Monday, April 30, 2007

Well, it must be May because the talk of merger is in the air. Or non-talk, in this case. But of course, non-talk still gives us plenty of things to talk about and this year its about a phone call made by Kalkhoven to George offering up the services of a few Champ Car pilots for the Indy 500 in exchange for some chassis, which George clearly has plenty of anyway, since he’s funding just about half the entries for the 500 anyway, so a spare tub here and there would be quite easy. Not to mention the obvious: this would make his field much more legitimate than what we will see on the grid. Heck, you and I could enter; all we need is the money.
Even Forsythe said he spoke with George, which is probably the greatest revelation in all these articles about merger. Forsythe and George spending time together is a step towards unification, no question about it. But alas, George acknowledged he received the call, but, obviously heard things a little differently and, bottom line: no Champ Car drivers at the Indy 500 and all talks of reunification are done. For now.
Personally I would love to see Champ Car drivers mix it up with their best and I would absolutely be thrilled if one of our guys won the race. But, would it change anything? I think this is what George fears, that if a CC driver won the race it would undermine his league. Since the Indy 500 is 95 percent of what the IRL, the broadcasters, the officials, the fans talk about, then they would be stuck talking about Champ Car for the rest of the year, at least until next season’s Indy 500.
But the reality is that, as we have said many times before, George doesn’t want reunification. It’s the only explanation because how many CC owners since 1996 have tossed him an olive branch and every time he rejects them. This last one is merely the latest one in a long line of offers made by CC. It’s not going to happen as long as he’s running the show. It’s a shame frankly, because under one banner you’d see better competition. That’s just a fact: if you take Forsythe, Ganassi, Penske and NHL and throw them all on the track, its going to make for some good racing. But, if Tony doesn’t want it, then CC has to continue doing their own thing and build a strong foundation and continue to prosper on their own.
I tell you this much, last Sunday was the closest we will come to reunification in a while. That is, seeing and hearing Rick Benjamin advertise the Kansas 300 or whatever it was, that was it, that was reunification right there. Congratulations boys, you have done it!

Which, of course, leads us to Bourdais and his comment about not caring which series folds, as long as there is only one open-wheel racing series in North America. Ouch, tough one there. The guy is a phenomenal, but already a bit of a villain with his occasional (and his team’s) whining. And to add those recent comments he made, well that just upset people, plain and simple. I guess Seabass wants to race against the best. This is a guy that has been shunned by F1 because they think that CC and the IRL aren’t serious leagues. They are depleted leagues and therefore the competition isn’t worthy and thus Seabass winning the championship 3 times in a row is not a great accomplishment. Nor is Weldon for that matter. Seabass just wants the respect he thinks he deserves from his European mates. Now, to say that he doesn’t care which one folds is a little harsh, considering his boss is the strongest champ car advocator around. But maybe its because Bourdais doesn’t know the history of the factions, he doesn’t understand the significance of it. He is a young European driver after all, so he probably wasn’t truly aware of CART in the early 90’s and its demise in the late 90’s. He also probably doesn’t see the politics in the whole thing. He’s just a driver. He’s not an owner; he’s not an employee of Champ Car or the IRL. He’s one of the few very well paid drivers in both series who also happens to be a three champ. I am by no means defending his comments; I just think they shouldn’t be held in high relevance, given his status. If those comments came from a Jimmy Vasser or a Paul Newman, then they would have weight attached to them. From Bourdais? Despite all his success and accolades, not really.

2 Comments:

At 8:15 AM EDT , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't think anybody has to make excuses for what Bourdais said. He's an adult and he is fully aware of what he's talking about. The Bourdais fenders will rationalize that English is not his first language and the Bourdais haters will just use it as more ammunition to antagonize him.

But then again we know better than to look to him for advice on the future well-being and direction of OWR in America.

 
At 8:32 AM EDT , Anonymous Anonymous said...

"occasional (and his team’s) whining"

Occasional... That's funny. I love those guys, but boy can they complain.

You and Peter both make good points. However, I still think that something needs to be done. Even if it's something as little as a fine... He gets away with too much in my opinion.

 

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