FedEx stays on board for 4 more years

[KC]

FedEx has announced they have signed a another 4 year deal to be the title sponsor of the CART World Series. Strange in this time when so many are pointing at the deise of CART that they can keep a title sponsor. Has CART shown FedEx something that they have not shown the rest of us?

Thanks FedEx.

[domaza]

Who are pointing to CART demise? IRL forks and ESPN "journalists" - I quess you know why FedEX is back for next 4 years and other good things are happening in CART... Stock is up, Vannini is reforming CART management and CART.com Online-Store is finally opened SO lets get back to CARTing in 2002

[KC]

Amen.

[Emfa]

Originally posted by KC
Thanks FedEx.

Indeed. I might write and let them know that it's appreciated.

Originally posted by domaza
Who are pointing to CART demise? IRL forks ...

I've never heard them called that before, but maybe it's appropriate?

[KC]

I encourage anyone to email FedEx to express your opinion of their renewal.

FedEx Press Agent can be reached at

cbrichards@fedex.com

Something else that seems to point that somebody gives a damn about CART is that deFerran has been interviewed over 30 times this week by various worldwide media outlets. He is today in New York and is scheduled to appear on the Letterman Show as Liz noted elsewhere as well as the Early Show tomorrow morning. He is also touring the attack site to hand over the $500,000 dollar check to the relief fund raised by CART, CART charities and the various sponsors. He is also being interviewed by ESPN for their radio shows, Sportscenter, RPM2Nite, and a few other New York based media outlets. Quite a bit of hubbub over a foreign driver in a series that no one cares about.

[Jimmyz360]

Are u kidding CART is a huge series...I knew CART wouldnt die because look at the number of fans at each race. Sure a couple people may leave but CART is more than engines, we still have chasis' and tires and drivers and some of the greatest road courses. CART just needs to reform its management and stop with the stupid decisions. I think Bridgestone renewing and Fedex renewing really helps the PR not neccessarily the series, because it is bigger than a few engines and teams.

[djb]

Good for them is all I can say. Felt strongly enough about it that I did write a short note to the given address.

Good idea Mr. KC

[macdaddy]

Great news! A ray of sunshine on an otherwise unpleasant day. Kudos to FedEx, and I'm gonna go drop them a line to tell them so...

[MaxSport]

Breaking news--Fed Ex signs sponsorship extention.

The only problem is that the Fed Ex sponsorship is mostly a trade out that allows the cars to be shipped to places that most of the sponsors don't want to go.

I do agree that if Vannini the Weenie continues his complaining he will likely get control of CART. The problem there is that he will have no cars racing there.

Vannini seems to want the same costly formula and expensive overseas events that are causing CART the problems they have now. That is not going to work CART fans. Just ask the teams and the sponsors if you don't believe me.

If CART wasn't already dead, Vannini will kill it for sure. He has now ****ed off a group of very arrogant owners. Nice move, Vannini.

Carl Haas may soon be forgeting all those bad things he said about TG after Vannini kicks him off the CART board. Milwaukee just may be the first Indycar stop after the 500 once again.

There is nothing worse than someone who has made money in another arena coming into a sport they don't really understand. They ASSUME that just because they have succeeded elsewhere that they must be able to handle motorsports many problems. Maybe Vannini should call Don Panoz and ask him how easy it is to come in and push your weight around.

What is wrong with cost effective 3.5L NA engines and a chance to please the sponsors by going to the Indianapolis 500, Vannini?

Don't buy what I am saying? Check out Brock Yates article at SV on line.

Anyone like to bet that I am right about all this?



Sorry to interupt this feel good circle jerk- we will now continue with the regular programing...


Kurt Maxwell
MaxSport Motorsports Marketing
Indianapolis,IN

"The poor punters are always the last to know"

[Liz]

Thank you, Kurt, for injecting the usual 'WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!' note into our efforts to keep the sport we love operating the way we love it. If you hate Champ Cars and exult in their demise, that's certainly your right. However, most of us who dislike NASCAR don't spend our days in the NASCAR forum running their series down and telling the NASCAR fans how delusional they all are because their series really sucks and nothing will save it.

We are working to save Champ Cars and you are happy to see it destroyed and already dancing on its grave. You have plenty of company but fortunately you're only part of a loud minority so far.

So please ... give us a break.

Thank you.

And I'm writing to FedEx too. So there.

[KC]

Your question was...

What is wrong with cost effective 3.5L NA engines and a chance to please the sponsors by going to the Indianapolis 500?

Hell, baseball is losing its market place in America, why don't they all just go and play football. Thats is how I see giving in to tony george.

The thing is it does not please all the sponsors and the 3.5 liter NA engine has not proven to substantially cheaper to run. Is doing this worth alienating Ford and Honda? By alienating Ford you also lose Visteon, a subsidiary of Ford Electronics. What sponsors do you gain by moving to the IRL? Tae-Bo? The majority of the teams are unsponsored or only semi-sponsored. I don't really see the great benefit other than the tarnished cachet of being at the Speedway.

