Skaife set to retire (AAP)

[mountainstar]

I always respected his accomplishments if I never really liked him as a person.

Where it all went wrong was when he became a team owner. When you're a driver, you need to stick with the driving and all that goes with it rather than splitting your time and energies on managing a team. I think had not he been the one with the HRT burden on his shoulders he'd still be driving.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by FPRXR-6

I read on another forum that Skaife might have a special livery on his car for the final round at Oran Park which would be great.

Going by all the bad luck every other special livery has given the team, you almost wouldn't want to run it.

[Buckshot]

All the best Skaifey and like a lot of other posters here I'd like to thank you for all the great years entertaining us. I've met you twice and both times you were more than happy to pause for a photo with me or sign my hat. Thank you.

I am now however worried about billy bigtime, with Skaife retiring billy's life's work of whinging about Mark Skaife has come to an end. With his quest completed he'll be forced to roam the streets aimlessly turning into an empty husk of his former self. Or he could focus the same amount of effort he put into his constant whinging, name calling and stupid remarks and come up with a cure for cancer by say oh...next Thursday.

I think it will be the former though.

[mmciau]

Skaife was introduced on stage at the Launch. Spoke of the lead up and the decision based on his personal expectations.

Tander, Jack Perkins, Murphy, Holdsworth, Bright, Coulthard and Johnson were the drivers attending the speeches, glitz and glam show for 1H 30mins

Mike

[xrystl]

Originally Posted by Buckshot

I am now however worried about billy bigtime, with Skaife retiring billy's life's work of whinging about Mark Skaife has come to an end. With his quest completed he'll be forced to roam the streets aimlessly turning into an empty husk of his former self.

I think it will be the former though.

Fear not , HRT still exists and Murphy is always there as a backstop

[Pro Racer]

lets get Billy and Skaifey in a cage match.

Skaifey your great some might think your arrogant but when i've met you you not so those that think otherwise can get ****ed, go kill them in you last few rounds.

[cavvy]

Originally Posted by mmciau

Skaife was introduced on stage at the Launch. Spoke of the lead up and the decision based on his personal expectations.

Tander, Jack Perkins, Murphy, Holdsworth, Bright, Coulthard and Johnson were the drivers attending the speeches, glitz and glam show for 1H 30mins

Mike

Moving along, any idea who would have paid the drivers to be there ... Clipsal promotion budget, VESA promotion budget, the team budgets?

[GTRMagic]

Drivers would likely appear for free.. teams would be asking for their charges to attend to get "free" publicity...

[inpitlane]

Originally Posted by cavvy

Moving along, any idea who would have paid the drivers to be there ... Clipsal promotion budget, VESA promotion budget, the team budgets?

The drivers weren't paid, in fact it's an indication of the respect that many of them have for Skaife that they asked to come and some like Lowndes and Seton paid their own way to come down.
I asked Seto who organised it all and he said that nobody did it's just Skaife told the drivers at Indy that it was happening and several like he and Craig asked to be there.
One thing both Glenn and Craig said at the end of it all was that Mark had put in a lot of behind the scenes work on better conditions for drivers and teams and that he had been instrumental in getting Cochrane involved and pushing towards making the sport more professional, he also does a heap of charity stuff which was the main reason for the OA, not just his racing.
It was one of the things that I think surprised Skaife that so many people both from inside the sport and others like Gary Lyon and Nathan Buckley fronted.
It was a big turnout and surprisingly genuine from within the world of V8 Supercars, even Tony Cochrane almost lost it and Cromly did.
Skaife has never struck me as the warmest person in the sport but his emotion on the day was very real and his feelings about his fans came over clearly in his speech. It was a very classy goodbye (for now)

[cavvy]

IPL, I was asking about the Clipsal launch, however Gary Lyon, Nathan Buckley, Mark Skaife are all from Neds stable aka Craig Kellys management company.

Going back to Clipsal, who paid the air fares etc ... no issue, just curiousity.

[billy bigtime]

Interesting to note in his interview with Cromley, that Skaife mentioned his continued partnership in HRT with Tom. Whilst we all knew it I think this is the 1st time that Skaife has ever confirmed such partnership. All the interviews are now up on Bigpond.

[SSbaby]

Originally Posted by inpitlane

The drivers weren't paid, in fact it's an indication of the respect that many of them have for Skaife that they asked to come and some like Lowndes and Seton paid their own way to come down.
I asked Seto who organised it all and he said that nobody did it's just Skaife told the drivers at Indy that it was happening and several like he and Craig asked to be there.
One thing both Glenn and Craig said at the end of it all was that Mark had put in a lot of behind the scenes work on better conditions for drivers and teams and that he had been instrumental in getting Cochrane involved and pushing towards making the sport more professional, he also does a heap of charity stuff which was the main reason for the OA, not just his racing.
It was one of the things that I think surprised Skaife that so many people both from inside the sport and others like Gary Lyon and Nathan Buckley fronted.
It was a big turnout and surprisingly genuine from within the world of V8 Supercars, even Tony Cochrane almost lost it and Cromly did.
Skaife has never struck me as the warmest person in the sport but his emotion on the day was very real and his feelings about his fans came over clearly in his speech. It was a very classy goodbye (for now)

One of the reasons HRT recruited MS, as John Crennan put it, was for his business acumen and other skills. Not just his driving talents. He does have rare qualities for a top notch racer.

Although the fans probably favoured Lowndes more in the team, Crennan was of the view that Skaife was the complete package! Great for the team from an engineering perspective and potential sponsors.

[mayhem]

I was never a fan of Skaife as a driver, but I for one would LOVE him to be a fulltime commentator of the series at Channel Seven. There seems to be a good chemistry between him and Crompton behind the microphone, and I found him to be bi-partisan in his observations. It may be a bit of a step down for him, but TV viewers would be big winners IMO.