RaceGrrl
09-29-03, 11:16 PM
Thanks to Chief for capturing this for us. This was the closed-caption transcript of the Windbag interview. There are a couple of places where the text dropped out and so I have noted those with a "?" If someone has the exact text for those spots, forward it to me and I'll update the text here.
Dave Despain: As a three-time Trans Am champion, as an owner, his Rocketsports Racing Team fields cars in both Trans Am and C.A.R.T., He holds the promotional and marketing rights to the Trans Am series, giving him a key role in charting that future and most recently he's teamed with a group of investors to attempt to purchase the struggling C.A.R.T. Series.
And so we welcome Paul Gentilozzi to the show tonight. Joining us live and we appreciate that. I hear you want to sound off about the escape hatches right off the bat. What's up with that?
Paul Gentilozzi: Well, you know, John Force and everybody have been using the escape hatches in NHRA for 20 years. I don't think it's a big deal. They go over 300 miles a hour, no problem. Everybody should have them.
DD: You started in drag racing, didn't you? Won a couple of championships and then went to Trans Am, etc., Is that true?
PG: Yeah. I have to keep moving because I'm not that welcome after I have been there for a while. I started in modified production went to gas and then pro stock and then worked into road racing.
DD: Let's talk about OpenWheel Racing Series and the efforts to buy C.A.R.T. Where are you in the process? What's left to do and what's the time frame?
PG: It's process determined by the government. We have finished our proxy statement in the process of the last of the details. The end of the week or Monday of next week we'll send it to the Securities and Exchange Commission for review. Now, they have complete control over it at that point. It can come back for revision, it can be modified. It could take a while. We have asked for urgency on their part because of the health of the company is critically involved in how quick they review it. Once they review it and we get an acceptable document to the government, then we sen it to the stockholders. They get an opportunity to read it and review it, ask questions about it and then they vote on it.
DD: I want to get deeper into that issue in a moment, but first I want to talk about the interesting news that came out in the last 24 hours or so. Not quite a schedule announcement. But C.A.R.T. has released a list of 15 confirmed venues they're called for next year. We'll share the list with the folks at home. Notable I think for its size, a surprise to some of us who were
expecting cutbacks and also for some the specifics returning to California Speedway, a new event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and then return to Elkart Lake. Separate lists, dates to be confirmed has Brands Hatch on there. Now, we can spend the whole time on this, Paul, and I don't want to do that. Let's see if we focus on high points. Las Vegas Motor Speedway?
PG: It doesn't is a say Las Vegas motor speedway, it says Las Vegas, so we have to be careful here. Assumptive reasoning takes us to place that we don't have a signed deal. We want to be in Las Vegas. We want to be at the best place for our fans. Could be at the speedway. And certainly it could be a street race. But when we put that list of cities out, it was to let our teams know where they could plan ongoing next year. Now, we have contracts or in negotiation or plan to have races in those cities. Sometimes the dynamic of where you have a contract and where you actually race can change. But we needed to let people know we're going to have 16 to 18 races and we're going to be in those cities.
DD: Can you make any odds on whether the European swing will actually come together and of course we're all dying to know where in east Asia- the speculation is Korea because C.A.R.T.'S COO. has some connections there.
PG: Well, the billion dollar wrong (?) -- I mean, first of all, the European tour last year we went there. We took ourselves out of the united states. We had a big race with a big crowd, but the Brands Hatch event wasn't as big as we'd like it to be. So we're reviewing that. What we don't want to do is go places where our fans can't come watch us and we take ourselves out of the press here in the U.S.
DD: Given all the rumors about the schedule being carved down to bare bones, what kind of signal are you sending with a tentative schedule here that includes a potential increase of a couple of events?
PG: Well, we started the year with 20 events on our schedule. We're going to finish with 19. When all of this gets molded into a workable situation, we'll have from 16 to 18 races. Which will be a small decrease. What we've got do is be efficient with the teams and first of all, we've got to go where the fans who are willing to buy tickets want to see us.
