Kinda pissed

[Spicoli]

[piss and rant]

A bunch of good people got laid off, fired, unemlpoyed, whatever the F you wanna call it - from CCWS today.

KK needs to get this crap taken care fo once and for all. This series is in a MAJOR identification problem. Who, what, and where is CCWS anymore? Can I have some stability please?

I know peeeps get canned all the time - and for no good reason, other than to "help" the bottom line.

KK seems to be the man, and "the man" better step up and sack up. I'm sure you will recognize some of the names that got let go (once the press hits), and its gonna piss more people than me off, but dammit - lets quit dickin around and get some ***** together people.

Bigger than the firing of people right before Xmas (*******s), you are in serious breach of my fandom by NOT keeping your wack together.

We've lost too much too quickly, so get your head out your anus, and lets gewt some STABILITY in:

schedule
TV
personnell
drivers
owners
sponsors

Shiets broken, now is your chance."get R done" :gomer:

[/piss and rant] :thumdown:

[FCYTravis]

For all the "cheerleaders" out there...

When Spicoli's saying something like this, perhaps you should, as he so politely put it, "get your head out of your anus" and listen to the "haters" when they say that all is not hunky-dory.

Or is Spicoli gonna be labeled a "hater" now too?

:shakehead

My best wishes are with all those who have been laid off at such a tough time of the year...

[Fried]

Whoa! Didnt the same thing occur last year?

[Wabbit]

Whoa! Didnt the same thing occur last year?

It happens every year about this time.

[Dr. Corkski]

Don't worry, I am sure they can find a job managing the upcoming parade in Santa Fe. :gomer:

[nissan gtp]

it's a very bad way to run a business and to treat people... the one's who have helped Champ Car survive.

bidness is bidness, but doing this just before christmas (and over the phone :flame: ) is wrong

[RaceGrrl]

Being laid off sucks, but doing it at this time of the year double sucks. I just don't understand it. Good luck to the folks who are now looking for work. :(

[FTG]

Every job is temporary these days. (My friend just got laid off before Christmas too.) The less money Champ Car spends on salaries, the more money they have for other stuff.

[Rogue Leader]

im still interested to know who was fired... in terms of "names we would recognize"

[Spicoli]

im still interested to know who was fired... in terms of "names we would recognize"

why?

[Methanolandbrats]

Every job is temporary these days. (My friend just got laid off before Christmas too.) The less money Champ Car spends on salaries, the more money they have for other stuff. Sure dood, let WalMart run Champcar and they can run three or four races in China. Nobody in America needs jobs or races, outsource all that ****.

[RusH]

HAHAHAHA, laid off....ha










Runs and hides from Spicoli. (rembemer the champweb post)
I got laid off...yup it sucks. :saywhat:

[Spicoli]

HAHAHAHA, laid off....ha
Runs and hides from Spicoli. (rembemer the champweb post)
I got laid off...yup it sucks. :saywhat:


I am not sure what you mean, but if you were inferring I was laid off, you are mistaken.

I have never worked directly for ChampCar.

[gjc2]

Every job is temporary these days.


Every job is always temporary. How many people have "cradle to grave" jobs? Sometimes people leave jobs by there own choice, and sometimes it's someone else's choice. Sometimes people get very nice severance packages. We don't know any details of the OWRS situation, we are all just speculating.

George

[Spicoli]

Every job is always temporary. How many people have "cradle to grave" jobs? Sometimes people leave jobs by there own choice, and sometimes it's someone else's choice. Sometimes people get very nice severance packages. We don't know any details of the OWRS situation, we are all just speculating.

George

Not me. I know most of the details.

[Clown]

^ I know most of his details (more than you :p), and its ****ty enough firing people just before Christmas, but the way it was handled was not cool :shakehead

[cart7]

I suppose you could look at this another way, had KK not come around those people would've been out of a job a year earlier.

[gjc2]

Not me. I know most of the details.

Did the people that lost there jobs expect that they would work for OWRS until they reached retirement age? Did the firings come as a complete surprise? Were they given any severance pay? Did management offer any help in finding new jobs? If your looking for a job in sports management or marketing maybe this is the best time to be in the job market. This is the off season for all of motorsports, and probably most other sports.

Sorry for my optimism.

