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April 2004
QUIZ for when you're at the track:
1. place your empty pork rind bag safely away so that it doesn't blow out on the track? 2. or take one swig outta your 16 oz. PBR then make like G.I. Joe and "toss the grenade"?
If you chose 1, then you are a good race fan.
"It was not an easy decision," said Buhl, 40, a Detroit native and Cleveland resident. "My life has been racing, but personal goals continue to evolve for all of us. I remember when my goal was just to drive in the Indy 500. Now I’ve started in the front row, started in the back row, and I’ve led the race. I may leave some unfinished business at the Brickyard, but this is the right decision for everyone -- my family, my team, and me. I’m healthy, happy, and walking away on my own terms."
Kimi dnf'd again(!) with another blown Mercedes engine. BAR Honda continues to show well with both drivers in the points and Jenson Button on the podium, in third behind the two Ferraris (again). Ralf got punted aside when he tried to close the door on Takuma Sato. In answer to my query on the grid girls in Bahrain, they DID appear, but instead of appearing as models or cheerleaders, they were decked out like wacs!
Is he getting his tatooes out of a box of Cracker Jacks? :-)
They don't like booze, and are actually forbidding the traditional spraying of some Mums champagne on the winners podium! I wonder how they'd react if I showed up with a cooler of beer? "Off with the infidel's head!!" Now the question is what will they do with the F1 pit babes; dress them from head to toe in sheets? Speaking of new tracks, F1 plans to race in that vast communist land known as China. You would think that their tobacco sponsorship would be safe in this land of smokers, but no. Groups within China are demanding that no tobacco sponsorship be allowed - they may lose their race before they even get it.
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March 2004
Paul said, "The team is back to work, searching for the proper funding to run beginning in May. "We have a few opportunities that we are currently working on, and we have some good people helping us with those opportunities. "We have been speaking with a couple of drivers that would like to work with us, and that have some experience with our team."
Must be nice.
Team Rahal will field two Honda G-Force Indy Cars for the remaining 14 races of the 16-race 2004 IRL season. The driver and primary sponsorship for the team's newest entry is being finalized and will be announced shortly. The team currently fields the No. 15 Pioneer/Argent Mortgage Honda G-Force for Buddy Rice who is filling in for the injured Kenny Brack. The team will campaign a third car in the Japan Indy 300 (April 17) and the Indianapolis 500 (May 30) with Roger Yasukawa. Team Rahal leaves their CART Mexican driver and sponsor behind.
Also announced is a new "turbo-power-button" for their cars which will increase turbo pressure allowing the cars to have a squirt of more speed. Each car will only be allowed to use the button for a total of 60 seconds during a race. An interesting idea I've seen in cartoons. Perhaps they'll add a button that will raise the car up 6 feet above the wheels, so that they can drive over the top of the driver in front of them! Oh, and let's not forget the spill-oil-on-ground button to make the competitors behind slide!
Could this be CART's new Lola?
Fernández Racing and Super Aguri Fernández Racing recently moved into a new 27,000 sq. ft. race shop in Indianapolis.
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February 2004
Scott Sharp also has a new chief engineer: Andy Borme, who was Castroneves' engineer in his two Indianapolis 500 wins!
PDM will have sponsorship from the British Tourism Board, which was a collaborative effort between the team and David Chapman of Go Britain Racing. “PDM was the appropriate team to approach,” said Chapman, who noted that Go Britain Racing was a minor sponsor of the PDM car with Ed Carpenter for the final three races of the 2003 season.
They showed Air Force One taking off as he left. (I bet if he was at Indy, he'd have stayed till it was over. ;-) I liked the guy coming down from space in the jetpack. Michael Waltrip did the Daytona infield catch dirt and flip routine. Little E won his first Daytona 500 where his daddy finally won in 1998 and where he raced his last race in 2001. And the last thing I'll remember is the bad taste, as Tony Stewart referred to John Andretti as terminally stupid, in the post-race interview to the entire world even though Tony placed 2nd. Stewart ran into the back of Andretti in days past, and now he's blaming and slamming him.
But you can't have your cake and eat it too. With Sarah's entrance into the team, what is to become of Al Unser, Jr.? (Scott Sharp is definately retained.) I hope he lands somewhere good.
