Overheard at Assen

UPDATE #2 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, Here is an interesting article on Tony Cochrane. Some of the figures given are a bit low, but it is interesting he was in the US not too long back "looking at business opportunities" and he attended a Champ Car race with Craig Gore: Team Australia and the backer of Marcos Ambrose's Craftsman's truck. It is surprising to learn he won a US Tony Award for the play "Hairspray" that he produced for Broadway. The article states that Cochrane is resigning his position as Chairman of the V8 Supercar Series and his company SEL is looking overseas for new business opportunities. Let's pray he and/or his company SEL does get involved with Champ Car and fixes the big mess it is in. Robert Ryan

09/26/07 According to AutoRacing1.com sources in Australia, Tony Cochrane has sold his house on the Australia Gold Coast and has not bought a new one. Hmmm…….Cochrane would be great for the series. Look what he did for V8s. In 1996 the series almost collapsed due to a lack of commercial interest, the rising Two Liter racing category and the fact that most races were in country tracks not street circuits. Within 3 years he had pushed V8 Supercar racing within the top 5 most watched sports in Australia and killed off 2 liter racing in Australia. Tony Cochrane also moved races away from country tracks to city street circuits in touch with corporate sponsors and fans. An interesting note – within 5 years Cochrane had introduced 4 brand new successful street circuit races to the V8 Supercars. He is one savvy businessman.

09/01/07 We spotted V8 Supercar boss Tony Cochrane (pictured right) in the Team Australia pits talking to Craig Gore and Derrick Walker. Word is that he flew in for four hours to meet with Champ Car boss Kevin Kalkhoven regarding the Champ Car series. The outspoken Cochrane runs a tight ship in his V8 Supercar series, which is hugely popular in Australia and New Zealand and has recently branched out to other countries. Of course Kalkhoven is also Australian as is Paul Stoddart. Could we be seeing more Australian influence in Champ Car before long?