IndyCars in the Caribean in 2009!

[Indyman]

http://www.suntci.com/indy.asp

[Breeze]

Well that's cool. Hope its a road or street course!

[garyshell]

The event is to be broadcast live on ESPN, NBC and ABC.

Not so fast. This comment looks, shall we say, a bit suspicious??? Call me jaded but until I see an announcement from Georgetown and 16th I remain skeptical.

Gary

[!!WALDO!!]

Not so fast. This comment looks, shall we say, a bit suspicious??? Call me jaded but until I see an announcement from Georgetown and 16th I remain skeptical.

Gary

Many races every year are still born due to a lack of money. Once they see the amount of money to make a race track on the streets, tear down that race track, and the logistics in getting the race down it could cost as much as $12,000,000 per year. They must look at will it bring in $90,000,000 into the economy per year?

It is a tough set of numbers that needs to be crunched.

[jarrambide]

Not so fast. This comment looks, shall we say, a bit suspicious??? Call me jaded but until I see an announcement from Georgetown and 16th I remain skeptical.

Gary

What?, how can you be suspicious of "The People´s Paper"? :D

I have nothing against small papers, but I would guess that a place with just little over 21,000 inhabitants doesn´t have the best paper in the world, not saying is a bad paper, but I would put it in the same category as the paper my cousin receives in his rural home, and take into consideration that Montgomery county has 10 times the population of Turks & Caicos.


http://www.thecourier-online.com

[994ever]

What an indisputably ridiculous idea.

I can't wait to see the comments on this from armchair pundits who tossed up punchlines on CC race speculations such as Otaru, Philadelphia, Hannover etc. Where there were far fewer soundbites from the higher-ups than in this article. I mean, with CC dead some of ya have so little to do now that I'll be expecting to see you ripping this one up!

Have at it boys!

[garyshell]

Anyone notice that they haven't even started building the track yet?

Gary

[grungex]

This or a similar article appeared weeks ago, and was roundly (and rightly) ridiculed at that time.

[Skid Marx]

And to think, when I saw th thread title I thought they were gonna finally dump those POS Indycars into the ocean to make an artificial reef!

[grungex]

Wouldn't that be considered pollution?

[Osiris333]

This is all Gene Simmons doing. He bought an island down there last year on the last episode of "Gene Simmons family jewels."

We'll see hoe much pull Gene has with Tony.

[garyshell]

We'll see hoe much pull Gene has with Tony.


Oh what a wonderful Freudian slip that was!!!

Gary

[Dr. Krogshöj]

I hope this is a hoax. If not, I hope it will fail. The Turks and Caicos Islands have a population of 21,746, while a lot of US venues are vying for a limited number of slots on the 2009 Indycar schedule.

[electron]

"letter of intent".... nothing less substatial than this.

I would like to if I could....

[Rex Monaco]

I like the idea. I'd much rather see them expand the series into the Americas, than going to Europe or Asia.

[garyshell]

I like the idea. I'd much rather see them expand the series into the Americas, than going to Europe or Asia.


Lets see now, which place might appeal to potential sponsors, Europe, Asia.... oh no gee, Wally, lets go to some island that no one has ever heard of. Yeah Beav, that's the ticket.


<sigh>


Gary

[nigelred5]

That article was first published last fall before any of the most recent rounds of reunification rumors were floated. IMO, that was just another shot across the bow of a sinking champcar ship in an attempt at showing that Indycar was willing to step further into Champcar's territory of street racing to push them out of the market. Just as the real or rumoured visits to places like Lausitz, Spain and Portugal by TG or people representing Indycar.

All I can say is WHY? Is the entire population of the various islands AND every visitor there on vacation going to attend the race? That still wouldn't half fill the average shortrack grandstands.

[SoCalPVguy]

I'll believe it "when the green flag waves".

[pits4me]

That article was first published last fall before any of the most recent rounds of reunification rumors were floated. IMO, that was just another shot across the bow of a sinking champcar ship in an attempt at showing that Indycar was willing to step further into Champcar's territory of street racing to push them out of the market. Just as the real or rumoured visits to places like Lausitz, Spain and Portugal by TG or people representing Indycar.

All I can say is WHY? Is the entire population of the various islands AND every visitor there on vacation going to attend the race? That still wouldn't half fill the average shortrack grandstands.

Sounds like another super Hawaii GP idea. Not the first and certainly not the last.

Indycar would be better served by getting back to Cleveland, Road America, Toronto and Houston. A Eurpoean swing and a race in South America (Uraguay or Chile).

[garyshell]

I am still not convinced that the IRL has ANYTHING to do with this. When was this first published? Does anyone know? And did the IRL have anything to say about it when it did?

Gary

[994ever]

I am still not convinced that the IRL has ANYTHING to do with this. When was this first published? Does anyone know? And did the IRL have anything to say about it when it did?

Gary

You think the picture is photoshopped? You think the quotations from Mr. George are fabricated?

Its the Turks and Caicos daily, not RACER.

NOTE: I'm still waiting for the more prominent CC critics to make their attacks here. They must be formulating something particularly profound...

[Rex Monaco]

Lets see now, which place might appeal to potential sponsors, Europe, Asia.... oh no gee, Wally, lets go to some island that no one has ever heard of. Yeah Beav, that's the ticket.


<sigh>


Gary

I think Wally and the Beav would prefer racing in Havana.

[Dennis H.]

it's been kicked around as a preseason testing site like sebring this year, do some testing run an exhibition and all the teams get paid for doing it.

[garyshell]

You think the picture is photoshopped? You think the quotations from Mr. George are fabricated?


