CCFanatic
12th February 2008, 21:38
The Way It Is/ More open-wheel blues
by Gordon Kirby
Everyone wanted to know this past week whether IRL and Champ Car really are trying to find a way to come together and bring an end to the bitterly divisive, thirteen-year civil war that has ruined American open-wheel racing. We all hoped it would happen of course, but I'm afraid too much damage has been done and there are too many important details to be resolved, particularly at this late stage with less than two months before the season begins. Then at the end of last week Champ Car issued a brief statement saying the latest talks had failed again.
If Tony George, Honda, Kevin Kalkhoven and Jerry Forsythe had been able to work out an eleventh-hour deal to make a merger happen there would have been a large number of seriously injured entities from spurned Champ Car tracks to drivers whose personal sponsorship deals were based on foreign races. There would also have been a tremendous amount of disgruntlement from the small Champ Car teams who would have had little time or resources to properly prepare themselves to go racing with a new car/engine package and from the smaller IRL teams who would have found themselves blown off by the better Champ Car teams and reduced to roles as even more marginal players. And too, a merger may also have presaged the ultimate destruction of Cosworth, one of racing's most historic and accomplished engine builders--although that sad occurence may yet happen.
In fact, the past few weeks' desperate attempts to bring to the two series together underlines the complete lack of any business plan and the utter incompetence of both groups. Neither of them has any understanding or appreciation for the complexities of motor racing. Nor do they care about the fans who they have treated with such contempt for so many years. Attempting to stitch together a rushed and poorly thought-out merger was bound to result in many mistakes and further invite the rapacious effects of the laws of unintended consequences. And of course, the history of corporate mergers is full of stories of failure.
Will the dilettante's who have destroyed American open-wheel racing find a way to fix the mess they've created? As I've written repeatedly, to achieve their goal they must not only resolve the many, many issues resulting from their thirteen-year civil war, but they must invent a technically interesting, 'green' formula which will attract multiple manufacturers and car builders and will also remake the Indy car as a spectacularly impressive racing machine, distinctly different from NASCAR, that will appeal to both race fans around the world as well as a broader audience.
Thus far, I've heard nothing--absolutely nothing!--from anyone in IRL or Champ Car about how to tackle this big question. I'm afraid the whole lot of them are small thinkers, incapable of making the major decisions required to turn around a failed sport. As I've also written many times, I hope I'm wrong, but everything IRL and Champ Car have done over the past thirteen years tells me I'm right. Their miserable roles in the history of racing are almost assured unless they are able to pry themselves off the floor they've sunk to and surprise us with some brilliant solutions and concepts for the future.
Gordon is sounding pretty right to me.
by Gordon Kirby
Everyone wanted to know this past week whether IRL and Champ Car really are trying to find a way to come together and bring an end to the bitterly divisive, thirteen-year civil war that has ruined American open-wheel racing. We all hoped it would happen of course, but I'm afraid too much damage has been done and there are too many important details to be resolved, particularly at this late stage with less than two months before the season begins. Then at the end of last week Champ Car issued a brief statement saying the latest talks had failed again.
If Tony George, Honda, Kevin Kalkhoven and Jerry Forsythe had been able to work out an eleventh-hour deal to make a merger happen there would have been a large number of seriously injured entities from spurned Champ Car tracks to drivers whose personal sponsorship deals were based on foreign races. There would also have been a tremendous amount of disgruntlement from the small Champ Car teams who would have had little time or resources to properly prepare themselves to go racing with a new car/engine package and from the smaller IRL teams who would have found themselves blown off by the better Champ Car teams and reduced to roles as even more marginal players. And too, a merger may also have presaged the ultimate destruction of Cosworth, one of racing's most historic and accomplished engine builders--although that sad occurence may yet happen.
In fact, the past few weeks' desperate attempts to bring to the two series together underlines the complete lack of any business plan and the utter incompetence of both groups. Neither of them has any understanding or appreciation for the complexities of motor racing. Nor do they care about the fans who they have treated with such contempt for so many years. Attempting to stitch together a rushed and poorly thought-out merger was bound to result in many mistakes and further invite the rapacious effects of the laws of unintended consequences. And of course, the history of corporate mergers is full of stories of failure.
Will the dilettante's who have destroyed American open-wheel racing find a way to fix the mess they've created? As I've written repeatedly, to achieve their goal they must not only resolve the many, many issues resulting from their thirteen-year civil war, but they must invent a technically interesting, 'green' formula which will attract multiple manufacturers and car builders and will also remake the Indy car as a spectacularly impressive racing machine, distinctly different from NASCAR, that will appeal to both race fans around the world as well as a broader audience.
Thus far, I've heard nothing--absolutely nothing!--from anyone in IRL or Champ Car about how to tackle this big question. I'm afraid the whole lot of them are small thinkers, incapable of making the major decisions required to turn around a failed sport. As I've also written many times, I hope I'm wrong, but everything IRL and Champ Car have done over the past thirteen years tells me I'm right. Their miserable roles in the history of racing are almost assured unless they are able to pry themselves off the floor they've sunk to and surprise us with some brilliant solutions and concepts for the future.
Gordon is sounding pretty right to me.