Corner5
07-30-08, 03:49 PM
This is just sad and tragic. :(
'It beats no racing at all'
Pacific Coast Motorsports working on a shoestring budget, just trying to stay afloat until end of season
John Korobanik, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Sunday, July 27
In the glamour world of open-wheel racing, there are teams chasing wins and championships and there are owners just racing for survival. Tyler Tadevic and his Pacific Coast Motorsports crew are one of those teams working on a shoestring, their fingers crossed every day hoping that driver Mario Dominguez won't have an accident.
"2008 for us is absolutely just about surviving, it's either that or declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy," says Tadevic, who became the sole owner when Tom Figge pulled out after last season. "The result we're looking for is to still be racing at the end of the season. We're two-thirds the way there, which is further than I thought I would get."
He's already missed one payroll, had to cut his staff in half and has pulled out of all but one of the remaining oval races on the IndyCar schedule.
There's no luxury motorcoach for hospitality, no shiny scooters or high-tech bikes for the PCM crew -- their mode of transportation around the paddock area is skateboards, something Tadevic rode regularly around his California home.
"We're the smallest team with the youngest owner, I'm the only (owner) who rides a skateboard. At the Indy 500 they had a rule: no scooters and no
bicycles in the pit area. We rode the skateboards until they added the rule: no skateboards."
PCM, one of the former Champ Car teams, didn't enter the IndyCar schedule until the Indianapolis 500 in May, and that was a disastrous weekend.
Dominguez had three costly incidents in practice and qualifying.
"We did almost half a million dollars damage in Indy and then didn't even get to run, the last car to get bumped,"
recalls Tadevic. "It was brutally, brutally sobering and it sucked. I don't have the money to pay for that, so we decided to go to venues where we could have more success, where the risk to the car is less. We said if the goal is to make it through the season, then let's be smart about this."
So they skipped oval races in Iowa, Richmond and Nashville and will run only one more oval this season. According to the deal reached when Champ Car and IndyCar merged, once the team committed to racing it had to compete at every event to get the financial and car support the Indy Racing League provided to the new teams.
Tadevic paid a penalty for skipping the ovals, but says the IRL has been hugely supportive of his efforts and remains so. His team continues to receive engine and tire support.
"The IRL could have at any time pulled the plug on the team," he says. "They didn't show favouritism but they have certainly shown a significant amount of kindness towards me in allowing me to muddle my way through because I didn't expect to be here.
"When Tom Figge said 'I'm done' and pulled the plug, said it's all over, well I'm not a rich man I don't have any money ... I mortgaged my house, sold my car and everything and put everything I own into buying the team from Tom."
It's like playing a hand of Texas Hold 'em poker.
"They dealt me a pair of twos ... and I went all in. I'm either going to get a two on the draw or I'm (finished). But I'm pretty confident I'll get a two on the draw."Pacific Coast Motorsports working on a shoestring budget, just trying to stay afloat until end of season
Confidence wasn't flowing through his veins several months ago when he was searching, desperately, for a series, any series, any kind of cars, to enter his team in so he could keep racing and hopefully find a sponsor to help out financially. That's when Dominguez drove up.
"Mario saved my team," Tadevic says. "When Tom left I had about a month worth of payroll to make. I chopped everyone's salaries, whittled myself down to as small a crew as I could make work. My only goal was to stay racing. At the 11th hour Mario showed up with this Mexico City sponsor and literally saved the day.
"Was it enough? No ... so I don't know if I owe him a debt of gratitude or a punch in the nose. I'm only here because of him, but is that good or bad?" he laughs.
But there's no laughing about the situation Dominguez is in, however.
"I feel sorry for him," says Tadevic. "He has the weight of the world on his shoulders. That's not a Mexican company on the side of that car, that's his hometown. And right beside it is the Mexico tourism board ... this isn't the program of a company or a city, it's the program of a nation. He's the only Mexican driver in the series, so you add the downside of not having the money to test, not having time to test, having to learn the ropes, plus he has all these people watching him."
He's eager to give them the results they want to see, but he's driving with the severe handicap of knowing he can't afford to crash the car.
"I had to tell Mario, 'Don't crash. If you crash we're done for the weekend.' That's no way to go racing, you can't race like that. Last week at mid-Ohio ... the wing broke off and he went off course at 175 miles (290 kilometres) an hour.
"He should have totalled that car. Somehow he went off the track at 175 miles an hour and he did $3,500 in damage. I'm watching, there's my whole life right there spinning away at 175 miles an hour. If it digs in and rolls I'm done. That's no way to go racing, but it beats no racing at all."
