2004 OWRS Schedule ?!?!

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by Omega99
Cleveland has always been a great race, with or without the artificial lighting at night. But lighting it at night seems just like the kind of unneccessary expense OWRS intends to avoid. And hopefully Milwaukee is a little bit warmer this year, especially seeing as how it's the only oval race on the calender (unless Las Vegas speedway works out, though I sort of doubt it now)

I agree, Omega99....

Cleveland is my favorite race..save the $$$ that would be spent on lights for other costs of doing business...

and unless South Korea is a paying promoter that will take all of the risks and cover transport for the teams, forget about doing it untill OWRS gets a full season under its belt....

Those types of decisions would be ones that Pook would've made...don't make the same mistakes of the past!!!!

This is the chance to stabilize things...focus on what works well and will sell first...then go to the off-continent venues...

[jjspierx]

Any final confirmation of Portland yet? I just checked PortlandRaceway.com, and it still says the same thing as yesterday which is that the Champcar race is still tentative. But then again who knows how up to date their website is.

[zerO]

Latest info from Sebring points to a 15 race schedule for this season - only Australia will be a race outside of the N.American continent: no S.Korea and no S.Africa ?! - this is still subject to be confirmed, although I have it from a very reliable source.

zerO

[Hazza]

Originally posted by zerO
Latest info from Sebring points to a 15 race schedule for this season - only Australia will be a race outside of the N.American continent: no S.Korea and no S.Africa ?! - this is still subject to be confirmed, although I have it from a very reliable source.

zerO

Yes, this is no longer "CART" Circa 1999 - this is going to be a proper buisness: Establish - Stabilize - Expand

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by Hazza
Yes, this is no longer "CART" Circa 1999 - this is going to be a proper buisness: Establish - Stabilize - Expand

AMEN!!!!!!

Get everything squared away in the first year...then look to expand into new markets....that's smart!!!!!

[SurfaceUnits]

What could this mean?

[Tim Northcutt]

Question:

Is there a Private Promoter for Cleveland????

Or will this be a OWRS "Self-Promoter" event???

[macdaddy]

Did you make that, SurfaceUnits, or did you find it somewhere?

[SurfaceUnits]

Do I look like I eat kimchi?

[Dov]

Originally posted by macdaddy
Did you make that, SurfaceUnits, or did you find it somewhere?

SurfaceUnits got that from here... http://www.kmc-power.com/

[SurfaceUnits]

There is a Korean motorsport media site kmc-media.com

[indycool]

The lights at Cleveland came at a cost of something like $850,000, according to CART's second quarter 10Q from last year. Attendance difference as announced was negligible. Something that MAY have hurt the crowd was the Pepsi 400 was on live that night and some people probably stayed home to watch it. The Cleveland telecast was tape-delayed to Sunday. Last I heard, there was no promoter in Cleveland.

[zerO]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
Question:

Is there a Private Promoter for Cleveland????

Or will this be a OWRS "Self-Promoter" event???

"OWRS will not promote any of its races - those days are over." - said Paul Gentilozzi ?!

zerO

[Tim Northcutt]

That's what I understood....but if it is on the schedule, somebody has to be promoting it....

any word on who????

Just wondering....

[macdaddy]

MotoRock? (Again... just wondering).

[SurfaceUnits]

Champ Car World Series 2004 Grand Prix of Seoul South Korea

http://kmc-media.com/bbs/data/link/1...850/seoul1.jpg

http://kmc-media.com/bbs/data/link/1...850/seoul2.jpg

http://kmc-media.com/bbs/data/link/1...868/seoul3.jpg

Cheers

[Dov]

Originally posted by macdaddy
MotoRock? (Again... just wondering).

But MotoRock still falls under the OWRS banner....don't they!?

[jjspierx]

Originally posted by SurfaceUnits
Champ Car World Series 2004 Grand Prix of Seoul South Korea

http://kmc-media.com/bbs/data/link/1...850/seoul1.jpg

http://kmc-media.com/bbs/data/link/1...850/seoul2.jpg

http://kmc-media.com/bbs/data/link/1...868/seoul3.jpg

Cheers

Looks like Seoul is getting ready for something...too bad it looks like it might not happen. If they are willing to be pay for a race there, and its something like the $5m sanctioning fee rumoured, then I don't see why OWRS wouldn't want to go there.

BTW, what track is in Seoul that OWRS would race at? Is it a permanent road course of some sort?

[Tim Northcutt]

I understood the Korea event to be a street circuit in Seoul...

But I wouldn't bet my life on it...

