|
MERRILL CAIN: Thank you very much
for joining us this morning. We are joined today, as you can
see, by CART president and CEO, Christopher Pook, as well as
many of our distinguished members in the CART FedEx
Championship Series. We wanted to gather here this morning.
There's been a lot of speculation recently about the future of
the teams currently in the series, and we are here today to
address that and put to rest some of those concerns. This is
the first of what we expect to be several announcements
involving teams making a commitment to CART and the CART FedEx
Championship Series for 2003 and beyond.
First, let's introduce the gentlemen who are here with us on
the podium today. Starting in the front row, Bobby Rahal was
hoping to be here, but he could not join us because of sponsor
commitments. Scott Roembke, chief executive officer of the
team has graciously joined us today. We are also joined by Pat
Patrick, owner of Patrick Racing and one of the founders of
CART. To my immediate right is and Carl Haas, co-owner of
Newman/Haas Racing. Tom Anderson, co-owner of Fernandez
Racing. We are also joined by Christopher Pook at the very end
there.
Up to the back podium starting on the far right: Gerry
Forsythe, owner of Player's/Forsythe Racing. We are also
joined by Derrick Walker, owner of Walker Racing. And on the
far end, Ian Bisco of Cosworth Racing joins us here today.
We'll get each one of these gentlemen to talk about their
commitment to CART. First off, we want to begin with CART
president and CEO Chris Pook. Chris, with the support of the
gentlemen around you here today, talk about where you expect
the extremely competitive CART field to be in terms of cars
and teams as we head into 2003.
CHRIS POOK: Thank you, Merrill. Before I get to that point, my
comments, if you'll bear with me, I just want to give you a
bit of an overall update because we are going to be away from
the United States until get back to Miami in the first weekend
of October. I think there's an overall update I'd like to do
for you this morning. First of all, I want to thank the media
for the coverage they have given us this year. They have
worked with us and I appreciate that very much. Particularly
in this market, I want to thank the Denver Post for their
coverage, which has obviously been terrific.
I want to thank the Rocky Mountain News. I was pretty rough on
them in Thursday's press conference, but their coverage has
come back and been terrific and it's been balanced and I'm
grateful for that. If you get on someone's back and you
complain about one thing, they need to be complimented when
they do other things; and I want to compliment them for their
efforts there. I also want to thank our sponsors,
particularly, Bridgestone for their supply of tires to us in
the series; FedEx, for their continued sponsorship of the
series; and of course Shell for supporting this event this
weekend.
I think that one of comments I want to make to you, and I
understand that you are under a certain amount of pressure
from time to time, but one of the things I want to do here
today is stop some of the spin that's been going on all year
long, and I want to very respectfully remind everybody that
when we came on board with this administration at the
beginning of the year, we told you we would do certain things
along the way. I would remind you very respectfully, every
single thing we told you we would do, we have done and we
continue to do that in spite of the fact that there continues
to be those in our paddock that want to justify their
departure. We don't want to get into that, we don't want to
discuss that and we don't believe it deserves discussing in
our paddock.
But what we would ask you to look at is what this
administration does and what this series is all about, and
this series is all good going to major markets and putting on
competitive motor car racing. If you look at the delivery
vehicle that CART provides to sponsors who wish to come into
the series, be they sponsors of racing cars, be the sponsors
of the event or be they series sponsors, you start to look at
the markets and capability that CART has to be a delivery
vehicle for corporations that want to come to our series, it
is second to none. We control the three largest markets in
Canada, the two largest markets in Mexico and we are in ten of
the top 30 markets in the United States of America.
We will be in Miami next. Next year we will be joined by
Tampa/St. Pete, and you can see us back in Texas again in
2004, along with two other major markets. We firmly believe
that is our responsibility as a company to take our product to
the markets and not have the markets come to us. That is the
delivery mechanism that CART offers and will continue to
offer. Let me speak to the issue for a second of racing cars.
I continue to hear speculation about the number of cars in our
series. It's the same sort of speculation that I heard in Long
Beach in 1976 and 1977 when the spin doctors were out there
saying there with would never be a Long Beach Grand Prix.
