Things that make you go hmm….Zhuhai
02/28/07 This rumor, first broke by AutoRacing1.com, is upgraded to 'strong' today as our Rick Benjamin alludes to in his latest article, Champ Car is going to make some schedule tweaks and you can look for the Zhuhai, China race to be moved to the week before or after Australia, we hear the week after, which would put it on October 28th. Benjamin also provides you with some other interesting rumors.
02/23/07 Despite making this rumor 'false' when we were told the Zhuhai race will remain on its original date (and it did when the TV schedule was released), the latest issue of Autosport Magazine reports that officials are still looking at the possibility of moving the race to a week before or after Surfers. Like we said awhile ago, why make the teams fly to each race separately when there could be savings in time and money by making them a back-to-back two race affair? It also would help fill the huge gap that currently exists in the 2007 schedule between Assen and Surfers, but it opens up a large gap in May-June, for………hmm, the rumor that just won't go away.
02/07/07 This rumor is downgraded to 'false' today. Autoracing1.com has learned that the Zhuhai race is not being moved and will be added backed on the ESPN TV schedule. It was removed by mistake. The full 2007 Champ Car TV schedule will be released today.
02/04/07 An interesting rumor making the rounds, all unsubstantiated for now, is that Champ Car's China race will be moved out of its May 20th date and paired with the Australia race in October. This makes a lot of sense and probably should have been that way in the first place. But the reason for the move, as the rumor goes, is the real kicker.
Recall Tony George and Brian Barnhart showing up at Panoz to see the new Champ Car before it was launched. Some say that was not just a coincidence. Some believe that the merger talks that AutoWeek referenced one year ago never ended. The media and fans assumed the talks ended, but did they really? A merger was never going to happen for the 2007 season because not enough DP01's could be built in time, which gave Kalkhoven and George more time to talk about a merger for 2008 without the media all over them.
The question was whether Panoz could build a DP01 oval kit in time for Indy? Now China's gone from the ESPN schedule and will probably reappear in October alongside Surfers. That leaves the entire month of May open for the Champ Car teams to do the Indy 500. If Panoz can have a DP01 oval kit ready for Indy, and Champ Car teams run there, the Indy 500 will have an easy 33 cars, in fact they will have a 'real' bump day without Tony George paying for half the field. How would you do an equivalency formula between the Honda engine and the Cosworth engine, and the Panoz chassis and the Dallara chassis is the hard part.
Then we were all shocked when Champ Car ended up on ABC/ESPN – the IRL's TV stations and there was not a single protest out of the IRL. Coincidence? We think not. In a merger scenario you want both sides on the same TV network.
Why was the new Indy Car specs never released? After all the word originally was that the IRL was going to contract for a new car in 2008. If that's the case they would want to get the bidding process going by late 2006. This would not be necessary if the new Panoz was going to be the standard chassis.
Why was the Bridgestone name dropped from the Champ Car series title? Was it to switch to the Firestone name under a merged series in 2008 and for a joint Indy 500 run in 2007?
Champ Car kicked Ford out of its series. Why would you do that unless perhaps you are going to merge with either Honda badging all the engines, or perhaps their Japanese rival Mazda badging half. Mazda is making money these days and is in a better position to go head-to-head with Honda than Ford is. Ford also wanted control of the Pace Car program, and the Fast Lap program, and exclusive rights to the Fast Lap sales program, which would not sit well with Honda. Ford was in the way of other manufacturers coming in the series because they wanted their name all over the series but were not willing to pay enough for the rights.
Was Robert Clarke walking through the Champ Car paddock in Sebring two weeks ago, checking out the new cars to see how his Hondas will look in the sleek new Panoz, or was it just a friendly visit to say hello?
Word is out that Champ Car stopped subsidizing its teams. If there is a merger in 2008 there will be too many cars anyway so perhaps they figure if you make it on your own you are in, if not….sorry.
It's an interesting merger rumor, but we have heard these before. Fact or fiction? Quite honestly we're not sure yet, but our spies are on the case…….