Road America Is Gone.

[devilmaster]

http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=5580

Steve

[TRDfan]

Not good....not good for either party involved.

[Hink]

Damn.

[datachicane]

Methinks the stink of Tony is upon it, verily.

:mad:

[Hot Rod Otis]

AHHH F****.:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Napoleon]

This truely stinks, and IMO there is no one to blame other then RA.

[Warlock!]

Who else feels like they just got kicked in the gut? Sonofabitch...

Lock

[RaceGrrl]

Write and tell them how you feel: Road America homepage (http://www.roadamerica.com/)

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Don Quixote]

Nuts. :mad:

[SteveH]

lemmings filled with glee at TF

meanwhile I am in a seriously bad mood

I wil email the track, however not until I 'relax' a bit

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Foxman]

FK FK FK... This is HORRIBLE, absolutely HORRIBLE. There goes my August...

[Warlock!]

Anyone know the mailing address? I can't find it anywhere on their site

edit: Just called them about it...
Road America
George Bruggentheis, President
P.O. Box P
Elkhart Lake, WI 53021

Winter Warlock!

[nrc]

The balance of last year's sanctioning money remained unpaid at the close of business Friday, March 7, and Road America was also unwilling to adhere to the current sanctioning agreement and failed to pay initial installments of this season's sanctioning fee. Furthermore, the Road America race organizers rejected a reduced and revised financial arrangement that was offered by Champ Car management as a settlement of the lawsuit.

This is exactly as I suggested in another thread here. Road America was given the opportunity to accept a co-promotional agreement that would have them paying as little as anyone could reasonably expect and they turned it down.

For Road America to simply decide that they're no longer going to abide by their contract with a body that has been their bread and butter for 20 years is outrageous.

Clearly RA believes that they have other options, and while I seriously doubt that their sanction fee will be substantially lower than a co-promotion deal from CART, they probably believe that sponsorship and hospitality from Honda and Toyota will more than make it worthwhile.

It's critically important that Road America CART fans make it clear to RA that they will not accept this change.

[MAXAR RE]

Crap! I wonder if RA simply didn't have the money, or whether they had it but were refusing to hand it over. They will be required, by a judge if necessary, to fulfill last year's contactual obligations and supply that payment to CART regardless of whether CART canceled the 2003 race or not. If RA didn't have any money to pay CART the rest of last year's fees, then that means that money from ALMS or Lord Sagamore will end up going to CART by court order.

This is just dumb on RA's part. They play around with the Champ Car date, so CART accomodates them and reschedules. Then they decide to stop payment on last years fees and refuse to pay this years fees. CART tries to work it out with them but RA ignores them, so CART has to file a lawsuit for breach of contract against RA, and RA still ignores them. What kind of stupid morons are running RA these days that would cause them to force their highest-profile customer to sue them and then drop them from its schedule?

This is about as dumn as, say, Circuit City deciding to accept a shipment of Sony stuff, then after they get it and put it on the shelves to bring in the customers, they tell Sony that they are not going to pay for any of it. Sony tries to work it out with CC, but CC ignores them and forces Sony to stop sending them any Sony merchandise. Not that CC is totally dependent on Sony stuff, just like RA is not totally dependent on the Champ Car event, since RA has many other, smaller, events, just like CC has many other, smaller, companies whose products it sells, but Sony makes TVs, DVDs (Columbia Pictures), CDs, stereos, DVD players, CD players, VCRs, phones, headphones, car audio, video games, Playstations, computers, and various forms of blank media. I would bet that Sony products make up 25% of what Circuit City sells, simply because of the wide array of products they make and the brand recognition. it is idiotic to kill off 25% of your business. I would bet that the annual Champ Car race at RA was one of their most attended events, and was certainly the one that generated the most public exposure in North America and around the world. Why is RA being so dense? :confused:

[devilmaster]

If its a quiet day where you are, grrl, xpf and myself are in the chat.....

Steve

[pchall]

Originally posted by MAXAR RE

Why is RA being so dense? :confused:

I smell a wad of Tony $$$ at work here.

