Poll Topic: Who will win the Champcar rookie of the year?

[fannum]

Until CART owners start building something that will play with American audiences, who cares?

[Jay]

Just dump the ovals and bring in standing starts and begin to compete with F1. But, that is for another topic...

I would vote for Tora Takagi. I remember being impressed with him when he first came into F1, but then he just got lost in the Tyrell, and a strong 10th in Mexico is a good start.

[fannum]

I'd love to have an American series where the foreigners come to try our brand of racing rather than a series catering to foreigners that siphons off the money that could be used to advance home grown talent.

When Casey Mears couldn't get a ride, I totally gave up on CART.

[Airhead]

Hopefully Scott Dixon.

[R]

Probably Scott Dixon.

And - yeah, Casey Mears should have got a ride in CART.

[KC]

The biggest problem facing CART today is two fold.

It takes more than just driving skill to get a ride. Casey Mears has talent, but has no backing. Place yourselves in the shoes of the car owner. You are shelling out approximately 10+ million to field a team. Will you take the driver with skill and no money and struggle to compete because of the financial drain it represents, or will you take the driver with skill and sponsorship and use his money to augment your testing time and R&D so that you can pursue a championship? Sure it is very short-sighted, but that is also the nature of the business. What good does it do the owner if he does the "right thing" and puts in the most talented racer regardless of budget and helps to prop up the series only to go bankrupt before the year is out, when he can bring in a sponsored driver and race for the year on their money and should it all go bad, sell out and cut his losses.

Personally I'd love to see Casey Mears and Jason Lefler in CART, but it does no one any good if it crushes the teams they race for.

The other part of the equation is the lemming attitude of American firms sponsoring racing. Tide laundry detergent was much more eager to sponsor Scott Pruett in a non-competitive Winston Cup car that he could rarely make the field with than sponsor his CART effort. What is this? Is no TV coverage better than making every race like he would in CART? I don't think so. The telecommunications and e-business firms have taken over sposnorship areas in CART and the IRL while the some of the traditional beer, tobacco, and auto parts and service companies have left for NASCAR.

Some companies have left because NASCAR represents a better deal, like Valvoline, who was in financial disorder and needed to consolidate their efforts. They left Mark Martin's car for a less expensive Johnny Benson effort. But, not everything can be attributed to "its just cheaper."

If your argument is only based on the fact that you don't watch CART because there are not enough Americans in the show, then you are completely missing the reason behind the series. It has always been a national series with international flavor. Even before CART existed international stars like Jimmy Clark, Stirling Moss, and Nelson Piquet came over to do battle at Indy and test the waters in the American racing scene. The idea of a world-interest series with only Americans in it ruins the entire concept and reason to take the show outside the country. With global manufacturers Ford, Honda, and Toyota involved, it will be global whether anyone wants it to be or not, thus non-American drivers will desire to come and race in the series.

I personally love it. How would I have ever known of Greg Moore or Cristiano daMatta or Juan Pablo Montoya or Jacques Villeneuve or Emerson Fittipaldi or Nigel Mansell if these guys had elected to only race in Europe. Sure I would know them, but I am sure I would not have seen their skill in person like I have by having them compete in CART. The "not enough Americans" comments are usually being spewed by mealy-mouthed, narrow-minded reporters of questionable ability and a private agenda they shroud in hypocritic journalistic integrity. These guys all yearn for the days when A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti ruled and I have news for them, those days are gone. The racing is not the same, it will never be what it was.

[fannum]

Stirling Moss????????

We read different history books.

Seriously though, the problem is largely one of the car owner's making. No one has gone bankrupt in the series, and even the Coynes and Tony Bs have done well enough but the owner/promoter/series board member situation has driven the competition level into stratospheric heights. All the teams want that 'unfair advantage' by getting the demon tweak - engine, trans, tires, car, and the result is a cost cycle out of control.

Given restrictions on technology would even the field and help competition. With everyone offering a 3 liter street engine that is a good place to start. Sure, they would bear as little similarity to sedan engines as the Ford/Foyt twin cams of the seventies, but they could be aligned with the Infiniti/GM engines.

Let's deal with the rookies though. Some of them aren't bringing that much money, but are perceived to have the road course talent needed.

What's criminal is that CART played up the need for a farm club Formula Barber/Atlantic/Lights and then ignored their graduates. They seem to just want cheap warm up races. In a few cases they had stock car twin bills and were embarrassed by the difference in crowd enthusiasm.

[KC]

My error. I meant Graham Hill, not Sir Stirling Moss. Sorry about that.

It is indeed criminal that the Indy Lights, Toyota Atlantics, and Barber Dodge racers are seemingly being overlooked. However, CART cannot force the team owners to take a driver from the series. I do not know what the solution should be but to generalize it into a lack of American drivers is not the solution either as certain memebers of the racing press are wont is not the solution either. The majority of them point their collective fingers and criticize them without offering up solutions.

The ever-spiralling costs of motor racing will never change. Racing is expensive, it will always be expensive, no cost restrictions are going to change that. Any monies saved on engines, or chassis, or testing time restrictions will be spent in computer sims and product development. Formula 1 has proven that over the last 50 years. It has been and will remain like every other sport, a playground for wealthy entreprenuers and well-to-do racers. Ocassionally a racer like Memo Gidley comes along, but he will not get an even shake becasue he does not have the contacts and resources of a guy like Gualter Salles. That is not Salles's fault, nor is it Gidley's, but it is the way things are. How that can be changed I don't know unless CART themselves subsidize racers to fill their own fields.

[Liz]

Carl Hogan went bankrupt. He ran Helio with no sponsorship for most of the year and hung on grimly until he went broke. I suppose you flagwavers would have preferred that he go broke running Casey Mears, but he went broke running an exciting and talented Brazilian - who was hired by Roger Penske (instead of Casey Mears?) and who is probably going to win the Driving Championship this year. Which Casey Mears would not be doing.

Stirling Moss raced sports cars over here, didn't he?

As far as the topic goes, Scott Dixon gets my vote.

[SevenGrain]

Another problem is that CART markets itself so poorly that many American sponsors do not want to get on board. Look at how many sponsorless cars there were at Monterrey; Herta, Krumm, Servia, and Vasser( although he did get a one-off with a Mexican conveinence store). Face it, unless things change in CART, a sponsor gets more bang for their buck with Winston Cup racing. Sponsors want a big audience, on TV and at the track. Sure, Monterrey put up big attendence numbers, but at many tracks there are empty seats all over. And the TV ratings are poor as well. If CART were to market it's great product better, more sponsors would be willing to get on board, and the team owners might not feel forced into running a guy who can bring funding to the team. Talented drivers, regardless of Nationality, could have a better shot at getting a seat.