The Chicago race is off.

[JSR]

Has this been discussed yet? I don't remember seeing any threads about it.

[RTKar]

Yup, look at my post from 2/6/03; Chicago Tribune article - Cicero race.

[Fenster]

The Chicago Motor Speedway is out... but Chicago itself is still, most likely, going to be the site of a race (maybe even in '03). Pook made comments to the like in Sebring. Rumor is that they are just trying to agree on a date for a street race. Mayor Daley is supposedly pushing for Memorial Day weekend. If that is the case, CART needs to step in and put their foot down. Daley has no concept of what has gone on in open wheel racing the past seven years. Anyway... I am sure Pook will handle it and we'll have ourselves another good venue. Nobody liked that paper clip anyway. Besides, CMS was Chip's house... and we don't play with Chip any more.


--Fenster.

[nrc]

Originally posted by Fenster
Mayor Daley is supposedly pushing for Memorial Day weekend. If that is the case, CART needs to step in and put their foot down.

Put their foot down how? While I don't think that CART should go looking to create a Memorial Day weekend event, I don't think they should run from one if the host city has some compelling reason to want that date.

[Fenster]

I am going on past experience. Listen... Chicago is only a few hours from Indy. Lets face it... Indy is going to draw a crowd no matter what. A street race in Chicago on the SAME weekend as Indy would be more embarrassing than the Michigan 500. Lets be honest.

I thought that CART was going to hold off on making a direct challenge to Indy for some time and I thought that was smart (for now). And Mayor Daley knows about as much about racing as I do about astro-physics (which is to say nothing!).

I am just suggesting that Mayor Daley to leave the racing decisions up to the people that know what they are doing (ie. Pook and Co.) and not let his pride get in the way as to "having the better city to host a party", etc.

You have to choose your battles wisely. I don't think this is something CART should do while invested in critical building years ahead.

But I trust Pook to make the decisions that are right for CART. Surely he knows better than I.


--Fenster.

[RTKar]

I disagree Fenster, Chicago being as large as it is, has more than enough people to draw a race crowd. Although the vast majority of the people have no clue what CART is (nor the irl for that matter), I think there is tremendous potential to develop a race on Memorial Day weekend. Granted many of the "fans" would be event goers, however I think the best way to create true race fans is to get them to a live event. Chicago is an active vibrant city, that lives for it's events in the summer. The lake front is a center of activity throughout the summer with Jazz Fest, Blues Fest, Taste of Chicago, the Fourth of July fireworks that draw a million people every year, and the airshow. I think many people that live on the coasts don't appreciate what a world class city Chicago truly is. Now, whether a lakefront road course is feasible, is up to discussion. A race there would certainly take a tremendous effort by the city to make possible.

[nrc]

I'm talking about a good business reason. Trying to create an event to compete with Indy isn't a good business reason. CART knows the racing issues, but the Mayor knows the city's issues: politics, conflicts, logistics and so on.

An event on Memorial Day weekend in the heart of Chicago would be much better for CART than an event any other weekend of the year at Meigs field.

Of course, if the Mayor wants Memorial Day weekend, he's going to have to accept that he's probably not going to get the exposure in the form of network TV that he might get on other dates.

But I'm not worried about it looking bad if it has the Mayor's buy-in. They have the opportunity to control the seating, so it's going to look good on TV even if they only draw 40k. Establishing an "event" is much more important for a new street race than drawing a huge crowd (c.f. Miami).

Of course none of this changes the fact that I think CART's schedule is already too heavy with street races.

[Fenster]

Originally posted by RTKar
I think many people that live on the coasts don't appreciate what a world class city Chicago truly is.

I should clarify that I am from suburban Chicago as well. Lived there my entire life, until about 5 1/2 years ago. I know what a world-class city it is. I love it there. I think that the lakefront couldn't be a better location to run a race in or around summer time. Yes, it would be tricky to pull it off without throwing the city into a gridlock, but I said from day one that the Grant Park area, or similar location like Miegs (sp?), would be a far better idea than the paper clip.

I just don't think that trying to outdue Indy is a smart idea right now. Maybe in a year or two, if the 500 keeps deminishing at the current rate, it will be a good move. Bernie will pull the big show out of Indy, the 500 will be a shadow of its former self (if it isn't already), and CART will have established itself as a seperate entity. Then you hit them with the Memorial Day weekend, big city race. Just not now. And I will put money on the fact that Pook won't do it.

