been comments made there but I haven’t made them,” says Clare.

“One of the things I needed desperately was a chief operating officer who understands the big picture of where we need to take the company, and the nuances of this sport, because there are a lot of them that will trip you up and knock you down,” Pook told AutoWeek. “I clearly needed a right arm. David fit the bill.” Is Clare the heir apparent? “If the board of directors so deem it, he’d make a very fine CEO,” says Pook. <<

I add one point: After leaving F-1, Clare set out to promote the series in the Asia-Pacific arena through his own company based in Seoul, South Korea... !