[zerO]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
That's what I understood....but if it is on the schedule, somebody has to be promoting it....

any word on who????

Just wondering....

Whoever wants the race will promote it themselves - that simple... you want Champ Cars in your city ? - you promote it. period

Not only that: pay the piper ?! :idea:

No more begging and doing favors - those days are gone ?!

zerO

[zerO]

Originally posted by macdaddy
MotoRock? (Again... just wondering).

Motorock is part of Gentilozzi's "Motorock Trans-Am Tour" - they will run 6 races in conjunction with OWRS Champ Car World Series - most likely: Long Beach, St.Petersburg, Cleveland, Road America, Denver, and Laguna Seca... there is also a possibility of Toronto and Montreal being added... the final Trans-Am™ schedule has been announced yet... anyhow, Motorock is to be associated with Trans-Am™ and not Champ Cars - they are (almost) completely exclusive concepts ?!... Motorock is Gentilozzi's gig, Champ Cars is Kalkhoven's gig ?!

zerO

[zerO]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
I understood the Korea event to be a street circuit in Seoul...

But I wouldn't bet my life on it...

Yes, it's a street circuit - I posted a picture of it once, lost the URL - sorry, anyhow - it is really beautiful scenery, near water and all - the Koreans are extremely excited about it - too bad it may not happen this year ?!

zerO

[indycool]

Zero, NOT that simple because some of those cities don't want to take the risk of losing money.

CART self-promoted six races in '03, including Portland and Cleveland. Last I heard about Portland, some decision is going to be made by Friday by interests in Portland about whether to write OWRS the fat check and do it or pass.

There is no promoter in Cleveland. IMG kicked the rights back to CART for '03, then was hired to promote the race with CART taking the sole economic risk. Although there might be goings-on behind closed doors to find a promoter there, it's the same situation as Portland.

In St. Petersburg, Dover kicked the promoter rights back to CART and skipped town. Tom Begley is suing EVERYBODY over the promoter rights, wanting to regain them and also wanting to be paid by Dover, Pook, CART and whoever, alleging that the other entities "stole" the race from him.

In Las Vegas, no firm venue has come to the fore as yet And Gentilozzi hasn't been able to name one since the first CART announcement of LVMS being a "confirmed venue."

IMO, the Korea venue seems more "solid" than any of those.

Pook recreated deals to put down a promoter revolt over high sanction fees two years ago when he first took office and the promoters were losing money. The idea that OWRS can cross its arms and tap its foot in leverage over these promoters and threaten their races, like Gentilozzi has publicly done in Portland, makes their decisions about whether to hold a race or not quite easy, as Portland and Cleveland did for last year. Their answer is, "Why bother just losing money again? If YOU think it works, YOU promote the show and pay the bills."

[Tim Northcutt]

I just hope that we don't have to endure "CART -- The Sequel" when it comes to "self-promoting" nonsense....

It is not cost effective....

Seek Stability first, then go into the impressario side of the business once you have some capital to work with....

[jjspierx]

Originally posted by indycool
Pook recreated deals to put down a promoter revolt over high sanction fees two years ago when he first took office and the promoters were losing money. The idea that OWRS can cross its arms and tap its foot in leverage over these promoters and threaten their races, like Gentilozzi has publicly done in Portland, makes their decisions about whether to hold a race or not quite easy, as Portland and Cleveland did for last year. Their answer is, "Why bother just losing money again? If YOU think it works, YOU promote the show and pay the bills."

What are you talking about? OWRS hasn't threatened Portland publicly. If anybody did that it was Pook under CART. Pook basically told Portland that we needed to show CART that we wanted them back, and that Portland needed to make changes in how the whole event was run(not necessarily the racing aspect)to promote new sponsors, and to do a better job taking advantage of the events ability to attract new business in the area. I know that doesn't really make sense, why should Pook care how Portland uses a CART event to their advantage as long as CART is getting the check? Either way, thats basically what he said from his own mouth. I haven't heard OWRS say anything of the sort. As far as I know, they want to hold the event there, and its up to Portland to foot the bill or not. If I'm wrong and Gentilozzi HAS publicly threatened Portland like you said he had, please name your sources, or send me a link or something.

Portland has held the Champcar race in Portland, since 82 I believe. Its always had the same date(3rd weekend in June) and its the largest event in Portland's annual Rose Festival. Its by far the largest single event in Oregon all year long, and Portland has made a ton of money over the years on it. Portland knows its in its best interest to not lose this event. However, if the IRL has made an offer thats better, then I suppose its very possible that Portland might consider that.