CC HQ house cleaning?

[GLenz]

Any scoop on rumored head-rolling at CC today?

[Spicoli]

Heard that SJ held a meeting, explained the PHX f up (pressure by NASCAR) and China F up (Its all FIAs fault), but the Yurp went well and looking to add a couple more dates there next year. Things are still rocky but everyone is committed, blah blah blah :jerkit: and then everyone got a $50 gift certificate. :gomer:

no one canned, is my understanding.

and oh yeah, danicle ________ pregnant.

[nissan gtp]

... and then everyone got a $50 gift certificate. :gomer:

Applebees again ?

:D

[SteveH]

Heard that SJ held a meeting, explained the PHX f up (pressure by NASCAR) and China F up (Its all FIAs fault), but the Yurp went well and looking to add a couple more dates there next year. Things are still rocky but everyone is committed, blah blah blah :jerkit: and then everyone got a $50 gift certificate. :gomer:

no one canned, is my understanding.

and oh yeah, danicle ________ pregnant.

Man oh man, you've got your finger on the pulse of open wheel racing, don't you :p

:rofl: :laugh:

[cameraman]

... and then everyone got a $50 gift certificate.

Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria?

[spinner26]

There ain't enough bleach to clean out that friggin place.:shakehead

[Spicoli]

Man oh man, you've got your finger on the pulse of open wheel racing, don't you


Hey, i'm dialed in - whaddya spect?

http://i8.tinypic.com/2vl2uqd.jpg

I may be the only person in Indy outside of that office even knew they had a meeting, and then even remembered to axe what happent:laugh: early word i got word was heads may roll, phx & china being disasters, but perhaps the skirt smoke from Yurp calmed ever-one down.

and i am not fuggin jokin on the $50 gift certificates. :rofl:

[SteveH]

Actually, that is what I had in mind, Bubbles.

[Spicoli]

JUST FYI........

the gift certificates are all APPLEBEES. :laugh:


call nb confirm.

[Andrew Longman]

My wife got a $50 Applebees gift certificate for helping out with the kids school yearbook.

[Ed_Severson]

JUST FYI........

the gift certificates are all APPLEBEES. :laugh:

Totally false.

[FTG]

Totally false.

IHOP?

[Ed_Severson]

Maybe ... can you actually spend $50 at IHOP? :D

They were from all sorts of different places, not that it matters. The more important point is that the meeting didn't exactly go down like Spikkly has relayed here. There weren't any surprising announcements (in other words, the "surprises" we were told to be ready for were a big disappointment) but the meeting was not too bad.

We'll see how it plays out in public, but some of the things said in the meeting indicate that these guys have figured out how to play ball with the FIA, and that popping off in the media about stuff that might happen is not the best strategy in the world.

[Sean Malone]

Maybe ... can you actually spend $50 at IHOP? :D

They were from all sorts of different places, not that it matters. The more important point is that the meeting didn't exactly go down like Spikkly has relayed here. There weren't any surprising announcements (in other words, the "surprises" we were told to be ready for were a big disappointment) but the meeting was not too bad.

We'll see how it plays out in public, but some of the things said in the meeting indicate that these guys have figured out how to play ball with the FIA, and that popping off in the media about stuff that might happen is not the best strategy in the world.

When KK et al bought the remains of CART I thought we would see the end of speculative, CART like announcements. CART, being a publicly traded company, was exposed like Paris Hilton on a Saturday night. Champ Car should play it's cards close and methodically release only items that show the series in a positive light. Promoters pulling the plug on events is a different story, I'm referring to the "24 cars, new teams coming!, title sponsor 'in the works' kind of things.

[robot9000]

<snip>
..and that popping off in the media about stuff that might happen is not the best strategy in the world.


Um, it took them how long and one additional meeting to figure this out?

[Ed_Severson]

Absolutely. Based on what was discussed in the media, they finally get that. No more pronouncements about grid size or schedules or anything else until the ink is dried on the contracts.

One of the items that was discussed was a good sign, IMO. It'll be tough to pull off in '08, but should be feasible for '09 and beyond. Rather than quietly unveiling team/sponsor/driver combos at Spring Training, we should be getting that stuff sorted out by December or early January and going someplace big -- New York, for example -- to announce the entire grid at one time, drivers and all, cars properly painted, and have a media day to get those guys out in public view. With ESPN as a partner, this ought to be easy; the key is getting the team owners to get their affairs in order well in advance of the first race.

