ferrarigod
12-20-06, 03:41 PM
Found this little gem while doing a quick search on the ole'goog a few minutes ago. I have some questions, and you have answers. So let us discuss.
Per AR1: no this is not the entire article, it is clips of interesting points, to read it all click here:http://www.autoracing1.com/MarkC/2003/0701WhatRogerMean.asp
This Kansas City Star article raises the obvious point that two open wheel series in the USA causes fan confusion. "It would improve chances of open wheel racing catching NASCAR if there wasn't that confusion," stated Tony George. To reduce the number of open wheel series from two to one, one of two things must happen. The two must unite, or one must die. Roger Penske is hoping for a merger. "I think there will be some rational combination of the two that will take place," stated Penske, but Penske said George thinks that may no longer be possible, which leads to the latter option.....that CART dies and goes away, a popular belief held by many.
Face it, if Roger Penske and/or Tony George really wanted to get rid of CART, they could make the highest bid for it, take control and kill it off, almost overnight. The Coup de Grace so-to-speak. Let's examine how this could play out.
Did anton have some liverspots money on the day of the trial? I never heard that rumor.
Speaking of shareholders, Jon Vannini is CART's second largest shareholder behind Gerald Forsythe.
What happened to Vannini? I haven't heard of him in years.
Asked if he is part of a deal to take CART private, Vannini responded "That would be news to me. I rarely hear from Chris Pook (pictured right) unless he needs a favor."
ZING!
He went on to say, "I'm sure Chris has a plan. He must be reasonably confident he has the funding because he hasn't asked me to participate. If you can believe the rumors, the only current shareholder who is part of any would-be deal to take CART private is Mr. Forsythe....but I really don't know."
Well that proved to be correct.
I asked if he had been contacted by either Tony George (pictured right) and/or Roger Penske regarding taking over CART, in what would amount to an unfriendly takeover bid. Vannini said, "No, why would they contact me? Based on their public comments, they appear to be quite comfortable operating on the assumption that CART is just going to go away and that unification is the de facto result of CART's imminent extinction. That is not my view, but both of those gentlemen seem fully invested in that perception."
just an interesting point i felt worth bolding.
Asked if he thought unification would be good either from a sporting perspective or commercially, Vannini said, "It depends. I think if you took each of the series' respective strengths and morphed them into some sort of Super Series that would make sense to me. That seems pretty obvious. I think in private, both sides would admit to that. Only a moron wouldn't."
Funny, merging the best parts of each in 2003 would have meant the old CART teams, Mindy 500, and all of Champ Car. Wow, welllllll that super series would look like 1995 CART. How amazing.:saywhat:
"I don't, however, subscribe to the currently fashionable notion or thesis that if CART were to cease to exist tomorrow that the IRL would miraculously start some new found upward trajectory. I think recent events clearly indicate that isn't the case. Many folks would quarrel with that statement but I believe it is, more or less, incontrovertible. The IRL has some of CART's biggest names, some of its biggest teams and some of its biggest sponsors, yet their TV ratings and attendance have stayed neutral, and in some cases dropped."
Probably the best paragraph in the article. Even with everything the IRL squandered its own fan base while gaining nothing. Lots of us were calling this and called it correctly, but very nice:thumbup:
I just fundamentally don't believe that there is a market for an all-oval or nearly all-oval based open wheel series. But some very bright folks are betting a lot of money that there is, so who am I to say?"
Well, I think that has bee officially established over the years.
But this whole idea of a merger is something that seems to percolate to the fore in the media every summer. I just don't see it happening. If Messrs. Penske and George wanted to unify open wheel racing in America quickly, they could simply buy CART. The fact that they haven't indicates to me they don't think they have to."
Again, how much was Penske involved along with Honda and Anton to kill CART? If Penske wanted this so much then, I can't imagine he waited until now to try and bridge the gap between the 2 series. Even if that meant killing off the series he was just in. He also didn't want to go public and wanted out as soon as possible, so how does that all come into play?
There have been rumors of other bidders, most notably Bernie Ecclestone, without question the most powerful man in motorsports. Other rumors suggest other private companies or individuals may be putting bids together, including one bid that includes a big venture capitalist.
I wonder who the big venture capitalist is??????:p
The next several weeks should be interesting, but I can assure you one side is not going to be happy with the outcome. If CART survives and then thrives, Tony George's IRL series will continue to flounder along, and if there is a successful unfriendly takeover bid of CART, an entire racing series could cease to exist
Well flounder they have . . .
leaving a lot of devoted road racing fans reeling; fans who have rejected the IRL in spite of having all the big CART names, and will simply switch to being NASCAR or F1 fans instead. This war has left a lot of hard and bitter feelings.
No doubt. I would devote all my racing interest to F1. Any series in America without the tradition of CART, or one not run by Anton may catch my eye, but for many I think the war is CART or IRL, not one or the other depending on who is more popular at any given time.
Interesting article.
So where is Vaninni? I remember hearing about him, but I haven't heard from him, or about him in quite some time. It is interesting to see how far things have come. I remember 2003 at St. Pete thinking that it could be my last time seeing a CART race, but I'm happy to say it was not.
Pretty good job in the predictions and such should go out to those in the thread. Maybe not Marxie, cause he didn't predict anything, but to Vaninni.
