Tracy leaving?

[aXe]

This found over on Jayskies

Paul Tracy to race in Busch Series in 2006: Paul Tracy will make the jump to the NASCAR Busch Series in selected races in 2006. Tracy, who was in Daytona testing an ARCA car for Andy HIllenburg, told MRN Radio's "NASCAR Today" that he will run a second Busch car for Biagi Brothers [#4 team with Mark Green driving] racing next year. "I will be doing the 24 hours again and trying to get some experience in stock cars and make the transition into stock cars in the future. Andy Hillenburg, who I am driving for here, has been really helpful with trying to help me out make the transition. We've got a deal 99% done to run 4 or 5 Busch Series racing for Fred Biagi. We've got a sponsor package put together to run a second car. Really my timetable is to be up and running by 2007... maybe run 10 or 11 races and a Cup race or 2 next year." MRN Radio's "NASCAR Today" can be heard on 505 radio stations and XM Satellite Radio.(MRN's NASCAR Today)(12-17-2005)

[NoviVespa]

All I can gather is that Tracy will be running "some" NASCAR races. Which means, he will still be running in Champ Car. But, from his remarks, he probably will be running the hardtops in 2007.

[Cygni]

Nope, sorry folks. Paul is signed to race in the Forsythe #3 ChampCar for the full season in 2006.

"I want to do a handful of [NASCAR] races next year," Tracy, who has renewed his contract with Forsythe Racing to campaign full-time in Champ Car in ’06, told the Toronto Sun newspaper.

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/20901/

[irloyal]

Nope, sorry folks. Paul is signed to race in the Forsythe #3 ChampCar for the full season in 2006.



http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/20901/

It says "... renewed his contract with Forsythe Racing to campaign full-time in Champ Car in ’06,..."

That could be anything from buying the ride, to getting a percentage of the purse.

If I was him I'd be looking too, since a single year contract at age 35 in this series would not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I think Mr. Tracy will be gone and forgotten from most forms of motorsports by 2008.

[DP_speed_slave]

Be a sad day if Tracy ends up only running the cabs. Better the the irl I guess.

[flatlander_48]

It says "... renewed his contract with Forsythe Racing to campaign full-time in Champ Car in ’06,..."

That could be anything from buying the ride, to getting a percentage of the purse.

If I was him I'd be looking too, since a single year contract at age 35 in this series would not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I think Mr. Tracy will be gone and forgotten from most forms of motorsports by 2008.

Somehow I don't think this posting belongs in this thread...

[irloyal]

Somehow I don't think this posting belongs in this thread...

OK Flat, let me be straight forward since you don't seem to have a sense of humor.

Tracy is a waning talent in CC. While he has been a very competent racer for years, his skills are not as great as they once were. His take no prisoners attitude has worn thin with KK, GF and other owners, and he can't get another contract in CC beyond next year.

Mr. Tracy will find out that his attitude will go nowhere in NASCAR, and his skillset is not anywhere near as big as his ego. He will be without a job by 2008, with the exception of some possible forays into ALMS or Grand Am.

All IMHO of course.

[flatlander_48]

OK Flat, let me be straight forward since you don't seem to have a sense of humor.

Tracy is a waning talent in CC. While he has been a very competent racer for years, his skills are not as great as they once were. His take no prisoners attitude has worn thin with KK, GF and other owners, and he can't get another contract in CC beyond next year.

Mr. Tracy will find out that his attitude will go nowhere in NASCAR, and his skillset is not anywhere near as big as his ego. He will be without a job by 2008, with the exception of some possible forays into ALMS or Grand Am.

All IMHO of course.

Yes, I do have a sense of humor, but if I had posted a similar message about someone in the IRL in the IRL section, I believe it would have been removed. For me, I was completely put off by the suggestion of ride buying. It's a phrase that IRLers continually want to bring up even though it doesn't apply in the majority of situations. All I know is that whenever I put the question up on the IRL forum about who is buying rides, the thread becomes strangely silent.

[Sybil D. Sobydianz]

That's why it'd be nice to have a moderator for this forum.

And/or for people to use the "Report this Post" feature.

[fullmetal]

Tracy saw someones jet in NASCAR and now wants his own Leer Jet. You don't make that kind of money driving in Champcar.

[irloyal]

Yes, I do have a sense of humor, but if I had posted a similar message about someone in the IRL in the IRL section, I believe it would have been removed. For me, I was completely put off by the suggestion of ride buying. It's a phrase that IRLers continually want to bring up even though it doesn't apply in the majority of situations. All I know is that whenever I put the question up on the IRL forum about who is buying rides, the thread becomes strangely silent.

I doubt it would have been removed, but I'm not a mod. Going of topic.....
Does ride buying happen in the IRL? SURE. It's a pretty well known fact that Enge bought the PP ride when he showed up. It's pretty well admitted that Saladbar had money for Foyt when he was there. Jose Garza (there's a blast from the past) paid for most of his Indy rides (going back to USAC days). FWIW, several drivers have had salaries paid by sponsors, but I don't think that really counts. There is a lot less ride buying in the IRL than there is in CC.

