View Full Version : Miller - Rahal to announce leaving CART Thursday...
devilmaster
03-18-04, 04:14 PM
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/10274/?from=[HOME]
Steve
racer2c
03-18-04, 04:22 PM
:thumdown:
Steve99
03-18-04, 04:24 PM
How can Miller say that Rahal is "jumping to the IRL" when he already had a team there?
Is Rahal still going to be on Windtunnel tonight?
SPEEDTV.com has learned that Rahal will make the official announcement late Thursday afternoon from Sebring, Fla. where he's being honored for his road racing accomplishments
Talk about irony.
:thumdown:
fourrunner
03-18-04, 04:33 PM
We're better off without him... He's been nothing but trouble for the series every year since he tried to run it!
He's Goofy Looking too! He looks like Beetle Juices Older Brother! :eek:
Ever since Dave had the Baby, he's been as edgy as a butter knife, so I'll just watch Kimmel instead .... Leno's for Old Ladies
So there!! :gomer:
The End Game is in high gear
Ziggy
Good riddance as long as he's leaving Gigante and Jourdain behind.
RedLine
03-18-04, 04:40 PM
Let me be the first to say: "Don't let the door hit you in your traitor ***!" :mad:
What Rahal, Fernandez, et al fail to understand is that the fanbase is not going to follow them. IRL v7.1 is CART on ovals. I think I speak for more than just myself when I say I would turn my back on autoracing as a whole before I would ever follow the IRL. That series will never have my support.
TrueBrit
03-18-04, 04:53 PM
Bye Piker!!!! :rolleyes: :shakehead
Wonder what Mr. Letterman thinks of this move? Not that he has a vote with his minority interest in the team.
Big Mo
What Rahal, Fernandez, et al fail to understand is that the fanbase is not going to follow them. IRL v7.1 is CART on ovals.
And a very lameazz version of CART on ovals as well. Gee, it's taken Tony George eight seasons to recreate CART 1979 without Watkins Glen and Riverside. :shakehead
rabbit
What I will tell you is this, there is no fan base. They could lose every fan, start over and with minimal growth be right back to where they are, today, in a few short years. Look at the numbers for both series and use NASCAR as a watermark. Now look at TV numbers.....
Most of the advisors speaking into Tony's ear have the idea that in order to really get after the attendance and viewership, that OWRS has to die. While not privey to these words, IMO the actions of the past few weeks make it perfectly clear.
Tony and his "league" are going road racing, and are hedging their bets that some (50%) of the fans of Elkhart Lake, Portland, Mid Ohio will continue to come to the races. The other half they will pursue with marketing funded by the Yen. As for the street races, here again, who is their target audience? Its a civic thing, something happening in "your" town. Cleveland and Long Beach fit into this demographic. (as do several other, if not all, of the CART/OWRS street races)
As someone somewhere stated before, NASCAR and MX bikes have a higher number of viewers on the tube, and while NASCAR is going through a decline at the gate (at some tracks) and with their newer venues, their average attendance is still something the openwheel set would kill for.
As a fan since 1965, and a ticket buyer to over 50 events, the sport has suffered fatal injuries due to the split.
Its over.
Ziggy
dreamracer
03-18-04, 05:08 PM
SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT!
not.
Owners need to decide where they want to be and go there, and stop with the fence sitting.
If every owner in openwheel did that, then there would be no fence to sit on and everyone in racing can move on about thier business.
Wonder what Mr. Letterman thinks of this move? Not that he has a vote with his minority interest in the team.
Big Mo
Dave was at Indy last year, he probably drives a Passport, unlike Newman/Haas he and Bobby are probably on the same page.
Wind Tunnel will be interesting tonight.
There is no way Bobby's taking Jourdain.
as if any of it was ever about the fan base....... :shakehead
Just read that Jourdain stays in Champ Car.
When your sport is funded by manufactures
you bet its about a fan base. Motorsports is in the advertising business
you think this is a techno war?
Ziggy
The announcement pretty much says that Rahal will leave the ChampCar Series (remaining in Toyota Atlantic and the IRL), add a 2nd full time entry in the IRL, and run 3 cars at Motegi and Indy. Jourdain and Gigante are no longer part of the team, they'll announce driver and sponsor for the additional car in the IRL at a later date.
Sounds like somebody got handed a big check with some conditions. Apparently, Michel and Gigante don't want to be associated with whoever/whatever inspired Rahal to make this change.
The announcement pretty much says that Rahal will leave the ChampCar Series (remaining in Toyota Atlantic and the IRL), add a 2nd full time entry in the IRL, and run 3 cars at Motegi and Indy. Jourdain and Gigante are no longer part of the team, they'll announce driver and sponsor for the additional car in the IRL at a later date.