George

[spinner26]

KK is getting a bad rap. WherE is the "I'm peesed off" towards the team owners and managers that lay off good people every year after the last race? Oh wait, that is to be expected right? Wrong! It happens it is racing, there is absolutely ZERO future in racing if you plan to have 20+ years in the same organization or team. Deal with it or get out as we here often. There are hundreds waiting to take your job.

[Sean O'Gorman]

Good job on completely missing the point, guys. It isn't about these people having stable employment, it is about having a quality group of personnel that are capable of leading the series in the right direction (assuming they even know where they're going). What kind of message does this send?

[Audi_A4]

so who got canned? Any big wigs?

[Skater_36]

Did the people that lost there jobs expect that they would work for OWRS until they reached retirement age? Did the firings come as a complete surprise? Were they given any severance pay? Did management offer any help in finding new jobs? If your looking for a job in sports management or marketing maybe this is the best time to be in the job market. This is the off season for all of motorsports, and probably most other sports.

Sorry for my optimism.

George

The job situation at CART/OWRS has been tenuous at best for the past 1 1/2 years. Many people left or began looking elsewhere when the move to Indianapolis was announced and I know a couple that are very happy they didn't go. Anyone working in todays corporate environment knows that cuts can and do come at any time and you have to have some kind of backup plan.

Getting laid off near the holidays is not good but honestly, is there a good time to be fired? I hope everyone that got let go finds something soon.

[JT265]

so who got canned? Any big wigs?


A few anyway. One that was likely due.

PS: Canning the nuts and bolts people that held this deal together with bailing wire so talking turds like Gentilozzi could blow smoke up people's asses two weeks before Christmas is wrong.

Doing it over the phone is waaay worse.

[FTG]

Good job on completely missing the point, guys. It isn't about these people having stable employment, it is about having a quality group of personnel that are capable of leading the series in the right direction (assuming they even know where they're going). What kind of message does this send?

What evidence do you have that these people's responsibilites haven't already been filled by capable individuals?

[sundaydriver2]

Communication, it's not that hard. :shakehead

:thumdown:

[Hard Driver]

Unfortunately Champcar needs to do what is best for Champcar. I don't know the entire big picture of why these people were laid off, it should be part of a bigger plan. However, a company should be a partnership with it's employees as well, so if they got laid off before X-mas without a severence, that would be a pretty poor way to treat people. :thumdown:

[spinner26]

I've called a few people and my sources say there were only the nomal "lay offs". Anyone have a source or publication running the story? Nothing in Indy Star and NSSN has nothing forwarded to them with the info. :confused:

[Audi_A4]

I've called a few people and my sources say there were only the nomal "lay offs". Anyone have a source or publication running the story? Nothing in Indy Star and NSSN has nothing forwarded to them with the info. :confused:

what are normal layoffs?

[spinner26]

End of season interns, busy bodies who shuffle paper answer phones while the money makers are out doing their job? Truckies who aren't apart of off season testing............

[EDwardo]

The timing sucks. Losing your job sucks. Packing up, spitting on Champcar and taking the team to the IRL ostensibly because it saved jobs sucks even more.
If OWRS is to survive and grow it is inevitable that such distasteful actions will happen. I only hope that the employers in Champcar will learn from this and handle layoffs and firings better in the future.

[Ankf00]

it's how halliburton works out here, when you have work, keep em hired, soon as the project's done and there's no immediate project for them to start up on, remove them from payroll until they do get new projects, and then immediately re-hire those terminated employees they need

[pineapple]

Whether or not it's the industry norm to fire people every year, if it's a cost-cutting measure, if it's about throwing out deadwood, or whatever else comes to mind, it should be handled with the same level of professionalism and class that ChampCars expects.

We expect professionalism from the teams, drivers, owners, and personnel associated with the series, and act like our feathers are all wet when they don't comply (ref: Rahal, Fernandez, Andretti, et al, ad nauseum). We should expect our series executives to extend the same business courtesy to its employees.

In the end, you get what you give.

[Spicoli]

End of season interns, busy bodies who shuffle paper answer phones while the money makers are out doing their job? Truckies who aren't apart of off season testing............

You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.

When the press hits, you'll be wrong. Will you eat crow then, Mr. Knowitall?
:shakehead

I am not going to name names at this point, but there are peeps on this board that know who some of the "big names" are/were.

If you all knew anything at all about how stretched the resources are in CCWS right now, you would have to agree these layoffs will only hurt the product.