Photoshopped? No. Fabricated? No. Stretched? Yes. I don't see anything in the quotes from "...king George" about there being a race. The only one saying that was the person from the island government. A race being shown on ESPN, NBC and ABC, is total BULLS****. That will happen when pigs fly.

I think this is no more than a spring training location. Does anyone know of any links about this on the IRL website???

Gary

[Jonesi]

This came up a couple of weeks ago. Just don't see how it could be practical.
http://www.rallyforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124810

[994ever]

I am still not convinced that the IRL has ANYTHING to do with this. When was this first published? Does anyone know? And did the IRL have anything to say about it when it did?

Gary

Mr. George said: "This is a very exciting opportunity for us to come to the Turks and Caicos and have the opportunity to really use this as a spring board to launch our season every year."

Moreover, "I think that the timing of a February event could be a great way to start off our season on an annual basis."

George added that the TCI is very a hospitable country. “The Government and the Premier has been very gracious as our host; and we are very excited to work with them in developing this opportunity, that I'm sure will be good for everyone concerned."

4th, 3rd, and 2nd to last paragraphs in the article.

[garyshell]

Mr. George said: "This is a very exciting opportunity for us to come to the Turks and Caicos and have the opportunity to really use this as a spring board to launch our season every year."

Moreover, "I think that the timing of a February event could be a great way to start off our season on an annual basis."

George added that the TCI is very a hospitable country. “The Government and the Premier has been very gracious as our host; and we are very excited to work with them in developing this opportunity, that I'm sure will be good for everyone concerned."

4th, 3rd, and 2nd to last paragraphs in the article.

Yep 994, I saw the quotes, but remained unconvinced. The statement about a race being covered on ESPN , ABC and NBC, was a dead give away. That coupled with no mention of this anywhere on the IndyCar.com website makes me wonder. The only mention of the islands at all are in relation to Dan Wheldon's wedding: http://www.indycar.com/news/story.php?story_id=10387 Then there is NOTHING said by "...king George" about a race in any of the quotes. Just developing an opportunity.

I am smelling fish.

Gary

[Easy Drifter]

Every few years the rumour surfaces that they want to become the 11th Cdn. Prov. About as likely as this story.

I hope this is a hoax. If not, I hope it will fail. The Turks and Caicos Islands have a population of 21,746, while a lot of US venues are vying for a limited number of slots on the 2009 Indycar schedule.

I'm not disagreeing, nor am I wishing to give any credence to this particular 'potential' venue......but.......

........the Turks & Caicos Islands population is nearly triple that of Monaco.

[nigelred5]

Sure, it's triple that of Monaco, but Monaco isn't exactly out in the middle of the Ocean either.

So is someone looking for a tax haven for Indycar? ;)

[!!WALDO!!]

Sure, it's triple that of Monaco, but Monaco isn't exactly out in the middle of the Ocean either.

So is someone looking for a tax haven for Indycar? ;)

Little island south of Bimini about 20 miles called Cat Kay (Two of them). This is a private island and in 1976 in April we pulled into the harbor. The "Blackhawk" boat owned by Bill Wirtz was there. There were large houses owned by many British Families but two homes were owned by the Rooneys who own the Pittsburgh Steelers and those people that own the Indaianapolis Motor Speedway. I do not know if they still own it but rich people have tax havens and I bet old Kevin got several, Cheapster, RP, and several drivers in NASCAR are now LLCs.

Oh yes, we got thrown out the next morning. Something about too many people passed out on the deck.

[nigelred5]

Maybe I should have re-phrased that. A "NEW" tax haven and guaranteed pre-paid mid-winter vacation spot? ;)

[tbyars]

I am smelling fish.

Gary, here is my take.

I have been told by someone who should know that the deal is real.

The question is, "What deal?"

Simmons is also the marketing firm for TCI. Surprise, surprise!!! Do I think he would combine his clients for leverage? Absolutely!

Do I think he would fabricate quotes from Tony to support his efforts? Well, yea, kinda. I can hear the conversation:

GS- Tony, wouldn't this be a great way to begin the series every year? Kind of give everyone a little experience with the cars, get the rust off and give the teams a little paid vacation to get them going?

TG- Might be, er, something to consider.

GS- You ought to see it. Beautiful beaches, great people. I can just see you there.

TG- I may have to look into that.

GS- And you and the Premiere would become great pals.

TG- OK.

Put that all in a Gene Simmons press release, and it becomes


"This is a very exciting opportunity for us to come to the Turks and Caicos and have the opportunity to really use this as a spring board to launch our season every year," said IRL founder Tony George. "I think that the timing of a February event could be a great way to start off our season on an annual basis."

George added that the TCI is very a hospitable country. “The Government and the Premier has been very gracious as our host; and we are very excited to work with them in developing this opportunity, that I'm sure will be good for everyone concerned."

As far as the photo, it is an obvious Photoshop. Copy it over to any bitmap program and enlarge it about 5X and you can see the obvious dodging and smoothing around Tony's head, as well as the area of his neck where the original and head were blended. The head also obviously came from a photo that was a different resolution from the rest of the original. As you enlarge the photo enough to see the pixels clearly, the pixels from the head are quite a bit larger than the pixels in the rest of the picture.

And Tony's head is too small for the scale of the rest of the picture. Of course, if they had made it large enough to be to scale, the top of the picture would have cut his head off.

My conclusion...this is a Gene Simmons wet dream. He'll try to make it happen to impress his TCI client. From that standpoint, it is VERY real. The only way I see it happening, however, is if Tony decides he wants to give all the teams and IndyCar staff a one-week paid vacation to the Caribbean for Christmas.

[Turn-In]

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=66023

Champ Car is going to MALTA!!!