No CART town meeting

[Jim Wilke]

The word is that the CART Town Meeting scheduled for Denver for August 5 has been postponed indefinitely. Perhaps CART's accountants and attorneys think it best if Mr. Pook doesn't answer any more questions regarding how much money they will have in the bank at the end of the year......

[Indycarjunkie]

.....or Pook's attourneys think that he should settle down and enjoy a nice hot steaming cup of shut the &$%@ up.


Everytime he opens his mouth he says something stupid. He really isn't helping things by trying to slam or ridicule the IRL at every opportunity.

[Doc Austin]

Maybe Pook isn't planning that far ahead.

[Defender]

Wonder whether he'll use threats, intimidation, insults and other rubber-hose-like methods to attempt to beat the newspaper and electronic media people into submission like he did last year?

I probably can't make it there this year, but I will say from being in Toronto that the new c^rt logo creates quite a contrast when an IRL sticker is placed next it on a safety vehicle or a merchandise trailer.

[indycool]

One would presume this is a "hold" because of the true or false "D-Day" of Aug. 7 for the latest purported big CART announcement.

[dreamracer]

Originally posted by Defender
... but I will say from being in Toronto that the new c^rt logo creates quite a contrast when an IRL sticker is placed next it on a safety vehicle or a merchandise trailer.

You sneaky guerilla marketer, you...

[dreamracer]

Originally posted by indycool
One would presume this is a "hold" because of the true or false "D-Day" of Aug. 7 for the latest purported big CART announcement.

SOCK CHECK!

Ermmm... I guess not for me because I'm bare-footed now, but I suppose y'all didn't need to know that

[DKessinger]

From what I heard at MIS from one of the new IRL teams that came from CART this season, the financial #'s of CART show they will be out of money by September and that they are set up to file bankruptcy in mid August. As I don't know how reliable the source is, I'm not going to name him. Just thought I'd pass this bit of info on since the topic was brought back up again.

[indycool]

The second-quarter 10Q is due out early in August and it is expected to show significant losses. CART has no debt, so it would be difficult to file for bankruptcy that early. Most reliable projections show they'll still have $20 million or so in the bank by year-end. With that in mind, a bankruptcy filing might be premature. A suspension of operations because of the cash burn and lower-than-expected returns on things could be in the works, if the BoD put a deadline on the cash burn of "X" dollars remaining in the bank at some point, possibly based on the risk factor of lawsuits.

[Railbird]

when an IRL sticker is placed next it on a safety vehicle or a merchandise trailer.


childish vandalism is befitting your persona Hooter

[dironstarr]

Is August 7th considered mid-august?

[Mackie]

Originally posted by indycool
One would presume this is a "hold" because of the true or false "D-Day" of Aug. 7 for the latest purported big CART announcement.

Sock garters, get your sock garters here!

Recently Pook has said, "we have enough funds for 2004," after that, "we need more money to be able to race in 2004," loosely translated, I guess CART is afraid of what he may say the next time he opens his mouth.

Time after time, when CART has needed good guidance and management, they have put their series in the hands of the wrong person, Pook will be the latest and last big mistake. All Pook knows is events and happenings, Pook would have CART do nothing else, CART has yet to figure out that success at the gate only makes the promoter happy, the show stinks up television, and TV hungry sponsorships pay the teams bills, not returns from happening ticket sales.

[AdamM]

I think CART is burning money much faster than advertised up till now and they will be lucky to have any money left in the bank at the end of the season.

[dreamracer]

CART has burned money at the expected rate. no surprises there.

It's the revenue projections that might be a tad off..

[Jim Wilke]

CART has burned money at the expected rate. no surprises there.

I'm not sure that's the case. In a quarterly filing, they noted that they had raised the amount they were paying to field cars by $3 million; that extra money went to Haas and Walker. In that filing they noted that they would have to somehow reduce the other payments to get back to the original $30 million figure. That never happened, so there's an extra $3 million there. I also understand that CART had to incur some expenses to modify the track at Brands so they could race, there's another $1 million. It is also possible the bill for the lights at Cleveland and Milwaukee was higher than forecast.

On the other side, revenues have definitely been below projections and every filing has pointed this out. "Another website" has been touting August 7 as the big day. Coincidentally, that is just about the time the 2 quarter financials are due. Unless they have a big buyer/investor lined up, when those financials are released, coupled with the almost certain prospect of legal judgements, CART will be, for all practical purposes, out of business. They will have exhausted or committed all their money and will have no viable way to carry forward.