The Phoenix is about to rise.

Chris Pook appears pretty confident. In today's Indy Star newspaper he said - "The future's going to be really good for us. Sure, it's going to be hard work. But it's like the celebrated author Mark Twain said, 'The reports of my death are premature.".......like the Phoenix rising up from the ashes.

We are getting more information that negotiations are indeed in progress between Bernie Ecclestone and CART's Chris Pook. In fact we hear they have been intense for some three months now. They even met yesterday (09/25/02) we hear.

Whether they will lead to an agreement remains to be seen, but what we hear that's being discussed is along the lines of what was laid out below, including a renaming of CART to Formula America or American F1.

Since Formula America is not a branded name and would only lead to further confusion in the marketplace, one would hope common sense prevails and F1 is somewhere in the name.

 

Bernie Ecclestone blows off USGP

One would think that with ticket sales down, Bernie Ecclestone would be at the USGP this weekend to help bring some buzz to the paddock.

Instead, Bernie's office issued this statement - “I had planned on being in Indianapolis, but urgent business matters now make that impossible,” Ecclestone said. “I understand that everything is in order at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and I send my best wishes to Tony George, his family and to the thousands of Formula One fans who will be there for the race.”

Business matters? We hear it has something to do with the rise of the Phoenix.

 

CART, like the Phoenix, about to rise up from the ashes

Everyone is predicting the demise of CART, but that's not the way I see it. Chris Pook has something up his sleeve, but no one has yet been able to put their finger on just what that is. Let's examine the facts, peer into our crystal ball, toss in a dose of speculation, and try to foresee what the future might hold for CART.

Greek legend spoke about the Phoenix, a fabulous Egyptian bird that enriched the country. The bird then sang a melodious dirge, flapped its wings to set the accumulated wealth and itself afire, and rose from the ashes with new, vigorous life.

The Phoenix symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death. Depictions of a Phoenix have appeared in Egyptian, Greek, Hindu and Chinese art and writings for a very long time. It also later appeared in medieval Christian writings as a symbol of death and resurrection.

In some respects, CART resembles the Phoenix - - after this year the CART paddock will have been stripped of many of its best teams and some of its best drivers (as well as washed up over-the-hill drivers), all gone to the IRL. What's left has many scratching their head about what will become of CART, and many journalists are predicting its imminent death, burnt to the ground in a heap of ashes.

The onslaught has been relentless, merciless. It appears to many we talk to that it was a concerted effort to kill off CART with the hope that the one remaining Indy Car series left would be stronger and more prosperous. We don't know if it was a concerted effort, or a result of CART's own arrogance, but CART has been hit from all sides, yet it still stands, and like the Phoenix, stands poised for a resurrection.

But what if CART were to die, and all we had left was the IRL's oval-track series, would it prosper? Let's look at the facts. CART put on great oval races at MIS, Fontana, etc with all the big names and yet no one watched. A great lead up to this years IRL finale - great promotion, etc, yet no one cared, hardly anyone tuned in to TV. Sure the broadcast got a 0.9, but anyone can get around a 1.0 rating on network TV, even Trans-Am and ALMS get that.

I could stand on a corner in Manhattan with a picture of da, Matta, de Ferran, Hornish, Brack, Franchitti, Castroneves, etc and offer $10,000 for anyone who can name any one of them. At the end of 8 hours, I will still have my $10,000 in my pocket. So if the IRL ends up with all these drivers, what does it really get them? The TV ratings were bad when they drove for CART and they will remain bad when they drive for the IRL. No disrespect, but none of today's Indy Car drivers are heroes, just good drivers, and as any good marketing person will tell you, fans watch sports and spend money on sports to see their heroes, the best of the best. All successful sports have superstars and Indy Car racing has none, at least not anymore. Gone are the days of Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt, of Dan Gurney and the Unsers.

Did IRL's TV ratings go up when Team Penske went over? Nope, in fact they are down from last year. Ditto if Haas goes over, Ganassi, Green, etc. It really isn't going to matter, because Indy Car racing has no heroes. The folklore is gone.

Today, Indy Car racing is essentially dead, killed by the split. Perhaps the contrived close racing in the IRL (contrived because of rev limited 100% throttle racing) will eventually fill the grandstands, much like the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) has sensationalized wrestling. It's not real sport, but it gets the fans excited.

What's left for CART? All the momentum appears headed to the IRL. CART has all the good big-city venues, and there are plenty of good drivers in Europe and America hungry for rides. In fact, one can argue that CART needs fresh blood anyway because the old stale blood wasn't getting them anywhere, at least not in the TV rating department. Arguably CART needs more young, aggressive American drivers.

If Unser and Andretti are so popular, why were CART's TV ratings no better than the IRL? Why did the IRL TV ratings actually drop when Team Penske and Al Unser Jr. jumped to the IRL? Why did this years Indy 500 TV ratings plummet when all the best Indy Car drivers from CART and the IRL participated? Would one Indy Car series prosper? Perhaps, if run correctly, but there's no evidence yet that substantiates that, and with no love lost between Tony George and CART, do you really ever think that is possible?

As we learned a long time ago, if there's a viable race series with a decent TV package, there will be race teams and there will be race drivers. CART claims they will have 18 cars on the grid in 2003, and if rumors can be believed, that's quite possible. Below is a list of some of the possibilities, and we hear there's even more that have inquired. Out of 30 possibilities listed, it's conceivable 18 or more will emerge.

1. Newman Haas
2. Newman Haas
3. Newman Haas/Andretti
4. Team Rahal
5. Team Rahal
6. Players Forsythe
7. Players Forsythe
8. Players Forsythe
9. Fernandez Racing
10.Fernandez Racing
11.Herdez Competition
12. Herdez Competition
13.Patrick Racing
14.Patrick racing
15.Fittipaldi Racing
16.Fittipaldi racing
17.Coyne/Team St. George
18.Coyne/Team St. George
19. Arciero Racing
20. Stefan Johansson
21. Walker Motorsports
22. Walker Motorsports
23. Paul Cherry/Morello
24. Mo Nunn Racing
25. Indy Regency Racing
26. Indy Regency/ Racing
27. Team Oreca
28. Team Oreca
29. Barry Green
30. Barry Green

While the long-rumored Ford announcement is probably finally going to happen during the Miami race weekend, we hear there's more to come at the year-end banquet, also in Miami on November 22nd. Rumors persist that CART will soon become a private entity again.

The Ford deal will secure CART's immediate future, but what's the long-term future really hold for CART? What are we to make out of Chris Pook's recent statements that CART will switch to V-10 gasoline powered engines (read that F1 engines) and statements that CART is going to be a feeder series for F1? For that I have to take out my crystal ball.

Pook's a sly-old hound and he's up to something. Even Roger Penske must sense a change, because he no longer predicts CART's demise, saying Pook's a shrewd businessman and making noises that there may not be just one series like he originally predicted.

Everyone is having a hard time imagining why Chris Pook is saying CART will go to V10 gasoline powered engines in 2005. Wouldn't the cost be prohibitive? I have a gut feeling he may have struck a deal with Bernie Ecclestone, whereby F1 will start putting restrictions on engine design to significantly lower runaway costs, and those engines would be used in both CART and F1. That in itself would be significant, but let's look a bit deeper.

With CART being the official feeder series of F1, CART's cars would always be slower because Champ Cars weigh more than F1 cars. That would appease the arrogant F1 crowd who tends to look down their noses at CART and anything American. However, with identical engines to F1, instantly Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Toyota, Honda, and Ford/Jaguar have the lucrative NAFTA market open to them through CART, or whatever new name Chris and Bernie come up with.

Why would Bernie Ecclestone agree to this? Because the USA is the largest market for all the F1 engine manufacturers and having just one race per year at Indy doesn't give them enough media exposure. In addition, there are demands for more races around the world that F1 can't meet. Bernie gets to kill three birds with one stone - lower costs for manufacturers, satisfy the world's demand for the F1 product, and open up the NAFTA market to them. And if CART is a privately held entity again, would Bernie Ecclestone become one of the owners? The price is certainly cheap enough right now.

CART has an identity problem. Where does it fit in the scheme of things? Even more important, what's a CART? What's a Champ Car? Neither are branded names, far from it. So what would you call this new series? Formula One (or F1) is a branded name. How about "American F1", or something along those lines?

I can see CART giving all the ovals to the IRL and let them focus on growing that sector of the sport, while CART focuses on becoming the premier road racing series in North America. How many times have I suggested that? Regardless, I think it's finally about to happen. Both co-existing and neither stepping on the others toes. To this day, both Roger Penske and Tony George say this country needs a strong road racing series.

F1 needs American drivers. With CART becoming the official feeder series of F1, that happens. F3000 is struggling and Premier 1 appears as if it will be stillborn. Is F3 really a proper feeder series to F1? I think not. In that respect, F1 needs CART and CART needs F1.

Imagine the scream of a Ferrari down the streets of Long Beach again! Or Miami? Or Denver? The North American fans will go bonkers. CART (sorry, American F1) has far too many great venues for it to just fade away. There's great value in all those races, and we have a hard time imagining one Bernie Ecclestone isn't chomping at the bit wanting to get a piece of the pie. Ecclestone and Pook go back a long way. With the might of one Bernie Ecclestone behind CART, and the marketing savvy of one Chris Pook, the possibilities are endless.

Is CART, like the Phoenix, about to rise up from the ashes?

This all makes far too much sense, but am I dreaming? Perhaps hallucinating is a better term! Pinch me....and we'll see what happens!

 

I think i speak for everyone when i say

 

Taking it to the streets. Why Miami's a war zone

IRL, NASCAR, CART, Formula One. When "The Captain" talks motorsports, people listen. That was the case when motorsports mogul Roger Penske, 65, sat down last Saturday (Sept. 14) with a group of sports journalists for a free-wheeling interview. Penske is tight-lipped but read between the lines and he'll tell you everything:

Question: "You recently predicted that there would be one domestic open-wheel series within 18 months. You want to revise that?"

Penske: "From my perspective, I think we need one open-wheel series. I said 18 to 24 months ... and I would still say this. Obviously, CART has got capital in the bank. Chris Pook [CART president/CEO] is a very savvy guy. They've got a real strong CEO. The issue is, is the market bigger than what he can control? It's the fans. It's the emotion. At the end of the day, you've got to build a series that will have identity. And we've got to build the stars. That's what NASCAR's done."

Penske is unconsciously projecting his own concerns when he states that "the issue is, is the market bigger than what he can control?" This most certainly doesn't apply to Pook, a man who is barely hanging on by his fingernails to his shrinking race schedule and his embattled series.

BATTLE STATIONS

Christopher Robin Pook is engaged in a classic guerrilla war (Spanish for "little war"). Ever since taking the helm of Championship Auto Racing Teams late last year, he has been battling the combined might of the nation's oval-track conglomerates who appear hell bent on the destruction of his beleaguered racing series and its replacement with an open-wheel racing league of their own. One by one, the oval-track venues his Champ Car series used to race on have been denied him, forcing him to literally take his brand of exotic, high-powered formula car racing to the streets.

The forces arrayed against Pook's increasingly irregular force of gypsy road-racers are beyond formidable (note - there's competition for market share in any business and auto racing is no different).