Certainly by being at Indy a team gets a ton of coverage on ABC Sports, but even that is nowhere like it used to be back in the 80s. But, if ABC Sports had not been so interested in damaging the credibility of CART (along with its waffling franchise owners, blame where it is due) the series would be the marketting tool it used to be. So why would anyone want to get back into the same old situation they are just now getting out of by leaving ABC Sports?

Certainly the FedEx deal does not net the teams a check, but it does save them a ton of money in shipping fees. The races in Japan and Australia are huge successes with large crowds and tons of local TV. Too bad we can't get any decent coverage of it over here. The races overseas pay about 2 times the normal sanctioning fees as a domestic event to defer the costs of travel. The companies involved benefit from international exposure. Apparently Target's involvement in CART has opened stores in Australia and expanded their market. I am sure that a huge portion of Target's consumer goods partners also benefit as the stores need stocking.

Maybe this is a circle jerk of hopeful fans. However, every sponsor no matter how small or how significant strengthens CART's ability to remain free of the yoke of Tony George and the IRL.

[Liz]

Agree 100% with what KC said. Patronize the sponsors and let them know you do! Choice is good! That's why we have 500 television channels and one 1... and that's what drives the Internet!

Don't fear choice. And don't think you are helpless in the face of change. Remember Jimmy Carter's pronouncement that America would go metric in 1976? Remember the $1 coin? We said NO and it was NO.

We can do it this time too.

[MaxSport]

If this were the CART web site, I might agree. It is not that, it is the "Indycar" forum here on 10/10ths.

Indycars are what race at Indianapolis,right? So it would seem to be a place to discuss what is happening in both series, even the current non-Indycars of CART.

While I prefer CART to IRL, the facts are that for economic reasons, CART will fail. I don't care if there are 300,000+ "fans" at Mexico City next year, as Autoracing.1 predicts. There will be no teams there in the years to come as they-

A.Haven't the sponsorship pesos to compete in CART.
B. Do have sponsors but, who only give them so many pesos and who don't care about racing in Mexico, much less Japan,Germany and the UK.
C.Prefer to race at Indy and/or have a sponsor who wants that to happen, so they buy IRL cars and race in the IRL.

If you have no teams, a Fed X deal to ship cars to places the teams and their SPONSORS don't want to go is pretty worthless isn't it?

If you upset-Haas, Ganassi, and maybe even his "ally" Gerry F., that is a sure way to end it all. They are team owners. Again, no cars--no CART.

Liz, I am not slamming as much as I am slapping you all in the face and saying that you need to wake up. I am not the enemy, just the messenger who has been telling you that this would all happen.

It all comes down to money and the teams needing a more cost effective formula. KC says that it will cost as much for 3.5L NA motors in the end. Let's say he is right. There are still the issues of travel to markets that their sponsors don't care about AND the fact that the current cars can't run at the Indianapolis 500, which the sponsors DO care about.

You fans only care about seeing what you want to see on TV. This is not a big sandbox that mom can fill with Hotwheels cars that cost a few bucks just for your entertainment. The money has to come from somewhere. It is called sponsors. The sponsors who pay for it are driving the train.

The only way to save CART is to get rid of, not up the number of foreign events. Adapt the IRL formula and work together on a schedule that has no conflicts with IRL events. CART handles road courses, IRL the ovals and they all come together at Indy (and maybe two other ovals that create a Triple Crown that would be popular and good for the sport).

TG needs the CART teams. He will not have a 25/8 rule at the Speedway as the TG haters predicted. So the timing is right as far as approaching TG.
Instead of letting TG end up running the whole thing,with no or probably fewer road course events, why not be smart and save CART?

Mr. Vannini is not the savior. He may be the final destroyer of CART. Mark my words.

The bottom line is that the Fed X news means little as there are bigger problems that outweigh the value of free shipping.

KM

PS-
Autoracing.1 has fed the flames for too long. This guy has no clue. He interviews Heitzler and Vannini, who know nothing themselves,and acts like he is on top of it all.
Then he mentally masturbates in public and passes it off as news. Because it is on the internet "it must be true", seems to be the thinking amongst fans.

Judge for your self. Has anything Mark C. said would happen come to pass? 1.8 turbos at Monza. Right. So don't listen to him now.
Once again,the team sponsors are the key. No teams equals no CART.

[KC]

I have never said that CART cannot be run more effectively, run cheaper and be a better series for it. However, where is the track record for the IRL? All it has to offer is Indy. The rest is in far worse shape than CART has ever been. Lack of sponsorhip, lack of competition from the rest of the field, non-existent crowds, and TV viewership that fails to register a rating. So why is it so imperative that CART become the road racing version of the IRL. Nothing is keeping any of the sponsors from racing at Indy now and yet the majority of them abstain. Ford and Honda do not care about it anymore or they would be there waiting in line on qualifying day. Like it or not they are two of CART's biggest sponsors. What is keeping Texaco or Motorola or Miller from being involved? They all know that in the end they are better off in CART, as bad as it is.