* Scoring will change somewhat. Instead of drivers getting just a point for finishing in the rear, now all finishers in spots 19-24 will get 12 points each and finishers in spots 25-33 will get 10 points each.
The conditions in the Rolex 24 were grueling, with most of the race held under cool temperatures, wind and rain. During the early morning hours, the race was run under caution for about 2 ½ hours and at 7:38 a.m., for the first time in 15 years, the Rolex 24 was red flagged for standing water. At 10:30 a.m., the race resumed setting up a two hour, 42-minute sprint to the finish. Other Nascar drivers participating: Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Petty, and Robby Gordon. Indycar drivers also participating: Arie Luyendyk Jr, Scott Dixon, Scott Sharp, Didier Theys, Anthony Lazzaro, Stephan Gregoire, Max Papis and Scott Pruet. Paul Newman also drove.
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January 2004
Judge Otte has decided that the open-wheel war will continue, discounting today's higher bid by the IRL of $13.5 million for the assets AND liabilities of CART, and awarding them to OWRS. Apparently the deciding factor being that OWRS would try and honor the contracts with the tracks to run races there this year. This may make Nascar and F1 happy for another year, assuming OWRS has enough money to actually start up a new league, get races, and buy airtime. It really doesn't matter though. I don't think the League Formally Known as CART will be any more capable of garnering open-wheel fans in 2004 than they were in 2003. After they go bankrupt next year, the IRL will have what they wanted, unified open-wheel racing in North America, and will have saved themselves $13.5 million. (Interesting note: Roger Penske sold his CART stock for $19.5 million, before moving to the IRL.)
"I committed to the Indy Racing League 10 years ago, not 10 months ago. I am very committed to making sure open-wheel racing succeeds, and the IRL is on a very firm foundation going forward. We've got the right path to be successful, and we will be." Both sides are saying they are ready for a bidding war come Wednesday, when the bankruptcy judge must decide.
"
The Indy Racing League has made an important decision and I want you to know what it is and the reasons for it.
We have decided to bid on certain assets of the bankrupt CART racing series.
Let me give you background on this decision.
Since 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been the primary steward of open-wheel racing in America. For the last 59 years, the Hulman-George family has taken enormous pride in operating IMS for the benefit of American auto racing. As part of that stewardship, it proved necessary to respond to problems undermining open-wheel racing. The Indy Racing League was founded in response to these concerns.
While the Indy Racing League was intended to serve racetracks and markets not served by CART, it was treated as an enemy by CART and by some others. We never measured our success against CART's, since we compete against all forms of entertainment in our economy. We go about our business with only one objective: to build our League.
Many of you have advocated a single, unified open-wheel series as a goal for some time. Towards that end, several times in recent years, various interested parties approached the League with the suggestion that we purchase CART. None of these proposals were commercially viable in our view. When CART announced its plan in September to merge with OWRS for $7.4 million subject to a stockholder vote, I declined again. In all of these cases, the complicated entanglements of purchasing a financially troubled series overcame the goal of unification that most desired.
However, when CART declared bankruptcy in December 2003 and announced it would not conduct a 2004 season, the situation changed. By filing for bankruptcy, CART made its assets available to the highest bidder, and the only bidder offered $1.63 million. I decided to give the situation another look. On Jan. 9, 2004, the IRL began an examination of physical assets and contracts, in order to determine whether or not to bid.
That decision has now been made. The Indy Racing League has decided to bid on certain available assets of the bankrupt CART. Thursday night, we submitted a substantial bid with CART and the unsecured creditors' committee; a bid we believe is fair and equitable for the assets we are seeking. As a member of our Indy Racing League community, it is important for you to understand how this bid fits into the future of open-wheel racing.
We believe in the integrity of our analysis and bid, and we believe in the success of our plan, should we prevail in this proceeding. If we are successful with our bid, our intention is to work quickly and effectively to create a unified, market-driven North American open-wheel series. We believe there is a window of opportunity right now to accomplish this and position open-wheel racing among the highest quality and most successful sports entertainment in North America.