International Speedway Corporation, headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, is the largest promoter of motorsports activities in the United States, currently promoting more than 100 events nationwide. The conglomerate, which annually brings in $525 million, currently owns or operates 12 major U.S. tracks with an ownership interest in at least two others. In addition to motorsports facilities, ISC also owns and operates MRN, the nation's largest independent sports radio network (with 650 affiliated stations in 48 states); Daytona USA, the "Ultimate Motorsports Attraction" in Daytona Beach, Florida and the official attraction of NASCAR; Americrown Service Corporation, a provider of catering services, food and beverage concessions, and merchandise sales; and Motorsports International, a producer and marketer of motorsports-related merchandise. Majority owned and controlled by the family dynasty of William France, Sr., sons William, Jr. and James, ISC controls NASCAR, the most popular form of motorsport in the America.

Founded and managed by O. Bruton Smith, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. is the second leading marketer and promoter of motorsports entertainment in America. The company owns and operates six premiere track facilities. The company provides souvenir merchandising services through its SMI Properties subsidiary, and manufactures and distributes smaller-scale, modified racing cars through its 600 Racing subsidiary. The company also owns Performance Racing Network which broadcasts syndicated motorsports programming to over 750 stations nationwide. SMI's annual revenues are approximately $376 million. Debuting on Wall Street in February 1995, Speedway Motorsports, Inc., became the first motorsports company to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Anton H. "Tony" George, is president and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home since 1911 to the largest single-day sporting event in the world, the Indianapolis 500. George represents the third generation of IMS ownership by the Hulman family of Terre Haute, Indiana. In 1994, George created the Indy Racing League "to preserve the traditions and excitement of America's open-wheel oval racing." Centered around the Indianapolis 500, the IRL campaigns in 15 oval races across the country and is the series that the American oval track owners would like to see replace Pook's CART. An aggressive program of expansion and investment has marked George's tenure as IMS president and CEO including extensive reconstruction and redesign of various track components. Each year, the track plays host to the Indianapolis 500, once the world's best-attended race. In 1994, George brought the NASCAR Winston Cup Series to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the annual Brickyard 400 event, the world's second biggest race.

There are other oval track owning companies in the country, including Dover Downs Motorsports, Inc., where Chris Pook worked before he took the helm of CART, but they are minute in comparison to just ISC. Name a major speedway in the U.S. and it's a sure bet that either ISC and/or SMI owns, controls, manages or influences the facility. In large measure, this is because the France family, Penske, and ISC control NASCAR and determine where and when any one of its immensely profitable series will run. Five years ago, before NASCAR's popularity soared to the stratospheric heights it enjoys today, a Wall Street analyst stated that a Winston Cup race date was worth an instantaneous $10 million to any venue lucky enough to get one. That figure has undoubtedly grown much larger today.

ISC is a public company with a difference. Its annual report notes that the company's financial structure is such that the France family holdings, approximately 60%, are weighted in favor of their control of the corporation--even if the percentage of their ownership should be significantly reduced. The annual report also states that it can be expected that "conflicts of interest" might arise with regard to the Frances and their granting of NASCAR rights. Thus, while several suitable speedways owned by small independents clamor for their first NASCAR race, tracks owned or operated by ISC and SMI are host to multiple events.

As much as anything, this is a reason for the conglomerates' attempt to destroy CART and elevate the status of the IRL. ISC et al are skating on thin ice with regard to anti-trust violations. NASCAR's calendar is full and there is no longer room for expansion. A prima facie case can be made that ISC and SMI are engaging in monopolistic practices in the meting out of NASCAR race dates and should share one of two "double header" NASCAR races with the independents. ISC and SMI, needless to say, are more than reluctant to do so. Thus, if they could arrange for a NASCAR surrogate, no matter how profitable, to be offered to the small operators, they could retain all their NASCAR races while maintaining that a competitive market situation exists. Listen to the ISC-influenced motorsports media extol the praises of Tony George's IRL and it is always with reference to the benefits it might provide to tracks OTHER than those owned by the conglomerate(s).

For this stratagem to work, the IRL must be at least marginally profitable. George himself recently estimated that it has cost him at least $250 million out of pocket to establish and sustain his series over the past seven years. The figure is likely to have been understated. Furthermore, while things are definitely looking up for the IRL as of late, there is still no convincing evidence that the IRL has yet to turn a profit. George is in much the same situation with regard to his IRL as ISC is with NASCAR. The only indisputably profitable race in the series is the Indy 500 and George is not likely to share its proceeds with the other track owners holding sparsely-attended IRL races. So, the IRL must grow in order to meet the many needs of its backers and, until recently, it has found that nearly impossible to do with competition from Pook's CART series.

Ergo, Pook's series must cease to exist. There is ample circumstantial evidence to indicate that an organized and funded effort was undertaken to kill CART before the start of its 2002 season. As a public corporation, CART was exquisitely vulnerable to the destructive insider manipulations which crippled the once-thriving race sanctioning body. Forces to which the essentially private Penske and France corporations were immune. As we speak, CART is reeling dangerously close to the brink of extinction brought about by corporate sabotage, the carefully orchestrated defections of several of its top teams, drivers, manufacturers and sponsors, and an unremitting media assault unprecedented in the annals of American motorsports.

The fact that CART is still standing is a miracle. One that is owed to two factors, both mentioned by Roger Penske in his opening interview: Chris Pook and CART's money in the bank.

DEATH OF A 1000 CUTS

In December 2001, the future of the series could probably have been numbered in days. That's when Chris Pook, creator of the Long Beach Grand Prix and a pioneer in the promotion of street race events, took charge of CART and the defensive guerrilla war that it is fighting for its very existence. Like its military counterparts, CART's campaign is being waged against a vastly larger and better-equipped entrenched force. In keeping with the nature of its struggle, CART has taken the issue to the streets of the Americas, avoiding open battle as much as possible, and exploiting the mobility gained from its lack of fixed infrastructure. To be successful, i.e. to survive, the embattled series must have a wide degree of popular support. In this one regard, CART is winning. While its adversaries have contrived to limit CART's access to traditional electronic and print media outlets, its street "events" have been met with the enthusiastic support of hundreds of thousands of spectators and fans.

It has become abundantly clear that if the oval track allies are to defeat CART, barring sudden collapse, they will have to bleed the series to death financially. In this, they have all the traditional advantages of a ruthless, centralized power accustomed to wielding absolute political and financial authority. In predicting a time limit for CART's demise, 18 to 24 months, Roger Penske has set the clock in motion toward the final conflict. One's guess is that CART's opponents have their eye on some critical figure below CART's $140 million capital reserves at which losses will trigger a call (issued no doubt by the conglomerate's institutional operatives) for the dissolution of the company.

In their end game, the key is to continue to drain CART of capital while preventing it from replenishing its reserves. If they can do that, then as the old adage goes, "if your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall." In this deadly game, all the players on the other side hold an advantage because they all possess cash cows which constantly renew their war chest while CART is required to bring in income primarily from its events, which the conglomerates can interfere with.

Several weeks ago, the media controlled or influenced by the conglomerates signaled a tentative peace proposal. Essentially, the message sent to Pook and his lieutenants was that if CART would abandon the oval tracks to the IRL (almost a fait accompli already) and concentrate its efforts on its highly successful street and road course events, that there was "room enough for two open-wheel series to co-exist." In other words, retreat and cease hostilities and we'll call off the dogs. For the beleaguered series, especially battered by the events of the past few weeks, the offer seems tempting. But, is it for real?

In a word, no. The "Daytona Cartel" and its partners have already all but driven CART from its territory. Why, then, in return for something they already possess--an oval track hegemony--would the conglomerates cease their attack? The answer is to get CART to cease its resistance long enough for ISC's assassins to strike a final death blow.

Pook has already had experience with the conglomerates' peace proposals. Soon after his arrival at CART's Michigan headquarters he was approached by factions within CART who represented that an accommodation with the IRL was close at hand which would allow the two warring series to co-exist, if not come together as a unified series for the first time since they bifurcated in 1995. All that was required was for CART to remake itself in the image of its rival and, then, its opposite number would graciously consent to bury the hatchet. Over the strong opposition of the majority of the series' manufacturers and goaded by a ultimatum from another manufacturer, who later became a mainstay of the IRL, CART complied. And promptly lost all its sponsoring manufacturers, whose support was the life's blood of the series and its teams. Critically wounded, CART was left with reunification with the IRL, in whole or part, as its only viable option. Not to worry, the insiders whispered, come to an open wheel "summit" to be heard.

In Pook's words, what happened next is that: "We put it [commonality] out as an olive branch to try to form some type of compatibility with the other side to bring us closer together to see if we could merge the two. But the olive branch was broken off in two pieces, and we were slapped around the face with it and told to get out of town."

Problem was, CART was now resident in the town and under siege from all quarters. The "peace proposal" had been a trap. Tony George and his allies in Daytona Beach had even had the unmitigated gall to have Pook & Co. pay to transport their belongings to their own cannibal's soup, where their remains could be picked apart by their enemies without them having to go to the trouble of paying freight!

So, it is unlikely that Pook, the guerrilla leader, will fall for any more peace proposals from the benevolent folks in Florida or Indiana. But they know this; they've been outwitted by the masterful Brit enough times to get the measure of the man. So, if the ostensible peace proposal was not the intent of the media notes sent to Pook, what was?

ISC and its partners have the classic problem that any entrenched force has in dealing with a small, highly-mobile guerrilla unit--it's illusive. In military terms, CART's permanent road course events might as well be held in a fort. Pook and his band are not vulnerable to attack or disruption there. But, street course events, held in public places are relatively unprotected. The conglomerates want CART to commit to a schedule of street races (in addition to its road course venues), so they can catch he and his forces out in the open and annihilate them.

The Grand Prix of the Americas, to be held October 4-6 in Miami, Florida, is the quintessential model for the final battleground as envisioned by the "Daytona Cartel". Of all the streets in all the Americas (save perhaps Long Beach, CA), Miami has the ones where Pook the street fighter and his turbocharged, high-tech open-wheel guerrilla racers stand their best chance of victory. If they fail there, their cause is in doubt because the conglomerates will have found a way to drive a stake into CART's heart.

Since the conglomerates hold sway over most of the nation's motorsports press, as befits the group controlling its most popular form of motorsport, they can portray an engagement in pretty much any light they desire. Where the battle in Miami is concerned, they choose to depict it as a fairy tale involving the Big Bad Frances in a turf war over one of their brick houses, Homestead-Miami Speedway. This is a tale told so often in childhood that it goes right past the critical thinking function of most observer's brain and registers somewhere in the memory near the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We have the erstwhile Jack (Pook) trying to sneak one past the giants with the colossal egos (the Frances), who are jealously guarding the golden goose (Homestead-Miami). This is something the average Joe gets before he gets it and the fiction is designed to hide a larger, more sinister purpose.

APPOINTMENT IN MIAMI

Originally proposed in the fall of 2001 by local race promoter, Raceworks, the Grand Prix was to be an American Le Mans Series race that would bring its international style of racing and 180-mph speeds to a picturesque waterfront course in Miami this past April. Raceworks, owned by architect and developer ***** Bermello, motorsports industry attorney Peter Yanowitch and racing legend Emerson Fittipaldi, had plans to return the Grand Prix to the streets of Miami.

Though the city was the host to some of the world's most successful street races in the 1980s and into the 1990s, the music of a race engine at full song has not echoed against Miami's downtown skyscrapers since 1995.