Same sort of conversation I heard in 1983 when we stopped
doing Formula 1 and we went to CART in 1984: It wouldn't work,
be impossible, rejected by the public, you could not put it
together, the city would not want it, etc., Etc. Well, spin
doctors were wrong on both occasions. They fabricated a story,
think built the paper man up and it got knocked down, and
today we have the same spin doctors doing the same thing in
this series. I am here to tell you that we will have 18 cars
in this series next year. I am here to tell that you, also, it
could well be 21 cars. These gentlemen who are here today are
long-time car owners in our series. They are not going to be
forced to tell you who their sponsor is or who their driver is
in the middle of August, beginning of September; that is not
the way this business works. They have every right to announce
who their sponsors are and who their drivers are in their own
time. That is value to their sponsors, and we are not going to
try and take that value away.
I am sure you're welcome to try and ask them who they are
going to have, and some might care to answer you. Some of them
may not. But it is not fair for us as a sanctioning body to
ask them go out of the normal rules of business. So, that
having been said, we will continue to grow this series, we
will continue to put it on a new track, we will continuing to
go new markets and we will continue to be the best sports
marketing delivery vehicle in North America, as well as we
will continue some of our European venues and we will
certainly go back to Australia and we'll go back to the Orient
one more time. That will not occur before 2004. And we will
continue to develop the series and bring new types of product
to you starting in 2005. The objective of this company is to
stabilize it in 2003 and 2004; that we have done by doing the
relationship with Cosworth, we will stabilize it with our
major events and in 2005 welcome into a new engine formula,
and you'll see a new CART moving down the road.
MERRILL CAIN: That said, as Chris pointed out, these gentlemen
may or may not be able to announce their drivers, sponsors for
next year, but I think they want it announce their commitment
to CART going forward. We'll start with Gerald Forsythe. Talk
about CART's Canadian Triple Crown. We added a new race in
Montreal this year, very successful event last weekend. Talk
about what that means to your team and sponsors and your plans
for next season.
GERALD FORSYTHE: Well, hopefully many of you did make the
Montreal Grand Prix. It was one of the best events I think of
the season, and will continue to grow. As far as my sponsors
are concerned, it was all about the Player's team. If you read
the newspapers, if you watched TV, and if you listened to the
media, it was a Player's race and we are very appreciative of
that. I've been one of CART's biggest supporters, as most of
you know. CART racing is the best, most diversified type of
open-wheel racing, and why wouldn't we want to be involved in
it? I want to confirm today: Two cars, reasonably sure a third
car, and speculation on a fourth car. We are committed.
MERRILL CAIN: Excellent news. Thank you very much. Derrick
Walker, I know the high-tech nature of the series is something
that really appeals to you, and if you could talk about that,
what appeals to you about racing in CART, and also the
financial incentives that CART has put forward, announced
recently, entrance support program, how that makes it more
affordable for teams to compete in the CART FedEx Championship
Series.
DERRICK WALKER: Well, certainly high-tech is a big part of
auto racing. I think what you have seen over the last few
months is CART's attempt to try and manage the cost of that
and incentivize the teams in whatever way it can to be able to
participate. And I think it's important to realize what it
really happening here. CART is in transition, and there are
major changes happening in our sport, as you are well aware
of, and these are having a knock-on effect to the race teams.
So, there is a certain perception of uncertainty. There's a
lot of teams that probably are working very hard on trying to
know where they are coming from in the future.
I don't hear from one end of the pit lane to the other that if
people have any doubt about whether CART would be where they
want to be if they could be here, so there are commercial
concerns. I think CART and certainly the board has been very
effective in working through some of these issues to try and
actually incentivize the teams, or cap some of the costs as we
get through this transition period. I think there's also a
realization in CART, certainly at the board level, that this
transition is not a six-month slide through, and then we're
out of it and we get on down the road. This is a couple of
years of transition from where we are right now to where the
CART of the future is going to go. So I think you've got to
give the current management time to evolve and work on the
issues of today.