Sounds like somebody got handed a big check with some conditions. Apparently, Michel and Gigante don't want to be associated with whoever/whatever inspired Rahal to make this change.
Jourdain just slides over to Walker or another team. It doesn't affect the Champ Car car count at all.
It does change potential sponsors and the IRL's car count.
lateralus42
03-18-04, 05:28 PM
3 cars at Motegi, hmmm I wonder where he is getting his blood money from?? :gomer:
4wheeldrifter
03-18-04, 05:32 PM
I'm a little torn. I started into CART as a Rahal fan (being from Ohio and all). When he went into the other league I lost most of my interest in his team. Now 95% of me says "have fun driving in circles, entertaining the aluminum" and "good to be rid of yet another fence rider". The other 5% of me will miss him, but only for the old memories.
My interest is piqued now. This has really got the old imagination flowing: WTF is gonna happen with Champcar '04? :confused:
Still waiting and hoping. :thumbup:
This is actually getting funny watching the yenwhores jump around. If Hondai said to stick your finger up your *** and bark like a dog, these two would be howling at the moon until they were told to stop and wondering why they are constipated.
I don't like it but, I have to gain enjoyment out of it some how. :rofl: :rofl:
When your sport is funded by manufactures
you bet its about a fan base. Motorsports is in the advertising business
you think this is a techno war?
ZiggyBingo.
Tony took what small fan base there was and divided it until only the extremely loyal cared anymore. The loyal on one side will never support the other side.
What I will tell you is this, there is no fan base. They could lose every fan, start over and with minimal growth be right back to where they are, today, in a few short years. True, but it will take decades to get the fan base back to what it was in 1994-95.
No doubt about US fans
Jourdain is going to Newman/Haas
Ziggy
Insomniac
03-18-04, 05:47 PM
Wonder what Mr. Letterman thinks of this move? Not that he has a vote with his minority interest in the team.
Big Mo
Letterman has always loved Indy.
...and Letterman is from Indianapolis... though he always does seem much more into CART and road racing when it comes up on his show.
It'll be interesting to see how Jourdain's new team is organised. Personally, I think Team Gigante sounds much better than team Rahole...err... haul.
PlanMan
03-18-04, 06:26 PM
FBR
Viva Jourdain! :thumbup:
RaceGrrl
03-18-04, 06:39 PM
Rahal is a Honda ho. It would not surprise me one bit if he's not expecting the IRL to last, but rather is setting himself up to go to Nascrap once the Honda/Toyota rivalry goes there. Like usual, he's followed the money. What a disappointment he's turned out to be.
He deserves to have someone poo in his front yard. Spicoli... feel like making a road trip?
formulaben
03-18-04, 07:18 PM
What a disgrace. Goodbye and good riddance, Rahole.
You should be ashamed of yourself, as a former President of CART. :shakehead
lone_groover
03-18-04, 07:29 PM
Good Luck to RatFink's new driver....and his next of kin!
:p :p :p :p
Robstar
03-18-04, 07:31 PM
IRL v7.1
:D :D
What happened to "we do what the sponsors want." The sponsor wants to stay but he leaves anyway? I really don't get it.
George
Spicoli
03-18-04, 08:33 PM
Rahal is a Honda ho. It would not surprise me one bit if he's not expecting the IRL to last, but rather is setting himself up to go to Nascrap once the Honda/Toyota rivalry goes there. Like usual, he's followed the money. What a disappointment he's turned out to be.
He deserves to have someone poo in his front yard. Spicoli... feel like making a road trip?
I imagine there is a loine forming. Many champCar fans in Cbus.
datachicane
03-18-04, 08:36 PM
What happened to "we do what the sponsors want." The sponsor wants to stay but he leaves anyway? I really don't get it.
George
Sponsor = anyone who writes the big check, not necessarily represented by a paint scheme. The size of this particular sponsor was obviously adequate to relegate Gigante to associate status.
pinniped
03-18-04, 09:26 PM
Has he even made the announcement? Or is this more Yellowcardude stuff from other forums that gets transformed into a Miler story...hey I like Miller more than most but he actually printed my "Tomas Scheckter to CART" rumor which I made up JUST to see who would run with it...
Has he even made the announcement?
Champcar announcement (http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=7578) good enough? ;)
INDIANAPOLIS (March 18, 2004) –The following is a statement regarding the departure of Bobby Rahal and Team Rahal from the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. The statement should be attributed to Champ Car President Dick Eidswick.
“We were surprised to hear of Bobby’s decision to leave the Champ Car World Series at this time. His association and involvement with Champ Car have been considerable. Bobby grew up as a driver in our series and eventually served as the Chief Executive Officer, in addition to his role as a team owner.