DD: Let's get back to the approval issue. We have email that raises one of the questions about that issue. Question: How big a stumbling block or threat is Mr. Vannini to the transfer of ownership to the OWRS? I didn't read that well at all, but you get the idea. He's the owner of a significant amount of C.A.R.T. Stock, not returned our calls requesting an interview and the issue is stockholder approval part of the purchase? How much do you need and does have Vannini have the potential or desire to stop the deal?
PG: Well, John is an investor for a long time and has put up a lot of money and stayed with the program for a long time. He has been vocal in his descriptions of how he'd like to see the company run and of course was instrumental and very vocal in bringing Chris Pook on board. He has owns a percent of the stock and he has friends and investors who own part of the stock. When he sees the proxy statement I'm sure he'll evaluate whatever his position is. I mean, I don't think anybody wants to see C.A.R.T. die there are too many good fans that like what we do. And racing in north america needs C.A.R.T. So John's going to make his own decision and I'm sure he'll make the best for him.
DD: What do you need though? I mean, if I own two shares of C.A.R.T. Stock and I vote no, I can't kill the deal, can I?
PG: Essentially our work (?) worked together with Gerry Forsythe who owns 29.9% of the vote. We're not going to vote his percentage of the stock. That would look like we're putting our thumb on the scale. So we're not going to do that. Half of the remaining portion, 100 my us the 22.9, a majority of that portion has to vote in favor of the deal for it to go through, as I understand it.
DD: That's what we were looking for. We welcome your phone calls tonight for Paul Gentilozzi whose group is attempting to buy C.A.R.T.
DD: My guest is Paul Gentilozzi. We're talking of the future of C.A.R.T. Paul, I would like to talk of the management structure. OWRS will take it from public to private, but it seems that the fundamental structure doesn't change. Team owners will run the sanctioning body and I'm hoping you can convince me that that's not tantamount to the inmates running the asylum. Wlaed (?) a big discussion, argument was raised that C.A.R.T.'S downfall was triggered by failure to agree on an engine formula. How can competing team owners each with their own engine deal ever sit down and agree on an engine formula as one example? How do you make this formula work of owners running a sanctioning body?
PG: Well, first you have to look at the owners. If you look at Gerry Forsythe, Kevin Kalkoven and myself, we have a day job who happens to a have a race team. We aren't as intimately involved in the operation as the motorsport team. We're capitalists. We like to make money and make money that we can do things that are interesting to us. Kevin came from a corporate background, and the last thing this is -- I need to impress on everybody, this is not an old-boys club. None of us, absolutely not one part of the partnership needed to buy C.A.R.T. to have a place to race or to have something to do on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. That's not why we're here. We're buying this because we think it's a good company, and it's a good concept and just needs some fixing.
(question deleted...) write something and it turns into a factual basis. Motorock is really more than that. It's about a lifestyle of environments on race weekend. It's about changing some of the entertainment that the fans get. Anybody could do a music concert. Well, anybody that knows how. And that is not what Motorock is about. Everybody's in a big hurry to tell us what the concept is. It's going to involve a lot of ambient programming as ego forward that isn't part of every C.A.R.T. event. Some events don't lend itself to bringing in other kinds of entertainment. The event at Miami just happened to because there was an arena next to the racetrack, but everybody needs to get off that horse that Motorock is just bringing a concert to a C.A.R.T. Day.
DD: What are they going to bring? I mean, where do they fit? What's going to be different about Miami next year than Miami this year?
PG: All right. The kinds of entertainment. First of all, we needed to mix a defined show for the race fans. You know, we need to be able to bring series like Trans Am, make more important series like Formula Atlantic, have another tin top celebrity kind of series that people can see fun guys and girls drive on race weekends, like the Toyota Celebrity Series at Long Beach. We need to have a package of entertainment that everybody can count on when they go to the racetrack.
Now, the rest of our business plan, how we bring the import car market to our weekends, how we bring fans that wouldn't traditionally come is still in the formative stage. If everybody takes a breath and waits a minute we'll tell the story when we're ready.
DD: There you go. It's a process. Let's get the viewers involved in this. I've got Chris on the phone from Idaho with a question for Paul.
Caller: Yes. This is the king of brevity. A, will you fire Chris Kneifel? B, will we see a road race in Las Vegas? C, if I give the speed guys my address will you send me your autograph?