When the Indy Racing League was announced in June 1994, the official news release said that ovals and road courses would be included. Our concentration has been on oval tracks since our first season and we will continue to be a predominately oval series in the future. But we are committed to expand our schedule to preserve and protect key traditional road and street races in North America, since CART is no longer able to do so.
Clearly, it is in the best interests of open wheel racing to move forward into the 21st century with one series, based on the heritage of the Indianapolis 500, taking advantage of the many new oval venues built in the last decade and incorporating historic road and street courses which are important to fans and sponsors.
From a modest beginning, the League is now regarded by impartial observers as the premier American open-wheel series. The Indy Racing League, backed by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a wide array of sponsors, teams, drivers and fans, is the sanctioning body best positioned to offer leadership in open-wheel racing.
Regardless of the outcome of our bid, the Indy Racing League will continue to adhere to our founding principles, will continue to be a predominately oval series, and will expand our existing schedule to include road and street races in North America.
I hope this helps you understand what we are doing and why, and I hope to have your support in this very important endeavor.
Sincerely,
Tony George"
Today was the last day for anyone to make bids on the CART sell-off auction and news is that the IRL put in a bid. Paul was not worried that he could outbid Tony George, but felt it necessary to warn others that if Tony got it, he would not try to resurrect CART. Did Paul really expect the IRL to ignore the bankruptcy of CART and the release of it's assets? Does he really think that the man who put up $30 million to bring Formula One to the United States, who's family's business has been on the national scene for the last century and who owns the most famous piece of racing real estate in the world, was going to be worried about an ex-Trans-am driver? Perhpas we could take OWRS more serious if it had four Michael Schumachers, or even four Jeff Gordons as owners. OWRS only bid $1.6 million on a company that used to have hundreds of millions. What a waste. These team owners have proved they can't run a race series. How mentally ill are these guys? They've robbed the stockholders of millions. You'd think they'd figure it out. But sadly no, they've got their head down looking at their feet as they keep trying to plow forward like a left tackle. Oh well, it appears that we will soon have unity in this country with open-wheel racing. It will just be delayed a year if OWRS is allowed to burn up whats left of the "assets" (along with their own bank accounts.) If the IRL wins the bid, then they just did Gentilozzi a favor in my opinion.
Here is the Sauber C23
The McLaren MP4-19
The Jaguar R5
The Toyota TF-104
The Williams is further down this page.
Fred Nation, the IRL’s executive vice president for communications response: "We have come to expect over the years that provocative statements are a stock and trade of whoever is in charge of CART." I'd say that was rather understated! Fred also said, "We have a greater chance of going forward with a unified approach to open-wheel racing on both ovals and road and street courses -- a better chance than anyone else does, in our opinion. The gentlemen who are bidding on the bankrupt CART assets are not responsible for CART’s bankruptcy. They’re trying to resuscitate a failed operation and take it forward with the same failed business model used in the past. We would argue that everyone’s energies would be better spent on a unified approach to open-wheel racing in North America."
Fred Nation said CART has some other valuable assets, "We're a racing company, and they have racing equipment for sale. Most of the items are things we need." So, look for the IRL to perhaps outbid OWRS for CART, and put an end to it.
Tony George did a walk-through of the C.A.R.T. offices on Monday.
The sensors, built into the communications earpieces, measure dynamic forces exerted on a driver’s head during a crash. The sensors essentially create a record of head motion that is used to evaluate the effectiveness of energy absorbing characteristics of the chassis, helmet and other cockpit protective systems. “Before the development of these sensors, no one has had he ability to measure head forces online and compare them to clinical outcome (concussions, etc.),’’ Dr. Bock said. “This technology will enhance the understanding of head acceleration in all sports and lead to better understanding and prevention of head injuries.”
This 24 y/o Japanese native finished third with 3 wins in the German Formula 3 Championship with the help of the ARTA Project run by Super Aguri Fernandez Racing Co-Owner Aguri Suzuki. He finished second in the 2002 German F3 Championship with the Prema Powerteam with 2 wins. His accomplishments in F3 competition earned Matsuura a test with the Lucky Strike BAR Honda Formula One team last December. Kosuke Matsuura will be driving the No. 55 Panasonic ARTA entry.
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