Adrian GONE!!!!!

[rabbit]

Don't think so. :gomer: ;)
:o :laugh:

[jonovision_man]

If you want to take somebody to task, maybe it should be the OWRS for not keeping their fellow owners up to speed on exactly how they plan to field 18 cars by Long Beach.

Agreed... I thought it was just us fans in the dark, and that behind the scenes things were being handled. AF leaving demonstrates quite clearly that's not the case, and that PG and KK may have been taking some of the existing owners for granted.

Who would have thought a Mexican team/driver/sponsor would leave a series with two successful races in Mexico, for one with none??? He must have some very significant concerns... or there's something else going on that we don't know?

:thumdown: sucks :thumdown:

jono

[KLang]

or there's something else going on that we don't know


Some reports now say AF was expecting a handout from OWRS. They have said all along that wasn't going to happen.

[RTKar]

"The North (11 March 2004). - The decision of Adrián Fernandez to emigrate to the Indy Racing League will allow that their patrocinadores, at least Quaker State, have the opportunity to count on a better showcase, positioning and bounce in the market, recognized Arturo Romero, representative of the mark of lubricants for automobile. "


...so they're gunna run the 497.5 in Mexico twice this year? :shakehead

[nrc]

I wonder how this is playing among Mexican fans. Are they loyal to Adrian no matter what, or will they see this as a betrayal for abandoning the Mexican races?

[Ruben Barrios]

Adrian has lost a very considerable amount of his fan base with this.
He was loosing fanbase anyway, but this has accelerated it.

[JohnHKart]

After the intial, shock, it just makes me so angry that this desgraciado decided to run off and do this. And on top of that, the mini poster I had signed by all the drivers at the Preview has desgraciado's car smack dab in the center, representing Champ Car. So it's sitting on my computer desk and represented something positive and fun now it's sort of ruined it for me. FAF!

John

[Insomniac]

I have to confess that I've only seen the verbiage on one of these contracts once, and I don't remember which race it was for (though I think it might have been one of the Mexican races), but it went something like this:

CART (at the time) needs to demonstrate to the promoter/organizer of the event that there are X bona-fide entries by a certain date prior to the race (say X is 18 in this case).

If they cannot demonstrate that they have 18 bona-fide entries by that date, then they have an additional 7 days (in the case of this particular contract) to demonstrate that they have acquired the necessary entries to meet 18.

If they could demonstrate that there were 17 bona-fide entries, then CART was required to compensate the promoter in the sum of N thousand dollars US, and the race would continue to be scheduled with no further questions.

If CART could not demonstrate that there were at least 17 bona-fide entries, then the race could still continue at the promoter/organizer's discretion provided that additional compensation was forthcoming from CART.

So basically, no, I don't believe that the OWRS guys should simply call it quits...however at this point they may be planning on negotiating with the various promoters/organizers to run fewer than the required number of cars. The idea being that compensating the promoter for a small field would be cheaper than filling the grid out of pocket.

So actually yes, they can show up with fewer than 18 cars under these circumstances.

I've never seen a contract. I can only go by what Pook said last year. If what you say is right, I agree with you. Compensate them and race. My whole point is that I'm not ready to blame the new owners. I do blame AF. I wish he wouldn't have shown up and jumped ship earlier. And IMO, he could wait and see and decided not to. If they don't make it to LB, then AF was right. If they're one car short, then double FAF. If they do, he can come crawling back, but my new favorite Mexican driver is Super Mario. ;)

[Insomniac]

:saywhat:

Let me get this staight. Running in the earl is going to help them sell more Quaker State in Mexico?????????????

:shakehead

Don't forget the Mexican TV package!

[dando]

More insight into AF's defection:

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?id=1759718

Take it FWIW, but I wouldn't put it past Honder to pull a stunt like this, especially considering AF's record @ Motegi. Clarke's @ss must still be smarting over Toyoter's success there. I love Clarke's references to C^RT....dude, C^RT is gone. Perhaps this is his way avoiding the truth by mentioning C^RT rather than CCWS or Champ Car? :mad:

Reads like there is major musical chair action going on behind the scenes.

-Kevin

[racer2c]

More insight into AF's defection:

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?id=1759718

Take it FWIW, but I wouldn't put it past Honder to pull a stunt like this, especially considering AF's record @ Motegi. Clarke's @ss must still be smarting over Toyoter's success there. I love Clarke's references to C^RT....dude, C^RT is gone. Perhaps this is his way avoiding the truth by mentioning C^RT rather than CCWS or Champ Car? :mad:

Reads like there is major musical chair action going on behind the scenes.

-Kevin

Old habits are hard to break. Rahole keeps using CART also.

[Insomniac]

More insight into AF's defection:

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?id=1759718

Take it FWIW, but I wouldn't put it past Honder to pull a stunt like this, especially considering AF's record @ Motegi. Clarke's @ss must still be smarting over Toyoter's success there. I love Clarke's references to C^RT....dude, C^RT is gone. Perhaps this is his way avoiding the truth by mentioning C^RT rather than CCWS or Champ Car? :mad:

Reads like there is major musical chair action going on behind the scenes.

-Kevin

I wouldn't be down on the guy for using CART. They haven't done a very good job of putting that name behind them. Heck, even cart.com is the same site as ccws.com. It'll take some time before everyone adjusts.

[Racing Truth]

I've never seen a contract. I can only go by what Pook said last year. If what you say is right, I agree with you. Compensate them and race. My whole point is that I'm not ready to blame the new owners. I do blame AF. I wish he wouldn't have shown up and jumped ship earlier. And IMO, he could wait and see and decided not to. If they don't make it to LB, then AF was right. If they're one car short, then double FAF. If they do, he can come crawling back, but my new favorite Mexican driver is Super Mario. ;)

:Raises hand:

OK, if AF had the intention of screwing CCWS, then why did he PUBLICLY show support at LB? Sorry, but this is just plain silly.

Why did he leave, IMHO? Geez, where to start? Could it possibly be b/c The Three Amigos poached THREE ride buyers, inc. Speedy Gonzales, that could have financed AF's team? Could it be b/c there were two TBA's on the schedule? Could it be b/c he only saw 13, now 12, cars, with others "iffy?" Nah, those things could not POSSIBLY have been factors.

Sure, HondaBucks are involved. But AF only went there after the events of LB. He could easily have taken HondaBucks earlier, but he didn't. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be that he really planned on running in ChampCar?

[Spicoli]

:Raises hand:

OK, if AF had the intention of screwing CCWS, then why did he PUBLICLY show support at LB? Sorry, but this is just plain silly.

Why did he leave, IMHO? Geez, where to start? Could it possibly be b/c The Three Amigos poached THREE ride buyers, inc. Speedy Gonzales, that could have financed AF's team? Could it be b/c there were two TBA's on the schedule? Could it be b/c he only saw 13, now 12, cars, with others "iffy?" Nah, those things could not POSSIBLY have been factors.

Sure, HondaBucks are involved. But AF only went there after the events of LB. He could easily have taken HondaBucks earlier, but he didn't. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be that he really planned on running in ChampCar?

I have been told AF signed the Honda agreement before LBPreview. I was also told that he went there with his hand out and KK said no.

AF built a big new shop (real nice) and needs to pay for it. He hadn't gotten a DIME from any of his sponsors for his Champ effort. Sir Robert Clarke showed up "ye ole phat cheque".

the rest is history. If you wanna believe it was abvout poached Ride Buyers, go ahead.

[Insomniac]

:Raises hand:

OK, if AF had the intention of screwing CCWS, then why did he PUBLICLY show support at LB? Sorry, but this is just plain silly.

Why did he leave, IMHO? Geez, where to start? Could it possibly be b/c The Three Amigos poached THREE ride buyers, inc. Speedy Gonzales, that could have financed AF's team? Could it be b/c there were two TBA's on the schedule? Could it be b/c he only saw 13, now 12, cars, with others "iffy?" Nah, those things could not POSSIBLY have been factors.

Sure, HondaBucks are involved. But AF only went there after the events of LB. He could easily have taken HondaBucks earlier, but he didn't. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be that he really planned on running in ChampCar?

His reason was the uncertainty. My point is he could've waited and seen. Yes, he would miss Phoenix but if ChampCar is where he wanted to be, why not? It's not as if he would be banned from the IRL if we wasn't at Phoenix. He only added to the uncertainty.