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Russo speaks..........
"It's real simple," Russo, who owns Loveland-based Ru- Sport, a two-car CART Toyota Atlantic Championship team, said Saturday at the Grand Prix of Denver. "There are two ways to get back to a single series. One is to let this die. The other is to strengthen it and then sit down and figure out a way to bring it back together (to one series). That's the approach we're taking."
Russo and his partners recently formed Open Wheel Racing Series and offered a bargain-basement price of 50 cents per share for the outstanding shares of the company that had an initial offering of $17 per share in 1998. If the parties strike a deal, presumably for twice as much as the initial offer, Russo said his group would have no long-term interest in running the series.
"Fundamentally, none of us want to own a series," he said. "But nobody else is doing anything. It didn't look like anybody was going to put in an offer, and it was clear that CART was going to disappear before the end of the 2004 season."
Preserving elite-level North American road and street racing motivated Russo to join Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhovan. If CART dies, the oval-only IRL likely would take over a handful of CART's most successful and established races. But if CART can negotiate a merger, events such as the Grand Prix of Denver have a chance to survive.
"Talk to the people in this paddock, they all want it to be one series. Talk to the people in (the IRL) paddock, they all want to be one series. Talk to the sponsors, they all want to be one series," Russo said. "Everybody here wants to be running Indy, and everybody (in the IRL) wants to be running at Long Beach and Montreal. What's in the way?"
Russo declined to guess if the deal will happen. But if it doesn't, and nobody else makes an offer, the Grand Prix of Denver might end in the same amount of time as the 1990 and '91 Denver races near the state capitol.
"I'd like to see it go through, obviously, otherwise we wouldn't have made the offer," he said. "But I don't have any expectations. There's still a lot of negotiating going on and outside issues that have to be resolved. I wouldn't even venture to put odds on it. But we very much want it to go through."
Funny,the lifesupport series wants a merger..I wonder why
Doesn't sound like this group wants to spend any money on this thing,more like asking TG to open his checkbook up and save the day.
I can't help but think that this group must have some sort of tacit approval from George to be planning this.Why spend millions to build up the series with plans to merge,only to find that your ''partner'' tells you to take a hike?
I thought the brave new world had nothing to do with Indy?I guess things never change and what many have said for years is so true.......it WAS about Indy,it IS about Indy..it will ALWAYS BE about Indy.
"It's real simple," Russo, who owns Loveland-based Ru- Sport, a two-car CART Toyota Atlantic Championship team, said Saturday at the Grand Prix of Denver. "There are two ways to get back to a single series. One is to let this die. The other is to strengthen it and then sit down and figure out a way to bring it back together (to one series). That's the approach we're taking."
Russo and his partners recently formed Open Wheel Racing Series and offered a bargain-basement price of 50 cents per share for the outstanding shares of the company that had an initial offering of $17 per share in 1998. If the parties strike a deal, presumably for twice as much as the initial offer, Russo said his group would have no long-term interest in running the series.
"Fundamentally, none of us want to own a series," he said. "But nobody else is doing anything. It didn't look like anybody was going to put in an offer, and it was clear that CART was going to disappear before the end of the 2004 season."
Preserving elite-level North American road and street racing motivated Russo to join Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhovan. If CART dies, the oval-only IRL likely would take over a handful of CART's most successful and established races. But if CART can negotiate a merger, events such as the Grand Prix of Denver have a chance to survive.
"Talk to the people in this paddock, they all want it to be one series. Talk to the people in (the IRL) paddock, they all want to be one series. Talk to the sponsors, they all want to be one series," Russo said. "Everybody here wants to be running Indy, and everybody (in the IRL) wants to be running at Long Beach and Montreal. What's in the way?"
Russo declined to guess if the deal will happen. But if it doesn't, and nobody else makes an offer, the Grand Prix of Denver might end in the same amount of time as the 1990 and '91 Denver races near the state capitol.
"I'd like to see it go through, obviously, otherwise we wouldn't have made the offer," he said. "But I don't have any expectations. There's still a lot of negotiating going on and outside issues that have to be resolved. I wouldn't even venture to put odds on it. But we very much want it to go through."
Funny,the lifesupport series wants a merger..I wonder why
Doesn't sound like this group wants to spend any money on this thing,more like asking TG to open his checkbook up and save the day.
I can't help but think that this group must have some sort of tacit approval from George to be planning this.Why spend millions to build up the series with plans to merge,only to find that your ''partner'' tells you to take a hike?
I thought the brave new world had nothing to do with Indy?I guess things never change and what many have said for years is so true.......it WAS about Indy,it IS about Indy..it will ALWAYS BE about Indy.
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