Miami became part of the racing game when a local entrepreneur, Ralph Sanchez dreamed up a race through the downtown streets. Sanchez, a Cuban immigrant and self-made multi-millionaire, loved auto racing and thought it was a perfect way to showcase the cosmopolitan beauty of his adopted city. He promoted the Miami Grand Prix for sports cars which was sanctioned by the original IMSA. He also talked his good friend, Emerson Fittipaldi, who had retired from racing after his foray into Formula 1 with his own team nearly caused him to go bankrupt, to come out of retirement as well as lend his fame to the endeavor.

A hugely successful series of Grand Prix races followed its debut in 1983 and continued well into the 1990s. The sports cars ran on the Grand Prix's 1.784-mile temporary street circuit until 1985 when the PPG CART Indy Car series became the premier event. Each year from 1985 until 1988, the CART series raced through the streets of Tamiami Park, Miami bringing its unique blend of high-octane excitement and thrills and filling the city's coffers each November. In 1995, the year of the Indy Car "split", the CART PPG series was back on the streets in March for the Marlboro GP of Miami.

The success of the Grands Prix began to threaten their existence. They helped bring prosperity to the area and the resultant development began encroaching on the downtown race. Ralph Sanchez began to cast around for a place to locate a permanent facility.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew devastated South Dade and the City of Homestead. Sensing an opportunity, Sanchez met with Homestead's then-city manager Alex Muxo to negotiate a deal that would bring a racing facility to town with hopes of aiding in the revitalization of the city. With a loan from H. Wayne Huizenga, the "King Midas of South Florida", and $11 million in seed money from hotel taxes, groundbreaking for the new complex took place less than a year after Andrew came to town in August, 1993.

One gets the impression that Ralph Sanchez knows most of the right people in his neck of the Sunbelt.

Grand Opening ceremonies for the ultra-modern 1.5-mile Homestead Motorsports Complex were held on Nov. 3-5, 1995, as NASCAR made its South Florida debut in front of a sellout crowd of 60,000 with its Craftsman Truck and NASCAR Busch Grand National events. Executives and dignitaries did the ribbon cutting and Dale Jarrett provides the fireworks. Although not a points race, former Daytona 500 champion Geoffrey Bodine was the Speedway's first "winner" of a race, taking top honors in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series exhibition race on Nov. 4, 1995 - the day before Jarrett won the inaugural Jiffy Lube Miami 300.

In July, 1997, Penske Motorsports, Inc., and International Speedway Corporation became partners with Sanchez and Huizenga. ISC purchased a 40 percent interest in the Homestead Motorsports Complex. Prior to the PMI/ISC takeover, the complex's 1.5-mile oval had undergone an $8.2 million reconstruction which transformed the former quad-oval and its "short-chutes" between the turns into a continuous-turn oval. The Speedway also has an infield road circuit which is used by the France-backed Grand Am sports car series and others. In 1998, ISC purchased an additional 5 percent and owned 45 percent of the facility, with Penske Motorsports, Inc., owning 45 percent. On March 15, 1998, PMI and ISC acquired Sanchez's remaining interest in Homestead Motorsports Complex, and longtime Penske Corporation employee Brian Skuza was named president. Sometime during the acquisition the Motorsports Complex was re-christened the Homestead Miami Speedway, staking out a unilateral claim to the Miami motorsports market.

In 1999, the ISC merged with PMI. With the merger, ISC held a 90% interest in the Homestead-Miami Speedway (it acquired the remaining 10% in 2001). Coincidentally, I'm sure, in 1999 the Speedway hosted NASCAR's premier Winston Cup division when Tony Stewart won the inaugural Pennzoil 400. Prior to the event, the Speedway nearly doubled its seating capacity, raising the existing grandstands from 32 to 48 rows while adding a massive expansion in Turn 1.

FAST CARS, BIG MONEY

As an aside, the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel in February 1997, published the results of a study of the financial impact of the partially public funded ($60 million in tourist taxes) Homestead Motorsports Complex and the CART Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami on the economy of South Dade county. The headline read: "Auto Racing, Fast Cars, Big Spenders -- Grand Prix of Miami worth $23 million to local economy." The study had several interesting findings, especially as they relate to CART and the current owner of Homestead Miami Speedway, ISC.

* Really fast cars generate really big money. * CART, running its second straight season at the South Dade superspeedway, would attract 155,787 spectators over the three-day race weekend, including an expected sellout of 72,000 for Sunday's headline event. * The author, Washington-based economist William Lilley, said the $23 million in actual spending represents a 10-percent increase over a similar study he conducted the year before. Lilley's canvassers discovered that hotels, restaurants and shops as far north as downtown Miami were generating heavy race weekend business for the PPG CART Indy Car series event. * More importantly, Lilley said, about 80 percent of that spending would be generated by people outside Dade County. This was music to the ears of Metro-Dade politicians and Homestead boosters who had committed $60 million in tourist taxes to build the track shortly after Hurricane Andrew devastated the area in 1992.

"If Hurricane Andrew took Homestead off the map, then (the motorsports complex) put it right back on the map," said Metro-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorensen. "The psychological impact on the community is just as great as the economic one."

* Auto racing events such as the Grand Prix were generating new dollars - and tourists - into the community rather than pro baseball, football, basketball and hockey, which largely take entertainment dollars that would have been spent on other local events.

"What's significant is that this is new money that wouldn't normally come into this community," Lilley said.

* In relatively small, poor and undiversified economies such as South Dade, the near-absolute certainty of sharply increased revenues at a predictable point in time is an important factor in determining the ability of a relatively small service business to profitably exist. * Indy Car events typically draw a slightly wealthier audience than the NASCAR Busch Grand National or Craftsman Truck events that also run at Homestead. * The average race fan will spend $150 a day for tickets, food, beverages, parking and souvenirs. * The Grand Prix is also more of a recognized event because of its history; Sanchez has been promoting the race since the early 1980s, when it ran through the streets of downtown Miami. * Hoteliers, especially those close to Homestead, were cashing in on the 100 percent capacity rates. Room prices during Grand Prix weekend are, on average, 35 percent above normal rates this year; the figure was up from 28 percent in 1996.

The economics of the situation clearly indicate what a Grand Prix of the Americas type of event can mean to the city fathers of Miami. Speedways of the sort owned by ISC/SMI are self-contained merchandizing loops. It's not a coincidence that the oval track conglomerates inevitable include subsidiary divisions providing catering services, food and beverage concessions, merchandise sales and production and marketing of motorsports-related merchandise. At this moment, there is a nationwide fan boycott of certain ISC tracks because it is charged that they used 9/11 "security concerns" as an excuse to ban coolers from the tracks, forcing the fans to buy their food and beverages from ISC concessionaires, who reportedly raised their prices to celebrate the occasion.

Speedway conglomerates like ISC use their political clout to try to get the taxpayers of an area to pay as much of the cost of their tracks as possible. If they can't get direct building grants or loans at low interest, they lobby for tax-free status and/or reduced fees of all types. All of these requests are predicated on the supposed infusions of money and jobs into the local economy generated by the speedways in attracting tourists (i.e. fans from outside the area).

If one thinks about that proposition for a moment, though, one will see the weakness of the argument. Take the speedway's much vaunted addition to the job market. If a speedway holds ten race weekends a year, that's twenty days of seasonal employment for workers in the local economy.

When politicos were attempting to get the taxpayers to pay for the acquisition of a new professional football team in Los Angeles, CA a few years back, a University of Chicago study was produced which showed that the seasonal economic impact of an NFL stadium on the local job market was less than that of a average-sized Motel 6! One after another the copious economic studies presented to the city by the NFL citing supposed benefits to the local economy from the presence of a major-league football team were proved to be specious. Finally, after months of examination and debate, the NFL essentially said that the primary reason for a city to have a professional football team was for the status it conferred on the city. "A major-league franchise puts a city on the map," said a spokesman for the team owners association. The taxpayers of Los Angeles basically answered, "Thanks, but no thanks. We're ALREADY on the map."

The speedways are designed to keep every penny they can within the confines of the complexes. Their only valid argument for the role they play in augmenting the local economy boils down to being an attractive nuisance. In other words, the tourist industries (food, lodging, and gasoline) benefit from the race fans passing through. The same could be said for the fall display of the leaves changing colors on the East Coast and the trees aren't asking for taxpayer subsidies. Moreover, if the speedways could sell you a room for the night, meals and gasoline, they'd do so in a minute. Don't bother trotting out all the gazillion "studies" to the contrary, they're bogus. In fact one of the only parasites savvy enough to prey on speedway management are the highly paid "economists" churning out economic studies used to justify the conglomerates' stance with regard to taxpayer subsidies and government hand-outs.

Now, look at a street race anywhere--in this case, Miami. The oval track conglomerates make about 45% of their revenues from the sale of tickets. Given the same number of fans at a street race, the amount of tickets sold is the same but the revenues account for a much larger percentage of the promoter's gross because the rest of the revenues (by and large) that ordinarily go to the speedway, go instead directly into the local economy. Instead of the customers being held within the confines of the speedway, at a street race they're within the confines of the city where all the taxpayers and residents can benefit from any additional revenues which are generated.

Street races aren't just a threat to the speedway's monopoly with regard to the fan's dollar, they're a threat to the speedway itself. NASCAR is arranged such that most of the time the series participants need to race on expensive tracks with their smooth, banked turns and other features unique to the speedways. If one comes up with a popular motor racing form using readily available public infrastructure, like Champ Cars on a slightly modified city street, one has no need of speedways. Races can be held at potentially thousands of venues and the infrastructure put in place by the taxpayer pays dividends back to the taxpayer. This is not the forum for a long-winded discourse on economics; feel free to completely disagree (but you'd be wrong).

However, if even a modicum of the arguments made hold true, one has only to put oneself in the place of a Miami public official and in the place of a speedway executive to see why the former may welcome a street race and the latter may view it as a threat to his existence. Certainly, beyond dispute, is the fact that the speedway conglomerates want Chris Pook and his CART series to go away -- forever.

SHOWDOWN IN MIAMI

What should come as no surprise given the foregoing is that earlier this year the target of ISC's minions in Miami was not Pook but Don Panoz and his partner in the Panoz-Sanchez group, Ralph Sanchez (remember him?). Why? Well, they wanted to hold a street race featuring Panoz's American Le Mans Series and Sanchez's Trans Am.

Don Panoz is in love with sports cars. After amassing considerable wealth, primarily in pharmaceuticals and land development, Panoz and his son, Danny, formed Panoz Auto Development at the end of the 80's, almost as a hobby. Besides auto manufacturing, the company became involved with racing. The bug bit hard and in 1997 Don founded Panoz Motor Sports to race his own cars internationally and acquired the Road Atlanta Motorsports Center and Sebring International Raceway. In 1998, he added Mosport Park Raceway in Canada.

Panoz had found a mission: to revive major-league sports car racing, particularly in North America. In 1999, he founded the American Le Mans Series for sports prototypes with an eight-race schedule. The same year he expanded his motorsports holdings with the formation of the Elan Motorsport Technologies Group and the purchase of Van Diemen International and G Force. Panoz went into partnership with Ralph Sanchez and they acquired the rights to the Trans-Am series.