Thought some may find it interesting.
Per AR1: no this is not the entire article, it is clips of interesting points, to read it all click here:http://www.autoracing1.com/MarkC/2003/0701WhatRogerMean.asp
This Kansas City Star article raises the obvious point that two open wheel series in the USA causes fan confusion. "It would improve chances of open wheel racing catching NASCAR if there wasn't that confusion," stated Tony George. To reduce the number of open wheel series from two to one, one of two things must happen. The two must unite, or one must die. Roger Penske is hoping for a merger. "I think there will be some rational combination of the two that will take place," stated Penske, but Penske said George thinks that may no longer be possible, which leads to the latter option.....that CART dies and goes away, a popular belief held by many.
Face it, if Roger Penske and/or Tony George really wanted to get rid of CART, they could make the highest bid for it, take control and kill it off, almost overnight. The Coup de Grace so-to-speak. Let's examine how this could play out.
Did anton have some liverspots money on the day of the trial? I never heard that rumor.
Speaking of shareholders, Jon Vannini is CART's second largest shareholder behind Gerald Forsythe.
What happened to Vannini? I haven't heard of him in years.
Asked if he is part of a deal to take CART private, Vannini responded "That would be news to me. I rarely hear from Chris Pook (pictured right) unless he needs a favor."
ZING!
He went on to say, "I'm sure Chris has a plan. He must be reasonably confident he has the funding because he hasn't asked me to participate. If you can believe the rumors, the only current shareholder who is part of any would-be deal to take CART private is Mr. Forsythe....but I really don't know."
Well that proved to be correct.
I asked if he had been contacted by either Tony George (pictured right) and/or Roger Penske regarding taking over CART, in what would amount to an unfriendly takeover bid. Vannini said, "No, why would they contact me? Based on their public comments, they appear to be quite comfortable operating on the assumption that CART is just going to go away and that unification is the de facto result of CART's imminent extinction. That is not my view, but both of those gentlemen seem fully invested in that perception."
just an interesting point i felt worth bolding.
Asked if he thought unification would be good either from a sporting perspective or commercially, Vannini said, "It depends. I think if you took each of the series' respective strengths and morphed them into some sort of Super Series that would make sense to me. That seems pretty obvious. I think in private, both sides would admit to that. Only a moron wouldn't."
Funny, merging the best parts of each in 2003 would have meant the old CART teams, Mindy 500, and all of Champ Car. Wow, welllllll that super series would look like 1995 CART. How amazing.:saywhat:
"I don't, however, subscribe to the currently fashionable notion or thesis that if CART were to cease to exist tomorrow that the IRL would miraculously start some new found upward trajectory. I think recent events clearly indicate that isn't the case. Many folks would quarrel with that statement but I believe it is, more or less, incontrovertible. The IRL has some of CART's biggest names, some of its biggest teams and some of its biggest sponsors, yet their TV ratings and attendance have stayed neutral, and in some cases dropped."
Probably the best paragraph in the article. Even with everything the IRL squandered its own fan base while gaining nothing. Lots of us were calling this and called it correctly, but very nice:thumbup:
I just fundamentally don't believe that there is a market for an all-oval or nearly all-oval based open wheel series. But some very bright folks are betting a lot of money that there is, so who am I to say?"
Well, I think that has bee officially established over the years.
But this whole idea of a merger is something that seems to percolate to the fore in the media every summer. I just don't see it happening. If Messrs. Penske and George wanted to unify open wheel racing in America quickly, they could simply buy CART. The fact that they haven't indicates to me they don't think they have to."
Again, how much was Penske involved along with Honda and Anton to kill CART? If Penske wanted this so much then, I can't imagine he waited until now to try and bridge the gap between the 2 series. Even if that meant killing off the series he was just in. He also didn't want to go public and wanted out as soon as possible, so how does that all come into play?
There have been rumors of other bidders, most notably Bernie Ecclestone, without question the most powerful man in motorsports. Other rumors suggest other private companies or individuals may be putting bids together, including one bid that includes a big venture capitalist.
I wonder who the big venture capitalist is??????:p
The next several weeks should be interesting, but I can assure you one side is not going to be happy with the outcome. If CART survives and then thrives, Tony George's IRL series will continue to flounder along, and if there is a successful unfriendly takeover bid of CART, an entire racing series could cease to exist
Well flounder they have . . .
leaving a lot of devoted road racing fans reeling; fans who have rejected the IRL in spite of having all the big CART names, and will simply switch to being NASCAR or F1 fans instead. This war has left a lot of hard and bitter feelings.
No doubt. I would devote all my racing interest to F1. Any series in America without the tradition of CART, or one not run by Anton may catch my eye, but for many I think the war is CART or IRL, not one or the other depending on who is more popular at any given time.
Interesting article.
So where is Vaninni? I remember hearing about him, but I haven't heard from him, or about him in quite some time. It is interesting to see how far things have come. I remember 2003 at St. Pete thinking that it could be my last time seeing a CART race, but I'm happy to say it was not.
Pretty good job in the predictions and such should go out to those in the thread. Maybe not Marxie, cause he didn't predict anything, but to Vaninni.
Thought some may find it interesting.