Same with the schedule. Expect nothing to be announced until we receive FIA approval on every date, unless we issue an announcement with the caveat "pending FIA approval." The race in China would have gone off in October without any problems if we hadn't pissed off the FIA. It was not, as Spikkly claims, "all the FIA's fault." It was our fault -- Johnson readily admits that. We ****ed up by announcing the October date before they approved it. To send a message, they rejected the date, forcing us to cancel the event and look silly doing it. Fair enough. Like it or not, if you wanna race outside the US, you've got to play ball with the FIA. Management understands that now. If we do things properly, the China date -- whenever it happens to be -- will be rubber stamped by the FIA and we will be there.

Like I said ... we'll see how it actually plays out, but Johnson at least gave the appearance of recognizing a lot of our big mistakes from this season and learning from them moving forward. That's a good sign. Otherwise, the meeting was pretty much a rah-rah session over the Europe swing, which was a huge effort and reasonably successful. Assen, in particular, was a good example of how good Champ Car can be when everybody gets it right. We've just got to start doing that more consistently.

[SteveH]

Champ Car motto for 2008 - We've learned from our mistakes.

Maybe.

[Sean Malone]

Absolutely. Based on what was discussed in the media, they finally get that. No more pronouncements about grid size or schedules or anything else until the ink is dried on the contracts.

One of the items that was discussed was a good sign, IMO. It'll be tough to pull off in '08, but should be feasible for '09 and beyond. Rather than quietly unveiling team/sponsor/driver combos at Spring Training, we should be getting that stuff sorted out by December or early January and going someplace big -- New York, for example -- to announce the entire grid at one time, drivers and all, cars properly painted, and have a media day to get those guys out in public view. With ESPN as a partner, this ought to be easy; the key is getting the team owners to get their affairs in order well in advance of the first race.

....

Excellent idea. However, I can see some of the teams struggling to meet early deadlines as sponsorship deals can go up to the first race of the year. The last thing we/they want are a bunch of empty sidepods at a 'media event' with team owners saying "I got some things in the works" etc. In theory it would be very cool.

Personally, I've always felt that a few well placed TV spots during high profile events i.e. Sunday Night Football, would probably payoff more than all other marketing efforts combined. Seeing a Champ Car commercial during a Champ Car race has never made sense to me.

I'd like to see a title sponsor also and at this point I don't think it needs to be a high profile, 'A' sponsor like a VISA, Verizon or Bud, but a sponsor who believes in the product and will stay dedicated through the contract. A title sponsor shows other sponsors that this is a viable product.


I know, I know...needs more ,,,,'s.

[robot9000]

I think CC getting some stabiliity in their schedule and TV has to be the foundation. Without that, the teams are gonna struggle to get sponsors.

I think the fall season preview for the coming year is a great idea. It lets the teams and series put promotional stuff in effect. You need a simple, consise message you can repete often. Knowing the teams and drivers early on helps that.

Unrelated question, is there anyone from CC that is assigned to help teams with sponsorship? Or is this a 'Thats your job" kinda thing?

[Ed_Severson]

Excellent idea. However, I can see some of the teams struggling to meet early deadlines as sponsorship deals can go up to the first race of the year. The last thing we/they want are a bunch of empty sidepods at a 'media event' with team owners saying "I got some things in the works" etc. In theory it would be very cool.

That's what makes it difficult for '08, I think. Realistically, our teams probably aren't in a position to pull this off next January. The year after that, hopefully, it will be doable.


Personally, I've always felt that a few well placed TV spots during high profile events i.e. Sunday Night Football, would probably payoff more than all other marketing efforts combined. Seeing a Champ Car commercial during a Champ Car race has never made sense to me.

Agreed.


I'd like to see a title sponsor also and at this point I don't think it needs to be a high profile, 'A' sponsor like a VISA, Verizon or Bud, but a sponsor who believes in the product and will stay dedicated through the contract. A title sponsor shows other sponsors that this is a viable product.

Ditto. It was conveyed to me like this -- there are a fair number of companies with national/international profiles who have expressed interest in sponsorship of some kind. What seems to be holding them back is that none of them wants to be the first one to sign on. Once somebody steps up to the plate and commits, it gives us an outward show of strength and instills some confidence in the rest of the bunch to join in the fun. Whether that theory has merit is open for debate, but I can see it playing out that way. If we can find a way to get Mazda more involved and in a more visible capacity, that's a good start. Throw in a second company in a title sponsor or presenting sponsor role and we might have enough forward momentum to bring some others on board. Or not. Who knows?



Unrelated question, is there anyone from CC that is assigned to help teams with sponsorship? Or is this a 'Thats your job" kinda thing?

I don't know. We've got people, obviously, who work on that sort of thing from the series perspective, but I don't know whether any of them also work with the teams. Lots of shuffling lately, and we're a pretty small company to begin with. I'm honestly not sure what the correct answer to that question is.

[Spicoli]

Totally false.

well, you know who told me his was to Applebees. (ther is an inside joke in there I will splain later.)

What did you get?:D

[Spicoli]

Maybe ... can you actually spend $50 at IHOP? :D

They were from all sorts of different places, not that it matters. The more important point is that the meeting didn't exactly go down like Spikkly has relayed here. There weren't any surprising announcements (in other words, the "surprises" we were told to be ready for were a big disappointment) but the meeting was not too bad.

We'll see how it plays out in public, but some of the things said in the meeting indicate that these guys have figured out how to play ball with the FIA, and that popping off in the media about stuff that might happen is not the best strategy in the world.

What did i get wrong?

[Andrew Longman]

I'm honestly not sure what the correct answer to that question is.

Wow. No knock on you Ed (and thanks for sharing BTW) but that's pretty shocking. I would think it would be among the most important jobs in the business. After all, as a business the bulk of the potential (and necessary) value creation of the series is the sponsorships the teams sell. Granted that is not money the series itself sees directly, but the success of the teams feeds the success of the series.

NASCAR has hoards of folks with figures, charts, creative suggestions and media packages to help team sell sponsorships as well as help sponsors get the most out of their investment. And in some very large regards tell them how they must do certain things. NASCAR understands that their sponsors are an extension of their brand and want sponsors to present themselves in very specific ways.

[Ed_Severson]

Spikkles, I got a generic Visa gift card. Good anywhere your Visa card is accepted. It's everywhere you want to be, bitch. ;) As for what you got wrong, I would say characterizing Phoenix as "pressure by NASCAR" is somewhat true, and calling the China deal "the FIA's fault" is 100% inaccurate. I haven't been to very many of these things, but this meeting was a lot more frank than the previous ones I've attended. It was at least clear that they realize mistakes have been made, and the responsibility for those was not passed on to other people. That is progress.

Andrew, I think it would be a lot less shocking if you had any idea what I do at work. :) The operations folks I know pretty well, and I work with them almost exclusively. Otherwise, I have three or four people in the other half of the company with whom I casually converse -- mostly about other items like cycling and fantasy football. Otherwise I don't really spend much time with any of them and I haven't really ever bothered to find out exactly what it is most of them do -- not because they aren't important or because I don't care about the company, but because I'm pretty sure that whatever it is they do, it's not my strong suit and not something I'm particularly interested in. I generally come to work, do my job, and go home. I don't worry much about anybody else unless it directly affects my projects, and what I do hardly ever involves anybody but logistics and technical personnel.

I would say me not knowing the answer to that question is much less of a statement about the company than you think it is, and much more of a statement about me than you were willing to make. ;)

[spinner26]

Thanks Ed for sharing and being honest. Much more reliable imho than ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.:D

[Spicoli]

Spikkles, I got a generic Visa gift card. Good anywhere your Visa card is accepted. It's everywhere you want to be, bitch. ;) As for what you got wrong, I would say characterizing Phoenix as "pressure by NASCAR" is somewhat true, and calling the China deal "the FIA's fault" is 100% inaccurate. I haven't been to very many of these things, but this meeting was a lot more frank than the previous ones I've attended. It was at least clear that they realize mistakes have been made, and the responsibility for those was not passed on to other people. That is progress.

Andrew, I think it would be a lot less shocking if you had any idea what I do at work. :) The operations folks I know pretty well, and I work with them almost exclusively. Otherwise, I have three or four people in the other half of the company with whom I casually converse -- mostly about other items like cycling and fantasy football. Otherwise I don't really spend much time with any of them and I haven't really ever bothered to find out exactly what it is most of them do -- not because they aren't important or because I don't care about the company, but because I'm pretty sure that whatever it is they do, it's not my strong suit and not something I'm particularly interested in. I generally come to work, do my job, and go home. I don't worry much about anybody else unless it directly affects my projects, and what I do hardly ever involves anybody but logistics and technical personnel.

