Time Will Tell...

[JoeBob]

Adrian Fernandez a year ago:

http://www.indyracing.com/indycar/news/story.php?story_id=2427


Q. From the ownership and businessman side of this, once you made the decision late last week to race exclusively in the IndyCar Series, was there a sense of relief or was there a sense of panic?

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, you know, those types of decisions are never going to be easy to do. And you know the repercussions of those decisions. Decisions are going to impact tremendously on both sides of the frontier. So I knew that my decision was going to be a very serious decision, and we had to be very sure about what we were doing. We consulted our sponsors. We went through a lot of talks and meetings and everything. We came up with this decision as hard as it could be because of what was happening. Panic, no, because I was sure of what I was doing, very sure about what I was doing. And time will tell. But it's one of those things that once you make the decision, you just have to keep working on what you believe. What I believed is what we have made. Like I say, time will just tell. But right now, you know, I would like to put all these things behind and try to focus on what I do the best, which is driving and focus on the team and building a team, fight for the championship, and leave all those things behind me. I know from my side, my heart, I did everything -- always I did everything to support Champ Cars and support the Mexican races. I have never left them behind. I never turned my back on them. It was just the other way around.

Adrian Fernandez today:


"Statement from Adrián Fernández on 2005 IRL IndyCar Season"

(January 20, 05)- "I am proud of our accomplishments in our first season of IRL competition. Three wins and fifth in the championship showed the strength and maturity of the team we began four years ago. However, as we enter a new season, I am faced with the hard fact that I do not have the necessary budget to compete in 2005. Given our current situation with the start of the new season just over two months away and as necessary to keep the team intact and functioning at maximum levels, the team will focus its attention on Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura.

" I enjoyed one of the best seasons of my career in 2004. As a driver, I feel I have a lot left to offer. I am working hard to be able to race again as soon as possible."

[devilmaster]

TSN article:


Adrian Fernandez will not be a full time driver in the Indy Racing League this season.

The lack of sponsors has forced one of the few remaining owner-drivers to concentrate his efforts behind the pit wall in 2005.

"As we enter a new season, I am faced with the hard fact that I do not have the necessary budget to compete in 2005," said Fernandez. "Given our current situation with the start of the new season just over two months away and as necessary to keep the team intact and functioning at maximum levels, the team will focus its attention on Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura."

http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?ID=111974&hubName=auto_racing

Steve

[Ed_Severson]

"We consulted our sponsors."

I'll bet that didn't take long.

[RaceGrrl]

"The lack of sponsors has forced one of the few remaining owner-drivers to concentrate his efforts behind the pit wall in 2005."

Boo-freaking-hoo. :flame:

[Ankf00]

does he still have the Tecate sponsorship? he could just open up a 12 and get pissed every race, i'm sure that would make team management in the league tolerable :gomer:

[Methanolandbrats]

Allow me to translate Adriana's Press Release. "I was a national hero in Mexico, now nearly everyone thinks I'm an ********. Man did I screw up. I could have travelled the World racing Champcars, but I chose to move to the IRL. Man, oh man did I screw up. Every night I puke and cry myself to sleep, but my morning the medication kicks in again and I can drag myself back to the hopeless task of running this ****ty, dying race team". Oh #$@&, maybe I should just shoot myself".

[Sean O'Gorman]

does he still have the Tecate sponsorship? he could just open up a 12 and get pissed every race, i'm sure that would make team management in the league tolerable :gomer:

Getting drunk on Tecate while attending IRL races? Wow, I can't think of a worse way to spend retirement.

Anyway, for Adrian:

http://members.cox.net/sogorman35/nopity.gif

[rabbit]

Boo-freaking-hoo. :flame:
wurd :thumbup:

[Jervis Tetch 1]

You reap what you sow.

[mexican]

I looove everytime I read about A-yen's predicament.

you deserve it, pendejo. hope you fail worse than what you were expecting Champcar to do by your last minute backstabbing. pudrete en tu mierda :laugh:

[nissan gtp]

just what FAF deserves.... his team will be gone next :laugh:

:thumbup:

[pineapple]

:cry: Visit Mexico - see Adrian eat crow.

[Chitowncartfreak]

Didn't he also say something last year about taking steps to ensure the members of his team had jobs? That worked out well, didn't it? :rolleyes:

[nrc]

Gee. Stab your real sponsors in the back to grab some quick Honda bucks and now nobody else wants to write you a check. Imagine that. I'd love to see Rahal get a dose of that when Danica's contract expires.