The turn of the millennium found Panoz expanding the ALMS into Europe, Asia and Australia. The series schedule was expanded to 12 races -- eight in the United States, one in Canada, 2 in Europe and the season finale in Adelaide, Australia -- including the historic 12 Hours of Sebring and the Petit Le Mans at Panoz's Road Atlanta. . In a sense, Panoz found his fledgling series expanding in a vacuum and with domestic and international televised coverage unprecedented in American sports car racing history, he found himself with a hit show on his hands.

It's not hard to see why. ALMS is sportscar racing at its finest and features both individual sprint races as well as endurance races with multiple drivers and pit stops. The formula is very exciting for the fans and viewing audiences alike.

With his series visiting race tracks across the U.S. and Canada, Panoz became focused on reviving some of the most historic and popular sports car races from the sport s illustrious past. It was perhaps inevitable, then, with Ralph Sanchez as a partner, that the idea came to revive the Grand Prix of Miami in the city's streets.

The prospects for the race couldn't have seemed brighter. The ALMS's popularity was soaring and former Miami Grands Prix had been unqualified successes. With Sanchez on board to shepherd the race, Miami's elected officials were looking forward to a healthy boost to the local economy and the opportunity to showcase the city's downtown and waterfront around the world.

What they had in mind was a 1.54-mile temporary racing circuit that would include part of Miami's famous Biscayne Boulevard and the city's Bayfront Park. Cars would travel south on Biscayne, make a brief loop to the north, and then turn into Bayfront Park. The circuit would wind through the park and then rejoin Biscayne. Pit road and the paddock area were to be placed on Biscayne Boulevard.

While racing through the park, the cars and the television cameras following them would have scenic Biscayne Bay in the background, with dozens of yachts and other boats moored in the water. Large cruise ships would be visible in the distance at the Port of Miami. It was remarked that the world-famous Grand Prix of Monaco has similar nautical scenery.

Thus, Raceworks, LLC, a group of Miami businessmen working with the full cooperation of the city, secured a city lease to stage the Grand Prix of the Americas over a three-day weekend set for April 5-7 of this year. The event was expected to attract a projected 50,000 to 75,000 local and international spectators to downtown Miami.

Way up the Florida coast to the north, the France family took notice of the plans of the group in Miami and was not pleased. In their view, the only one that counts in their estimation, the Homestead-Miami Speedway more than adequately serves the Miami market and they did not want any other races taking place in South Florida, particularly ones put on by the ALMS.

That is because they are also at war with Don Panoz and his ALMS.

The Frances have never consented to an interview on the subject so one will have to intuit the reasons for their dislike. Like CART the ALMS stages road races on permanent road courses and city streets. So does its allied Trans Am series. Arriving out of the blue, the ALMS was an unexpected hit with television audiences and a competitor for the domestic motorsports dollar. Most important, though, was the fact that the series showed no sign of ever needing to rent ISC's facilities and the Frances didn't own a piece of the action.

Many of the speedways owned by the conglomerates contain infield road courses. They get plenty of use for everything from driving schools to motorcycle racing. Generally speaking, what they don't get used for, however, is big-league road racing. For whatever reasons, most fans of road racing do not consider the speedway road courses to be proper venues for their favorite sport. It is perhaps understandable that the Frances and the other speedway owners have never understood this.

Faced with an emerging road racing series which makes exclusive use of permanent road circuits and city streets, ISC's response was automatic and well-rehearsed: destroy the series and replace it with a pale imitation owned by the Frances and which makes use of the infield road courses at speedways and/or conglomerate tracks. Thus, the Grand American Road Racing Series was born in 2000.

As is the norm, the Frances' description of the mission of their Grand Am is a study in hypocrisy: "Most importantly, Grand American has brought stability to sports car racing and automobile road racing in general. This country has seen a variety of organizations and private entrepreneurs come and go at the helm of automobile road racing. The result has been that the sport has lagged behind other motorsport series in developing a sustained fan base and sponsorship support. It is our mission to provide the stable platform this sport so dearly needs and we will do that by controlling our spending and growth at levels that can be built on each new year."

In that brief statement, ISC basically outlined the key elements of their campaign(s), only in reverse: destabilize the target series by creating a competing series and attack the viability of the fan base and sponsor support to end up "at the helm of automobile [fill in the type] racing."

As was mentioned at the outset, what makes the situation in Miami so noteworthy is the fact that the ALMS, the Trans-Am, and CART all have powerful friends among the movers and shakers of the city. It's remarkable that ISC chose to attack them there. For one thing it is an open declaration of "total war", meaning that ISC is signaling that it will settle for nothing less than complete victory -- no "peaceful co-existence" being possible. Secondly, it is a test of ISC's might. To paraphrase the song: "If they can do it there, they can do it anywhere."

THE OPENING ROUND

In mid-December of 2001 the principals of Raceworks, LLC secured the go-ahead from the city and hosted a "kick-off" luncheon to mark the official 143-day count down to the Grand Prix of the Americas, "a high voltage street race slated for the streets of downtown Miami."

The luncheon was held in a tent in Bayfront Park, the site of the event, and featured prominent auto racing personalities including Derek Bell, winner of the 1985 Grand Prix of Miami, Raul Boesel, winner of the 1991 Grand Prix of Miami, and Andy Pilgrim, GTS class winner for the past two years in Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

The official Grand Prix of the Americas logo, designed by Coconut Grove architectural and engineering firm Bermello Ajamil & Partners, was unveiled at the event.

The entrance to the luncheon tent was lined with racing cars including a Champion Racing Audi R8, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS and a Porsche 962 Prototype.

Peter J. Yanowitch, President & Founder of Raceworks LLC, stated, "This event will attract thousands of tourists, race participants, sports enthusiasts, and the international press who will patronize the local hotels and restaurants generating an economic impact in excess of $25 million for the City of Miami."

Mr. Yanowitch also happens to be Ralph Sanchez's attorney and friend.

"We will celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the original Downtown race by adding more entertainment activities that will appeal to a wider audience", said ***** A. Bermello, Principal of Raceworks LLC.

Famed championship driver and race promoter Emerson Fittipaldi, who recently joined the Raceworks team, said: "I have had a long-standing love affair with Miami. It is the perfect location for auto racing and I am very excited to be part of the return of racing to Downtown Miami."

The main attraction was to be an American Le Mans Series race, a series of sports car endurance races that features many of the same world-class drivers and cars that compete in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"They will join the international and cosmopolitan atmosphere of Miami. Sports cars are extremely popular in Miami, and most of the old street races in the city were sports car events."

"I'm really excited about racing in Miami," said Tom Kristensen of Denmark, a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a driver for the powerful Audi factory team. "We presented our new Audi in Miami two years ago and the people were very excited to see it. It's a lively city with lively people, and the event will be very exciting."

"I raced in the last street race in Miami in 1995 and it was great," said California's Bryan Herta, who has joined the Panoz factory team for 2002 after a stellar career in CART racing. "It's an exciting city to be in and a great place to hold a street race."

The Grand Prix of the Americas weekend in Miami was also to include a race for the popular Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup, along with a race for historic sports cars, including many that actually competed in previous Miami races. Also part of the weekend was to be a celebrity race, with participants to be announced.

Around the time of the "kick-off" luncheon, the Miami City Commission members started receiving phone calls from officials representing the Daytona Beach motorsports conglomerate seeing if there was anything that could be done to stop the event. They are said to have coaxed and cajoled, calling city commissioners at home trying to bring pressure to bear, warning of a possible scarcity of comp tickets to the popular NASCAR events as well as greater care exercised with respect to future campaign contributions. After failing to exert enough pressure on the Miami City Commissioners, the Speedway and ISC finally hired a large law firm to continue the battle and to ferret out any possible loophole and stop the event, and they did.

A lawsuit was brought to block the event, citing irregularities in the lease arrangements between the city and the race organizers. A county judge threw out the agreement between Raceworks LLC and the city of Miami. For technical reasons the county judge felt that a revocable permit to hold the event was more appropriate than a lease.

The problem for the Raceworks group lay in the word "revocable". By having a county judge vacate the lease in favor of a permit, ISC had accomplished at least two goals: they had opened up the process of granting permission to hold a race to a virtually unlimited number of challenges up to the actual moment of the race and they had managed to pit county officials (with whom one assumes ISC has more influence) against city officials.

With nothing but delays and legal wrangling in sight, Raceworks started to cast about for an alternative. The added expense of the legal proceedings and road-blocks caused the promoters to determine that they needed more co-investors and a loan from the city for marketing and staff and to help start construction of the course. Application was made to the Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority for a loan and Raceworks openly searched for investors willing to buy a controlling interest in the event.

CART had been looking at several sites in and around the Miami area and a Miami race some time ago and let the ball drop when the folks at ALMS beat them to the punch. CART was being forced out of venues controlled by the conglomerates. CART had had great success with its street races in Miami in 1985-1988 and 1995 and hoped to return. Panoz, though, seemed to have the race locked up. Until ISC launched its attack on him.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Pook and Panoz have mutual friends. For all I know, Pook and Panoz are friends. Raceworks and CART going into partnership in Miami had many advantages. They were both battling a common enemy, ISC. The conglomerate showed no signs of letting up and the ALMS/Trans-Am race date was near--too near. Moving the race date to October with a joint event gave everyone breathing room. Raceworks would provide the friends in Miami that CART needed. plus add a vital race to its schedule, while Panoz & Co. got the financing they needed along with an ally in battling ISC. Once the Grand Prix of the Americas is in the history books it can also be assumed that it will be more difficult to disrupt next time.

So, Raceworks LLC and Panoz's IMSA/ALMS decided to partner with CART for a joint mega race weekend in October featuring FedEx Championship, American Le Mans Series, and Trans-Am series races.

The organizers approached the city with a proposal to sell up to 60% of Racework's controlling interest to Championship Auto Racing Teams and applied for a $1.5 million five-year loan from the City of Miami.

"Raceworks is looking for investors to buy controlling interests in the event," said Lucia Dougherty with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig representing the promoter.

Event organizers asked Miami commissioners to amend the city-issued revocable license to reflect CART and a Delaware-base limited partnership as new partners. But the city administration said the change was unnecessary until an ownership transfer took place. Raceworks had the same owners it did when the license was granted, said Assistant City Manager Frank Rollason. Mr. Bermello owns 33.33%, Mr. Yanowitch 63.67% and Mr. Fittipaldi 3%.

While still not a partner, CART officially committed to participating in the three-day event. The American Le Mans Series race was moved to Saturday.

The race falls under the purview of the city's Sports & Exhibition Authority, which reports to the Miami City Commission. The group, with some city commissioners sitting on its board, is in charge of marketing, funding or underwriting sports and community events.

Ferey Kian, the Authority's director of finance, said the group's proposed loan to Raceworks consists of lending Miami Arena-generated funds to pay for road improvements. The five-year loan would have an interest of 150 points above Wall Street's prime rate. The $1.5 million would not be disbursed at once but in chunks, as reimbursements to incurred expenses, he said.

If Raceworks sells part of its ownership, the authority would get 7.5% from sales proceeds, Mr. Kian said. The borrower would also be subject to relocation fees.

If the event is moved out of Miami in its second year, Raceworks would pay $1 million. If it leaves the following year, it would pay $750,000. Fees will keep on decreasing until year five, he said.

While this provision is probably standard Authority practice (to see that public funds get spent where they're supposed to), it has interesting ramifications for any group who might wish to relocate to, say, Homestead.

