CART to lose Honda and Toyota????

[MaxSport]

Who will replace the engines that Toyota and Honda supply?
What events will replace Texas, Fontana, Detroit and Michigan?

Short CART stock.

Kurt Maxwell
MaxSport
Indianapolis,IN.

PS-See you at the 2003 Toyota Long Beach GP. First event of the IRL season.

[SevenGrain]

Toyota and Fontana are not going anywhere. Honda may go by the wayside, which would be unfortunate for CART. Detroit and Texas will by replaced by Montreal and Denver, both done deals for 2002. If CART lets Michagan go, it will be a bad move, but Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, and Kentucky Motor Speedway are all looking for a CART date.

The IRL at Long Beach? Wake up from your dream...

[Dave S]

Well, I guess they could race on Sat as a warm-up before the Indy Lights.

[MaxSport]

7 grain- how would you like to bet on it?

I will bet you $1000 U.S. dollars that there will be one Indycar series in N. America in 2003. Maybe you will be right about no IRL race at Long Beach, but it won't be a CART race either.

Who will replace the Honda engines? Who will replace the Toyota motors? CART is already a bad business model. No factory engines will make it an impossible situation. CART, as we know it, will be out of business.

"In my dreams"- Do you work in the business, 7grain?
Unlike you,I don't base what I say on what I want to see happen. I say things, and make decisions, based on the facts that I am hearing.

You are the one who is dreaming,7grain.

Kurt Maxwell
MaxSport
Indianapolis,IN.

PS- As the CART Indy Lights Series will no longer exist, I doubt that the IRL cars will be a warm up race for them.
"The punters are always the last to know"

[SevenGrain]

You know, there is no need to begin a urinating contest, and gambling is a disease.

Honda may be gone soon, and so may Michigan, but Toyota is a safe bet to stay, and the fact that the IRL is looking at Fontana does not mean that the CART date is in jeopardy, Fontana has sold 80,000 - 90,000 tickets over the past few years. The dates in Montreal and Denver are confirmed.

CART has it's problems,yes, and there is certainly some questionable decision making, but CART will not just disappear after next season. And you are entitled to think otherwise...but only time will tell

And since you asked, I do work in the business, I am a journalist and have been covering racing fo almost 12 years. I cover CART and NASCAR for The Morning Call, I also freelance for (among others)Autoweek, Racer, and Circle Track, and I have developed web content for Penskeracing.com and Fernandez.net. As a hobby I run CART pages, CART Racing Pools, and sell racing artwork.

Well, perhaps sometimes I do say something that I'd like to happen, but The Long Beach GP being the IRL season opener in 2003, that, my friend, sounds like something that you'd like to see happen...

[MaxSport]

7 Grain--I don't really desire to start a "urinating contest".
However, I do believe that it would be foolish to tell you to buy CART stock.

When I asked if you worked in the business, I should have said do you -REALLY- work in the business. I know of you and assumed that you must be hearing the same things that I have heard.

In my 13 years of doing sponsorships, many of them one offs for Indy, I have often been told that the 500 is half the reason for going Indycar racing. Without the Indianapolis 500, but with large budgets required, it is a hard sell to get sponsors involved.

If the factory engine deals are gone, even it is just Honda, the whole house of cards collapses.

As far as wanting CART gone and the IRL sanctioning Long Beach, that is not really my desire. In fact, I am a "CART" guy. I drove F-Fords and Karts in my twenties. Aside from the Speedway, they can close every oval in America as far as I am concerned.

What I would like to see is CART adapt the IRL rules and then focus on the road courses and street circuits. Become a western hemisphere F-1, if you will. Tony could run the ovals. Both racing circuits would come together for Indy, Michigan and Fontana.

What I actually see happening is a lack of direction at CART.
"The Captain" wants one series. CART teams and sponsors want to go back home to Indiana. Toyota are going to the IRL and would like the same engine formula for CART. As you know, Honda may just go away.

On the IRL side of the ledger-TG knows that the glamour was back at this years 500 because of the CART guys coming back. Bob Reif is a very sharp guy. He too knows the score as far as the 500 is concerned. He also knows that the IRL, as it sits, needs help.

My conclusion is that there will be one series. CART and Indy need each other. We can all put away the politics. I think the key people already have.

Kurt Maxwell
MaxSport
Indianapolis,IN.

[SevenGrain]

Max, you are right, CART needs Indy and Indy needs CART, look at the amount of unsponsored cars in CART, and look at some of the weak attendance numbers in the IRL.

There must one day soon be only one series, but I feel that even though reconciliation appears to be at hand,it is still as far away as ever. There has not been put forward a solid plan that every party can agree on. The so-called "Granatelli plan" was preposterous. To adapt the IRL engine spec and then have CART only run on road courses and IRL run the ovals. Teams with more money could "cross-over" as many events as they would like.

Many of CART's drivers, team owners, and engineers feel that the IRL 3.5 litre N/A engine,while it is a fine engine on ovals, is not suited well for road course racing. So, if CART races only road courses and the IRL teams only ovals, why adopt the IRL rules? They might as well keep the current formula and buy Indy only equipment. Heck, that's what they are doing now.

The politics are set aside, but the differences remain. Philosophy, Tracks, Cost Factors, these are all sticking points to reconciliation. Yes, Mr. Penske wants one series, but his vision of one series differs from Mr. George's.

CART's proposed engine plan for 2004 would still require modifications to run at Indy. A bad idea? It was meant to keep Honda happy, but if Honda still goes away, why bother. If Honda can be kept in the series, however, it must be done. Honda spends more time and money marketing CART than CART does marketing itself.

Will new engine manufacturers step in? Who knows, both Mazda and VW are exploring ways to enhance their image as a performance marque. Mazda has, in fact, recently purchased the naming rights to the Laguna Seca circuit, and they have strong ties with Ford. BMW, sells a ton of cars in the U.S., with an Indy-ready engine package, they might give it consideration. Will Mazda, VW, or BMW look to go CART Racing? Pure speculation...but not out of the realm of possibility.

MaxSport, you and I actually agree upon more than we disagree on, You and I both know that there will, one day, be either one open wheel series, or no open wheel racing series. I think you are just a little more optimistic about reconcilliation happening sooner rather than later.

And how many shares of CART Stock are in my portfolio? Zero...

[MaxSport]

It seems that things might come together sooner than you think.

It would also seem that I should be glad that you did not take me up on my bet! If an agreement to cooperate happens, CART will still have the road courses and street circuits.

I can't agree with AutoRacing1.coms thinking about running 24 events, with half being held overseas. Races in Mexico,Brazil and Canada are fine. The existing OZ and Japan dates are OK, but further foreign expansion only drives up costs and makes it more difficult to raise the budget required.

Mark has obviously never tried to get marketing folks in several markets to agree on what they will contribute to a project. If one autonomous manager in say...Mexico.. says no,then the whole thing can disappear before your eyes.

Besides, there is already this little series called the Formula 1 World Championship. CART should focus on this hemisphere, if not just N.America.

Kurt Maxwell
MaxSport
Indianapolis,IN.

[tanalised]

Well that was one of the more enjoyable reads I have had on these pages; I think I learnt more in 6 paragraphs than all of this current season, which is about the time I've been interested in Cart. Solely due to the fact that NZ's brightest racing hope in years Scott Dixon is in the series. Thanks Max and 7 grain for your insights into this racing league

[floid2000]

What a pity.....It was a great series