[damiandoan]

I'd expect an announcement from the IRL & RA in the very near future. What a horrible day. :( :mad: :mad: :mad:

DD

[nrc]

Originally posted by MAXAR RE
Crap! I wonder if RA simply didn't have the money, or whether they had it but were refusing to hand it over.

According to what Pook said previously about the problem, the remaining money from last year is sanction fee money that was put into escrow pending CART successfully meeting some conditions that they agreed to with the group of unhappy promoters last year. All the other promoters released that money to CART at the end of the season, but Road America has refused.

If Road America were acting in good faith they would at least have released that money.

[racer2c]

I think the thinly veiled comments from CART on this issue are interesting . They're basically accusing RA of being unprofessional and comment on an agreement with an "appropriate promoter". Why, because they won't pay an increase (or whatever the financial circumstances are), or is it more along the lines that a certain person in Indy is going for the throat and RA is being two faced in the negotiations.

If he (Tony) thinks he can rip RA, a CART signature race, out from under CART, that will in turn strike quite a blow to it's loyal fans and reputation. And if he is the one behind this (and I think we'll find out soon enough) what will stop him from going after another CART premier venue, namely Long Beach. Who, I remind you, is still sponsored by Toyota.
What if Tony has convinced T and H to help him kill CART once and for all? Within the States, it could very well come to pass. Then what, does CART become an international street/oval series owned by BE?

CART: "Regrettably, the decision to remove the Grand Prix of Road America, Round 12 of the 2003 Champ Car World Series scheduled for August 1-3, was brought about by the continued refusal of the track to comply with its sanctioning agreement.

In the future Champ Car would consider returning to the storied Wisconsin race circuit providing a satisfactory and professionally responsible business arrangement can be reached with an appropriate race promoter."

[KLang]

This completely sucks. Been going to RA for about 10 years now, even though I've moved to Florida and now Texas. What the hell are they thinking?:mad:

[Lizzerd]

Aw, ****. I was having a pretty good day till now. This is really depressing.

[DaveL]

nrc has summed up my feelings. I needn't comment further.

[nrc]

Originally posted by DaveL
nrc has summed up my feelings. I needn't comment further.

Always happy to help. :)

[sundaydriver]

The silence coming from RA is deafening. CART puts out a notice on it's web site, but RA is silent. :confused:

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but I smell a rat. If Boy George is behind all this, <edit> .:mad:

My favorite race of the year, what a bummer! :cry:

[CART2Day]

I added the email link as well to Road America on our home page:

CART2Day.com (http://www.cart2day.com)

[Sean O'Gorman]

Originally posted by Warlock!
Who else feels like they just got kicked in the gut? Sonofabitch...

Lock

Gut? Try lower. :(

[TRDfan]

For those of you e-mailing RA, try a staff members first name, followed by @roadamerica.com

I've had communication with someone there in the past and that was how their email was set up.

Ask JoeBob, it works.

Steve

[Gurneyflap]

No comment...yet!

[chop456]

They're offering full refunds for CART ticket holders and season ticket holders. I'm turning in my season ticket.

This makes me f***ing sick.

[RTKar]

Originally posted by chop456
They're offering full refunds for CART ticket holders and season ticket holders. I'm turning in my season ticket.

This makes me f***ing sick.


Calling them tomorrow to get mine back too.

[RaceChic]

Originally posted by Warlock!
Who else feels like they just got kicked in the gut? Sonofabitch...

Lock

The only next piece of news that could be worse than this would be if the crapwagons go to RA.................:mad: :mad: :mad:

[JT265]

Originally posted by RaceChic
The only next piece of news that could be worse than this would be if the crapwagons go to RA.................:mad: :mad: :mad:

True. :(


But, to look on the bright side, it would provide a whole new season for America's Funniest Home Videos. Slob Jenkins could even tell the TV audience that in fact the place is packed, it's just that everyone is wearing camo gear.

[rocket]

This really sucks, it has always been a great weekend up there, and as much as I will miss the racing, I will miss hanging out with all my forum friends just as much:(

everyone turn you back, I think the big guy is gonna start cryin'