The law firm of Steel, Hector & Davis, representing ISC/Homestead-Miami Speedway immediately notified the Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority that Speedway executives were also inquiring about applying for a similar loan for another street race they contemplated in downtown Miami.

The lawyers also questioned whether the city's revocable Street Race Permit granted to Raceworks LLC shouldn't be reopened to competitive bid to assure Miami taxpayers of the best return on its sale.

Jorge Luis Lopez, of Steel, Hector & Davis, said he was watching closely how the city and authority proceeded. His firm represents the speedway, which sued the city over its agreement with Raceworks, forcing the city to sign a revocable license with the promoters rather than a lease.

"To say that nothing has changed, when CART is about to get on board, is misleading" he said.

According to Lopez, another speedway complaint about the city's negotiations for the race was pending.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz was highly upset with the turn of events and vowed "This race started in downtown Miami [as the Grand Prix of Miami]; this race belongs in downtown Miami, and this race will run in downtown Miami."

Finally, after more than a month of wrangling, the commission acted.

City officials made changes to the contract -- including making it a revocable license agreement -- which they said brought it into compliance with the county judge's order. The city also formally invited any other racing company to apply for an unsolicited license to race in Miami.

But Jorge Lopez, the lawyer for Homestead-Miami Speedway, questioned whether the city's actions were enough to address Judge Genden's ruling. "They thumbed their nose at the judge's order," Lopez said after the commission meeting.

Commissioners Joe Sanchez and Johnny Winton expressed their frustration with the Speedway, which they said was only interested in stopping the race.

Winton instructed City Attorney Alejandro Vilarello to ask the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether the Speedway and its parent company, the International Speedway Corporation, are violating antitrust laws.

"Their entire intent has been to block this race for their own monopolistic purposes," Winton said. "They are trying to corner the market for themselves."

"The idea that ISC/Homestead Miami Speedway wants to offer a bid for another event in the area is sheer nonsense," said one local news source. "ISC/Homestead-Miami has no interest in seeing another racing event anywhere near Miami."

"It is hoped this is the end of ISC-Homestead Miami Speedway's intervention and that Raceworks and the City of Miami can move forward with the business of putting on a world-class racing event. However, we believe that neither threat of another court battle, nor threat of involvement of the U.S. Justice Department will deter the minions of the Family France, NASCAR, ISC and the Speedway, such is their arrogance and belief in their own power," wrote a local sports writer.


So, in July 2002, at a press event in Miami's Bayfront Park, "a ceremonial signing was held of the final permit allowing the Miami street race to go forward. The race, originally scheduled for April, encountered substantial delays due to legal actions brought by Homestead-Miami Speedway seeking to kill the event, as well as a change of ownership of race promoter Raceworks, LLC."

Miami City Manager Carlos Gimenez, before signing a giant facsimile Street Race Permit document, joked, "The real one was signed yesterday, so it's too late for another injunction. This race WILL happen."

"It's been a long and winding road, but this is going to be a great event for us," City Commissioner Joe Sanchez said.

Delays and legal challenges led to the race being moved to October but also transformed it into a full weekend of racing that includes the ALMS race, a Trans Am Series race and a CART FedEx Championship Series race.

But attorneys representing Homestead-Miami Speedway, which has been fighting the street race, say legal issues remain. At the next Miami City Commission meeting, they are scheduled to appeal the race's zoning permit.

"The fundamental issue is can you race in the park?" said Jorge Luis Lopez, an attorney representing the speedway. "We think the answer is 'No.'"

Lopez said his clients also questions whether safety issues have been addressed.

A Miami judge's ruling that the original contract establishing the race was invalid also is still on appeal, Lopez said.

Grand Prix of the Americas President Chuck M. Martinez said plans are on track and organizers expect crowds of at least 100,000 for the three-day event.

"We are fully confident everyone is on board on this," Martinez said.

Drivers, too, are excited about street racing in Miami -- the Miami Grand Prix was held on Miami streets, at Bicentennial Park and at Tamiami Park from 1983 to 1995 until it moved to the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

American Le Mans Series drivers Johnny Herbert and Milka Duno were on hand for a ceremonial placing of the first concrete barrier. They were joined by local CART drivers Christian Fittipaldi, Tony Kanaan and Oriol Servia who are expected to compete in Miami at the 18th of 20 CART races this season. Fittipaldi, who lives on Key Biscayne, made his CART debut at the 1995 race in Miami, finishing fifth. Fittipaldi is currently in seventh place in the CART standings.

"What Miami will produce will be outstanding," said Fittipaldi. "The drivers will entertain people during the day and they can party in the evening."

Servia is looking forward to racing on the streets of his hometown.

"It's the road where people go to buy their bread and can see 800 horsepower cars fighting for position," said Servia, who has a season best sixth-place finish in Japan. "It's more real racing in the streets."

Wednesday's event was not a press conference, per se, as there were no questions taken by the organizers. The event was primarily intended to introduce the new people in charge of the event, and to announce that legal hurdles to the race had finally been cleared. Local media, including several Miami-area television stations, were on hand for the event and did interviews with organizers and drivers.

On display at the event were an Audi R8 show car in Le Mans 2000-winning livery (ordinarily on display in Champion Audi's showroom in Pompano Beach) and (in a bold stroke of irony) a blue Motorola Michael Andretti Champ Car.

In the interim since the first launch of the Miami street race, the controlling interest in race promoter Raceworks was sold to CART, which is now the primary promoter for the event, scheduled to take place October 4-6. The ALMS race will run on Saturday, with CART and Trans Am races on Sunday.

"Downtown Miami and its Bayfront Park locale are very picturesque and tourist-friendly, and the cultural makeup of the south Florida area is incredibly diverse, making for what would seem to be an ideal climate for ALMS success. But in a most curious move, the preliminary CART schedule for 2003 places the Miami date in direct conflict with the Le Mans Preliminary Tests. So whether this marriage will be a long one remains to be seen."

[As an aside, note the recent events involving ISC and its allies with regard to the CART contingent that were on hand that day: Andretti and Kanaan gone to the IRL, Fittipaldi gone to NASCAR, and if memory serves the Japanese supposedly took a run at Servia for F1.]

Last week, a local (perhaps pro-ISC) news outlet brought events at Miami up to date:

____________________

Miami's street race is on ... apparently

by Richard Biebrich
Staff Writer
Posted Septemer 18, 2002

MIAMI 7 Giving new meaning to the phrase dog-and-pony show, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz stepped out of the yellow Corvette pace car on the grounds of Flagler Dog Track to the high-pitched whining engines of two Toyota pace cars and the smoke of a CO2 fire extinguisher.

Far removed from the lawyers arguing Tuesday whether a race can or should be held in the streets of Miami, Diaz proudly proclaimed the Grand Prix Americas race week the start of a renaissance for the city.

Miami's grand prix is going to happen, where it belongs ... in downtown Miami," Diaz said at a news conference featuring drivers from the CART/FedEx Series, American Le Mans Series and the Trans Am Series, which will compete Oct. 4-6, bringing racing back to downtown for the first time since the CART left for the 1.5-mile oval in Homestead in 1996.

"This race has been an obstacle race," Miami Commissioner Tomas P. Regalado said. "But we won."

The ongoing soap opera started when the grand prix was first announced in July 2001 as an ALMS event by the city and race promoter Raceworks.

The race drew legal challenges by the Homestead-Miami Speedway and was pushed back from April 2002 to its present Oct. 4-6 date, which allowed organizers to add the CART series. Judges continue to hear appeals even as the weekend has grown to become a week celebrating speed with Tuesday's announcement of the inclusion of Sept. 29's Miami Cycling Classic at Coconut Grove. The final stop on the U.S. Pro Cycling Tour, the four-year-old Classic will feature some racers from the U.S. Postal Service Team.

"In the past we've had big-name riders, but they've never been supported by full teams," said Lee Marks, president of Velo Racing, the promoter of the race.

With 17 days remaining until cars start to take practice laps on the street course laid out downtown, Diaz is hopeful the event's legal issues will fade.

"[The speedway's lawyers] come up with stuff all the time," Diaz said. "But I think we are now in a position where this is right around the corner, and I think we should just enjoy the races."

* * *

Footnote: CART's 2003 Board, as elected by CART's shareholders, includes one new appointee and eight returning directors. The new appointee is veteran motorsports promoter Rafael A. "Ralph" Sanchez who joins returning directors James Grosfeld (who recently resigned for personal reasons), Carl A. Haas, James F. Hardymon, James A. Henderson, U.E. "Pat" Patrick, Fredrick T. Tucker, Derrick Walker and CART President and CEO Christopher R. Pook.

 

Is the IRL Racing or is it a Show?

When I hear words like easy flat, or wide-open-all-the-way -round, I cringe. Maybe I'm getting too old, and today's mindset has changed, but I remember the days when winning an auto race meant the best driver won. Now I'm not so sure anymore.
A popular definition of a sport is - An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively. This implies there is some level of skill involved, and at the end of the day, may the best athlete, or team of athletes win.

Auto racing has come under much criticism over the years for not being a true sport, because the machine (the car), not the athlete (the driver), often determined the winner. Those of us who truly understand the sport know how hard it is to be a fast race driver, and to win a race. We also recognize that it is a team sport. The pit crew, the mechanics, the engineers, the managers, all make up a winning team.

What really caught my attention was the statement Jacque Lazier made on TV recently after trying out the super smooth, recently diamond grinded, Indy Motor Speedway. He said, "it's so smooth it's easy flat." Indy was always a low-banked high-speed oval that required real skill to navigate quickly. It is/was the Super Bowl of auto racing that only the very best mastered.....but now it's easy flat.

While I don't fault the Indy Motor Speedway for wanting to make their track smooth and fast. However, when a race car has either too much downforce, not enough HP, or a combination of both, that enables a driver to circulate the majority of tracks on the IRL circuit at full throttle the entire race, I begin to lose faith in our sport as being a true sport.

Certainly traveling at those high speeds is dangerous and takes nerve. Even driving easy flat requires the driver to make many decisions during the race and to keep the car from hitting others around him. We all know the consequences could mean death, hence why drivers are sometimes called Gladiators. However, being brave is one thing, being a great driver is quite another.

When I hear 'easy flat,' I go ballistic. Does football's Super Bowl determine the best team of athletes? How about Baseball's World Series, Basketball's championship, or Ice Hockey's Stanley Cup? Does our World Series determine who has the most horsepower? God help us if that's what it's coming to. Even drag racing, a HP dominated sport, requires a driver to balance traction and throttle, and to steer a 3,000 HP rocket ship in a straight line for 1/4 mile, to win.

Road course racing remains to this day, the most challenging form of auto racing. With the heavy braking, variety of corners, upshifting and downshifting, using the clutch (downshifts only), taking one had off the wheel to shift while turning, driving in the rain......all require far more skill from a driver than an 'easy flat' oval. F1, even with all its high-technology, to this day is regarded as the true measure of a great driver because 1) it's 100% road courses, 2) the cars have a high HP-to-weight ratio making them a handful to driver and easy to spin out, and 3) the variety of circuits is a challenge.

Sometimes I wonder if we haven't lost sight of the fact that our sport must be both a sport and a show, i.e. good entertainment. If not, race drivers will be looked upon down the noses of the stick-and-ball sport lovers who feel their sport(s) require pure athletic ability to excel.