DD: All right. Email us the address, we'll work on the autograph. How about Kneifel and a road race in Vegas?
PG: First of all, I like Chris Kneifel, he's a hard-working guy. We have made some subtle changes into the race weekends, and everybody's responsibility if you'll notice the last couple of races John Anderson, a world-class guy who has been helping in the booth and allowing Chris to focus on other things. And allowing John to make race decisions as guy who's been there. So Chris Kneifel isn't going anywhere, as far as I know. Could there be a road race in Las Vegas? Depends on how negotiations go over the next few weeks. I love road racing, fans love road racing in Las Vegas, but they like to go out to the oval. They have a road course out there too.
DD: A couple of them. John in Pennsylvania, with a question for Paul Gentilozzi or a comment.
Caller: Ok. I was wondering I noticed you looking at the schedule. You have Brands Hatch on there. Have you completely abandoned the great oval they had in Rockingham? It was awesome when they had the three passes for the lead on the last lap that DeFerran won. Are they going to do it in the future?
PG: No, we've talked to the folks. We have to put on the schedule what is contractually obligated at this time. If you have a race that's signed and doubt put it on the schedule you have torn up that piece of paper. So we have the things on there, the cities that are on there are the ones that are contractually obligated to or go to. We'll get to the business side of this in in a few days.
DD: We'll come back on other side and talk about tv ratings, among other rating, with Paul Gentilozzi.
DD: Talking with Paul Gentilozzi. C.A.R.T. is unusual, Paul. Maybe unique in a racing phenomenon that I would describe this way. Big crowds at a lot of places where you go. Great attendance, but not great tv ratings. And it would seem the source of concern there might be that you're getting them out there, but then they're not getting hooked. You're not getting them converted so that they watch that same show two weeks later and on through the rest of the season. Do I perceive that the same way you do and what's the solution?
PG: But everybody in motorsports has suffered. As the NASCAR ratings have gone up, everybody else that gets time on tv lost ratings. So are we thinking at this point that it's the critical thing behind the wheels of C.A.R.T.? No. We have to make better programming, we've got to make something that people know when they can watch it and what they're going to see when they watch it. We have to tell a better story.
DD: Do you need to trick it up? Do you need good guys and bad guys and what is frequently described regarding nascar as world wrestling federation kind of stuff?
PG: Well, certainly you have to throw a little bit of that in. Just regular old green to checkered programming, yeah, they can see that 24/7 on television. They want to know about the people. People are what really interest fans. Fans get excited about Paul Tracy or Bruno Junqueira or Sebastian Bourdais. Sunday we had a lot of excitement when Sebastian tried to have face to face with Paul. Emotion is what attracts us.
DD: For a moment I thought it was Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer.
PG: Yeah. That's a mismatch.
DD: Let's go to Keith in Jackson, NJ, for Paul Gentilozzi.
Caller: First, I'd like to say I'd always admired your in car and out of car interviews. And not running it through the filter like a lot of the other guys. My question goes back to Trans-Am. I know when you got involved in the beginning of the year D. Duncan tried to reach out to the G.T.-1 guy and to bring them out to fill out the fields a little bit more. That didn't work out quite as anybody had hoped with the short fields that we were seeing this year. Any chance of relaxing the rules a little bit to let the G.T.-1 guys run their cars as they run them now so they don't convert them?
PG: Well, there isn't a lot of money they have to spend. If you've got a high compression 358 you don't have a problem. There's not a high championship won in a 358 high compression. So if you're a serious racer and come to a big event beak weekend you need to think of a low 310. The rest of the stuff we've made as easy as we can. We open our arms. I mean, I just gave away free entries and the runner-ups in the Trans Am series. We want those guys. Those are the stars of tomorrow and we need 'em.
DD: What would you like to see, as you look forward next three to five-time frame for Trans-Am, what's on your radar? What are you trying to accomplish?
PG: That occupies a considerable amount of our time. As I have traveled around the world and talked to other manufacturers, they need us to bring a little more technology to the series. We need for it not to be expensive. We introduced the Jag four valve which is a production-based engine this weekend in Miami. I think that's the thing of tomorrow. We've got to get closer to the import car market, got to use multivalve engines that will go 2,000 miles between rebuilds and we have to look more like real cars. I love the series in England and I love touring cars.
DD: And the possibilities of taking Jag to G.T.S., That's been mentioned now that you guys are done?
PG: I don't think that's going to happen, quite honestly. Whatever Jag does in their worldwide policy, but their real racing program is Formula One. We’re lucky and glad to have the program that we have here in the U.S. And really proud to have won a championship for them.
DD: Here's the secret in this email. Do you have any plans to take that road racing series and go around in circles with it?
PG: We have certainly talked about it. If we can make a safe enough car we'll do it. There's nothing I think that would attract more attention if we could do an occasional oval. When you have a great driving championship, you've got to be a great driver in C.A.R.T. In a lot of different venues. It's on the list of things we'd experiment with.
DD: So you're running the Trans Am deal and trying to own C.A.R.T. And still driving three or four times a year. Are you going to have -- at some point going to step out of the car to say I'm too busy to be a race car driver anymore?
PG: I've done that this year. I just tested the car. Haven't been in a car in months, and if I want to get back in the car, I'm going to have to give up my job as a parking valet over at the hotel.
DD: Final question, and it's a personal one. I read in some of the biographical material that what really motivates you is fear. Fear of being ordinary. Talk about that, if you would. What does that mean exactly?
PG: Well, that was a paper I wrote back in college, and I firmly believe that everybody when they're born starts out with the same opportunities. And one in ten people are able to overcome their fears and become -- I guess for lack of better term extraordinary people and accomplish things that the rest of the world looks at. So, you know, we all -- in my case I don't got any hair, we're all -- whatever height we are given by god, and the looks that we've got, what separates us is up here and in here. So if you've got the heart and the mind to do some special things in life, then you go after them.
DD: A lot of us are pulling for you to make this C.A.R.T. deal work out absolutely for the best and an important series. We want to see it not only live but thrive. Thank you and congratulations on that Trans Am championship. Give our regards to Scott Pruett and thank you tonight for taking the time.
PG: Always my privilege and if we go down, we're going to go down swinging. I promise.
DD: All right. That's Paul Gentilozzi, ladies and gentlemen. If all goes according to plan, he'll own along with his colleagues the C.A.R.T. series that you'll be watching in the year 2004.
Dave Despain: As a three-time Trans Am champion, as an owner, his Rocketsports Racing Team fields cars in both Trans Am and C.A.R.T., He holds the promotional and marketing rights to the Trans Am series, giving him a key role in charting that future and most recently he's teamed with a group of investors to attempt to purchase the struggling C.A.R.T. Series.
And so we welcome Paul Gentilozzi to the show tonight. Joining us live and we appreciate that. I hear you want to sound off about the escape hatches right off the bat. What's up with that?
Paul Gentilozzi: Well, you know, John Force and everybody have been using the escape hatches in NHRA for 20 years. I don't think it's a big deal. They go over 300 miles a hour, no problem. Everybody should have them.
DD: You started in drag racing, didn't you? Won a couple of championships and then went to Trans Am, etc., Is that true?
PG: Yeah. I have to keep moving because I'm not that welcome after I have been there for a while. I started in modified production went to gas and then pro stock and then worked into road racing.
DD: Let's talk about OpenWheel Racing Series and the efforts to buy C.A.R.T. Where are you in the process? What's left to do and what's the time frame?
PG: It's process determined by the government. We have finished our proxy statement in the process of the last of the details. The end of the week or Monday of next week we'll send it to the Securities and Exchange Commission for review. Now, they have complete control over it at that point. It can come back for revision, it can be modified. It could take a while. We have asked for urgency on their part because of the health of the company is critically involved in how quick they review it. Once they review it and we get an acceptable document to the government, then we sen it to the stockholders. They get an opportunity to read it and review it, ask questions about it and then they vote on it.
DD: I want to get deeper into that issue in a moment, but first I want to talk about the interesting news that came out in the last 24 hours or so. Not quite a schedule announcement. But C.A.R.T. has released a list of 15 confirmed venues they're called for next year. We'll share the list with the folks at home. Notable I think for its size, a surprise to some of us who were
expecting cutbacks and also for some the specifics returning to California Speedway, a new event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and then return to Elkart Lake. Separate lists, dates to be confirmed has Brands Hatch on there. Now, we can spend the whole time on this, Paul, and I don't want to do that. Let's see if we focus on high points. Las Vegas Motor Speedway?