But I think nobody can deny it, and certainly no team owner
that I've ever talked to in CART, has any hesitation if they
are able to compete in this series and be here. It is, as
Gerry (Forsythe) points out, it is a complete series and it
has such a lot of benefits that really deserve to be saved.
And I think what you see here is a number of team owners, and
you will see others in the future who will step up and
reiterate their determination to try and compete in the
series. As far as Walker Racing is concerned, it my intention
to be back next year, certainly with a one-, and hopefully
with a two-car team. We are working very hard on doing that.
Getting a lot of help from CART's front office to try and add
some value to the sponsorship. But I think we've really got to
focus on what the benefits are of the series and sell on the
strength of the benefits. I think all too often, we get
distracted by looking at the short-term objectives. And
certainly, all of the team owners are here today -- and you'll
see others -- that are going to come up and say the same
thing: There is benefit here, and they do want to be here. And
I am certain they are going to add my name to the list.
MERRILL CAIN: Carl Haas, your team is the most successful team
currently competing in the CART FedEx Championship Series. You
have won three titles and you are going after a fourth with
current series leader Cristiano da Matta. Talk a little bit
about your success in CART and how you plan on continuing that
success going forward.
CARL HAAS: As you all probably know, I've been racing in CART
for a long time alongside my partner, Paul Newman. We expect
-- we are certainly committed to continue racing in CART. I
can't tell you my whole program right now, but we are going to
be there and we are certainly going to continue to be there
with a first-class program. But getting back to -- besides
what we are going to do, what Chris earlier said about having
at least an 18-car field, I absolutely believe, and some of
the things I've looked at that I don't particularly want to go
into, I'm convinced that will happen. If that happens, CART
certainly will have a transitional year in 2003. But I think
as it goes forward, it's going to get straightened out again.
It's a difficult time right now in all forms of racing. I'm
involved in other forms of racing, and the economy is as bad
as I've seen it, and the first thing that gets cut is
sponsorship and advertising. But we are going to have 18 cars,
and I'm going to be there with you again, and I hope for a
long time. Thank you.
MERRILL CAIN: Tom Anderson with Fernandez Racing. CART has
expanded two races in Mexico this year, one coming up in
Mexico City, and that is obviously key for your sponsors,
Tecate and Telmex. Talk about your team's plans for their
competing in CART next year, and what the series offers you
and your sponsors.
TOM ANDERSON: Well, for 2003, obviously, sponsor value,
demographics, a key part of why any sponsor is here. And for
Tecate, Quaker State and Telmex, they will be back next year
in CART, with Adrian Fernandez. Very extremely excited about
the two races that they have in Mexico. They are very happy to
be here in Denver, and judging by the crowds we've had so far
this weekend, I think that it's a very positive effect here on
the CART series this year. Regarding our second car where
we've got real strong negotiations going on, with three
different sources right now, no deals are finalized on the 52
side, but we are expecting that that's a strong possibility
for next year.
MERRILL CAIN: Scott Roembke joins us from Team Rahal. Scott,
first talk about the success the series has had in urban
markets. Diversity is one of the things that makes CART great
and appeals to so many people with races stages not only on
street courses, but also road courses and short ovals, super
speedways. Talk about the diversity of competition in the CART
series and how that appeals to Team Rahal.
SCOTT ROEMBKE: Well, I think Bobby (Rahal) is quite clear on
his love of road racing and the various circuits CART
participates on. I mean, just walking over here from the
paddock, fighting through the people, obviously the formula of
taking the races to the people in these downtown areas is
extremely successful. And I think Chris has charged (CART
Vice-President) John (Lopes) and his crew to make sure that
once we get the people here, we can put on a good, competitive
show for them, and certainly, that's something that we can
work on in some of the areas. But I think the downtown races
are just great. I think you get a diversified mix of fans, and
it's easy access for them. And as long as we can have circuits
that allow the drivers to showcase their skills, I think
that's the way to go in the future.
MERRILL CAIN: Mr. Patrick is one of the founders of CART. You
are particularly in tune with the history and heritage of the
series. Can you talk about why not only you are proud of the
history of CART, but also why you want to be part of its
future.