CART attempted to put more driver skill back in the sport years ago when it took downforce away from the cars. This served two purposes, 1) it slowed the cars down in the corners because speeds were getting dangerously fast, and 2) low downforce meant the driver had to make a true lift off the throttle entering the corners and drive the car through the corner balancing the throttle with steering input.

What CART struggled with, however, was the quality of its show. The Handford Device (also implemented to slow the cars) created such dirty air, that a car running behind, with low downforce, could never get close enough to the car in front exiting the corner, so the driver can make the pass down the straight. In addition, the combination of tire marbles and low downforce, took away the great side-by-side racing through the corners that every fan loves to see. However, it certainly was a measure of driver talent, and the great driving talents of this world, like Juan Montoya, showed us what our sport, if we are to call it that, is really about - the best driver/athlete.

So how do we solve this dilemma, to reach a happy medium between an easy flat IRL series that requires very little driver talent, but puts on a great show for the fans, and CART, which requires a huge amount of driver talent, but sometimes the 'show' suffers?

The answer is not en easy one, especially because oval tracks are involved. Oval track racing means speed, high speed. If you give them too little HP, the cars are easy flat. If you give them too much downforce, they are easy flat. If you give them too much HP, they become a coffin with wheels. If you give them too little downforce, they put the audience to sleep, though the driver certainly gets a good workout.

The challenge before the IRL, and CART to a lesser extent (fewer ovals), is to not lose sight of the fact that auto racing is a sport, and not P.T. Barnum show-biz. If I wanted to be strictly and mindlessly entertained, I could go to the "World Figure 8 demo-derby championships at Islip Speedway in Long Island, NY. If I want to see the best drivers race, I want to know that at the end of the day they've really accomplished something grand.

Cristiano Da Matta says it is much more demanding for a driver to win on a street or road circuit. In a recent LA Times article written by Shav Glick he states, "On a superspeedway, the car is 95% and the driver only 5%, on short ovals, the car is 85% and the driver 15%, but on street and road courses it's 50-50," he said. "It's never boring running on a big oval, not when you're going 250 mph, but you don't get the same challenges you get on a road or street course where you have to have more understanding of what your car is doing."

Heroes in sport are always about the best athlete, and auto racing should be no different. All the heroes in auto racing history have been great drivers, and easy flat does not make great drivers,......nor heroes.

 

The IRL's False Hopes

The Indy Racing League, that open-wheeled thorn in the side of CART, always promised to be the next big thing in American racing. Getting there may not be such a good thing.

With its racing season wrapped up for 2002, it seems fitting to ponder the IRL's outlook for 2003.

Since before the Indy Racing League even began to field cars, IRL top dog Tony George touted it as a place for American drivers to find a home, away from the foreign-driver-dominated CART series.

It was to be a series made in his own image -- more financially reasonable with a grassroots feel, run on American-style ovals, with the Indianapolis 500 at the centre of its universe.

Since then, it has not exactly fit the mould. Despite the regularly repeated refrain about "American drivers" -- I last heard George spout it this past spring -- the IRL fields have always been fairly international in nature. Yes, driver Tony Stewart, now of NASCAR and anger-management fame, was a champion, but so was Swede Kenny Brack. Canadian Scott Goodyear never won the championship, but he came close.

This year, American Sam Hornish Jr. may be at the top of the standings, but the real standouts are CART émigrés Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves. Then there is the now-departed Tomas Scheckter, son of South African Formula One champion Jody, Felipe Giaffone, and a host of other drivers of a distinctly non-U.S.- born nature.

The IRL, or any racing series for that matter, should not be the exclusive preserve of any nation -- drivers and teams should be there on merit -- but George has sold it that way and there appears to be a conflict between his words and reality.

This will become even more pronounced next year with the addition of the Japanese engine wars to the mix, which brings me to the main issue -- cost.

Aside from the huge marketing value and the prize money of the Indianapolis 500 -- about US$2-million -- one of the main things the IRL had going for it was a serious cost advantage over CART.

It was a situation that caused a reckoning within CART and provided the impetus to rationalize its rules. But, it is beginning to look as if the IRL might have inherited CART's problems.

What started out as a relative bargain for teams at US$1.6- million a season is expected to balloon to US$5-million or more just to field a one-car effort, without a hope of catching the series' front-runners.

There are a few factors at the root of the changes. An unavoidable one is the increase in the professionalism and exposure of the teams. In racing, costs always rise as teams seek to compete -- this has nothing to do with the IRL.

Next year, however, Honda, Toyota and General Motors are bringing their engines and their lease contracts to the IRL. Add a couple of million to each car's budget or wait by the sidelines. Sure, top teams will get a deal, but many of the rest will be paying customers.

Plus, the teams have to pony up for new chassis next year. That adds at least another half- million per car when all is said and done.

The cumulative effect of all these added costs is a virtual doubling of the cost of IRL for next year, surpassing the budget to run in CART.

The fallout is that a bunch of the smaller teams, having been with the IRL series from the get-go in 1996, are probably going to fall away -- the way some of these same teams dropped out of CART in the years before the IRL showed up.

The issue at hand for the IRL is not just whether it can fill the grids, but who is going to fill it. When big-buck teams start to enter the sport, things change. NASCAR thoroughly stomped all over its image as a place where the privateer could contend when it began allowing five-car teams, which sucked up most major sponsorship dollars.

Similarly, IRL's field next year could look very much like a five-team race, with three- and four-car teams at the front and a handful of also-ran one- and two-car teams chasing them around (or just staying out of their way).

One member of a small team, insisting on anonymity, was recently bemoaning this very fact on espn.com.

"The IRL is going to be like CART was in the late '80s," he said. "Owners are going to need money and the American drivers will be driven out because the Brazilians are the only guys who seem to be able to raise money.

"And it's going to take US$4-million to US$5-million just to run in the back. The days where we can show up and have a chance to win are all but over. The old IRL is dead."

With CART team owner Chip Ganassi looking like he will move to the IRL next year and Michael Andretti will be moving, and existing teams looking to add cars, the IRL may gain some big players. But, several teams that have soldiered on with the series are looking very shaky for 2003. The costs have risen beyond what their own personal pocketbooks can handle.

Even this year, before the added costs of next season, only 13 cars had competed in every single IRL event. The rest of the entries, numbering in the low 20s at most race events, consisted of teams that ran the Indy 500 and showed up for a few other races. These are the most vulnerable teams.

It is true that motorsport is a rich person's game, but when it was about the money in one rich person's pocket versus the money in another's, there were always enough rich people wanting to make a go of it. With corporate coffers paying the freight, the number of players at the top is too few to leave the health of the series in their hands. Big money comes, big money goes, and when it does, it leaves the racers to pick up the pieces.

CART learned that lesson almost too late. Formula One is beginning to understand and NASCAR is also scrambling to do its homework on cost reduction. This leaves the IRL as the only major motorsport series today not talking about reducing costs.

Considering how focused George is on an elusive definition of success, it is unlikely the IRL is going to pick up on the warning signs. It is likely to continue deluding itself into thinking it is in the driver's seat when fleeting commercial interests are really just taking it for a ride.

 

CART take its destiny into its own hands

For several years now CART has tried to get the sport of Indy Car racing back together, only to be rebuffed time and again by Tony George. In its latest move, CART tried to adopt the same engine platform and a similar chassis, in the hopes that CART and the IRL would share a common platform and be able to come together, if not as a single entity, then at least two divisions (road and oval) under one roof (sanctioning body). That was until Roger Penske and Tony George joined forces, whereupon Roger Penske did an about face, and turned from calling for a merger of the two series, to saying only one would survive.

Clearly, Roger Penske has chosen sides, and clearly he is using his vast political influence in the automotive industry to help the IRL and cut the legs out from under CART. At his recent surprise birthday party in Indy hosted by Roger's wife, Penske announced, for all to hear, that he had decided to join his friend Tony George and the IRL a year ago (May 2001). Of course he never bothered to inform the CART Franchise Board of this decision, a board he continued to serve on until his departure from CART in late 2001, but that is a discussion for another day.

We live in a very dynamic time in the history of our sport. There is a lot of political maneuvering going on as to who will actually be king of the sport of auto racing. Clearly Bernie Ecclestone and his F1 series are the current world leaders, followed by the vastly popular American NASCAR Winston Cup series run by the France family. Both have a wide lead over third place, arguably the CART FedEx Series. However, Tony George, with the help of his 'friend' Roger Penske, have different ideas. Tony, at a recent open-wheel summit held in Indy, stood up in front of the audience and declared he intends to take the IRL to the head of the pack, "and that includes past NASCAR and Formula One", declared George.

That statement was a warning shot across the bow of both Bill France and Bernie Ecclestone, who we doubt will take lightly what George said that day. George threw down the gauntlet with that powerful declaration, and one can bet neither Ecclestone, nor France are about to roll over and play dead. What their plan of action will be to cut George's legs out from under him, should he begin to make inroads into their sacred domains, remains to be seen, but we wouldn't want to be caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, George and Penske are trying to win their first battle, to dispose of pesky CART so they can have the sport of Indy Car Racing all to their own. However, we seriously doubt, as wounded as it is, CART is going to just standby without a fight.

Many CART team owners want to compete in the Indy 500. Having to buy totally new equipment each year for just one race was difficult. So, at the Houston Franchise Board meeting last October, the CART board members voted with their hearts, rather than their heads. By attempting to become an IRL clone, and obviously not realizing it at the time, they almost wrote their own death warrant.

While it seemed to be the right thing to do in an attempt to unify the already weakened sport of Indy Car Racing (weakened by the creation of the IRL by Tony George), in fact it drove Honda out the door and tore the heart right out of its heritage (high-tech turbo engines and state-of-the-art cars), disappointed a large majority of its loyal fans, and copied a racing formula which arguably has little following.

Oh, but it gets worse. By copying your opponents formula, you place yourself in a position to have your opponent control your destiny. Tony George has deep pockets, very deep pockets. If he chose, he could make changes to his formula annually that would force CART to follow, and in doing so, add expense to the CART teams in an attempt to bankrupt them. Meanwhile George could easily afford to increase the behind-the-scenes- funding of his IRL teams to defray these added costs. CART would constantly be on the defensive, rather than the offensive, exactly the position George, like any smart opponent, would want.

It's now time that CART take its destiny into its own hands, and out of that of its opponents. Out of necessity to save money, and in survival mode, they have already made the decision to stick to their existing chassis and transmission to save their teams the unnecessary cost of buying entirely new cars, new cars that can't be used at the Indy 500.

Now it's time to take the next step and move as far away from the 3.5 L normally aspirated IRL engine formula as possible. Ideally CART should eventually move to a V-10 gasoline engine formula, a detuned version of the F1 engines, because there are far more engine designers that have the know-how to design a gasoline engine rather than a methanol engine. And the music (some might liken it to a scream) of those V-10's is Mozart and Beethoven rolled into one.

However, it's too late to make such a drastic move for 2003, and one would argue it's too late for 2004 as well. We are looking at 2005 at best for CART to change over to a new engine formula that will serve it's needs for the next 10 to 15 years. If CART were to eliminate most ovals from its schedule, races that mandate much lower HP than road and street circuits for the sake of safety, CART could comfortably keep its HP in the 800 to 850 range and sell its series to fans around the world as the top-level racing formula that it always was, rather than a copycat lower-level formula that it almost became.

