Is Ford gone from Champ Car?

UPDATE A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, After reading about the Champ Car/Ford separation and the latest Ford Yahoo article I am glad to see Champ Car is dropping those losers at Ford. The Yahoo article stated “Ford will lose 7.39 billion" and "The new products aren't that exciting overall." Maybe Toyota can make a “bold move" and become the title sponsor with all the profits from the truck share market they consume as Ford retracts into a little ball and dies. Michael Kottke

Another writes, It was just a matter of time for this announcement. Ford is expected to announce a loss of $1.01 PER SHARE for fourth quarter 2006. This means that Ford has lost a total of $1.9 BILLION in the last 90-days! No doubt, they will have to take a look at their support of other series as well.

Unfortunately, this goes to prove the irrelevant nature of most auto manufacturers sponsorship when the underlying racing cars have little or nothing to do with the cars spectators drive to the track. Ford hasn't even owned Cosworth for two years. At least Panoz has a street car that they can promote while being paid to produce the chassis.

Open wheel racing has suffered with this conundrum for years. Especially with Champ Car and IRL becoming essentially spec series. There is just no sponsor relevance for consumers watching these races any more. Remember when the series had four chassis (Lola, Reynard, Swift and Penske), four engines (Cosworth, Mercedes, Honda and Toyota) and both two tire manufactures? WOW! People would cheer for one team or another in part based upon the engine and chassis builders. The negative trend continues towards NASCAR, whose Car of Tomorrow will further distance the racing product from the manufacturers "stock" production vehicles.

I think the Grand-AM Cup and especially the ALMS has it right. They continue to attract new manufacturers because the cars on the track are immediately identifiable to the audience. The technology transitions well from street to track, and amazingly from track to street. I actually considered buying a new Mustang GT, because I saw how well they did competing against the Porsches in the Grand Am Cup. I never felt inspired to go out and buy a Ford Fusion because a push-rod powered car with the same name on it won a Nextel Cup race.

Spec open wheel series, and low-tech NASCAR events do little to make owners of these brands proud of their cars. Formula One remains the only open wheel series to retain relevance to the audience. True most viewers will never be able to afford a Ferrari or a McLaren-Mercedes, but will go out and buy a new Honda or Renault because they believe that the technology they previously saw on the track will eventually end up in their daily driver.

While allowing manufacturers to control or dominate a series brings its own problems, until Champ Car finds a way to make its product relevant to a broader segment of consumers, big manufacturer sponsors will stay away.

Personally, I drive both a Audi on the street, and a Porsche on the track. I just love driving to work on Monday morning when both marks have dominated the ALMS and Grand-AM Cup the day before. This is what make me want to buy a car.

Now, if Cosworth would only turn back the technology clock by 75 years and build a push-rod motor. Ford would probably buy them back! Kelly Konzelman

Dear Kelly and Michael, Ford was dropped for a reason, some of which you point out. However, there is more in play behind the scenes than meets the eye. We hear there is a presenting sponsor coming on board that is paying good money and a few engine manufacturers are in play, one of which was not mentioned in this SPEEDTV article. And if Ford got so much out of their pace car program they should have been willing to pay more for it. Stay tuned…. Mark C.

01/23/07 A reader asks, Dear AutoRacing1.com, I see Champ Car has dropped Ford and Bridgestone from their logo, does that mean they lost two more sponsors? Dan Dickey, Detroit, MI

Dear Dan, Bridgestone already announced that they will still be involved with the series but in a different role and no longer a presenting sponsor. Our sources tell us Ford and Champ Car are still talking regarding their involvement. At the end of the day Ford has never embraced Champ Car and put any marketing behind their involvement. The loss of Ford will have almost zero negative effect on Champ Car so little was their involvement. One can argue that having Bridgestone and Ford in the series name keeps other car or tire manufacturers from getting involved in the series should they want to. Mark C.

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