The bottom line is there is NO money coming in from sponsors, sales doods have NOT done their jobs...but then, how can they with NO schedule, NO TV package, NO new sponsors or teams announced of any merit. The catch 22 is pretty brutal right now. Sure, .1RL is drowning in its own puke for sure. But, IMHO, CCWS has had a real big window of opportunity to capitalize on that, and that window is closing fast.

You'll get the old "Nothing will happen until we get through the holidays" BS, then the next thing you know, its January. You can kiss away sponsor money from any significant corporate viewpoint - those budgets were set by Sept at the latest.

You would be surprised how little time KK spends at CCWS (I am not calling him out - he's made more $$$ in a day than I have in prolly a lifetime), and GF is even worse. If this were my business, I'd be on that floor as often as I possibly could. Anyone sitting inside the walls at CCWS will tell you it sucks right now. And it appears that those that were shooting their pieholes off about "new sponsors, teams, TV deals, yad yada yada" are sunk.

David Clare is leaving at the end of the month, and it appears Dick Eidswick is the new "Man in charge". Losing Clare - IMHO - is a bad thing. He is one of the few remaining execs with industry experience, and street and industry cred. Eidswick might be good, but nobody in the racing world knows who he is. Gentilozzi doesn't exactly enjoy the reputation of an angel, so that doesn't help either. (TransAm is FUBAR'd these days too). I suspect PG will get bought out or shoved aside.

You might say "Trust these guys, give them a chance". I was not impressed with alot of the crap that happened this year - specifically the marketing, sales, and broadcast components, so, yeah not sure how much I trust them to do the right thing. The on track product was awesome, however. HDNet rocked. Even putting together a series at all this year rocked even harder. But something is missing in the leadership category. I was hoping that David Clare would be that guy.

So - will all be well in ChampCar land? Maybe. Time will tell.

Doesn;t seem like that big plan KK was talking about has begun to take shape yet.

[Wheel-Nut]

I like these type of posts. "I know something but I'm not telling!!" :thumdown:

[Rogue Leader]

why?

because Im interested to know... thats all...

I care about the series and I give a s**** about the people involved so I would like to know if one or more of these people are now unemployed... Just because I don't work there doenst mean I don't care....

good enough reason???? :rolleyes:

[Spicoli]

because Im interested to know... thats all...

I care about the series and I give a s**** about the people involved so I would like to know if one or more of these people are now unemployed... Just because I don't work there doenst mean I don't care....

good enough reason???? :rolleyes:

chexck your pms.

[spinner26]

You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.

When the press hits, you'll be wrong. Will you eat crow then, Mr. Knowitall?
:shakehead




Hey knucklehead, see post 28, 29. I'm not saying those ar the only ones being let go or laid off I'm saying they are the "normal" layoffs. Bafoon :gomer: :shakehead

[Spicoli]

Hey knucklehead, see post 28, 29. I'm not saying those ar the only ones being let go or laid off I'm saying they are the "normal" layoffs. Bafoon :gomer: :shakehead

There is nothing "normal" about eliminating these positions.

I would highly reccommend you stop posting about it until you see who got canned and what their positions were. You're about in jeapordy of making a bigger chucklehead out of yo bad self than you already have up to this point. :gomer:

And another funny thing, these are not "Seasonals" or "interns" or "paper pushers."

But why listen to me, lock and load again, Mr. Ihavenocluewhatiamtalkingabout.

[nothing personal]

[Spicoli]

on a side note - Mr. Wilke reads the boards here!

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=52245

Hey IglooBoy! :wave: :gomer:

[Sean O'Gorman]

Why wave when http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/flipa.gif works so much better?

[spinner26]

There is nothing "normal" about eliminating these positions.

I would highly reccommend you stop posting about it until you see who got canned and what their positions were. You're about in jeapordy of making a bigger chucklehead out of yo bad self than you already have up to this point. :gomer:

And another funny thing, these are not "Seasonals" or "interns" or "paper pushers."

But why listen to me, lock and load again, Mr. Ihavenocluewhatiamtalkingabout.

[nothing personal]

Your hilarious, it is in fact VERY normal for off season lay off's even at the big teams. You obviously have very good source or no source at all the way your reacting. Mr. "Ihavenocluewhatiamtalkingabout". :rofl:

[FCYTravis]

Spinner26, I'll just say it again - perhaps repetition will drill this into your head.