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sports/story.html?id=98edbf2c-ebc3-4fe7-86d3-85c33800f3ce&p=1
'It beats no racing at all'
Pacific Coast Motorsports working on a shoestring budget, just trying to stay afloat until end of season
John Korobanik, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Sunday, July 27
In the glamour world of open-wheel racing, there are teams chasing wins and championships and there are owners just racing for survival. Tyler Tadevic and his Pacific Coast Motorsports crew are one of those teams working on a shoestring, their fingers crossed every day hoping that driver Mario Dominguez won't have an accident.
"2008 for us is absolutely just about surviving, it's either that or declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy," says Tadevic, who became the sole owner when Tom Figge pulled out after last season. "The result we're looking for is to still be racing at the end of the season. We're two-thirds the way there, which is further than I thought I would get."
He's already missed one payroll, had to cut his staff in half and has pulled out of all but one of the remaining oval races on the IndyCar schedule.
There's no luxury motorcoach for hospitality, no shiny scooters or high-tech bikes for the PCM crew -- their mode of transportation around the paddock area is skateboards, something Tadevic rode regularly around his California home.
"We're the smallest team with the youngest owner, I'm the only (owner) who rides a skateboard. At the Indy 500 they had a rule: no scooters and no
bicycles in the pit area. We rode the skateboards until they added the rule: no skateboards."
PCM, one of the former Champ Car teams, didn't enter the IndyCar schedule until the Indianapolis 500 in May, and that was a disastrous weekend.
Dominguez had three costly incidents in practice and qualifying.
"We did almost half a million dollars damage in Indy and then didn't even get to run, the last car to get bumped,"
recalls Tadevic. "It was brutally, brutally sobering and it sucked. I don't have the money to pay for that, so we decided to go to venues where we could have more success, where the risk to the car is less. We said if the goal is to make it through the season, then let's be smart about this."
So they skipped oval races in Iowa, Richmond and Nashville and will run only one more oval this season. According to the deal reached when Champ Car and IndyCar merged, once the team committed to racing it had to compete at every event to get the financial and car support the Indy Racing League provided to the new teams.
Tadevic paid a penalty for skipping the ovals, but says the IRL has been hugely supportive of his efforts and remains so. His team continues to receive engine and tire support.
"The IRL could have at any time pulled the plug on the team," he says. "They didn't show favouritism but they have certainly shown a significant amount of kindness towards me in allowing me to muddle my way through because I didn't expect to be here.
"When Tom Figge said 'I'm done' and pulled the plug, said it's all over, well I'm not a rich man I don't have any money ... I mortgaged my house, sold my car and everything and put everything I own into buying the team from Tom."
It's like playing a hand of Texas Hold 'em poker.
"They dealt me a pair of twos ... and I went all in. I'm either going to get a two on the draw or I'm (finished). But I'm pretty confident I'll get a two on the draw."Pacific Coast Motorsports working on a shoestring budget, just trying to stay afloat until end of season
Confidence wasn't flowing through his veins several months ago when he was searching, desperately, for a series, any series, any kind of cars, to enter his team in so he could keep racing and hopefully find a sponsor to help out financially. That's when Dominguez drove up.
"Mario saved my team," Tadevic says. "When Tom left I had about a month worth of payroll to make. I chopped everyone's salaries, whittled myself down to as small a crew as I could make work. My only goal was to stay racing. At the 11th hour Mario showed up with this Mexico City sponsor and literally saved the day.
"Was it enough? No ... so I don't know if I owe him a debt of gratitude or a punch in the nose. I'm only here because of him, but is that good or bad?" he laughs.
But there's no laughing about the situation Dominguez is in, however.
"I feel sorry for him," says Tadevic. "He has the weight of the world on his shoulders. That's not a Mexican company on the side of that car, that's his hometown. And right beside it is the Mexico tourism board ... this isn't the program of a company or a city, it's the program of a nation. He's the only Mexican driver in the series, so you add the downside of not having the money to test, not having time to test, having to learn the ropes, plus he has all these people watching him."
He's eager to give them the results they want to see, but he's driving with the severe handicap of knowing he can't afford to crash the car.
"I had to tell Mario, 'Don't crash. If you crash we're done for the weekend.' That's no way to go racing, you can't race like that. Last week at mid-Ohio ... the wing broke off and he went off course at 175 miles (290 kilometres) an hour.
"He should have totalled that car. Somehow he went off the track at 175 miles an hour and he did $3,500 in damage. I'm watching, there's my whole life right there spinning away at 175 miles an hour. If it digs in and rolls I'm done. That's no way to go racing, but it beats no racing at all."
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sports/story.html?id=98edbf2c-ebc3-4fe7-86d3-85c33800f3ce&p=1