PG: It doesn't is a say Las Vegas motor speedway, it says Las Vegas, so we have to be careful here. Assumptive reasoning takes us to place that we don't have a signed deal. We want to be in Las Vegas. We want to be at the best place for our fans. Could be at the speedway. And certainly it could be a street race. But when we put that list of cities out, it was to let our teams know where they could plan ongoing next year. Now, we have contracts or in negotiation or plan to have races in those cities. Sometimes the dynamic of where you have a contract and where you actually race can change. But we needed to let people know we're going to have 16 to 18 races and we're going to be in those cities.
DD: Can you make any odds on whether the European swing will actually come together and of course we're all dying to know where in east Asia- the speculation is Korea because C.A.R.T.'S COO. has some connections there.
PG: Well, the billion dollar wrong (?) -- I mean, first of all, the European tour last year we went there. We took ourselves out of the united states. We had a big race with a big crowd, but the Brands Hatch event wasn't as big as we'd like it to be. So we're reviewing that. What we don't want to do is go places where our fans can't come watch us and we take ourselves out of the press here in the U.S.
DD: Given all the rumors about the schedule being carved down to bare bones, what kind of signal are you sending with a tentative schedule here that includes a potential increase of a couple of events?
PG: Well, we started the year with 20 events on our schedule. We're going to finish with 19. When all of this gets molded into a workable situation, we'll have from 16 to 18 races. Which will be a small decrease. What we've got do is be efficient with the teams and first of all, we've got to go where the fans who are willing to buy tickets want to see us.
DD: Let's get back to the approval issue. We have email that raises one of the questions about that issue. Question: How big a stumbling block or threat is Mr. Vannini to the transfer of ownership to the OWRS? I didn't read that well at all, but you get the idea. He's the owner of a significant amount of C.A.R.T. Stock, not returned our calls requesting an interview and the issue is stockholder approval part of the purchase? How much do you need and does have Vannini have the potential or desire to stop the deal?
PG: Well, John is an investor for a long time and has put up a lot of money and stayed with the program for a long time. He has been vocal in his descriptions of how he'd like to see the company run and of course was instrumental and very vocal in bringing Chris Pook on board. He has owns a percent of the stock and he has friends and investors who own part of the stock. When he sees the proxy statement I'm sure he'll evaluate whatever his position is. I mean, I don't think anybody wants to see C.A.R.T. die there are too many good fans that like what we do. And racing in north america needs C.A.R.T. So John's going to make his own decision and I'm sure he'll make the best for him.
DD: What do you need though? I mean, if I own two shares of C.A.R.T. Stock and I vote no, I can't kill the deal, can I?
PG: Essentially our work (?) worked together with Gerry Forsythe who owns 29.9% of the vote. We're not going to vote his percentage of the stock. That would look like we're putting our thumb on the scale. So we're not going to do that. Half of the remaining portion, 100 my us the 22.9, a majority of that portion has to vote in favor of the deal for it to go through, as I understand it.
DD: That's what we were looking for. We welcome your phone calls tonight for Paul Gentilozzi whose group is attempting to buy C.A.R.T.
DD: My guest is Paul Gentilozzi. We're talking of the future of C.A.R.T. Paul, I would like to talk of the management structure. OWRS will take it from public to private, but it seems that the fundamental structure doesn't change. Team owners will run the sanctioning body and I'm hoping you can convince me that that's not tantamount to the inmates running the asylum. Wlaed (?) a big discussion, argument was raised that C.A.R.T.'S downfall was triggered by failure to agree on an engine formula. How can competing team owners each with their own engine deal ever sit down and agree on an engine formula as one example? How do you make this formula work of owners running a sanctioning body?
