Still hope for Road America!?

[Dov]

Nabbed from CW:

A visit to Road America......
Meeting with Road America’s president was very informative. First off, he states that the track does want Champ Car on the schedule. Although the nature of the press release may lead us to think otherwise, it boils down to business issues. PG wants R/A to honor C^RT’s contract, R/A would like to see a new contract with the new series owners. PG and GB have been in contact and are aware of each others situations. The lines of communication are there. It is very unfortunate that the two sides can’t find common ground for our sake, Every day that passes will result in smaller attendance should the race be held. Same thing happened last year.

The subject of fan reaction is kind of touchy. GB knows the value of the paying fan base, that didn’t make his decision any easier. Publishing and circulating an event scheduled with a TBA listed is not the way he wanted to proceed. Road America is a relatively small operation and must act in the best interest of the company. If he thinks that letting the series go is best (for whatever reasons) for the track, that’s what will happen. My hunch is that there will be a compromise and a race.

I walked away from our meeting with a much better picture of why the all the fuss. That said, it still stinks…..for everybody including the track. Many have said that this could have been avoided with at simple phone call, it’s deeper than that. There is a bright side though. After the court bull is done, PG could call GB and have this thing put back together in a few minutes. Both of these guys have what the other wants. Champ Car needs Road America , it’s the best road course around. Road America wants/needs an event that can be profitable and keep it on the map hosting top shelf international motor sport. Both of those guys need to bend a little and get it done.

EARL to R/A and rumors of negotiations are bul**hit, that was made quite clear to me. My take on the deal is simple, R/A would rather have no race at all than take a loss again (with current C^RT contract). Crapwagons are not set for road courses yet. I’m told that they lack sufficient gearbox development and the new engine formula isn’t optimized for turning right. A new contract from OWRS more to the liking of R/A would most certainly change GB’s tune. There’s already a Champ Car fan base to continue. Some damage has been done for sure. I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet. My spin detector was pretty quite through the whole meeting. If what George told me are all facts, there’s still hope.

I’m not defending the track’s actions, just passing on items of interest. Both sides have legitimate gripes and the fans suffer for that. Don’t expect any closure on this deal until after the OWRS deal is done. I’ll add more to the discussion as we go on.