“He has, however, reaffirmed his commitment to campaign his two-car Toyota Atlantic effort as well as an entry in our new Formula BMW series so we can expect him to join us on Champ Car weekends.
“Champ Car has worked diligently during the transition period in preparation for the 2004 season, in essence accomplishing six months of work in six weeks. We understand the complexity of the purchase caused some delays in planning for the teams. But the recent release of our 2004 race schedule and television package has allowed numerous teams, drivers, and sponsors to move forward with final negotiations. We fully anticipate a series of positive team and driver announcements within the next several days.
“We believe we have and are acting in the best interests of everyone who has been a part of Champ Car history. We remain committed to bringing a full field to the season opener in Long Beach and we’re confident our teams and fans will be rewarded with a competitive and exciting racing season.”
pinniped
03-18-04, 10:14 PM
Ummm....yes? :o
racer2c
03-18-04, 10:35 PM
Ummm....yes? :o
Who Rahole? Speed posted it around 5:30pm today.
Thread (http://www.offcamber.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3733)
Robstar
03-18-04, 11:21 PM
Ummm....yes? :o
You da man... :) :)
Here's an ACTUAL QUOTE from Rahal:
From a sporting perspective, I also think a two-car effort is the only way to fly in the IRL.
One car flew all too well on its own, thank you. :thumdown:
lone_groover
03-19-04, 12:15 AM
Here's an ACTUAL QUOTE from Rahal:
One car flew all too well on its own, thank you. :thumdown:
:eek: :eek:
Maybe that's a sporting clays perspective.
:gomer:
Spicoli
03-19-04, 12:18 AM
Or is this more Yellowcardude stuff from other forums
What did Yellowcardude ever say that was incorrect? :confused: I know him well.
lone_groover
03-19-04, 12:32 AM
YCD likes NewOrder.
Gotta be a cool guy.
:thumbup:
Lizzerd
03-19-04, 12:59 AM
What did Yellowcardude ever say that was incorrect? :confused: I know him well.
I know him too. What's the question again?
What did Yellowcardude ever say that was incorrect? :confused: I know him well.
Nothing that I know of. YCD speaketh the truth.
All in all, a cool dude, his taste in fender hue aside.
:D
pinniped
03-19-04, 01:49 AM
No offense to yellowcar or dude's fans..for some reason I was thinking this weeks rumors were from him but I guess not...I'm too busy at work to really follow things too close...oop my bad
Spicoli
03-19-04, 09:00 AM
No offense to yellowcar or dude's fans..for some reason I was thinking this weeks rumors were from him but I guess not...I'm too busy at work to really follow things too close...oop my bad
no harm, no foul.
YCD has been banned from MSFTrollerforum for nearly 2 years now, so he hasn't posted anything rcently.
I hear he spend mot of his days snowmobiling in New Mexico, or drinking up with Cheever & Opie down at the Classey. :saywhat:
What happened to "we do what the sponsors want." The sponsor wants to stay but he leaves anyway? I really don't get it.
GeorgeThis is what I wanted to hear last night on WindTunnel. Really want to hear him spin this one.
jcollins28
03-19-04, 02:19 PM
The only thing this means is that another fence sitter took the yen and ran. I'm happy that Rahole and his Benedict Arnold arse took the money and ran. He did nothing for CART and the last few years talked out of both sides of his mouth. He screwed CART when he was CEO with the texas race. What CART needs to pull through is loyal owners who are in it for the long haul. People and company's like Honda,Toyota Roger Penske GanASSi and Rahole. Are the a big reason why CART is where it is today in the crapper. What did these teams and company's do to fix their mess? Nothing they left to move on for another chance to screw something else up. These people have no credibility,accountability or responsability. While they were in CART they took everything they could with no thought to how it would affect the series or the people around them. Then when they ran it into the ground they did not place any blame on themselves but ran away like **** roaches after a nuclear winter.
RedLine
03-19-04, 02:58 PM
You might wanna change the "roach" analogy in your rant.
Cockroaches and armadillos are able to withstand higher radiation levels than any other living things on the planet.
But, I knew what you meant.
;)
racer2c
03-19-04, 03:08 PM
You might wanna change the "roach" analogy in your rant.
Cockroaches and armadillos are able to withstand higher radiation levels than any other living things on the planet.
But, I knew what you meant.
;)
I read it as he used 'roaches surviving a nuclear winter' because they can survive such an event.
jcollins28
03-19-04, 03:21 PM
I read it as he used 'roaches surviving a nuclear winter' because they can survive such an event.
Yes the survive by destroying what ever they are involved with. Then they leave the rotting corpse to find something new to kill.
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