PG: Well, first you have to look at the owners. If you look at Gerry Forsythe, Kevin Kalkoven and myself, we have a day job who happens to a have a race team. We aren't as intimately involved in the operation as the motorsport team. We're capitalists. We like to make money and make money that we can do things that are interesting to us. Kevin came from a corporate background, and the last thing this is -- I need to impress on everybody, this is not an old-boys club. None of us, absolutely not one part of the partnership needed to buy C.A.R.T. to have a place to race or to have something to do on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. That's not why we're here. We're buying this because we think it's a good company, and it's a good concept and just needs some fixing.
(question deleted...) write something and it turns into a factual basis. Motorock is really more than that. It's about a lifestyle of environments on race weekend. It's about changing some of the entertainment that the fans get. Anybody could do a music concert. Well, anybody that knows how. And that is not what Motorock is about. Everybody's in a big hurry to tell us what the concept is. It's going to involve a lot of ambient programming as ego forward that isn't part of every C.A.R.T. event. Some events don't lend itself to bringing in other kinds of entertainment. The event at Miami just happened to because there was an arena next to the racetrack, but everybody needs to get off that horse that Motorock is just bringing a concert to a C.A.R.T. Day.
DD: What are they going to bring? I mean, where do they fit? What's going to be different about Miami next year than Miami this year?
PG: All right. The kinds of entertainment. First of all, we needed to mix a defined show for the race fans. You know, we need to be able to bring series like Trans Am, make more important series like Formula Atlantic, have another tin top celebrity kind of series that people can see fun guys and girls drive on race weekends, like the Toyota Celebrity Series at Long Beach. We need to have a package of entertainment that everybody can count on when they go to the racetrack.
Now, the rest of our business plan, how we bring the import car market to our weekends, how we bring fans that wouldn't traditionally come is still in the formative stage. If everybody takes a breath and waits a minute we'll tell the story when we're ready.
DD: There you go. It's a process. Let's get the viewers involved in this. I've got Chris on the phone from Idaho with a question for Paul.
Caller: Yes. This is the king of brevity. A, will you fire Chris Kneifel? B, will we see a road race in Las Vegas? C, if I give the speed guys my address will you send me your autograph?
DD: All right. Email us the address, we'll work on the autograph. How about Kneifel and a road race in Vegas?
PG: First of all, I like Chris Kneifel, he's a hard-working guy. We have made some subtle changes into the race weekends, and everybody's responsibility if you'll notice the last couple of races John Anderson, a world-class guy who has been helping in the booth and allowing Chris to focus on other things. And allowing John to make race decisions as guy who's been there. So Chris Kneifel isn't going anywhere, as far as I know. Could there be a road race in Las Vegas? Depends on how negotiations go over the next few weeks. I love road racing, fans love road racing in Las Vegas, but they like to go out to the oval. They have a road course out there too.
DD: A couple of them. John in Pennsylvania, with a question for Paul Gentilozzi or a comment.
Caller: Ok. I was wondering I noticed you looking at the schedule. You have Brands Hatch on there. Have you completely abandoned the great oval they had in Rockingham? It was awesome when they had the three passes for the lead on the last lap that DeFerran won. Are they going to do it in the future?
PG: No, we've talked to the folks. We have to put on the schedule what is contractually obligated at this time. If you have a race that's signed and doubt put it on the schedule you have torn up that piece of paper. So we have the things on there, the cities that are on there are the ones that are contractually obligated to or go to. We'll get to the business side of this in in a few days.
DD: We'll come back on other side and talk about tv ratings, among other rating, with Paul Gentilozzi.
DD: Talking with Paul Gentilozzi. C.A.R.T. is unusual, Paul. Maybe unique in a racing phenomenon that I would describe this way. Big crowds at a lot of places where you go. Great attendance, but not great tv ratings. And it would seem the source of concern there might be that you're getting them out there, but then they're not getting hooked. You're not getting them converted so that they watch that same show two weeks later and on through the rest of the season. Do I perceive that the same way you do and what's the solution?
PG: But everybody in motorsports has suffered. As the NASCAR ratings have gone up, everybody else that gets time on tv lost ratings. So are we thinking at this point that it's the critical thing behind the wheels of C.A.R.T.? No. We have to make better programming, we've got to make something that people know when they can watch it and what they're going to see when they watch it. We have to tell a better story.
DD: Do you need to trick it up? Do you need good guys and bad guys and what is frequently described regarding nascar as world wrestling federation kind of stuff?
