More RA doom & gloom

[Warlock!]

Sheboygan-Press (http://www.wisinfo.com/sheboyganpress/sports/archive/sports_8637646.shtml)

CART suing RA?!? WTF is up wit dat? So far (per the article) RA doesn't even know what the suit is about.

Nuttin like pizzin' where you eat :shakehead

Winter Warlock!

[JoeBob]

I wonder if this has something to do with the date change. The new date (that Road America requested) is horrible. Due to the Oshkosh Fly-In, there are no hotel rooms anywhere near the track. (The only place to stay is in Milwaukee, or its suburbs. Renting a camper isn't feasable either, due to the air show and the Brickyard 400 that weekend. So, its a tent or nothing, and I don't see Carl Haas pitching a tent any time soon - at least not until Lilly gets that drug approved ;) )

IIRC, Road America was one of the tracks that wanted lower sanctioning fees as well, and supposedly the TG and Friends are in the mix as well. I wonder if CART is going to accuse them of delibritely undermining the event (date change) in order to get out of their contract/get a much lower rate in the future. (Sacrifice this year to make a bigger profit in future years, and blame CART's new lineup of "no name drivers" in the process.)

[sundaydriver]

IF the Crapwagons roll at RA, nobody will show up to see them. Boy George will have to have a ZERO sanction fee and let RA take all the profits.

[Miljax]

I must admit, I love going up to RA so much, I would get a Thursday freebie, sit out in the parking lot, and cook out and drink my woes away...:laugh:

[TRDfan]

Not good, not good at all.

That track and the great people I met there (including the mysterious JoeBob), really made me a fan. It would really be a shame for it and CART to split.

[JLMannin]

Originally posted by sundaydriver
IF the Crapwagons roll at RA, nobody will show up to see them. Boy George will have to have a ZERO sanction fee and let RA take all the profits.

More likely that Tony would have to pay them $$ to offset the cost of the weekend in order to turn a profit. Maybe he's dusting off his hammer.:mad: :mad:

[chop456]

I'd really like to know what the hell is going on here. If CART doesn't race at RA, they can forget my season ticket next year.

An IRL race might draw half what CART does if tickets were half price.

I hope Pook knows what he's doing.

[Gurneyflap]

Even the lawsuit might SAY it's about the date change, but it's bigger than that. Tell me you can't smell a TG rat here! CART may actually win a suit but all they'll get is some money, or an offer of a May or September date. They won't get the track to themselves. I think that ship has sailed.

[Foxman]

RA is the one sure thing when it comes to me attending CART races.. Even if I make no other race I will always make it to RA (it's a 900 mile trip for me). I would be extremely disappointed if CART dropped/lost this track and would DEFINITELY not attend any other series' race there. If you've never been to RA I can tell you that there is nothing like having a brat in one hand, beer in the other, watching the champcars come SCREAMING down into station 5.

[nrc]

CART fans need to take this seriously and not just sit by and hope for it to turn out for the best the way we did with Michigan. I have sent feedback through the CART web site I intend to polish it a bit and also send it as a letter addressed to Chris Pook. Road America fans should do the same for Road America.

Here is my message to CART:

I am gravely concerned by reports that CART may not continue to race at such important venues as Road America and MidOhio. While I understand Chris Pook's effort to bring CART races to larger markets, it is the fans from America's classic road courses, Road America and Mid Ohio, that form the backbone of CART's fan support. Chris Pook should be very well aware of this having seen for himself all the diehard fans who turned out to support CART at the Columbus town meeting during CART's darkest hours. Those fans, and their counterparts at Road America are the heart and soul of CART fandom. Their importance to the series goes far beyond the ranking of their demographic market.

With the recent rhetoric about moving to major markets, possibly at the expense of existing venues, CART appears to be on the virge of a major blunder. Willingly giving up events at Road America or MidOhio would be a knife in the back of the fans who have supported CART through thick and thin. These are the fans who watch every event and support the sponsors. These are fans cultivated over decades. These are the fans that create new fans. You simply cannot replace them with the next hot market.

There is no market more important to CART than Road America and Mid Ohio. It would be a monumental blunder to think otherwise.

[SteveH]

Here's what I sent to CART:

I haven't got a clue about what is going on between CART and Road America, but allow me to voice my opinion. There is no other track that exhibits the essence of what CART is all about like Road America does. I can not imagine it no longer on CART's schedule and will be a very disappointed CART fan if that is to happen. For the past few years I have seen a slow decrease in attendance which is bothersome, however the cache that Road America brings to CART is worth biting the bullet and focusing on the sport and not so much on the bottom line. CART needs to be true to the 'Real Racing' mantra. Road America provides that.

