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PenskeGirl
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This is an article from racingone.com
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Look Before You Leap
Lewis Franck
When the buzz is hotter than the weather at the Grand Prix Americas in Miami something has to be up.
And I’m here to tell you that rumors that Formula One’s Supremo Bernie Ecclestone and CART CEO, Chris Pook had been in discussion for the last couple of weeks were absolutely true.
Unfortunately, this little piece of news left more questions open than answers.
On Sunday Pook just smiled and winked when I asked him was he having discussions with Ecclestone concerning the two series. I couldn’t even get a yes or a no answer.
On Tuesday I reached Bernie by telephone at his office in London and told him that he was the big topic in Miami.
“What were they saying?” Bernie asked.
After explaining the rumors we’ve been hearing about a connection between the two series Bernie admitted, “I’ve had some chats with Chris on what could be and what couldn’t be, but we’ve gotten no further than that.”
To press the point he added that “no conclusions” have been reached.
From CART headquarters in Indianapolis, after relaying my conversation Pook said, “I can’t comment any further” on what Bernie had just said.
Trying to get any further information proved fruitless.
Well, what do we have here?
Just the confirmation that the two series leaders are talking is a pretty big leap. Eleven years ago CART was viewed as such a threat to Formula One, that the former governing body, FISA had declared a world-wide sanction of stripping licenses from individuals or companies competing in CART events that were not in the United States and Canada.
And don’t forget that Pook had wooed and won the United States Grand Prix for Long Beach then dropped it when the Formula One sanction fees got too expensive.
At that time CART really was a threat to Formula One, a less expensive, moderately high-tech, and more competitive.
Recently CART has suffered from going public, which made bold company moves just about impossible, a revolving door of executives and chief executives, and defection of teams and engine manufacturers.
In the meantime Formula One appeared to prosper to unheard of heights, the cliché being teams overspending unlimited budgets.
The music kind of stopped in the last two years with the world-wide economic malaise finally impacting on what appeared to be the impregnable wall around the series.
Now Formula One has its’ own car count problem with three teams, Arrows, Minardi and Jordan on the endangered species list. Also, Formula 3000, the traditional feeder series appears ready to implode.
Somehow, someway CART and Formula One have something to offer the other. The last thing I could learn from Bernie was that CART would not be reduced to a farm team for Formula One, but he did leave the door open. “I haven’t had a chance to look for synergies” as it affects F3000 and CART.
To be fair, in the last few days, Ecclestone was working on a plan to make Formula One more competitive itself.
At this point I’m totally clueless on what is going down, but Chris is smiling and Bernie sounded confident.
Whatever is coming, it’s going to be big.
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Look Before You Leap
Lewis Franck
When the buzz is hotter than the weather at the Grand Prix Americas in Miami something has to be up.
And I’m here to tell you that rumors that Formula One’s Supremo Bernie Ecclestone and CART CEO, Chris Pook had been in discussion for the last couple of weeks were absolutely true.
Unfortunately, this little piece of news left more questions open than answers.
On Sunday Pook just smiled and winked when I asked him was he having discussions with Ecclestone concerning the two series. I couldn’t even get a yes or a no answer.
On Tuesday I reached Bernie by telephone at his office in London and told him that he was the big topic in Miami.
“What were they saying?” Bernie asked.
After explaining the rumors we’ve been hearing about a connection between the two series Bernie admitted, “I’ve had some chats with Chris on what could be and what couldn’t be, but we’ve gotten no further than that.”
To press the point he added that “no conclusions” have been reached.
From CART headquarters in Indianapolis, after relaying my conversation Pook said, “I can’t comment any further” on what Bernie had just said.
Trying to get any further information proved fruitless.
Well, what do we have here?
Just the confirmation that the two series leaders are talking is a pretty big leap. Eleven years ago CART was viewed as such a threat to Formula One, that the former governing body, FISA had declared a world-wide sanction of stripping licenses from individuals or companies competing in CART events that were not in the United States and Canada.
And don’t forget that Pook had wooed and won the United States Grand Prix for Long Beach then dropped it when the Formula One sanction fees got too expensive.
At that time CART really was a threat to Formula One, a less expensive, moderately high-tech, and more competitive.
Recently CART has suffered from going public, which made bold company moves just about impossible, a revolving door of executives and chief executives, and defection of teams and engine manufacturers.
In the meantime Formula One appeared to prosper to unheard of heights, the cliché being teams overspending unlimited budgets.
The music kind of stopped in the last two years with the world-wide economic malaise finally impacting on what appeared to be the impregnable wall around the series.
Now Formula One has its’ own car count problem with three teams, Arrows, Minardi and Jordan on the endangered species list. Also, Formula 3000, the traditional feeder series appears ready to implode.
Somehow, someway CART and Formula One have something to offer the other. The last thing I could learn from Bernie was that CART would not be reduced to a farm team for Formula One, but he did leave the door open. “I haven’t had a chance to look for synergies” as it affects F3000 and CART.
To be fair, in the last few days, Ecclestone was working on a plan to make Formula One more competitive itself.
At this point I’m totally clueless on what is going down, but Chris is smiling and Bernie sounded confident.
Whatever is coming, it’s going to be big.