So it all comes down to some pie-in-the-sky ideal of Indy being the one great race. Tony George turned it onto just another superspeedway event with an arcane method of qualifying when he changed the rules. Its his track and he can do with it as he pleases. In fact, he is the little kid in the sandbox playing with the hotwheels cars his momma bought him.

The franchise owners are the ones who wanted the races outside North America and are the only ones in position to take them away. So if they can't afford them, why do they keep on wanting to do more? because they are making money on them as well as the races in the home market. They are beholden to their sponsors, so why aren't the sponsors telling them to stay home instead of sending them off the Europe and Australia and Japan? No one is forcing the sponsors in CART to stay in CART, they want to.

[MaxSport]

KC-CART came up with the events. They saw an opportunity to make money.
Ask the teams, at least now, and they will tell you what sponsors are saying about overseas jaunts.

Marlboro is the only the first to go in a different direction, trust me.

I agree that all TG currently has is the Indy 500. However, when CART fails, he will have all the teams, drivers and the tracks as well.

The only way CART won't fail is to change and in turn cooperate with the IRL. But it may be too late. I think that TG smells a wounded zebra and may go for the whole deal.



Liz-what is it that you are doing for CART except putting the 1000LB gorilla down and telling us the way you think it should be.

Just because I tell you the truth does not mean that I hate Champcars or that am dancing on any grave.

The only dancing is a result of seeing that the Indycar war will soon be over!

I have a letter of intent from a major (2m) sponsor for an Indy 500 effort that I just received by e-mail today. I doubt that they would have been interested, but for the the news that the Marlboros,Targets and many others will again be at the 500.

If potential sponsors can see that there is no longer an "inexpensive" but cheesy IRL or an "overpriced" and out of touch CART, but a new era of cost effective, professional Indycar racing, we will all be better off.

There is no question that you are an American. Most Americans need to have an enemy. I don't have any side but my own. I don't understand the need to take sides. It is just a business for me. I have no agenda, except making money. So why would I lie to you?

Your emotional thinking and need to "shoot the messenger" mentality don't matter to me. I just report what I see happening.

I am sorry that what you want isn't happening. You can't change what IS already occuring with a "lets all sign a petition" and "tell them how we feel" campaign. We are not talking about saying no to new Coke.
This is much different.


Reality- what a concept.
KM

[KC]

I can see the business side of the issue. I can understand why Marlboro wants to be at Indy, even though I think they are mistaken. Tony George is dying to get Marlboro involved because it lends his series credibility, something it does not have now. However, I also have an emotional stake in this issue and so does every owner, driver and team involved. I am a fan and so are they. Their business may force them to make a hard decision and that decision may force one on me.

What I am saying is that there is no proof that TG's IRL is a better deal than CART. Somebody has sold to Marlboro that it is and they will take their chances. They can afford to. Where is the proof that 3.5 liter NA motors are cheaper? Provide better racing? None of that is visible in the IRL now. Where is the proof that the Indy 500 will return to its former glory? It surely will not. Ever. More people saw the F1 race at Indy than the Indy 500 and CART, the IRL and F1 will not make a dent in the juggernaut NASCAR is in America. So why bother with it at all? So far I have seen and heard people say they all want to be at Indy. Why? If Marlboro and any other sponsor wnats ot go to Indy they have every chance to do so.

Some info on the side. Penske is making a strong alliance with Kelley Racing and Ilmor to build their engines. Kelley Racing is already the strongest team in the IRL and with the addition of Penske and now Mo Nunn Racing in their engine program they will soon dominate the IRL landscape. Is this the goal of TG? Allow Penske, Kelley and Nunn to eliminate all the lesser teams in the IRL? Is this how being at Indy makes it all better for sponsors and teams? That is what is going to happen. These three will raise the bar on engine development so dman high that no one will be able to compete without paying Ilmor an exorbitant fee for engines and then they will still not have the latest version reserved for their three biggest customers. The IRL does not cap the price of engine development, just the cost of buying the engine kits from Infiniti and Chevrolet. Is this any different than what CART is accused of now?

[MaxSport]

I think that you may be right about engines and the costs going up as the Penskes etc. enter the scene.

TG may want the series to move up a step or two. That should please CART fans who feel that the presentation is lacking.

While Menard,Foyt,Galles,Cheever,Panther and a couple of others will survive the raising of the bar, many IRL teams will go away.

Cost effective means being able to raise the dollars needed to fund a competive effort.It doesn't mean cheap or 2nd rate. 3-5m is possible in IRL. Indy is worth 2-3 alone to the right company or companies. 10-12m in CART is nearly impossible, especially with no Indy 500 and trips to places that American companies don't care about.

While the first IRL cars sucked, the new ones look and sound better. The 2003 cars will be better yet. Better cars and better teams will make a difference.

KM