Again... just my opinion.


--Fenster.

[RTKar]

Fenster, I understand your train of thought. I fealt the CART race in St Louis Memorial day weekend was a sad affair but I was at the first US 500 that was run at the same time as the Indy 500 and there was a very nice crowd and a good buzz surrounding the race despite it being a chilly day, and it being put together on short notice. I think CART may have missed the boat by not developing that race, it may have made a diffence as to how things have turned out. As for a race in Chicago, I think you'd be selling it to people who aren't really race fans (hopefully they'd become fans), so in a sense you wouldn't be competing with the 500 as long as the tv times didn't conflict. At this point I don't see a CART race Memorial day weekend in the same light that I saw it 6 or 7 years ago. CART has set a pretty distinct path and simply just needs to showcase it's product in the right markets and a holiday weekend in a major city is a good move IMO.

[nrc]

Again, I agree that trying to "outdo Indy" would be a mistake. But you can bet that if CART runs on Memorial Day weekend they will distance themselves from that notion as much as possible.

[JLMannin]

Memorial Day weekend is just 14 weeks or so away. There would be no way to pull off a major event like this in Chicago on such short notice.

If palnning were actively happening right now, 2004 would be a possibility. If CART is going to stage an event in direct opposition to the 500, it should be a raod or street race, not an oval race.

[RTKar]

There was an article in a suburban Chicago paper called the Daily Southtown last week, I couldn't get the direct link to work but if you go to http://www.dailysouthtown.com , go to sports and type in Chicago street race , you should get a recent article on the situation.

[Classic Apex]

I don't get it.

If CART was to schedule an event Memorial Day weekend, everybodys panties would be in a bunch because, gasp, Indy is that weekend.

If CART does not schedule an event that weekend, CART is veiwed as weak for allowing the schedule to be open, thus letting its drivers compete there if they wanted.

Get over it.

I say run a street-race in Chicago on Memorial Day weekend. How do you ever plan on moving on if you shcedule yourself to revolve around Indy?

[Fenster]

Indy attracts what... 300,000 plus fans? Most of them are the die-hard as well as the casual fans. Others go just because they have heard about the "spectacle" of it. CART has it's own die-hard following that will attend only a CART race no matter what. But the casual fan who doesn't really have strong loyalty will still go to Indy. All of the press will be at Indy. The televsion media will be at Indy. CART has NOTHING to gain by throwing a race that isn't going to get them closer to their objective... attracting the fence-riders and getting press. And a new venue in a great city deserves its own spotlight. It NEEDS its own spotlight to attract a crowd, sponsors, and attention.

Wars are won with brains... not just balls. Think with your head and not just your heart. It just isn't smart to run a new, unestablished market that is just a short drive from Indy on the same weekend.

You think that CART will attract a crowd that knows nothing about racing... i.e. "new fans" with little time to promote in a vurtually fresh market?! That is a pipe dream. That isn't going to happen until an event gains momentum. It has to already become a "happening" to get new faces through the gates. Think about it. Is your neighbor going to go pay $45 a pop to wander around and see soemthing he knows or has heard almost nothing about? But he WILL go if people are talking about how great it was the year before, or he has watched it in the news, or read about it, etc.

Listen... I don't think I am going to convince anyone to think otherwise. I have said all I can say here. It makes no sense for me to continue and beat the dead horse. People have different opinions and this one is just mine.

We'll see what Pook decides to do and how effectve it is.


--Fenster.

[Napoleon]

Originally posted by Fenster
All of the press will be at Indy.

I disagree with this. Not only does USA Today run a big section on racing leading into the Memorial Day weekend, but most papers give increased coverage to racing. By not running on the Memorial Day weekend they are giving up on this free PR.

[rabbit]

Originally posted by Napoleon
I disagree with this. Not only does USA Today run a big section on racing leading into the Memorial Day weekend, but most papers give increased coverage to racing. By not running on the Memorial Day weekend they are giving up on this free PR.

You are correct. The Indy 500 is no longer the big story Memorial Day weekend. Auto racing as a whole is. Heck, the Coca-Cola 600 gets higher tv ratings than Indy now. CART needs to have a Memorial Day weekend race. A Saturday night race would be great. It could gain a reputation for the "kickoff" race of the weekend. CART Saturday night, Indy Sunday afternoon, and NASCAR Sunday night. Imagine the press when somebody like Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart or John Andretti tries to pull a triple header.