 

The rebirth of CART, a new beginning

CART detractors have predicted its demise every year for the last seven years. Ever since Tony George split Indy Car racing in half by creating the IRL, those detractors said CART would never survive without the Indy 500 in its fold. And every year CART has survived. However, at the end of 2001, after Joe Heitzler's 'reign of error' decimated many of CART's business/media/supplier/promoter/sponsor relationships, the cries became even louder. '2002 is CART's last year,' came the predictions. But in stepped Chris Pook, and with him the rebirth of CART began.
Until that time, it certainly would be fair to say that CART was arrogant, greedy, self-centered, and riddled with conflicts of interest. Through the years, CART managed to damage a lot of relationships and paint themselves into a corner. It had gotten to the point that CART had no friends left in racing. They managed to alienate Bernie Ecclestone (F1), the France Family (NASCAR/ISC), Tony George (IRL), Don Panoz (ALMS), and more.

Despite all this, CART continues to be one of the hardest fought, most challenging and competitive forms of motorsport in the world. While the on-track product isn't perfect, it certainly has been the shining light of this struggling series. However, what the Pook regime found when they took office were numerous damaged relationships with sponsors, manufacturers, team owners and track promoters. Amazingly, they found that previous CART leaders had not even taken the time to introduce themselves to many of these important and indispensable constituents.

One-by-one Chris Pook is rebuilding these broken bridges, and is working nearly round the clock to repair the damage. Chris and his team have racked up more frequent flyer miles in the last five months than one can imagine. Their days sometimes start at 3:00 AM and don't end until well after midnight.

It obvious that the IRL is aware of Pook's organizational and leadership abilities, as well as his commanding intellectual and charismatic presence, and they are worried. They were certain CART would fold at the end of this season. Now however, they have stepped up the attack, worried that Chris Pook and CART are gaining momentum.

Of course corporate sponsors are starting to wise up to the IRL rhetoric. They see the empty grandstands, and have realized the IRL's open-wheel oval racing may be a flawed concept. The fans are just not buying tickets and these companies are not so sure they want to have their corporate logos associated with the negative implications of empty grandstands.

Some people predicted IRL attendance would increase when the mighty Marlboro Team Penske joined their ranks. Not so, however, and if anything, it has dropped. Penske badmouthed CART for dropping his ovals at Homestead, Nazareth and Michigan, giving that as one of the primary reasons he was moving to the IRL. The IRL would race on his ISC owned tracks (Penske's tracks were bought out by ISC and Penske sits on the ISC board). But lo and behold, attendance has been a disaster.

The IRL even did a $1 million marketing campaign in Southern California and they still only drew about 12,000 fans at Fontana. I hear the look on the face of Marlboro's Ina Broeman that day in Fontana was not a happy one. One would think they must be asking themselves if they might be better served back in CART where the grandstands are full and the races span the globe.

So worried are the IRL folks, that they even decided to visit Motegi the same weekend as CART's race there to steal some of CART's thunder. Right away the rumors started that Honda would replace CART with the IRL at Motegi. It had just the effect the IRL was hoping for.

The most recent attempt by the IRL to cut the legs out from under CART came with the chassis situation. Starting in 2003, CART was going to attempt to use the same tub as the IRL in an effort to bring the two series closer together. But once again, the IRL put pressure on its manufacturers to not participate in the CART series, or risk not being approved to participate in their series. It's a heavy handed unilateral dictatorship, much like the France family does in NASCAR. 'It's our way or the highway.'

Regardless of the IRL efforts to destroy CART, CART is gaining strength and moving forward with its own agenda. #1 on the agenda is cutting costs to enable teams to run more cars, or reduce the cost of sponsorship. We spoke with CART's John Lopes and he provided us with the cost savings a team can expect in 2003. Keep in mind that a team spends anywhere from $11 million to $20 million today for a 1-car effort. Also keep in mind that some teams pay for engines, while others do not. It's the teams that have to purchase their engines that will see the biggest gains.

Anticipated 2003 cost savings
$0.5 million - Update to existing Chassis, no new car required
$2.0 million - Existing engines $4.5 million per year, 2003 just $2.5 million
$0.5 million - Reduced testing
$0.5 million - Schedule changes to improve travel logistics
$0.5 million - Development freeze
----------------
$4.5 million savings, or about 40%

In addition, CART is giving serious consideration to a one-engine per weekend rule starting in 2003, plus adding a contingency fund that could see significantly more dollars flowing their teams way.

This means a team can field a competitive Champ Car for as little as $6+ million in 2003, a significant cost reduction. CART will have narrowed the gap between cost and return. In fact it very well may be cheaper to run in CART in 2003 than the IRL. The IRL allows a lot more testing, and their oval wall crashes wipe out a lot of equipment and bankrupt many a team.

We asked John how he felt the 2002 season has gone so far? "We still need to improve the way we run some of our races, I didn't feel we did as good a job at Motegi, Japan as we could have," stated Lopes. "However, our first three races drew huge crowds, and over 1/2 million people can't be wrong."

"We are working hard to rebuild relationships that were damaged in the past. CART is now a very different company with different objectives. "We're now a kinder, gentler, more professional organization, but that doesn't mean we can be pushed around, Chris Pook is too savvy for that."

From my perspective, I believe we are looking at the rebirth of CART, a new beginning. But as with any new baby, it takes time to grow it, mold it and for it to mature into an adult. It's going to take a couple of years to get CART back where it needs to be, but so far CART is making all the right moves.

 

where are you getting this stuff?

 

This is awesome information!! I haven't even started reading it, but when I finish next week I'll give even more But at least by your topic it seems CART is coming back... So more

 

That is the longest post I've ever read.

Just had to say that.

 

my eyes hurt!

cart irl, nascar

 

Seriously, Alexis - please cite your sources so we can follow up on them. There are some interesting ideas up there but I don't know what to think of them unless I know where they came from...

Kirk

 

nice articles

please state the reference though

 

We've all known that Grand-Am Cup and World Challenge are sort of competitors in the the Touring/GT car racing market. We all know NASCAR owns GAC. We all know that NASCAR now has significant control of Speed Channel, the title sponsor of World Challenge. Reading some of these articles have cleared up a few things in my mind.

Suspiciously, on all of the sponsor packages for Speed Channel, World Challenge is not mentioned in them. This year we have seen WC broadcasts relegated to one showing then rebroadcasts at odd hours of the night, and often not many times. While the tape delays are supposed to make for a better show I find that it takes away some of the excitement of the race to know that it is not live. Then there's the mysterious absence of World Challenge from Speed Channel's Speed News up until late this season.

Now I see why the powers that be with ISC/NASCAR would like Grand Am Cup to take out World Challenge. Races at their facilities means money in their pockets. Luckily for WC, its fan base is much bigger and its product is better for TV. Still, doing things like not selling the series to sponsors, not promoting it on Speed Channel, and not being proactive are stifling the success of World Challenge. I sincerely feel it is the best racing in the United States and that it could enjoy huge popularity if more effort were put into marketing it. Perhaps if World Challenge goes to ESPN it'll get what it needs to grow.

 

Just got back from the USGP and it's good to see a lot of interest in this topic. How did you like the USGP finish? After what the F1 drivers have said recently about how the IRL is a show instead of real racing, I think these two guys pre-arranged this finish as a way to mock the IRL in front of TGs face.

I posted these articles because I noticed some of you are misinformed about CART and the true state of Road Racing in the USA. There is a war going on and the future of USA Road Racing is at stake, not just open-wheel racing.

The sources comes from motorsport "insiders" and various press releases by the different parties, newspaper articles, motorsport websites, and many other public records. There is a long list of sources, but all these information is nothing new and have been known by many for some time now.

For example, Robin Miller mentioned "Pook and Ecclestone have actually been meeting to discuss some sort of partnership down the road" in his most recent article in abc.com

The battle in Miami will be the test if CART/ALMS can overcome the evil forces of NASCAR/IRL. Today another article in the Miami Herald was published about the ISC lawyers trying to get another injunction to stop the Oct 6 Miami CART/ALMS race. Hopely the race will go on as scheduled, if not it would be a sign that Road Racing in America will soon be crushed by them.

Road Racing needs your support, please do whatever you can do to help. Attend the races, buy sponsors products, write to the media & sponsors letting them know how you feel.

If you are a Road Racing fan, you should pass the word and support CART & ALMS as much as you can, otherwise racing in the USA will only be Ovals if NASCAR & IRL have their way.

 

Posted on Mon, Sep. 30, 2002
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/local/4179038.htm


No finish line in legal fight over auto race
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@herald.com

The auto races this weekend in downtown Miami are being billed as among the flashiest competitions in the world, a powerhouse tripleheader that may astonish even the most seasoned racing fans.

Grand Prix Americas will be broadcast live on national television and is expected to draw some 400 journalists from around the world.

But behind the glittery skyline shots and revving engines is one of the most hard-fought corporate wars in Miami's recent history.

On one side is the city of Miami and Raceworks, formed by two Miami businessmen who wanted to again see the fastest cars in the world zipping along Biscayne Bay. On the other side is International Speedway Corporation (ISC), parent company of NASCAR and the Homestead-Miami Speedway, hellbent on stopping the race.

''It's a nasty, all-out brawl,'' said Miami Commission Vice Chairman Johnny Winton.

The confrontation has produced a string of lawsuits and accusations, insults and delays.

Grand Prix Americas, which will include races by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), the American Le Mans series and Trans-Am, is scheduled to take place Friday through Sunday.

But not if ISC lawyers can help it. The race has already been postponed once after legal complications.

Jorge Luis Lopez, a Miami-based lawyer for ISC, promises to continue the legal fight until race day and beyond, pursuing a variety of legal issues.

''I understand that the city can't be happy,'' Lopez said. ``But it's the city that's been playing aggressive hardball. They don't like it when somebody stands up to them.''

Lopez said ISC wants to bid on a downtown race itself. But it has not done so, despite an invitation to bid by the city. Lopez said the city needs to provide bid specifications first.

COMPETITION FEARS

Miami leaders believe that ISC's real motive for stopping the race is to stifle competition.

Homestead city leaders have said that there are not enough race fans in the area to support two major races. A race in downtown Miami, they say, could hurt their revenues.

Lopez says Raceworks has not acquired the proper permits to race on Biscayne Boulevard, and that the city never allowed open bidding for the race. He says he is poised to ask for an emergency injunction to stop Grand Prix Americas.

''The rule of law will prevail,'' he said.

But local elected leaders and Grand Prix Americas officials say ISC is merely exploiting every possible legal maneuver -- at the expense of racing fans -- to kill the race.

''I'm extremely upset,'' said Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. ``I think it's shortsighted on [ISC's] part. If they want to be a good corporate citizen, they should just let this race happen.''

It would be the first auto race in downtown Miami since 1995, when promoter Ralph Sanchez, who ran races there from 1982 until that year, took his race south to Homestead's Motorsports Complex.

Sanchez, who no longer plays a role in Homestead, now sits on the CART board of directors.

LONG OPPOSITION

Since the day architect and developer ***** Bermello and lawyer Peter Yanowitch approached the Miami Commission for permission to race downtown in July 2001, advocates of Homestead's Grand Prix of Miami and Winston Cup have opposed it.