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

I'll leave it at that.

[spinner26]

I like these type of posts. "I know something but I'm not telling!!" :thumdown:

Mega Ditto's
:rolleyes: :laugh:

[FCYTravis]

So would y'all rather not know?

Ignorance is bliss. :shakehead

[jonovision_man]

Spicoli, I just wanted to give you my vote of confidence. Your posts are typically very informed and I believe that of which you speak.

jono

[Turn7]

Spicoli is in the know. I don't think he is wanting you to focus on "the who" of the layoffs but, on "the what" which make you wonder what the direction is that Champ Car is really going in.

Saying something about the layoffs was mentioned as base information, not a "I know more than you but, Im not telling" sort of thing. Read his first post for what it says and not to pick out a me first knowledge sort of thing and you will get what he is trying to say.

[Ankf00]

"I'm talking about unchecked agression here dude, I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, ACROSS THIS LINE YOU DO NOT... also, dude... Mr. "Ihavenocluewhatiamtalkingabout" is not the prefered nomenclature, loudmouthed douchebag-american, please."

"we're not talking about the guy who built the railroads, ank!"

[Joelski]

Your hilarious, it is in fact VERY normal for off season lay off's even at the big teams. You obviously have very good source or no source at all the way your reacting. Mr. "Ihavenocluewhatiamtalkingabout". :rofl:

Dude, listen to spicoli. These people are ops staff and day to day business does not end with the last checkered flag of the season.

[pchall]

It happens every year about this time.

This sounds like the usual seasonal layoffs. Take a chill pill folks.

[CARTNUT]

You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.

When the press hits, you'll be wrong. Will you eat crow then, Mr. Knowitall?


I am not going to name names at this point, but there are peeps on this board that know who some of the "big names" are/were.

If you all knew anything at all about how stretched the resources are in CCWS right now, you would have to agree these layoffs will only hurt the product.

The bottom line is there is NO money coming in from sponsors, sales doods have NOT done their jobs...but then, how can they with NO schedule, NO TV package, NO new sponsors or teams announced of any merit. The catch 22 is pretty brutal right now. Sure, .1RL is drowning in its own puke for sure. But, IMHO, CCWS has had a real big window of opportunity to capitalize on that, and that window is closing fast.

You'll get the old "Nothing will happen until we get through the holidays" BS, then the next thing you know, its January. You can kiss away sponsor money from any significant corporate viewpoint - those budgets were set by Sept at the latest.

You would be surprised how little time KK spends at CCWS (I am not calling him out - he's made more $$$ in a day than I have in prolly a lifetime), and GF is even worse. If this were my business, I'd be on that floor as often as I possibly could. Anyone sitting inside the walls at CCWS will tell you it sucks right now. And it appears that those that were shooting their pieholes off about "new sponsors, teams, TV deals, yad yada yada" are sunk.

David Clare is leaving at the end of the month, and it appears Dick Eidswick is the new "Man in charge". Losing Clare - IMHO - is a bad thing. He is one of the few remaining execs with industry experience, and street and industry cred. Eidswick might be good, but nobody in the racing world knows who he is. Gentilozzi doesn't exactly enjoy the reputation of an angel, so that doesn't help either. (TransAm is FUBAR'd these days too). I suspect PG will get bought out or shoved aside.

You might say "Trust these guys, give them a chance". I was not impressed with alot of the crap that happened this year - specifically the marketing, sales, and broadcast components, so, yeah not sure how much I trust them to do the right thing. The on track product was awesome, however. HDNet rocked. Even putting together a series at all this year rocked even harder. But something is missing in the leadership category. I was hoping that David Clare would be that guy.

So - will all be well in ChampCar land? Maybe. Time will tell.

Doesn;t seem like that big plan KK was talking about has begun to take shape yet.

I apologize in advance, but this thread just got me thinking about this little chicken who ran around saying something was falling.
http://www.animated-news.com/archives/clpic.jpg

But in this case he wouldn't say what it was and a bunch of people were getting pissed off, but they weren't thinking about the big picture!

[Dave99]

http://www.animated-news.com/archives/clpic.jpg
This guy is falling...
This guy is falling...
This guy is falling...

