"Starting Line Steve" Stopped

[TWRv12]

Steve Johnson is out and Tony Cotman is in as the day-to-day boss of the series.

Robin's rant:
http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/38690/

[Purist]

From his experience and what I've heard, I think Cotman is definitely a better choice for the position.

[carsten66]

This information is not correct... details are

INDIANAPOLIS (July 12, 2007) * Champ Car World Series President and CEO Steve Johnson announced today that Tony Cotman has been named Executive Vice President, Operations, effective immediately...

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...e.asp?ID=11873

[TWRv12]

I think it is. Johnson is no longer the day-to-day boss of the series.

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES NAMES TONY COTMAN EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS
Thursday, July 12, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS (July 12, 2007) * Champ Car World Series President and CEO Steve Johnson announced today that Tony Cotman has been named Executive Vice President, Operations, effective immediately.

Cotman, who has a long and distinguished career in motorsports, will be responsible for much of the day-to-day operations of the Series including legal, personnel, finance and marketing. He also will continue in his critical role as Race Director until he has identified a replacement and the best time to relinquish his duties.

CHAMP CAR UPDATE: Cotman Now Calling All The Shots


Johnson, the president and CEO since 2005, has been moved into sales.

"We addressed two problems," said Kevin Kalkhoven, co-owner of Champ Car along with Gerald Forsythe. "We needed somebody to run the day-to-day operations and we have a bunch of potential sponsors that need closing.

"Tony is a can-do type and a straightforward kind of person who gets things done. He's the best manager we've got so this was a logical step.

"And we've asked Steve to head up our sales activity."

The updated earlier story:

CHAMP CAR UPDATE: Cotman Now Calling All The Shots
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/38679/

[JohnSSC]

Of course, there was the same sort of excitement for the announcement of Johnson...who of course endorsed the notion of the 20 + car field for this season...

As long as the Kneifel-like decisions on race day continue to be made it is difficult to get too excited here. Bearing in mind that the owners of the series also run cars in the series makes it questionable as to what sorts of decisions will be made once the folks who sign the paychecks make their preferences known.

As Miller correctly points out, this has been an on-going problem - clear back to the CART days...

[thebear]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

Of course, there was the same sort of excitement for the announcement of Johnson...who of course endorsed the notion of the 20 + car field for this season...

As long as the Kneifel-like decisions on race day continue to be made it is difficult to get too excited here. Bearing in mind that the owners of the series also run cars in the series makes it questionable as to what sorts of decisions will be made once the folks who sign the paychecks make their preferences known.

As Miller correctly points out, this has been an on-going problem - clear back to the CART days...

And a prior thread when he joined "CART" predicted this based upon his "Performance" as President of the Sports Car Club of America.

[bil588]

What Johnson really that lazy as Robin said in the first link in this thread?

So Cotman is expected to be just as lazy?

People ought to check out the ridiculous calls in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series (Gainsco's penatly last week at Daytona vs. # 19 DP tagging Krohn's DP at Iowa today).

[thebear]

Originally Posted by bil588

What Johnson really that lazy as Robin said in the first link in this thread?.

I believe you meant "Was", not "What" in the above statement.

He was known in SCCA as an `empty suit'. You could have a conversation with him and anyone walking by could say something and he was gone to the next conversation without even saying goodby.

[TWRv12]

Robin's shoot first policy ricochet's in his direction

Walker walks back:
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/champcar/auto/38733/

[mountainstar]

When SJ came on back in 2005? I was like ok, fine. I knew of the Pro Rally debacle and some other issues but I had an open mind.

Last year, I saw 2 key deals that got done. The new car, which I think was needed and the ESPN/ABC deal. But as I've said before, after that it seemed there was ass slapping all around and hi-fives over those deals and then all was quiet until spring training. That was my perception. May be wrong, I don't know. I do know the schedule is a mess and SJ has made some fumbles along the way, especially sticking his foot in his mouth on several occasions.

I think all people have strengths and weaknesses. I don't think he was the right person to run the series. However, he may be a good person to do deals and do sales and it appears that's what his future is.

One example would be Chris Kneifel. He was a clusterbump as race director but is now doing a fantastic job on circuit design and management for champcar.

[f1manoz]

It's taking time for the right people to be in the right position for the series to develop. At least the owners are recognising the faults and trying to fix them.

Still a case of wait and see with the outcome.

There is always talk of sponsors, unfortunately. But fingers crossed there will be more positives soon.