Bachelart: Back to IRL?

[Jim Wilke]

In a column released today, Forrest Bond noted in passing that Eric Bachelart would be moving his Conquest/Mi-Jack team BACK to the IRL. One would think they were tight on money last year and ran with a combination of CART funds, Haberfeld cash and Mi-Jack money but I have no idea where they would find the money to fund what would almost be a start-up in the IRL unless Haberfeld has suddenly found a lot more money. Of course, Miera is out there as are a couple of others and Tiago Medieros supposedly has a fat wallet. Not sure if this is good news or not; I'll wait a bit....

[slinger]

Oh whoopee. Well, the car count needs help.

[KennyChuck]

Forrest Bond

Do you have a link or an address for the article.

[rrrr]

Re: Bachelart: Back to IRL?

I don't think they went to CART last year because of a profound philosophical revelation......

Free money is good wherever it is found.

[IndyJim]

Redon had his moments in 2002, was sorry to see the team leave, but that free money is hard to pass up.

[hikari]

I wonder how this would affect Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing. Aren't they a 'satellite team' of Conquest/Mi-Jack running out of the same workshop?

[step33T]

Yep,

That "matching" money was real hard to turn down.

[indyracer56]

Originally posted by hikari
I wonder how this would affect Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing. Aren't they a 'satellite team' of Conquest/Mi-Jack running out of the same workshop?

I think that this quote from Darren Manning about the Walker race team pretty much defines most of the Cart teams from 2003:

"That [ride] was funded primarily by CART and a few sponsors that Derrick picked up along the way,"

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/8869/

[Sammich]

Good luck to them no matter what happens.

[Jim Wilke]

Re: Re: Bachelart: Back to IRL?

Originally posted by rrrr
I don't think they went to CART last year because of a profound philosophical revelation......

Free money is good wherever it is found.

Of course, this brings up several questions:

1. Where is the free money going to come from to allow Conquest to run in the IRL? Since they already own CART cars, wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to field a car there?

2. If Bachelart/Conquest can't afford to stay in CART, where's the money going to come from to fund the other teams that want to stay?

[bret_pollack]

Happy to have them back.

as stated above, Redon had his moments.

Who ran the car in CART??? Will they come along???

[carl s]

0.6

[Jim Wilke]

Originally posted by bret_pollack
Happy to have them back.

as stated above, Redon had his moments.

Who ran the car in CART??? Will they come along???

Mario Haberfeld drove in CART, no idea if he comes with the deal. I haven't heard much about Redon lately; supposedly, he did well on the track but was not a hit with the sponsors.

[OldSchoolIRL]

I would welcome him back to the IRL, but would like for it to be a Mi Jack sponsored car with an American driver, say Rice, JLazier, BLazier, etc.

[hfoto]

Haberfeld wasn't too bad, actually. He mostly ran strong and clean, but for that blocking of Junquiera on the front straight in St. Pete. Finished 7th at Milwaukee. The team did a good job with the Reynard.