[Dr. Corkski]

So apparantly Champ Car doesn't need:

- Real race tracks
- Proven race winners
- TV audience
- Real sponsors

and now:

- Day-to-day business ops staff

:gomer:

[Joelski]

Corkski: Are a truly "concerned CCWS fan" or should you maybe look into going someplace you'd be more appreciated. Someplace like crack forum, or mom's basement perhaps?

[cart7]

Spicoli, maybe you'd be better off explaining what the positions were that were released rather than the who (as in names).

Sadly, corporations don't seem to mind trashing anyones Christmas anymore by announcing layoffs then or announcing upcoming layoffs after the new year. :shakehead

[Winston Wolfe]

Corkski: Are a truly "concerned CCWS fan" or should you maybe look into going someplace you'd be more appreciated. Someplace like crack forum, or mom's basement perhaps?

J-ski, you just dont know Cork....
He's just a youngin' with a stinging sense of cynicism, only equalled by that of his fanboy buddy, Ank, who enjoy making a bunch of keyboard jockeys get their panties in a wad, by posting. :D
Heck, he lives just a few miles from the newly proposed CCWS race in Sante Fe, coming in July, and he has even changed his sig line to reflect THAT.... but he wont go to the race, cuz, its gonna be crap !

[Spicoli]

Spicoli, maybe you'd be better off explaining what the positions were that were released rather than the who (as in names).

Sadly, corporations don't seem to mind trashing anyones Christmas anymore by announcing layoffs then or announcing upcoming layoffs after the new year. :shakehead

First - the truth will be when the official announcements are made. Spinner will be at the trough of crow. Doubt he'll be able to backpeddle out of the mire. Go look at the corporate structure right now. Then look on Monday (or whenever they update it)

To name the positions would be to name names. Some firings you may agree with, some will pees you off. Some you will care less about.

But when you have a staff that was 100+ FT in 02, and as of Monday, it will be in the high 30's/low forties, something is going to be lacking in the final version of the product.

As I have mentioned, the PRODUCT has been great. But that's due to some excellent work, passion, and experience that certain people have brought to the plate. Nobody is irreplacable, I understand that. And some of these folks were making wack salaries (prolly the stated reason for their temination), but loyalty seems to be a thing of the past.

In the grand scheme of CCWS, its been the people that make the thing happen. The staff is far less than 50% of 2 years ago. Trimming the fat needed to be done. But when do you stop? When do you see improvements? They are cutting the payrolls because the sales organization has not been able to produce any revenue (balme them or not), but this is their answer to the money crunch. A DANGEROUS AND SLIPPERY SLOPE - IMHO.

I make good money because of my experience, my contacts, and my ability to produce results expected of me. You want somebody cheaper? Expect cheap results. This totally surprises me, b/c KK has stated many times, his success is due in part to being able to surround himself with excellent people.

And Monday likely won't be the last annoucnement like this either. :shakehead

[Tim]

MarkC is blaming people who post on his forums for the firings.

[Jag_Warrior]

MarkC is blaming people who post on his forums for the firings.

MarkC doesn't have a forum. I know what you mean, but if that was really his forum, I certainly wouldn't be posting there.

[DjDrOmusic]

The person I talk to in the organization, is fortunately, still there, and told me some of what went down. I'm not going to point fingers or use a murky language to say that I know what is happening, but it is really eye opening. I have a feeling there may be something going on that that, for lack of a better explanation, is another house cleaning.

[Spicoli]

MarkC is blaming people who post on his forums for the firings.

Isn;t that funny, since he blew the AOL title sponsorship dealio?

"Spyplanes!"

"China!"

"Screaming V-10's!"

Marxie nuked me off the forum 2 years ago, can't say I balme him. :gomer:

":wave:

[KLang]

But when you have a staff that was 100+ FT in 02, and as of Monday, it will be in the high 30's/low forties, something is going to be lacking in the final version of the product.



Both Forsythe and Kalkhoven are very successfull businessmen. I'm more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to running ChampCar then some folks posting on the internet.

[nrc]

But when you have a staff that was 100+ FT in 02, and as of Monday, it will be in the high 30's/low forties, something is going to be lacking in the final version of the product.

How does that compare to the staff from before the public offering?

I'm sorry for anyone who loses their job, but I have no idea what the "right size" for Champ car is so it's impossible for me to have an informed opinion on whether this is good or bad for the series from that perspective.

The other question is how many people are being layed off as a downsizing move and how many are being fired for performance or because they're just not the right person for the job? We can't really begin to discuss whether these moves are good, bad or indifferent until we know who is involved.

[Sean O'Gorman]

Current Staff List:

Dick Eidswick Champ Car President
Barbara Tharp Executive Assistant
David Clare Chairman & Senior Vice President
Joseph Chrnelich Development, Government. Affairs & Planning Executive Vice President

(4)

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Matthew Breeden Legal
Colleen Armour Legal Associate
Gene Cottingham Finance & Accounting VP
Ernie Neal Information Technology Manager
Lizz Manns Payables Manager
Rachel Coolbaugh Accounting Associate
Pat Herbst Human Resources Director
Emerald Mason Receptionist

(8)

OPERATIONS

John Lopes Operations Executive VP
John Anderson Operations Director
Chris Kneifel Competition Race Director
Denise Swintal Competition Manager
Lee Dykstra Technology Director
Steve Sewell Technology Senior Manager
Kevin Vander Laan Electronics Manager
Bill Skibbe Timing & Scoring Manager
Kristin Lennis Executive Assistant Associate
Holly Hodge Executive Assistant Associate
Billy Kamphausen Logistics Director
Darrell Lowe Transportation Manager
Jeff Davis Driver - T2
Ron Bednosky Driver - T4
Shawn Racette Driver - Pace Car
Jeff Richmond Driver - Pace Car
Mark Easley Driver - T1
Pat Loflin Driver
Lon Bromley Safety Director
Dr. Chris Pinderski Medical Director
Vicki O’Conner Toyota Atlantic Managing Director

(21)

RACE PROMOTIONS

Tim Ramsberger Promoter Operations VP
Amanda Trotter Race Promotions Manager
Randy Biggs Race Promotions Manager

(3)

MARKETING & SALES

Tom Moser Marketing & Sales VP
David Bowers Sales Vice President
Ron Cole Sales Executive
Bev Sharp Marketing & Sales Associate
Linda Rosenberg Licensed Products Director
Doug Bresnahan Partner Services Director
Lee Ann Meredith Partner Services Manager
Andy Castleman Brand & Strategy Director
Brad Stevens Client Services Manager
John Adams Intelligence & Research Manager

(10)

COMMUNICATIONS

Wendy Gabers PR/Communications VP
Eric Mauk News Operations Manager
Merrill Cain Toyota Atlantic PR
Kathi Reichert Community Relations & Video Services Manager
Heather Haupt News Operations Associate
Cathie Lyon Accreditation & Pace Car Program Director
Joel Butland Pace Car Program Manager
Nicole Norris Accreditation Manager

(8)

So they have 54 total employees as of that list.

[FCYTravis]

I'm pretty sure not all of those are full-time positions either, Sean. I don't think Denise is FT.

[Methanolandbrats]

Any chance that the purge is reflects a difference of opinion on the direction of Champcar?

[wood-eye]

I'd be really careful comparing lists and drawing conclusions...as much of the posts on this topic have been. B. Sharp is with PKV now and T. Ramsberger is with the St. Petes IRL race now as examples...

[theunions]

Per Speed News (attributed to Robin) - Kneifel, Higgins and Dykstra are the top casualties.

[TKGAngel]

Per Speed News (attributed to Robin) - Kneifel, Higgins and Dykstra are the top casualties.

Linky (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/14332/) to Robin's article (scroll down past the FAF woes and its there)

[Methanolandbrats]

FAF utterly ****ed. RA back on. http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/cwm/cwm/spin2.gifhttp://mindscraps.com/s/contrib/ruinkai/biggrinparty.gif

[dando]

Per Speed News (attributed to Robin) - Kneifel, Higgins and Dykstra are the top casualties.
The chief circus clown got whacked? AFT. :D

Dykstra getting whacked? :thumdown:

RA in May? :thumdown: (good news is that the state bird won't be out, but it's still winter up there then) :shakehead

-Kevin

[FCYTravis]

Confirmed. Hey spinner26, that crow pie should be pretty tasty.