Sorry I offended your sensibilities, but IMHO, your skin is way to thin about this, especially when It was labelled as humor.

[flatlander_48]

I doubt it would have been removed, but I'm not a mod. Going of topic.....
Does ride buying happen in the IRL? SURE. It's a pretty well known fact that Enge bought the PP ride when he showed up. It's pretty well admitted that Saladbar had money for Foyt when he was there. Jose Garza (there's a blast from the past) paid for most of his Indy rides (going back to USAC days). FWIW, several drivers have had salaries paid by sponsors, but I don't think that really counts. There is a lot less ride buying in the IRL than there is in CC.

Sorry I offended your sensibilities, but IMHO, your skin is way to thin about this, especially when It was labelled as humor.

No, it would have been removed. Anything that reflected negatively on the IRL in the IRL Forum was removed. I wrote a message once about how, after 9 or 10 years, the IRL should be further along in its development. It related to marketing and countered a lot of the negative B/S about street racing. The prevailing opinion was that all you had to do was hold reasonably competitive races and the crowds would come. If that was all you had to do, then success would follow. However, that's not how it happened and folks will have to figure out some different ways to sell their product. The problem is that in the business world if you created a new company division and it performed like the IRL, it would have been sold or shut down. The business world is very intolerant of companies that have very flat growth curves or earnings curves. So, the question was asked what could the IRL do to become more successful? This post lasted about a day. I didn't say that TG was wacked. I didn't say that the cars were **** boxes. Yet the message was gone.

I am very sensitive to the notion of buying rides as IRL supporters often use it to point the finger at CCWS. Of course there are more people bringing their own money into CCWS as it is a young organization. But, the funny thing is that US drivers could also do the same thing. They are perfectly capable of making presentations and courting sponsors. But, there seems to be little evidence of that.

So, there have to be people other than Tomas Enge with a source of money. And don't offer up a guy who isn't currently the IRL or another who has never run in the series.

[logjammer]

Didn't Vasser try something like this a few years ago? Isn't Adrien Fernandez and Michele Jourdan trying this now? PT MIGHT have an outside chance but he'll not make what he has in CART or CCWS doing it, PROMISE!

[irloyal]

No, it would have been removed. Anything that reflected negatively on the IRL in the IRL Forum was removed.

Well in my book, that ain't right. Criticism should be allowed as long as it isn't the bizzarre graphic Fyou know who, or I hope so and so is killed, or some deranged rants. Open honest discourse, or humourous little jabs s/b OK. I think controversy and disagreement are good as long as people are reasonable about it.

I am very sensitive to the notion of buying rides as IRL supporters often use it to point the finger at CCWS. Of course there are more people bringing their own money into CCWS as it is a young organization. But, the funny thing is that US drivers could also do the same thing. They are perfectly capable of making presentations and courting sponsors. But, there seems to be little evidence of that.

So, there have to be people other than Tomas Enge with a source of money. And don't offer up a guy who isn't currently the IRL or another who has never run in the series.

Well Flat, I guess the IRL is a sage Old series at 10 huh?

If you know of other money that goes to buy rides in the IRL, offer 'em up.
Like I said, you may or may not want to count, Pat Carpentier with his Mechachrome money, Dixon and Brisco County Jr with Toyota, and BoomBoom Kanaan with the Honda stipend, although I call that sponsorship.

As to US drivers ride buying, well that just ain't quite how it works in most cases here in the good old USA. At the short track level, it's either a guy or his family own the car and they keep the purse, or they have money (or sponsorship) to spend and hire a driver for a percentage of the purse. I know lot's of guys that make anywhere from $20K to $100K or more a year as shoes for short track operations. It's pretty good supplement to an income, especially if you are a plumber, painter, pipe fitter, whatever and can schedule your regular carreer to fit around racing. So why buy a ride, when you can be a sucessful Sprint/Midget/Silver Crown driver?

[irloyal]

Didn't Vasser try something like this a few years ago? Isn't Adrien Fernandez and Michele Jourdan trying this now? PT MIGHT have an outside chance but he'll not make what he has in CART or CCWS doing it, PROMISE!

Yeah, Vasser is on the downhill side of his carreer, and thought NASCAR would be easy, well guess what?

AF anf MJ are the marketing faces to the latino growth of NASCAR, (Fittapaldi was the first try), and they aren't doing very well either. It takes a totally different skill set to wheel a huge stock car than it does to drive a CC/Indy/F1 car, and very few drivers can make the transition from the wispy open wheelers to the sluggish taxis without some serious effort. I think it really shows just how talented Smoke is, and how RG and JA are pretty capable drivers, but not in Stewarts league.

Going the other way seems to be easier, although most guys who have tried it already proved to be pretty special racers in NASCAR.