Bernie to Own CART within Two Weeks?

[racer2c]

Could be according to this article of on Speed.

Link (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/autoindustry/5573/)

It kind of sounds like Gerry and Chris said to Bernie, "hey we want to take CART private, would you buy it and we'll run it?" and Bernie said "Ok, if it doesn't take up too much time".

Kinda scary. If it helps eliminate the stability questions hanging over CART, than I'm grudgingly for it.

[pchall]

It could be a good thing if Bernie delegates the running and future developments in the series to Pook and Clare. I'm not too pleased with what Bernie and Max have made out of F1 in the last decade.

[racer2c]

Originally posted by pchall
It could be a good thing if Bernie delegates the running and future developments in the series to Pook and Clare. I'm not too pleased with what Bernie and Max have made out of F1 in the last decade.

I'm still hung up on the grooved tires. THe day they bring slicks back to F1, will be a happy day for me.

[RichK]

Originally posted by racer2c
I'm still hung up on the grooved tires. THe day they bring slicks back to F1, will be a happy day for me.

I'm still hung up on the narrow track of the cars, they just don't look right to me. Grooved tires are dumb, too.

[Gurneyflap]

Gee, an F-1 thread breaks out. What about a CART connection? Do we then get an F-1 Lite feeder system City Racing League with no history, tradition, ovals, OR identity? I shudder to think of it! I can just see CART running as the opener for the new USGP at Road America. The "direction" of late is disturbing enough!

[RTKar]

Originally posted by Gurneyflap
Gee, an F-1 thread breaks out. What about a CART connection? Do we then get an F-1 Lite feeder system City Racing League with no history, tradition, ovals, OR identity? I shudder to think of it! I can just see CART running as the opener for the new USGP at Road America. The "direction" of late is disturbing enough!

...Road America....I hope Bernie doesn't have anything against porto-jons and pic-nic tables.....

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by Gurneyflap
Gee, an F-1 thread breaks out. What about a CART connection? Do we then get an F-1 Lite feeder system City Racing League with no history, tradition, ovals, OR identity? I shudder to think of it! I can just see CART running as the opener for the new USGP at Road America. The "direction" of late is disturbing enough!

You'll get that with or without Bernie. Pook has said as much - the streets are the future of CART in America.

Mid-Ohio is next...

[Gurneyflap]

I know! I had no idea I was slumming all those years! Fresh green countryside, rolling hills, trees and...and...PICNIC tables! What could I have been thinking!? I just gotta get my head straight! I can hardly wait to talk to Redman and Hobbs this summer to hear what they think! David is very open about EVERYTHING!

[Railbird]

Like it or not the concrete canyons appear to be the future.

I'll miss the diversity but it has slowly been going away anyway.

I do enjoy the streetcourses however.

[Gurneyflap]

Gag me!

[Shadow]

Gurney, I know how you feel and share your feelings BUT it is reality.

Let me provide an example. I would MUCH rather have CART running at Mosport (provided the track is safe*) than the CNE grounds in Toronto. I KNOW, however, that Mosport will NOT draw 70,000 fans. It just would not happen. All of the other aspects of the Molson Indy such as large crowds on Friday and Saturday and the large number of social functions just would not exisit. Who wants to drive from the Toronto area (I'm not talking about guys here who travel long distances to races and book a hotel or camp) and back home in the evening and back to the track the next day. The area's hotels/motels simply cannot acommodate that many people and it also pushes the price of the weekend way up (and consumes significant time). The financial disaster would make it a one shot effort and that would be the end of it (that came home to me in early March in Melbourne a week before the F1 opener as the place was already buzzing with race activities). Even I don't care to make the trip to Mosport anymore and I first went in 1961 when it opened (and in the few years after virtually lived there and met my wife there [one year I was there every weekend but two - when the bikes raced]).

We are looking at a motorhome at the moment and if we do take the plunge I will get out to more races since I will arrive Friday before the rush and leave Monday morning (something that one can do when retired). It will mean going to the Glen again, maybe M-O depending who is racing there, maybe even Limerock

*In February I was in Bathurst and drove 2 laps of the Mt. Panorama track in the wrong direction (started to think they had really screwed up the safety aspects) and then one lap in the right direction (they run counter clockwise) and I have to say that it confirmed the feeling I've had for decades - a real roadcourse is far better than a street circuit and an oval (in addition to Mosport, over the years I've been to Watkins Glen, M-O, St. Jovite, Harwood Acres, St. Eugene, Waterford Hills, Sebring, Daytona (24 hours not Nascar), Homestead, MIS (only for CART), Estoril, Donnington, Brands Hatch, Melbourne, and Phillip Island. In addition, I drove the Adelaide F1 circuit and the slightly revised V8 Supercar circuit in late Feb (our motel in Adelaide was right on the circuit [it looked a lot better than I thought for a street circuit]). Although Melbourne is considered by some to be a street circuit I don't put it in that category. I was starting to wonder if I had made a error in not plannng to attend the Melbourne F1 race (for three of us grandstand tickets would have been over $1000 Cdn) but when the rain came down on raceday I felt a little better (the carnage in the V8 Supercar race and the Porsche race [which I saw on AU TV] was severe. They cancelled the V8 race after 3 laps it was so bad.

[oddlycalm]

If the racing we like doesn't survive, it won't much matter which kind of track we prefer. We should also remember that Bernie won't be around forever. Overall, not what I would wish for, but it maybe the best chance we have to ensure some kind of a future.

[trubritz]

http://www.ibj.com/daily/stories.asp?A=3863

[Gurneyflap]

April, huh? Only a possibility? Sounds pretty imminent to me. Wonder what the difference is between a feeder series and a proving ground? F-1 at Long Beach MAY BE only a couple of years away! Privatizing is the only part of that report that gives me ANY comfort.

[Jag_Warrior]

Isn't there a GPWC meeting in a couple of weeks - April 10? I've read that Williams and McLaren might test the theory that the Concorde Agreement has already been violated, and so has no bearing on them being able to start their championship as early as 2005. It's also been suggested that they could start their championship earlier than 2007 or so by fielding old cars in F1, and "new" cars in the GPWC.

Much as Ferrari did in the early '80's, I think Ecclestone is just using CART as a pawn. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe CART will get some benefit from this (even if that's correct).