[Fried]

thought AF was a Honda factory team who didn't need sponsors. :confused:

[Methanolandbrats]

RA in May? :thumdown: (good news is that the state bird won't be out, but it's still winter up there then) :shakehead

-Kevin Dood, May in Wisconsin means temps between 45 and 85 F. That ain't winter........it's all good. :thumbup:

[Ankf00]

Dood, May in Wisconsin means temps between 45 and 85 F. That ain't winter........it's all good. :thumbup:
45 = winter :p

[Methanolandbrats]

45 = winter :p 45 = changing oil in the driveway in shorts and a t-shirt. :p Winter = temperature below 0 F.

[Spicoli]

Per Speed News (attributed to Robin) - Kneifel, Higgins and Dykstra are the top casualties.

Bingo.

***Note to Spinner, nrc, KLang, pchall, Dave99, CARTNUT and the rest of the doubters****: yep - these are the interns, paper pushers, and seasonal employees:

TOLD YA SO.

Say what you will about Circus Clown (he just might be back as a contract employee) but losing Dykstra is bad. Last class act of the old school.

Barbara Tharp Executive Assistant
David Clare Chairman & Senior Vice President
Colleen Armour Legal Associate
Gene Cottingham Finance & Accounting VP
Pat Herbst Human Resources Director
Chris Kneifel Competition Race Director
Lee Dykstra Technology Director

and the list goes on.

how is this good?


:saywhat:

crow crow crow your boat...... :rolleyes:

[dando]

Dood, May in Wisconsin means temps between 45 and 85 F. That ain't winter........it's all good. :thumbup:
Uh, well, I have family that lives in them parts, and it definitely isn't usually 'nice' up there that time of year. The last two races @ The Mile haven't been nice either. Yes, I know it can be 'warm' in the upper midwest in May, but that's not the norm. Like I said, the best part about an RA race in May is that the skeeters aren't out yet. :)

-Kevin

[Spicoli]

:crickets: :rolleyes:

[dando]

45 = changing oil in the driveway in shorts and a t-shirt. :p Winter = temperature below 0 F.
Shiat! Even in Cbus folks think winter starts when the temp dips below 32F. Who are you, Freezemeister? :p

-Kevin

[Spicoli]

wilke's on the copy and paste over at wackforum.

good to see he stil respects the master of the innernet racing forums. :gomer:

[nrc]

Bingo.

***Note to Spinner, nrc, KLang, pchall, Dave99, CARTNUT and the rest of the doubters****: yep - these are the interns, paper pushers, and seasonal employees:

TOLD YA SO.

Where did I say that I doubted that it was true that people were being laid off? All I said was that it was impossible to assess the significance or impact of it without knowing who was involved and having a sense of how many people it really takes to run the business. Evidently you weren't able to answer those points directly.

The only person on that list that is particularly surprising to me is Dykstra. Nobody liked the way the races were being called and Clare struck me as a huge waste of an executive salary. Has he done anything in the time he's been there?

[Spicoli]

Where did I say that I doubted that it was true that people were being laid off? All I said was that it was impossible to assess the significance or impact of it without knowing who was involved and having a sense of how many people it really takes to run the business. Evidently you weren't able to answer those points directly.

The only person on that list that is particularly surprising to me is Dykstra. Nobody liked the way the races were being called and Clare struck me as a huge waste of an executive salary. Has he done anything in the time he's been there?

:backpeddle:

I fully expect to be banned now.

[nrc]

:backpeddle:

I fully expect to be banned now.

You're not breaking any rules.

[Spicoli]

You're not breaking any rules.

shucks. ;)

As the title of the thread implies - i'm just pissed.

[RHR_Fan]

45 = changing oil in the driveway in shorts and a t-shirt. :p Winter = temperature below 0 F.

Exactly. 50 in October is cool but nice. Long pants. 50 in April equals shorts! Milwaukee this past year wasn't bad. Milwaukee '03 was cold, but that's Wisconsin weather.

~Nicole

[Ankf00]

Shiat! Even in Cbus folks think winter starts when the temp dips below 32F. Who are you, Freezemeister? :p

-Kevin

http://sofinesjoyfulmoments.com/humor/ilovesnow.htm

this is what happens when a Texan moves to your foreign territory...

[CARTNUT]

http://www.crowpark.co.uk/graphics/crow8.jpg

I ate my crow with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Slurp, slurp, slurp. :saywhat:

'NUT :gomer:

[KLang]

***Note to Spinner, nrc, KLang, pchall, Dave99, CARTNUT and the rest of the doubters****: yep - these are the interns, paper pushers, and seasonal employees:


In my case I was commenting on your opinion on staffing levels:



But when you have a staff that was 100+ FT in 02, and as of Monday, it will be in the high 30's/low forties, something is going to be lacking in the final version of the product.



