Kirby Article (Aug 17th)

[Snrub]

I think this is a pretty interesting article with lots of meat in it for us to discuss: http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...le.asp?ID=9558

It looks like Red Bull is taking a serious look at Champ Car: Dr Helmut Marko You can be sure you will see us doing some very good things in this series.

"A number of teams from other series have approached us and I'm very confident that you're going to see several teams join the Champ Car World Series for 2006," Forsythe said.

Manning and Papis were both fishing for rides in Denver. Manning was chatting up PKV.

On PT:
"It's a little bit frustrating," Micklewright continued, "because anybody who's ever been involved in a race team knows that you wait and work towards having all the pieces of the puzzle to make the most of it and Paul is certainly a major piece in our puzzle. I think he has five or six years of being at the top of his game and being able to win races and championships in this series.

"So I get a little bit frustrated because when he wants to go try NASCAR it's almost like maybe he's crossing a bridge before he's actually got to it. Sure, he's looking to the future and what he might be able to do which is a little less demanding and I understand that, but it's hard for me to accept that he might give up being at the top of his profession for something that may or may not be beneficial four or five years down the road.

Thoughts, comments?

[SPRacer]

Lots of good, interesting points there.

I wonder if Red Bull are looking to up there sponsorship of A.J. Allmendinger. It would be nice to see him with a solid, full-time sponsor.

[Tenoch]

That would be nice but i dont think Reb Bull wants to just put money into an already exsisting team, I would think that they want to start their own team and run to their liking (is that a real word).

[BootsOntheSide]

Perhaps Liuzzi or Klien would join AJ in a Red Bull-backed team, be it a brand new entry or a buyout of an existing team. The only issue there is in AJ's links to RuSport. EuroInternational is one of the other teams that are keen to join the series, I wonder who the others are?

[Kicking-back]

Sierra Sierra possibly

[Alex K]

Red Bull stickers are on RiuSPORT mirrors, it looks like Red Bull to cover RuSPORT lolas, or RuSPORT Lola #10.

AFAIK Red Bull is ending their partnership with Cheever indy racing, so they have enough money to buy in CCWS.

EuroInternational is looking for stuff and pay drivers 'cause they have no money to buy the stuff.

[Omega99]

Hasn't there recently been talk of HVM changing to a European team? Could these rumors be linked?

[N I Tram]

Given enough money Keith Wiggins can run a strong team, so he'd be an ideal partner for a company like Red Bull - although can Wirdheim really be so unlucky as to be booted out by Red Bull 2 years running? It would also threaten Lavin's place, partly because they'd want someone more talented and partly because Red Bull are wary of their product being linked to alcohol.

[Snrub]

Recall that Bremer is confirmed for HVM in 2006, so there will likely be no Lavin there.

[Tenoch]

My guess for Rodolfo is that if he continues to perform as he has right now, he will find a way to anotehr team with a better budget for himself.

[Snrub]

Does anyone else think that Micklewright hit the nail on the head? That makes a lot more sense to me. Also imagine what happeneds if CC starts to become more successful. Forsythe might bring on a sponsor which could mean PT would earn more money. I believe I read that his last contract was worth $4M/year. Imagine if he started earning $6M or so. If you take a look at the top Nextel Cup earnings, PT wouldn't earn that much if he's consistantly towards the back of the field. It's also worth considering that improvements in CC sponsorship may mean larger winnings and the potential for more endorsements.

[mountainstar]

One has to remember with twice as many races(Nextel vs. Champ) the quality of life goes down because of the non stop travel.

Also racing in Champcar allows one more time to race in one-off events like the ROC, rallies, sportscar races etc. as several drivers have done over the past few years.

[Liz]

He may be getting bored though, he has mentioned that he has done all he can in Champ Cars. Maybe he'd just like a change. I'd like to see him do Baja or the Paris-Dakar, I know he'd do better than Robbie Gordon did and I bet he'd love it (meaning Dakar).