PAT PATRICK: Well, thank you. I thank all of you for coming
today. I'm surprised we have such a following, after all of
the rumors we have heard through the paddock area. Anyway,
Patrick Racing is planning to be here next year with one car,
which is pretty much funded, and we are working diligently on
a second car. I'd like to comment that I think CART has the
best product in the world, racing product. We race on road
courses, street courses, we race Indianapolis, superspeedways,
short ovals, and I don't think you can find any racing series
anywhere that can set forth the diversity that's right where
you get a lot better than we are denying but that's the right
way to describe it. I know CART is here to stay. I know there
will be 18 cars on the racetrack, and we expect to be one or
two of them.
MERRILL CAIN: We are joined by Al Speyer with Bridgestone
Tires, as well. And Ian Bisco joins us from Cosworth Racing
and we appreciate you joining us. Of course, we have an
exclusive engine deal with Cosworth in 2003 and 2004. If you
would just briefly touch on Cosworth's deal with CART and why
the high-tech platform that CART provides to you is such an
appeal to Cosworth.
IAN BISCO: I think just to expand a little bit on when we made
the announcement in Portland, we at Cosworth are committed to
CART. We have been developing the engine since we made the
announcement. We have done a lot of testing and setting up,
getting the engine parameters correct for what we think is
going to be necessary next year. I think the big thing that I
should say is that this is by no means a low-tech engine. This
is still a complicated, high-tech engine that we will be
supplying next year and it will be the same engine that
everybody will get. I think right now, we have got parts
loaded for 20 cars next year. We are committed doing this.
We think it's going to be a very exciting series. We are not
underestimating that the teams are going to be very demanding.
I think it's going to be fun. I think that the level of
competition is going to be very, very close. I realize that
there will be a lot of demand put on us, but we've been
around, we have been in this series a long time. We have
supported CART for 20-odd years right now and this brings
something new to us.
As I say, go back to the engine a little bit, we have been
developing the engine. We have got sort of, I call them, the
"real" parts. We'll be going together and we'll be track
testing probably in October, and we'll be supplying engines
probably towards the end of November. In fact, I think
probably by Rockingham, we'll be handing out contracts for
people to get teams signed up. Teams have been asking for
contracts. It's a delay on our part, really. I think what we
are really doing is we are going through, this we are trying
to cover every infinite detail to make sure all of the costs
are controlled so everybody knows how much the program is
going to be, cover every little detail. It's a very
comprehensive contract. I think that it's going to be exciting
and it's going to be very reassuring when the teams do get
these.
MERRILL CAIN: Obviously, with the race coming up at one
o'clock, we do want to take a few quick questions from the
audience and we appreciate all of your commitments to CART and
joining us here this morning.
Q. I want to know about Team Rahal, their plans for next year.
You didn't mention that to us.
SCOTT ROEMBKE: No, I didn't. (Laughter). Team Rahal, we are
working very hard on our program for CART. We are committed to
CART Formula Atlantics with Danica Patrick, which we announced
previously this summer. And we are working with our current
sponsor, new sponsors for the CART series, and it's just a
little premature right now for us to announce anything on that
line. Racing is expensive and this is a tough economy, so we
are trying to work with our partners and bring in new partners
to make our program possible.
Q. Gerry, you've been in the news the past week, lately we've
been hearing that the offer for the former champion in '95
wasn't, as we heard it. Could you explain what's going on or
finished with the negotiations to bring Jacques Villeneuve
back to CART?
GERALD FORSYTHE: I found out late last week that the written
offer was not made to Mr. Pollock, Jacques Villeneuve's
manager. It was offered verbally. However, Craig, declined the
verbal offer, but he reported to me that that was part of his
negotiation. I phoned Dave Richards on Friday and respectfully
requested that he put the offer in writing and give it to Mr.
Pollock this weekend. So I'm expecting a call from Mr. Pollock
or from Mr. Richards by tomorrow.
Q. Jimmy Vasser may or may not be back; Michael Andretti is
gone; you helped Scott Dixon this year -- CART helped him. Is
there a program in place -- you keep saying there's going to
be 18 cars, is there a definitive program in place that if
there are going to be some young American drivers from your
feeder system to be in CART next year, and will CART help will
CART help pay their bills or help finance their rides?
