Pkvr Signs Jim Mcgee As General Manager

[Dov]

From CCWS.com:

PKV Racing owners, Dan Pettit, Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser made it official today by announcing that Jim McGee has assumed the position of General Manger of the team.

McGee, who celebrates his 47th year of competition in 2005, is the most successful Manager/Chief Mechanic in the history of Champ Car racing having amassed a total of 89 wins and nine national championships.

And all this time I thought he had signed with PKV Racing.

[Snrub]

I thought the same thing! I guess it wasn't formalized until now, but he appeared to be doing the job for a while now. Wasn't an article posted where KK said something like "that's why I hired McGee?"

[macdaddy]

KK clearly stated that McGee was onboard, way back when he was interviewed on WindTunnel. And then I distinctly remember reading an interview with Vasser (some weeks ago now), in which he said the same thing. And so I find this announcement rather strange.

[macdaddy]

The WindTunnel interview was back on November 18.
This article from the CC website is dated Nov. 23:

Kalkhoven confirmed on 'Wind Tunnel' last week that Jim McGee has come on board to run PKV Racing. McGee was on hand to run the Wirdheim/Dalziel test and Vasser says Champ Car racing's most successful chief mechanic/team manager will play a big role in making the decision about Vasser's partner for next season.

"McGee will have a lot of influence in the decision," Vasser says. "I think Jim can bring a new energy to the team. That's his reputation and his trademark and that was pretty apparent at the test. He creates an environment that a lot of people want to work in and a lot of people in the paddock and the industry strive to work with him. We expect him to make a huge difference for us next year."

Bringing in McGee and his people has resulted in the departure of some of the team's longtime employees going back to the PacWest days.

[Kicking-back]

I think this latest announcement is just formal confirmation of the title.

[macdaddy]

Yeah... I guess I started replying before having fully read the article.
My bad.

McGee has been a consultant for PKV Racing for the past two months.

And in that time he's practiced his vocabulary!

"I am very pleased and excited to be joining PKV Racing for the 2005 Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season."

Now take a deep breath and say that five times fast!

[Kicking-back]

And, significantly given a thread of a few days back, he says "powered by Ford"