''Brainless and heartless,'' said Homestead Councilwoman Cheryl Arroyave-Sweeney, who argued that a race in downtown Miami would damage Homestead economically because it would siphon fans away.

John Graham, ISC's president, said the race is destined to fail. ''The likelihood of success is remote,'' he said. ``I just think it's a lose-lose situation.''

But the objections fell on deaf ears. With the city and Raceworks forging ahead, the opponents switched tactics. Homestead-Miami Speedway filed a lawsuit alleging that the city broke its own rules by signing a contract with Raceworks without letting other companies make competitive bids.

A Miami-Dade circuit judge sided with it in March and declared the agreement between Raceworks and the city null and void. The next day, Raceworks announced that it would postpone the race from April until October in order to bring CART into the picture.

LICENSE, NOT LEASE

City leaders argued that they granted Raceworks a license, not a lease, to put on the race, and they tweaked the contract to conform with the judge's ruling. Earlier this month, the Third District Court of Appeal heard arguments over the contract's viability.

Lopez said he may ask for a temporary injunction to stop the race based on the argument that the city's revised agreement also violates no-bid rules.

But Raceworks representatives and city leaders insist the race will take place. Tickets are being sold by the thousands, hundreds of press credentials are being handed out, and CBS is planning to broadcast it live. Race promoters expect 62 million people in more than 120 countries to see the race.

The Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority, a quasi-governmental agency, has lent Raceworks $2 million in public funds to prepare for Grand Prix Americas. For publicity purposes, Diaz rode in a race car earlier this month.

City Manager Carlos Gimenez said the city is in the process of obtaining all necessary permits from the Florida Department of Transportation. He says the race will happen.

Chuck Martinez, president of Grand Prix Americas, said the race could play a vital role in the revitalization of downtown. He said ISC's corporate interests should not outweigh the interests of racing fans.

''Very simply put, we feel that we are living in a competitive society,'' he said. ``We don't think they [ISC] own a monopoly for racing in South Florida.''

 

Can I fit an CART engine in my ek hatchie?

But seriously, maybe links instead of quotes would make it easier to get to the bottom of this thread, and would also provide sources of the info.

 

Keep'em Comming

Hell, send all this Miami Info to some NASCAR forums and see what the NASCAR fans have to say about it. I seriously doubt that alot of NASCAR fans dont like to watch road racing...

All I know is that the ISC can kiss my A**, Come this weekend I WILL be sitting in the grand stands in Miami, RACE OR NOT!!!!


[Modified by azroth, 3:58 PM 9/30/2002]

 

AN INTERVIEW WITH: CHRIS POOK AND DON PANOZ

full transcript posted Tuesday, October 1, 2002
http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=4782


Q: You spoke earlier of certain opposition from other sources in Miami and we know who they are. That group is opposing CART in particular and in some sense ALMS. Do you two have to unite in order to fight off that opposition?

CHRIS POOK: Well, I mean, I don't think we have to unite, but we seem to have common foe here (that) with regular occurrence seems to be beating on us, and it's a little disappointing. I am simply disappointed down here in Miami because, you know, the City of Miami wouldn't be doing this race if they didn't feel there was a need to use automobile racing to create some economic impact for their Downtown area. I think what is very disappointing to me is that in the past when we started Long Beach, there was opposition from Riverside and a little bit of opposition from Ontario (California) and we reached out to both of them, and we established a working relationship, albeit, the first year tenuous, but whereby we worked together and we promoted their races and they promoted our races. Suddenly, they found that both of them had a whole new load of fans that were going to their racetracks because the Long Beach folks. Eighty percent of them had never been to a motor car race before. And it turned into a successful relationship. And I picked up the phone here about three months ago to Jim France and said to Jim, "Jim, let's work together as a team here. Let's (not)fight. You know, let us promote Homestead here and work together, you know, because the two of us working together, the two venues working together can help."

Certainly, we can help Homestead and I think that Homestead can help here a little bit. But that offer was rejected and it's unfortunate, but the opposition continues and it is disappointing because this is a free and open marketplace. At least I believe America was a free and open marketplace where one had the right to compete where one wanted to. And I am not sure that an exclusive franchise for motor racing has been granted to Homestead. And if it has been granted, by whom was it granted?

So this is all very disappointing because at end of the day if we in motor sports all work together as a team, we're going to be much more efficient and much more effective. But it is what it is. We have got our business to run at Championship Auto Racing Teams. Mr. Panoz has got his teams to run at American Le Mans Series. While I don't want to speak for him, I suspect that his philosophy is the same as ours. We're going to get on and run our business and run it the way we want to run it and by "we," that's to say "we" CART, and "we" ALMS and when we work together as we are this weekend, we arrive at the same mutual policy together of how we've got to operate this event. So the "we" becomes the two of us. And we're not going to allow other folks to dictate to us as to how we run our lives.

DON PANOZ: I just ditto everything that Chris said. I'd like to add that it's amazing to me that the guise of objections from that camp, a lot of it was on the basis that it was doing a great harm to Homestead and people in racing. And I am sure you guys in the media know that the people and the demographics that go to these two venues are quite different--Point Number One.

Point Number Two is that a lot of the people who will be coming to this race in Miami are not the ones who go down to Homestead. The real victim in this is--and the delays of this and part of the injury will be the City of Miami, which was a great supporter of Homestead. I just feel it's completely unjust and I think that those people who keep pursuing this line of attack and although I must say, I am pleasantly surprised that from the figures that we see and stuff, the fans are ignoring that and are coming to the race. But the fact is that I think Miami is an unwilling victim in this and I think that the people are being very short-sighted.

 

Great articles. I don't know if I agree with your theory about Ferrari wanting to show up T.G. but it's a nice thought. I don't think Bernie wants to bite the hands that feed him quite yet. The American F1 series is a great idea. I have also read contrasting articles that have Bernie working with Tony George to kill off Cart. I don't know what to believe. I hope that some of this holds true.

Anyway I know that both T.G. and B.E. where actually happy with the 02 USGP's attendance. Bernie is happy because he doesn’t get a cut of the money anyway and Tony is happy because even though the championship has been over for a while and the country is in a recession it is still the highest attended GP on the calendar.

Now there are really strong rumors coming from F1 that to counter the falling TV ratings F1 is going to make the digital feed available worldwide free of cost. There would still be a pay per view option that allowed you to watch the race the way you want to see it by you to choose the camera angle.

Anyway there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel after all, we just have to see where it leads.

 

David slays Goliath in Miami

ISC has finally thrown in the towel. They've raised the white flag. The big bad giant lost, brought to their knees by little David. Tuesday, ISC's team of lawyers (ISC owns nearby Homestead Raceway and were trying to kill the downtown Miami race to protect their turf) called and said they give up trying to stop this weekends CART/ALMS/Trans-Am race in the streets of Miami. They exhausted every possible legal avenue available to them up to the last possible moment, seeking injunction after injunction in the waning hours. But in the end, good won out over bad. Nothing but Mother Nature (Hurricane Lili) can stop this weekends races from happening.

This has been one of the ugliest battles in the history of motorsports. Miami was a battle between the oval track Cartel headquartered in Daytona and Indianapolis, and the road racing crowd represented by CART and ALMS.

What makes the situation in Miami so noteworthy is the fact that the ALMS, Trans-Am, and CART all have powerful friends among the movers and shakers of the city of Miami. It's remarkable that ISC chose to attack them there. For one thing it is an open declaration of "total war", meaning that ISC is signaling that it will settle for nothing less than complete victory -- no "peaceful co-existence" being possible. Secondly, it is a test of ISC's might. To paraphrase the song: "If they can do it there, they can do it anywhere." Well guess what, they got their head handed to them in a platter and it's on its way back north to Daytona.

ISC, hiding behind Homestead-Miami Speedway LLC, which it owns, has done everything in their power to stop the Miami street race, including making contradicting public statements. They have written legal letters to create bad publicity around the event, tried to stop them from getting building permits, opposed them getting licensure, took out full page ads in the Miami papers denouncing the event, and even pressured Brian Redman to not bring his historic racing series in for the weekends events.

In deposition by Curtis Gray, President of Homestead-Miami Speedway LLC, he admitted Homestead-Miami Speedway LLC paid for several advertisements arguing against racing in the streets of the City of Miami, saying "street races are financial failures."

A lot of credit has to go to Peter Yanowitch, an attorney, and owner of Raceworks, co-promoter for this weekends event with CART (the controlling interest in race promoter Raceworks was sold to CART, which is now the primary promoter for the event). He was one attorney up against a slew of five ISC attorneys who were paid some $300,000 per month to fight for ISC to kill this race. Peter is the 'David,' who slew the team (Giant) of ISC lawyers. In some respects, CART, ALMS and Trans-Am are also David's against the giant NASCAR cartel. Some credit must also go to the crafty Chris Pook and Don Panoz who certainly had some hand in tripping up the giant.

The giant tried everything imaginable over the last two years, but on Tuesday, he gave up the ghost. In recent weeks, even volunteers were discouraged from helping out in Miami, and as the two article above point out, the giant tried every legal maneuver in its legal arsenal, but found out whereas they have power in northern Florida, in Miami they were no match for 'David.'

One argument ISC used in trying to kill the race was that the area of Miami-Dade County could not support two races, one in Homestead at ISC's track and this one in Miami. That's like saying Miami can't support both the Miami Dolphins football team and the University of Miami football team. Miami is a big city. It most certainly can support two race events/facilities.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz was highly upset with ISC's shenanigans and vowed "This race started in downtown Miami [as the Grand Prix of Miami]; this race belongs in downtown Miami, and this race will run in downtown Miami."

And run it will. Grand Prix of the Americas President Chuck M. Martinez said plans are on track and organizers expect crowds of at least 100,000 for the three-day event. The Grand Prix has attracted high-brow sponsors from Cadillac to Lalique to Mumm champagne. Grand Prix Americas President Chuck M. Martinez said last week that the upper-level grandstand seats and a dozen hospitality chalets along the racecourse are sold out, and only a couple of the 47 suites are still available.

Downtown Miami and its Bayfront Park locale are very picturesque and tourist-friendly, and the cultural makeup of the south Florida area is incredibly diverse, making for what would seem to be an ideal climate for success. Friday through Sunday, auto-racing returns to the streets of Miami for the first time in seven years, in the Grand Prix Americas, a triple-header of racing -- a made-for-Miami event -- complete with a Biscayne Bay view, concerts and, of course, champagne.

After what David had to go through to slay the Giant the past two years, you can bet the bubbly will be flowing heavily on Sunday.....and it will most certainly taste extra sweet.

 

Damn...that was one hell of a long thread...lots of useful information, thank you for providing it.

I knew the preliminaries on the IRL vs. CART, and the ISC/NASCAR vs. the world, but hadn't realized that they were intertwined so much.

Austin

 

The Phoenix is about to rise, Pook and Ecclestone deal

Hearing more rumblings here in Miami that Chris Pook and Bernie Ecclestone continue to talk. Some people are saying Don Panoz may want to get in on the act now too and the negotiations are only getting bigger and better as time goes on. Of course Gerald Forsythe also figures very strongly in the deal we hear.

Again, these discussions are pretty hush-hush so it's hard to get the real story (if there is any)......yet. Also hear that, as we rumored previously, Bernie blew off the USGP because he was in meetings with Pook and Forsythe. One rumor has Bernie buying all of Forsythe's stock, which we find surprising.