And here's what I emailed to Road America:

I haven't a clue as to what is going on between the track and Road America, but allow me to voice my opinion. CART and Road America belong together. The combined product is second to none. Road America provides a venue where CART can show itself at its best. And CART brings prestige and respect to the track. I was very disappointed to see the original 2003 schedule with ALMS and CART on back to back weekends. Last year I attended both and had hoped to this year, however not on consecutive weekends. I will be much less likely to attend any event at Road America should CART no longer be on the schedule. And I certainly will never attend any event at Road America if the IRL replaces CART. That you can count on.

[j_d]

I have a copy of the Complaint CART filed Feb. 10 against Elkhart Lake's Road America, Inc. in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana.

The bottom line of the Complaint is this: CART is seeking specific performance of its contract with Road America for the 2003 race. CART alleges that its 1999 Sanction Agreement with RA entitles it to Organization and Rights for 2003 in the amount of $1,750,000, to be paid in 3 payments. Under the terms of the Agreement, CART alleges that RA was to make the first installment payment of $262,500 on or before January 1, 2003. CART alleges that RA has not, as of the date of the Complaint, made said payment, and that RA "has failed to acknowlege whether or not it will fulfill its obligations under the Sanction Agreement and permit the 2003 competition to be conducted." Further, CART alleges that $375,000 of the 2002 O&R fees were placed in an escrow account that should be released to CART in that CART has fulfilled its 2002 obligations.

CART requests that the Court order RA to "specific performance" of the 2003 competition or terminate the Agreement and pay CART $1,750,000. Further, CART requests that the Court order RA to release the $375,000 in 2002 fees from escrow or pay damages to CART in an equal amount.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, RA has 30 days from the date the Complaint is served on it to file responsive pleadings with the Court. RA's comments to-date have been exactly what it should issue publicly, and I would expect no more from them except "we disagree with the allegations of the Complaint and will respond accordingly". They are not going to litigate in the press, if their lawyers have anything to say about it.

[Don Quixote]

Thanks j_d. I too smell a rat.

[j_d]

Whatever the outcome of this lawsuit, there was something here sufficient to merit CART's attorneys filing the Complaint. Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states, in part, that lawyers who sign off on federal pleadings certify, to the best of their knowledge, that the pleading isn't being filed to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or needless increase in the cost of litigation; the claims, etc. are warranted by existing law; and the allegations have evidentiary support (or, if so stated, are likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity to investigate (not claimed by CART here)). Lawyers and parties who violate Rule 11 are subject to "appropriate sanctions," including, but not limited to, stricken pleadings, monetary fines, payment of the other side's attorneys fees, etc. Federal judges are very serious about Rule 11, and that Rule is not taken lightly in the federal bar.

That said, we all know of federal cases where the defendants have won, either at trial or on a Motion to Dismiss or Motion for Summary Judgment. That doesn't mean the plaintiffs in those cases brought frivolous lawsuits.

[sundaydriver]

Do RA officials really think that people will show up for a race that have crapwagons in them? :laugh:

[Napoleon]

Originally posted by j_d
I have a copy of the Complaint CART filed Feb. 10 against Elkhart Lake's Road America, Inc. in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana.

Did you get it through PACER? I am not registered with PACER but I have someone who is who can get it to me.


What is the case number?

[j_d]

I did get it through PACER. I downloaded only the Complaint, not the Exhibits that were attached to it. The Case Number is: 1:03-CV-0201LJM-WTL; it is captioned CART, Inc. v. Elkhart Lake's Road America, Inc. . I actually found it by searching the Court's ECF/PACER site for "CART" as a Party name.

[Turn7]

I will be very interested in how this scenario gets displayed over the next month or so.

I am/was planning on attending the RA event this year. However, if RA is trying to get out of its contract with CART and/or initiate dealings with the IRL, I will not be there.

[nrc]

The 1.7 million sanction fee is a good old fashioned cash on the barrel type sanction fee. So RA was not a co-promote or compromise kind of sanction last year.

In one of Pook's comments he said something along the lines of the future of RA depending on whether RA wanted to stage a CART race.

My guess is that RA could have had a co-promotion agreement last season, but may not have been willing to agree to the baggage with it: possibly an exclusivity clause, an extension of the term beyond 2003, or both.

So RA got stuck with that fat sanction fee last year, possibly because they smell Honda or Toyota money from a possible IRL race and don't want to commit to CART. They probably got part of their sanction fee put into escrow pending CART proving that they would have 18 cars on the starting grid. 375,000 sounds about like a short field penalty. It could have even been a gaurantee that CART would make it through the entire season last year, to assure them that they weren't wasting their money on a "dead" series.

Assuming that CART's version is complete and accurate this stinks like Road America is either holding out for an IRL date or at the very least trying to leverage that possibility to try and get a better deal from CART than their standard co-promote.

This also puts Carl Haas in a rather sticky situation because the last I heard he was a board member for both Road America and CART.