CHRIS POOK: We feel very strongly about the ladder system.
There's a tremendous ladder system in Mexico, there's a
tremendous ladder system Canada; it's a proven delivery system
for their drivers. We are working on it very hard here. We are
encouraging our owners to look at our Atlantic drivers in our
testing, engine testing program with Cosworth. We are
suggesting to the car owners and to the engine manufacturer at
Cosworth that this is an ideal time to look at some of the
young Atlantic drivers that are out there, and we fully intend
to make that work. Can we make it work with 2003? I don't know
that answer today, to give you. Are we trying to make it work
and put a couple young Americans in the series for 2003?
Absolutely we are. Will we have it ready in place for 2005
when we re-design the engines and re-design the chassis and
things? Absolutely we will have it. We need to have a system
that puts young Americans into the program, and we will put
that in place. I think we also should acknowledge Mr. Patrick
for putting Townsend in this year. It was a very difficult
situation for him, and you, you know, he stepped to the plate
and did an outstanding job. It was unfortunate that it did not
work out, but that is not the team owner's fault and not the
driver's fault; that is the series' fault for not putting
together the right platform for the driver to make the move
from the junior series to the champ car series. And it's only
the series that's to blame for that.
Q. Counting up all of the possible cars in here, 14 cars,
where are the other cars -- I know you can't talk specifics,
but where are we talking about other cars coming from and will
there be some new teams, to not only this series, but to North
America?
CHRIS POOK: Absolutely there will be some new teams, two North
America and from Europe. There will be teams coming from other
series in this country, moving up the ladder, and I believe
that you will see the return of a past team. As I told you, it
might be we can we can we can see the 18 without a problem and
we could see 21. And please remember that I have recommended
to our board that at this stage of our board should be 22, and
22 quality cars.
The intensity of the racing here is huge and you just have to
look at the grid times, and that tells you something. The
people in this series, the team owners who prepare the cars
are excellent, and the drivers who drive them are excellent.
This is not an easy series to compete in. You've got to be
pretty damn good to come into this series, and I think the
teams coming in look at this and we certainly look at them and
make sure that we can do it. And the new ones that may want to
come to the series, if they have not had real depth of
experience, we are asking them to talk to some of our more
experienced teams here so they can be shepherded into the
series. You are seeing, also, that not only did the
development of the ladder system for drivers, but a ladder
system for new teams, new owners.
Q. Two of the biggest team owners are not here today, Ganassi
and Team Green. Should we read anything into that or is it
just that they were too busy to come?
CHRIS POOK: Heaven forbid you guys would ever read in this
case into anything. (Laughter). As we said, this is a series
of announcements that we will be making and I must say to you,
that the timing of this, to come on September 1 that it is
today, to ask teams to stand up and say, "Here is what we are
doing," is very unusual. These announcements on teams do not
come until at least the end of October or November normally.
You know, there's occasionally one or two. You saw a NASCAR
announcement the other day about Ricky Rudd going over to the
Wood Brothers; that was a fairly early announcement. But you
don't see a bunch more out there, and you don't see other
open-wheel series making any announcements right now, and you
see in Formula I at the present time, it's still what they
call the silly season.
So, this is very, very premature. And I want to thank these
owners for coming forward this morning, because they are
supporting management today; and management's job is to work
with all of you guys out there and to make sure that you
understand what is fact and what is fiction. And the time has
come, I think, where this management team is saying, look at
our track record, look at what we've done here in the last
eight months, that's all fact. Please take us seriously as we
go forward, because what we are doing is putting one foot
forward at a time, and they are solid building blocks and we
are going to be here, as we said with, a minimum of 18 cars,
and our good friends at Bridgestone next year, in this series,
and we can seed 21 cars, but they will be solid, solid teams
and solid racing cars in the series.
MERRILL CAIN: Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time
this morning, and we appreciate your commitment to CART. Thank
you very much.
Feedback can be sent to
feedback@autoracing1.com
|
Ricardo González
News and Commentary