Both Forsythe and Kalkhoven are very successfull businessmen. I'm more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to running ChampCar then some folks posting on the internet.

[pedroskova]

Yep, got laid off during the holidays once - it sucked.

If this is part of a reorganization with planning and direction, etc., you should see some significant movement early on to start the process. If not... :shakehead

[cart7]

:backpeddle:

I fully expect to be banned now.

You're certainly treading close to "countdown" status. :p :D

[Dirty Sanchez]

crow crow crow your boat...... :rolleyes::laugh:

[Spicoli]

You're certainly treading close to "countdown" status. :p :D

Those numbers have been offically "retired". :gomer:

[Racing Truth]

MarkC is blaming people who post on his forums for the firings.

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but that struck me as hilarious. :laugh:

Just finished rest of thread. Still hilarious

[Spicoli]

Waiting for Spinner26 to eat crow (although he's evidently protected by the moderators) :rolleyes:

:censor:

[aportinga]

Being laid off sucks, but doing it at this time of the year double sucks. I just don't understand it. Good luck to the folks who are now looking for work. :(

At this level I am sure they were well compensated - unless it was a performance issue.

My view of this matter was that changes needed to take place because of the direction the series was going and perhaps as a means to consolidate operations. Certainly some good people were let go but none based on a lack of performance.

In the normal corporate world once you reach the level of Director you get a contract which must be fullfilled or bought out (trust me I know because I made money off this 2 years ago - bought my girlfriend an engagement ring and upgraded the house a bit with plenty of money to go into savings :gomer: ).

I am sure this is what happened.

OWRS does not want to face legal and/or public matters based on letting these people go. They did it right in terms of compensation. The only thing these folks will have to cope with is the frustration and humility of having been laid off.

That said they have my best wishes and hopes to land on their feet sometime soon.

My personal advice is to relax and enjoy the time off for a bit.

[Morethebetter]

I'm all confused now. Help me out here Mr. Suddenly Compassionate:

posted 11/29/04 at Champweb.net by Spicoli:

"There is still a bunch of old (and new) dead wood at CCWS. Kevin will clean them out, the hangers-on, and the inefficient and uncreative."






OWStories (http://www.members.aol.com/openwheeler1/OWStories.pdf)

[spinner26]

Waiting for Spinner26 to eat crow (although he's evidently protected by the moderators) :rolleyes:

:censor:


Dude! Your getting your rocks off over what? I simply said that normal , yes normal seasonal layoffs were paper pushers, truckies, interns and the like. NEVER once did I say , state, write, whatever that they would be the only ones let go. If you take off the beer goggles you'll see that. Where in this ramble do you suppose I am entitled to eat crow? I'm a big boy and can eat a lot if you produce it. :p

BTW in the list of axed employees, I don't see one that can't / won't be replaced. I do not at all feel that it is ok at this time of year to do a thing like this, however multimillionaires usually have "leagal counsel", administators and the like. Dykstra, I'll give ya. Knief clown, don't let the door hit ya should have come years ago. Anyway enough from me you get the point. I'm hungry. :gomer:

[Joelski]

Clare struck me as a huge waste of an executive salary. Has he done anything in the time he's been there?

Not since Eidswick put the big "NO" stamp on every dime he tried to spend to make the series better. Business costs money; ask Bernie about DC's service record.

[RaceGrrl]

Firing the Chair/VP, chief steward and the technology director does not qualify as normal offseason cuts, IMO. Companies always feel that they can lay off the office staff/administrative folks and get by without them, they just dump more work on the remaining staff making it harder for them to do a good job. There is a point at which it is impossible to do more with less.

Even though I liked Kniefel personally, he's made some bad/questionable calls so I understand why he's gone. Dykstra- I just don't get it on that one at all, and I'll admit I never paid enough attention to what Clare did or attempted to do to have a guess as to what kind of impact his firing will have.

I just feel bad for the rest of the folks- the ones without high visibility or the high salaries. They're the ones that will really be hurt.

[cart7]

I'm wondering if Dykstra's position won't be filled with someone within Cosworth?