PG: Well, certainly you have to throw a little bit of that in. Just regular old green to checkered programming, yeah, they can see that 24/7 on television. They want to know about the people. People are what really interest fans. Fans get excited about Paul Tracy or Bruno Junqueira or Sebastian Bourdais. Sunday we had a lot of excitement when Sebastian tried to have face to face with Paul. Emotion is what attracts us.
DD: For a moment I thought it was Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer.
PG: Yeah. That's a mismatch.
DD: Let's go to Keith in Jackson, NJ, for Paul Gentilozzi.
Caller: First, I'd like to say I'd always admired your in car and out of car interviews. And not running it through the filter like a lot of the other guys. My question goes back to Trans-Am. I know when you got involved in the beginning of the year D. Duncan tried to reach out to the G.T.-1 guy and to bring them out to fill out the fields a little bit more. That didn't work out quite as anybody had hoped with the short fields that we were seeing this year. Any chance of relaxing the rules a little bit to let the G.T.-1 guys run their cars as they run them now so they don't convert them?
PG: Well, there isn't a lot of money they have to spend. If you've got a high compression 358 you don't have a problem. There's not a high championship won in a 358 high compression. So if you're a serious racer and come to a big event beak weekend you need to think of a low 310. The rest of the stuff we've made as easy as we can. We open our arms. I mean, I just gave away free entries and the runner-ups in the Trans Am series. We want those guys. Those are the stars of tomorrow and we need 'em.
DD: What would you like to see, as you look forward next three to five-time frame for Trans-Am, what's on your radar? What are you trying to accomplish?
PG: That occupies a considerable amount of our time. As I have traveled around the world and talked to other manufacturers, they need us to bring a little more technology to the series. We need for it not to be expensive. We introduced the Jag four valve which is a production-based engine this weekend in Miami. I think that's the thing of tomorrow. We've got to get closer to the import car market, got to use multivalve engines that will go 2,000 miles between rebuilds and we have to look more like real cars. I love the series in England and I love touring cars.
DD: And the possibilities of taking Jag to G.T.S., That's been mentioned now that you guys are done?
PG: I don't think that's going to happen, quite honestly. Whatever Jag does in their worldwide policy, but their real racing program is Formula One. We’re lucky and glad to have the program that we have here in the U.S. And really proud to have won a championship for them.
DD: Here's the secret in this email. Do you have any plans to take that road racing series and go around in circles with it?
PG: We have certainly talked about it. If we can make a safe enough car we'll do it. There's nothing I think that would attract more attention if we could do an occasional oval. When you have a great driving championship, you've got to be a great driver in C.A.R.T. In a lot of different venues. It's on the list of things we'd experiment with.
DD: So you're running the Trans Am deal and trying to own C.A.R.T. And still driving three or four times a year. Are you going to have -- at some point going to step out of the car to say I'm too busy to be a race car driver anymore?
PG: I've done that this year. I just tested the car. Haven't been in a car in months, and if I want to get back in the car, I'm going to have to give up my job as a parking valet over at the hotel.
DD: Final question, and it's a personal one. I read in some of the biographical material that what really motivates you is fear. Fear of being ordinary. Talk about that, if you would. What does that mean exactly?
PG: Well, that was a paper I wrote back in college, and I firmly believe that everybody when they're born starts out with the same opportunities. And one in ten people are able to overcome their fears and become -- I guess for lack of better term extraordinary people and accomplish things that the rest of the world looks at. So, you know, we all -- in my case I don't got any hair, we're all -- whatever height we are given by god, and the looks that we've got, what separates us is up here and in here. So if you've got the heart and the mind to do some special things in life, then you go after them.
DD: A lot of us are pulling for you to make this C.A.R.T. deal work out absolutely for the best and an important series. We want to see it not only live but thrive. Thank you and congratulations on that Trans Am championship. Give our regards to Scott Pruett and thank you tonight for taking the time.
PG: Always my privilege and if we go down, we're going to go down swinging. I promise.
DD: All right. That's Paul Gentilozzi, ladies and gentlemen. If all goes according to plan, he'll own along with his colleagues the C.A.R.T. series that you'll be watching in the year 2004.