[spinner26]

Are they still building a new shop for FAF? I always had respect for TA as he was the lifeblood at Fatassi while we were winning. He wanted to own a team and could only afford to do it by partnering with Fonda, which meant earl. Anywho, feel bad for the guys who were hired for a third team now outa work and the construction company who was banking on mexican money to have winter work building a race shop. Most probably by illeagal aliens anyway so oh pooeee.

[racer2c]

Poor Adrian, he's a Mexican't.

[Winston Wolfe]

:cry: Visit Mexico - see Adrian eat crow.


Yo, Adrian.... yoiu want some Picante sauce with that slice of Crow Pie, and maybe a Corona to wash it down ?
What a worthless S-O-B..... Aid-re-"Yen" Fernand-eth is no hero in my book. Im my mind, he is guilty of "aiding and abetting" a known felon, in an attempt to deal the death blow to CART\ OWRS apporximately one year ago. There should be a warrant out for his arrest. :shakehead
I'm out.

[cart7]

Adrian shows up at CCWS rollout and is disappointed because the jolly guy with the white hair and white beard isn't there with the money bag handing out checks.

Claims he's going to earl because of what he didn't see at opener (Pookie Claus with the bag of money). Walks away with decided limp, obviously not used to the weight of Japanese yen.

AF fans revolt on his website.

Adrian probably promises his Mexican sponsors, after his expert observations at the opener, that CCWS will fail within a year and that the .1rl will be running those 2 races in 2005.

AF runs an entire earl season, wheel to wheel at 220+ scared chitless. CCWS still in business at the end of '04.

Honda bucks now run out. Mexican sponsors no longer see any value in a washed up oval racer running races in places like Sparta KY or Fountain CO., Adrian is forced to be a real team owner and find real sponsors who care. Adrian comes face to face with realities of any other earl team owner, even with 3 wins, no one in corporate America cares or even knows about the indy wreckin league.

AF signs on 2 top level ride buyers. Secretly wishes he'd have been a good enough team owner/businessman to secure sponsorship to run in CCWS where he'd be the primary Mexican star for several years to come.

CCWS forum sites shed crocodile tears and tell him to STFU.

:laugh:

[Don Quixote]

Nice rundown cart7, that about says it all.

[JohnHKart]

Cruise ship tourists are so stupid.....they are able to keep open the Tecate store in Ensenada that's filled with AF swag...I just want to puke (or smash the windows) everytime I walk by it every few months (and I'm not even drunk when I walk by it).

John

[Easy]

BTW, Tecate just re-upped with the LBGP.

From crash.net


The Grand Prix Association of Long Beach has announced that Cerveza Tecate has renewed its Official Beer partnership of the 31st Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

With the agreement, Tecate will again be the featured beer brand at concession stands around the track, and will have a major sponsorship presence at the event.

In addition, Tecate will be the title sponsor of the Miss Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pageant for the second consecutive year. At the 2004 race, the Tecate Miss Toyota Grand Prix pageant was held Saturday evening following the ‘Rock-N-Roar Concert,' the first time the pageant winners had ever been selected during race weekend. The Tecate Fiesta Friday concert will once again showcase the best in regional Latino music after Friday's racing activities have concluded.

"Once again we are very pleased to be part of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach,” Federico Lemmen, Western region director for Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, brewer of Tecate, said of the announcement. “It has brought Tecate close to its consumers and dramatically increased the interaction of Hispanics with the Grand Prix festivities."

Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, was also pleased with the announcement.

"Tecate is a very important partner of the Grand Prix," he said. "They bring tremendous support and enthusiasm to our event and have energized many of our ancillary activities including the exciting Tecate Thursday Thunder on Pine.

“Thanks to Tecate, we've been able to continue offering additional value to our fans and building a bigger and better event. Tecate has also played an extremely important role in promoting the Grand Prix to the Southern California Hispanic community."

[Steve99]

FAF

Couldn't happen to a nicer traitor.

[sundaydriver2]

So let me get this straight.

FAF works like a dog for apporx. 5-7 years acquiring sponsorship from Mexican companies. Then, at the height of his popularity, he decides to go the Wreckin' League and loses all his sponsors after one year.

What a dumbass. :shakehead

Karma's a bitch. :laugh: