St. Pete Postponed; Season Opener at LB

[Barton]

Aye, me home race just got pushed back...

INDIANAPOLIS (December 1, 2003) – The Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season will open with the 21st running of the Champ Cars at the Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2004 after CART and race promoter Dover Motorsports Inc. announced the postponement Monday of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.



The second running of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was to open the season on February 22nd, but the race was postponed, as the impending stockholder vote and possible change in ownership of the series limited the time that the teams would have to prepare for the 2004 Champ Car World Series season.



“There are many issues involved in the pending sale and privatization of the company, but chief among those is the fact that our teams need a certain amount of time to properly prepare themselves for a racing season,” said CART President and CEO Christopher R. Pook. “We looked at many options, including changing the St. Petersburg race date, but the onset of Major League Baseball Spring Training in Florida limits the available Spring dates. We will continue to work with the city of St. Petersburg to find an appropriate race date for the community in hopes of returning to St. Petersburg in 2004 and beyond.”



CART took steps to ensure the future of the event by acquiring the rights as well as all supporting safety equipment associated with the successful operation of the event from Dover Motorsports Inc, allowing CART to hold a race in St. Petersburg pending final approval by the city. CART Champ Car ran its first event on the streets of the South Florida city last year in an historic event that saw Sebastien Bourdais (#2 Lilly Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) become the first Champ Car driver ever to lead the opening lap of his Champ Car career. Series champion Paul Tracy (#3 Player’s/Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) would go on to win the race, the first of three consecutive victories to start the year.



The postponement means that the series’ marquee domestic event will kick off the Champ Car season, as the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will start the year on April 16-18. Over 200,000 fans attended last year’s event at the 1.968-mile street course and this year’s edition will mark the fourth time that Long Beach has served as the season opener (1984, 85, 87). Dover Motorsports Inc., who will also serve as the race promoter for the Long Beach event, announced that it will issue refunds to all fans that purchased tickets to the St. Petersburg race.



“While we regret that the Champ Car fans won’t get the opportunity to see the 2004 season begin in St. Petersburg, we are delighted to kick off a great year of racing with one of the most popular events on our schedule,” said Pook. “This will ensure that our teams have sufficient time to ready themselves for the 2004 campaign.”

[Barton]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031201/phm058_1.html

Dover Motorsports Subsidiary Assigns Rights to Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to CART
Monday December 1, 6:19 pm ET
February 2004 Event to be Rescheduled


DOVER, Del., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dover Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: DVD - News) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, Inc. ("Grand Prix"), has reached an agreement with CART, Inc. to transfer to CART certain assets and rights that Grand Prix has relative to the organization and promotion of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Grand Prix has a multi-year agreement with the City of St. Petersburg pursuant to which it is entitled to stage an annual auto racing event in and around the St. Petersburg waterfront. Grand Prix has assigned to CART its rights in its agreement with the City, subject to certain approvals. Economic terms were not disclosed. Neither Dover Motorsports nor Grand Prix will remain associated with the event.

The next St. Petersburg race was scheduled to be held February 22, 2004, but has been postponed due to scheduling concerns. CART intends to reschedule the event for later in the year, subject to reaching agreement with the City of St. Petersburg.

Grand Prix will provide refunds to patrons who purchased tickets in advance for the February event.

Dover Motorsports, Inc. is a leading promoter of motorsports events in the United States. Its motorsports subsidiaries operate six motorsports tracks (four permanent facilities and two temporary circuits) in five states and promote motorsports events under the auspices of four of the premier sanctioning bodies in motorsports - NASCAR, CART, IRL and NHRA. The Company owns and operates Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware; Nashville Superspeedway near Nashville, Tennessee; Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, Missouri; and Memphis Motorsports Park near Memphis, Tennessee. It also organizes and promotes the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in California and the Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver in Colorado.

[RTKar]

Saw it on CW. I'm torn between thinking this is a sound move considering the buyout and it's timing or a move with an underlying reason like an expected low car count for a race only a few months away. Hopefully the extra time until the season opener will allow the series and teams to gain some strength.

[Railbird]

Oh well, not a suprise I suppose.

canceling things as we speak

[Ziggy]

Well, on the bright side this takes care of the huge gap in the schedule. They have a gate for this race, and they wont turn their backs on it. Look for a new date later in the year.

Their making it up as they go along

Ziggy

PS - Bird, I got a King Taco ticket to go with my Texas round. Hang in there buddy!

[JoeBob]

Starting the season at Long Beach is a good thing. NASCAR starts with their biggest race, now CART can too.

[Warlock!]

At least the schedule will be tightened up. Not happy bout it tho...

Warlock!

[Ankf00]

this is getting annoyingly common :(

[Lizzerd]

It's painful to say that postponing the race is a good thing, but I guess I have to go along with the decision. Let's hope that it doesn't become contagious.

Does anybody know what kind of agreement or contract CART has with St. Pete? I heard or read somewhere that the weekend the race was scheduled was for some reason the only one available for most if not all of the rest of the year. Another nasty lawsuit is the last thing we need right now.

[rabbit]

http://www.gpstpete.com/


Ticket Refund Procedure

The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, scheduled to be held on February 22, 2004, along with all supporting and race related activities, has been cancelled. CART intends to work with the City of St. Petersburg on rescheduling the race later in the year, but Dover Motorsports will not be the promoter of that event.

As a result, all tickets purchased for the 2004 event will be refunded over the next several weeks. We expect to have all credit card refunds completed electronically by December 31, 2004. All cash and check payments should be processed and received by January 10, 2004. Checks will be made payable and mailed to the account holder at the address listed on the account.

We are extremely disappointed to make this announcement to you, the most committed and supportive fans who have already reserved your seats for the 2004 event. Dover Motorsports was committed to a February race date, but due to a variety of circumstances the February date became difficult to maintain.

We thank you for your support and will be processing refunds based on the schedule outlined above. If you need to speak with a customer service representative concerning your account, please call 888-34-SPEED. Ticket office hours are 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday. Doesn't look good. :thumdown:

[cart7]

Ugghh, this sucks. Finally, a decent street circuit and now it's cancelled. :shakehead