Chris Pook - Effective CEO?

[sr230772]

is chris pook good,bad,clever or dumb

[Tim Northcutt]

Apparently he is now:

Incognito...

He wasn't here in Indy when discussions were being held lat last week on what the CART Board will do to facilitate the Series being able to move on via the OWRS buying of certain assets, etc...

But sinc ethat isn't a choice, "Dumb" was my 1st pick, followed closely by "bad"....

The other two aren't even on my radar after looking at the financial results from the past year....

[BootsOntheSide]

All the evidence sugegsts that CARt wouldn't've reached 2003 had he not been in charge. He galvanised some of the teams, set up teh works deal with Ford, adn used the ESP to fill the grid.

Likewise, had they hired him a year earlier instead of Heizler, I'm not sure the problems with Toyota and Penske would've happened. Heizler's man-management was very poor and he didn't seem to understand the bigger picture. Pook had a long-term plan to differentiate the series from the IRL, and maybe his legacy will produce something positive.

Mods, can this thread have a more descriptive title?

[f1manoz]

Pook did the best he could in a bad situation. The only bad thing he did, in my opinion, was spend all of CARTs money this year. But, in some ways, it was the only thing he could do to guarantee the series this year.

Pook worked tirelessly for the cause this year and I thank him for his efforts.

[Flatspot]

Pook did what he needed to do to keep the ship afloat for as long as possible with other peoples money. In the meantime he collected himself a handsome check. I'd catagorize that as clever.

[camcartfan]

Without Pook, there would've been no 2003. I applaude him!

[GP Racer]

I think Pook was CART's biggest fan, and he rolled the dice for it this year, all or nothing.

Unfortunately, I think we lost... Bad but clever.

[macdaddy]

What camcartfan said.
Things looked pretty bleak one year ago today.
The board was full of happy trolls.
Few thought that there would still be a CART to talk about today.
I believe that he had no choice BUT to spend the money.
Otherwise, there'd have been twelve cars and tons of cancelled events.
The life expectancy was extended by at least one year.
And for that, I give him thanks.

[Jordi]

Clever enough to make a racing season out of pretty much nowhere...

[Snrub]

In some ways I think he did a good job overall, but I'm not sure what the plan was regarding spending every last cent CART had left. One would have thought that he'd have tried to have enough to get to 2004. There was no reason for the extravagance of Europe, Milwaukee, Cleveland and he could have cut a few races more than the European ones out.

[macdaddy]

Milwaukee's lights are built-in, but I totally agree about Cleveland. It was quite the spectacle, no doubt, but it was also terribly expensive. Hard to justify when a few months later you find your self in default.

[sgjb]

He did a great job in regards to getting racing in place for 2003. I am a cart fan and am thankful for that.

But as for a CEO he did a TERRIBLE job. Spending all that money with no real plan other than getting through the year is not smart.

All race fans will be mad at this statement because
your answer is that if he didn't, their wouldn't have been a season and the possibility of the buyout, now on the table would never have happened.

This is all true but a CEO's responsibility is not really to the fan but to the shareholders. He should have seen that spending that kind of money with no offers on the table prior to 2003 meant they shouldn't have proceeded. They should have shut down operations and distributed the cash to the shareholders last year at this time.

A new buyer(some existing shareholders) knew the only way they could ever take control or do a buyout, was when CART was on it's last legs. they wouldn't have paid the money for the asset last year as it was worth too much. Pook was just a pawn in a game that allowed alot of shareholders to lose alot of money. He was played very well and has accomplished all of his goals.

[macdaddy]

Ten years from now, hopefully we'll reflect upon Chris Pook as the saviour.
Only time will tell.

[Fogelhund]

http://www.cart.com/About/OfficeAdministration.asp

Pook has been removed from the Cart Website.

[GTRMagic]

If I were an investor in CART Inc, would it not be a question for me to ask whether Mr Pook purposely followed this track to get the investors in OWRS to pick up the pieces at a good price?

[Liz]

Clever would be my vote. Not "smart" but clever enough to weave his way through a minefield without getting blown up more than once or twice. He had a kind of loose tongue and his behaviour in Vancouver was hardly CEO like, but by and large I think he saved CART when nobody else would touch it. We will live to bless him especially when the truth is eventually known.

[Jay]

He took lots of risks and some of them payed off in that we're still here.... others didn't in that the series will have to be burned down to be saved.

[Snrub]

Originally posted by macdaddy
Milwaukee's lights are built-in, but I totally agree about Cleveland. It was quite the spectacle, no doubt, but it was also terribly expensive. Hard to justify when a few months later you find your self in default.

I believe Milwaukee was the largest temporary lighting project until Cleveland happened. Don't have proof of that, but it was definately temporary: http://www.musco.com/newsev/cart.html

[macdaddy]

I stand corrected. I really thought Milwaukee's lights were permanent.

[climb]

I think that Pook leaves CART in a not worse position thann CART was in when he was appointed.
At least he behaved seriously, and gave CART some credibility.
Could he have done more/better? Who knows; anyways it's undisputable that at the time of his appointment the situation already was largely and deeply compromised.