Mexico City promoter pulling a Montreal stunt? No

UPDATE #2 We are downgrading this rumor to 'false' today. Gerald Forsythe made it clear to AutoRacing1.com today that what happened in Montreal is nothing like what is going on in Mexico City. "This event is still our biggest event and it is absolutely true that there is construction back there (referring to the backside of the circuit where the grandstands are closed) that is preventing opening those grandstands. Rebars are sticking out of the ground and it was too dangerous to have fans back there. That is the real story." As a side note, you can go to any grandstand in Mexico City and you won't find a single piece of event merchandise being sold – i.e. no event posters or shirts, just Champ Car and team merchandise. We're not sure why the promoter would not want people to wear shirts that publicize the event for future years. 11/06/05 In a story broke by AutoRacing1.com two weeks ago, AutoRacing1.com can also tell you that there were big bullfight and soccer events on Saturday that held down attendance. Sunday's crowd will be telling. SPEEDTV.com reports – Tongues have been wagging — and cyberspace sizzling — with rumors of a Montreal-like conspiracy here at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. At issue is the mystery of the disappearing grandstands. You'll recall that upwards of 35,000 bleacher seats were missing from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for this summer's Champ Car race, prompting all manner of speculation regarding devious plots by promoter Normand Legault to sabotage the Champ Car event in order to replace it with a NASCAR Busch and/or Craftsman Truck Series and/or Indy Racing League IndyCar Series event.

The Champ Car World Series arrived in Mexico City this week to find that tickets were not on sale for several large bleacher sections, while other bleachers had been removed. At issue were the empty bleachers in and around the Turns Six-Seven "stadium" section, as well as the missing bleachers overlooking the twisting Esses.

What's up with that?

"CIE (race promoter) and I don't own the property," said Gerald Forsythe, who together with CIE spent upwards of $60M renovating the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in time for the 2002 Champ Car race here. "The city does. And they tell us what we can and can't do with the property. (But) we own the rights to stage races here for seven years, beginning in ‘02.

"The city decided they want to use the property at that end of the circuit for new construction. So they wouldn't give us permission to utilize that area for grandstands this year. So some of those grandstands have been taken down, the rest will be taken down and we did not sell tickets for them.

"We are currently negotiating with the city to move some of the grandstands to the front straightaway for 2006. And we are also currently negotiating for the rights to stage races here for an additional seven years after the current agreement expires." More at SPEEDTV.com

10/18/05 As we saw with Montreal this year, when Champ Car arrived at the track the majority of grandstands had been removed. The theory was that Normand Legault was trying to kill the Champ Car event so he could replace Champ Car with the IRL and NASCAR. IRL rumors to Montreal surfaced soon thereafter. It appears the same thing might be happening in Mexico City. The diagram to the right shows all the grandstands as they existed in 2003 when the race drew over 400,000 fans for the weekend. The red down arrows show all the grandstands that have been removed (We compared the 2003 seating diagram against the track's website diagram this year). Without an office in Mexico to look after things, no TV package, and few Mexican sponsors, will Champ Car eventually lose their biggest race? Is the IRL or F1 trying to move into Mexico City? AutoRacing1.com will have more on this story in the coming weeks.