It didn't work the first time-let's try it again

[indyrace1]

So-now it appears a group of owners will buy CART-prior to the "Pook era" (spend all the cash we have till we're near bankrupt and tell everyone how great we are---hire people to sell the series who have no idea how to sell motorsports products, etc.) CART was run by team owners who were greedy and ran the train right off the tracks--everyone admitted this way of running the series was a bad idea........dateline 2003-hey lets get the owners to pony up more money and buy the series.......it worked so well before---let's try it again...............wow-I truly feel bad for all the employees of these teams trying to make a living in a series run by idiots.....

[bkeske]

There really isn't one owner who can purchase this series and have any great impact. It will have to be *owners* who get it done.

Forsythe has stated that BE is 50/50 at best, but there are owners *prepared* to take over the series, (as they cannot wait for BE to make a decision).........'Rumor' and statement made on another site.

It will be interesting to see what actually takes place, and I sure hope it really isn't 'Motorock'.

No doubt there will have to be allot of changes that will be necessary to reformat this series, but I hope the avenue of hype isn't one of them. Let's just get back to good close racing *on a variety of tracks*, and everything necessary to make that happen.

I would have prefered to see one single owner, but nobody has the money, (or wants to take the risk alone), to 'single handed' float this series over the time necessary to rework the mess. As the old saying goes: 'time is money', and it is very true today, and in the future, for CART.

[mnkywrch]

Maybe if they were all in the series financially, and had to make decisons that benefited someone besides themselves, it would work out.

[Tara]

Forsythe has stated that BE is 50/50 at best

Forsythe has been playing the Bernie card since the begining of the year. I remember he said Bernie would decide before April. Then he said Bernie would decide by the end of April. Then he said the end of May, then it was by July. Its now August and Gerry says Bernie is 50/50.

I think Bernie already made up his mind. Forsythe just didn't like the answer (No) and he didn't have any other name to throw out as "the great saviour of C^RT".

[indycool]

Forsythe and Pook floated the Bernie card through Mark C. and out onto the boards with all kinds of speculation, then milked it. I've never read one sentence Bernie has uttered publicly about buying CART or not buying CART. He has never commented one way or the other and it appears that he has never had an interest.

[JoeBob]

I think you're giving Mark C waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much credit. If Bernie isn't involved, that doesn't mean that he never was. Plenty of people have negotiations, but then don't commit. There were plenty of rumors about BMW, Dodge and Ford entering the IRL. Since none ever happened, does that mean the rumors were all made up?

Back on topic: When the team owners owned the series and made the rules, the only person who had a problem was a track owner who didn't own a team, but wanted control.

CART's significant problems happened when they became a public company, but let the franchise board retain significant control over the future of the series. What happened was that the owners making the decisions no longer had a financial stake in the company. This led to people like Penske and Ganassi guiding CART towards an iceburg, then hopping on a lifeboat just as the ship started to sink. (They were the main blockers of the 1.8L Turbo spec, and then the main backers of the 3.5L N/A spec.)

[Jim Wilke]

There were plenty of rumors about BMW, Dodge and Ford entering the IRL.

Dodge did enter....as Ilmor/Honda.
Ford did enter....as Chevy.

Bernie? He used the threat of CART to keep GPWC off balance. He led Pook and Forsythe on just enough to keep the whispers in the air. He never intended to invest one schilling.

[indyracer56]

Originally posted by JoeBob
Back on topic: When the team owners owned the series and made the rules, the only person who had a problem was a track owner who didn't own a team, but wanted control.

Right off the top of my head I can think of a certain car company named Porsche that would strongly disagree with that statement.

Give me a few minutes and I can come up with many more examples.

[indycool]

Bernie just played these guys to his own tune. Was he ever approached to buy CART? Sure. Forsythe says as much, that Kalkhoven has made two trips to England to see him and you know Pook has. It would appear the answer has been "no" each time. I suppose it helps Pook politically to be tied to Bernie's shoes and it makes for good rumor, but Bernie, again, has never said a word one way or the other.

[slinger]

Rahal was on Wind Tunnel last night and said that at this time, a series owned and run by the owners was a bad idea.

[Cygni]

How quickly we forget that with the team owners running it from its inception to 1995, it did nothing but GROW its fan base, add venues, add sponsors, add mfts. Infact, right after the split, CART had 5 chassis, 2 tires, 4 engines, and 28+ cars with sponsorship (cars were going home from events, unable to qualify). As well as 2 title sponsors, and not a single un-branded race on the schedule (which, ironically, was almost 50% ovals.)

Saying that the team owners should have no say in the way their series is run is wrong. And saying that the team owner lead CART was a total flop is also wrong. There were, of course, mistakes from 1991-2003, and they have compiled to the situation CART is in today. But not all of it is their fault. How were they to know what Tony George was really after? They had no idea. Also, look at the fact that many of the people stearing CART now hate it. They hate their own creation. That makes you think about what their motives were WHILE THEY WERE RUNNING IT.

It all boils down to the fact that CART was increadibly succesful for many many years... but some bad circumstances and some bad leaders in just the last 5 years have brought it to its knees. If you ask me, the owner run board is not the sole thing to be blamed.

[SPM]

I don't have time to find a link, but I beleive that Bernie has stated publically on more than one occasion that he has no interest in buying or investing in CART.

[dog-ring]

Originally posted by Cygni
How quickly we forget that with the team owners running it from its inception to 1995, it did nothing but GROW its fan base, add venues, add sponsors, add mfts. Infact, right after the split, CART had 5 chassis, 2 tires, 4 engines, and 28+ cars with sponsorship (cars were going home from events, unable to qualify). As well as 2 title sponsors, and not a single un-branded race on the schedule (which, ironically, was almost 50% ovals.)

Saying that the team owners should have no say in the way their series is run is wrong. And saying that the team owner lead CART was a total flop is also wrong. There were, of course, mistakes from 1991-2003, and they have compiled to the situation CART is in today. But not all of it is their fault. How were they to know what Tony George was really after? They had no idea. Also, look at the fact that many of the people stearing CART now hate it. They hate their own creation. That makes you think about what their motives were WHILE THEY WERE RUNNING IT.

It all boils down to the fact that CART was increadibly succesful for many many years... but some bad circumstances and some bad leaders in just the last 5 years have brought it to its knees. If you ask me, the owner run board is not the sole thing to be blamed.

untill they tried to take over the "mother ship "

[jZink]

Re: It didn't work the first time-let's try it again

Originally posted by indyrace1
So-now it appears a group of owners will buy CART-prior to the "Pook era" (spend all the cash we have till we're near bankrupt and tell everyone how great we are---hire people to sell the series who have no idea how to sell motorsports products, etc.) CART was run by team owners who were greedy and ran the train right off the tracks--everyone admitted this way of running the series was a bad idea........dateline 2003-hey lets get the owners to pony up more money and buy the series.......it worked so well before---let's try it again...............wow-I truly feel bad for all the employees of these teams trying to make a living in a series run by idiots.....

A few of the idiots are in the IRL now.

[indycool]

SPM, I'd like to see that if you happen to find it....that would put an end to those rumors....