I would say me not knowing the answer to that question is much less of a statement about the company than you think it is, and much more of a statement about me than you were willing to make. ;)

Did they buy you a new lawn mower like you axed???

:runs:

[Ed_Severson]

What lawn mower? We got a crew for that ... pretty sure I saw Dominguez and Martinez out there last week mowing for their rides! :D

Maybe,,,,I'm,,,,,,,being,,,,,,,,,too,,,optimistic, but I thought the meeting was refreshingly honest, if not a little disappointing for lack of hard info. But, really, that's the way those things should go down. Telling us that Joe's Crab Shack is about to sign on as title sponsor or we expect to have 87 cars on the grid next year or we're going to announce a street race in Vanuatu will just result in somebody leaking it on the internet and screwing things up anyway.

It will be an interesting winter, but let's just say that if management has really learned from our mistakes, we should have a reasonably good 2008, because we will have learned a lot in 2007. :)

[Spicoli]

What lawn mower? We got a crew for that ... pretty sure I saw Dominguez and Martinez out there last week mowing for their rides! :D

Maybe,,,,I'm,,,,,,,being,,,,,,,,,too,,,optimistic, but I thought the meeting was refreshingly honest, if not a little disappointing for lack of hard info. But, really, that's the way those things should go down. Telling us that Joe's Crab Shack is about to sign on as title sponsor or we expect to have 87 cars on the grid next year or we're going to announce a street race in Vanuatu will just result in somebody leaking it on the internet and screwing things up anyway.

It will be an interesting winter, but let's just say that if management has really learned from our mistakes, we should have a reasonably good 2008, because we will have learned a lot in 2007. :)


I also heard that mex City contract calls for 2 Burrito Brothers in cars.

Obviously we gots Stoopid Mario. Who will D Martinez be running for?

And what's with all the Aussie Vineyards going to EARL nex year crap?:confused: I know Derrick will always follow the money, and I understand that AV wants an Indy presence...but why not just one off the 500???

[Ed_Severson]

Per the announcement today, Martinez is in the #7 at Forsythe for Surfer's and Mexico City. Servia is out. Dominguez will end up somewhere ... can't say where yet.

Haven't heard a peep about Team Aussie running the 500 or anything else in the IRL. News to me. :confused:

[FTG]

I would say me not knowing the answer to that question is much less of a statement about the company than you think it is, and much more of a statement about me than you were willing to make. ;)

As a general rule, it's a good idea to gossip over beers with a few different people and find out which way the wind is blowing. People are *******s - something that should be obvious to anyone who spends even the slightest amount of time on the net - and will stick a knife in your back if you don't see it coming. Even if you think they're your friends: especially if you think they're your friends.

Nothing personal, it happens at every company with more than one employee.

[Ed_Severson]

^ Don't worry about me. I can assure you that as willfully ignorant as I might be of what some of our employees do, those people are equally ignorant of my job. It's pretty ill-defined at the moment ... keeps me on my toes. :p

[Andrew Longman]

I would say me not knowing the answer to that question is much less of a statement about the company than you think it is, and much more of a statement about me than you were willing to make. ;)

Cool.

Other evidence suggests they need help helping teams get sponsorship though. I'd be happy to help if asked. :gomer:

[Spicoli]

Cool.

Other evidence suggests they need help helping teams get sponsorship though. I'd be happy to help if asked. :gomer:

,,,science teacher?,,,

[G.]

I dunno, Ed. I'd believe Spicoli over you any day.:gomer:

Thanks, Ed! Really, sincerely, and all that rot.

(The comment on Dominguez and Martinez truely made me lol. I'm ashamed, now. :rofl: )

I loved to hear your feelings on 2009, like, there's plans to HAVE a 2009, that's good stuff.:thumbup:

[cameraman]

Servia is out.

So I take it Servia, the FCR driver that doesn't suck, is unemployed again?

This musical driver crap makes ccws look like a real chicken **** operation.

[jcollins28]

Per the announcement today, Martinez is in the #7 at Forsythe for Surfer's and Mexico City. Servia is out. Dominguez will end up somewhere ... can't say where yet.

Haven't heard a peep about Team Aussie running the 500 or anything else in the IRL. News to me. :confused:

Well since Rocketsports is not paying his driver and he walked out I think Paul is looking for someone. So when is it ok to announce the Mario to Rocketsports deal?