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View Full Version : Fernandez on Wind Tunnel tonight



IlliniRacer
03-15-04, 06:13 PM
Fernandez on Wind Tunnel (http://speedtv.com/features/552/)

I'll be interested to hear how his sponsors forced him into the IRL:shakehead

Racing Truth
03-15-04, 06:21 PM
Thanks. I'll be sure to watch.

We'll never fully know what happened, but I think it's a combination of HondaBucks (esp. since The Three Amigos poached ride-buyers that could have funded him), the unanswered elements from LB (car count, 2 TBA's, and, in his view, an insufficient TV package), and pressure, it appears from Q. State.

Lizzerd
03-15-04, 07:08 PM
I hope that traitor takes calls. From Mexico. Could be interesting.

Wally
03-15-04, 07:24 PM
tg already scripted him.......No se.......No se....

RTKar
03-15-04, 07:24 PM
I hope that traitor takes calls. From Mexico. Could be interesting.


And I hope they have a translator....or at least sub titles...

nz_climber
03-15-04, 07:29 PM
Let us know how it goes (since can't watch it downunder)

thanks :)

lone_groover
03-15-04, 07:31 PM
I ODIO the skinny, bug-eyed bastid.

I'm gonna find a few choice INSULTOS in case I get through.

:flame:

TedN
03-15-04, 08:03 PM
I hope that traitor takes calls. From Mexico. Could be interesting.

Given the sensitivity of this subject matter, I wouldn't be surprised if the interview is pre-taped.

Ted

TheDJ
03-15-04, 08:09 PM
Given the sensitivity of this subject matter, I wouldn't be surprised if the interview is pre-taped.

Ted

Oh please, give him a break, he was on live with us last night and even fielded a call from a die-hard CART fan... he was honest and said he wouldn't miss the interview just because of the uproar surrounding his announcement. That's just part of the job.

He'll be live... since I'm at work, I can't see it until the replay, but I'm sure he'll be just fine!


Crasher
www.SpeedFreaks.TV
The Mod Squad of Motorsports

JT265
03-15-04, 09:41 PM
What does it cost you to pay a "die-hard CART fan" to listen to you and your merry band anyway?

lone_groover
03-15-04, 09:44 PM
I'd rather go on a date with fourrunner before I'd sit through a SPIDFREEKS show.

:thumdown: :p

fourrunner
03-15-04, 10:06 PM
LMAO! :gomer:

I'd watch Windtunnel, but I'm not in the mood for Mexican tonite ! ;)

Or since Adrian has Money, is He Spanish?

jonovision_man
03-15-04, 11:32 PM
His story: he wasn't convinced that the new owners could pull it off, and wasn't comfortable spending millions with dubious chance of return. A pretty compelling arguement.

AF says Honda and TG aren't dumping any new money to him... but admits their existing relationship helped. (My opinion: they greased the wheels significantly, but I didn't expect him to admit it)

He's also complaining that the drivers with money were being poached...

"Champcar is in another period, it's not Champcar like we used to have". :(

jono

racer2c
03-15-04, 11:34 PM
His story: he wasn't convinced that the new owners could pull it off, and wasn't comfortable spending millions with dubious chance of return. A pretty compelling arguement.

AF says Honda and TG aren't dumping any new money to him... but admits their existing relationship helped. (My opinion: they greased the wheels significantly, but I didn't expect him to admit it)

He's also complaining that the drivers with money were being poached...

"Champcar is in another period, it's not Champcar like we used to have". :(

jono

And caller Steve asked him how taking Blood Money felt. :)

jonovision_man
03-15-04, 11:35 PM
And caller Steve asked him how taking Blood Money felt. :)

That was pretty funny... :)

"We're back with Adrian Fernadez who will be doing a whole lot of oval racing..." - DD has his moments...

jono

RTKar
03-15-04, 11:36 PM
He sounds both sincere and distraught at something he really didn't want to do but the uncertainty of the situation made him do it. He saw too many things recently that disturbed him; Carpentier without a ride, Tracy without a sponsor,lack of communication, not seeing a business plan, funded drivers being poached by money teams. He felt he was no longer able to run his team on a promise of "trust us" by the OWRS group. He went to Long Beach for answers and didn't get any.

(His comments are disturbing)

lone_groover
03-15-04, 11:40 PM
Deathboxes and crapwagons.


:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Dougrun
03-15-04, 11:40 PM
what a wanker! Some mom on the line complimenting him now asking what road course he wants TG to add. HELLO FOOLS.. WAKE UP! THE IRL WITH ROAD COURSES = CART. Just someone else in charge. Isn't adding road courses conceding that ovals suck and cant draw people?!?

champcarfan01
03-15-04, 11:44 PM
EVEN IF CART DIES THE IDIOT GRANDSONS VISION IS LOST FOREVER.

FTG

I CANT BELIEVE ITS COME TO THIS

FTG

VIVA LA WHATS LEFT OF MY GREAT SERIES.

F TG, F NASCAR

:flame: :flame:

jonovision_man
03-15-04, 11:44 PM
He sounds both sincere and distraught at something he really didn't want to do but the uncertainty of the situation made him do it. He saw too many things recently that disturbed him; Carpentier without a ride, Tracy without a sponsor,lack of communication, not seeing a business plan, funded drivers being poached by money teams. He felt he was no longer able to run his team on a promise of "trust us" by the OWRS group. He went to Long Beach for answers and didn't get any.

(His comments are disturbing)

Agreed... he sounds like he was VERY reluctant to make this decision.

He flat-out said:
- he doesn't like all-oval racing
- If he could add road races his priorities would be Mexico (which he conceeded would probably never happen), Australia (again, never happen) and LB.
- He is very disappointed not to be racing in Mexico.

He didn't do this because he wanted to, you can tell his preference would be to be part of a strong CART series, but he couldn't take that leap of faith to run Champcars when there were so many pieces missing.

He mentionned there's no tire contract, is this true??? Also he mentionned that the lack of Mexican TV deal made it very hard for him to land sponsors.

Sounds VERY ugly if he's being honest, and he seemed very sincere to me.

jono

Cam
03-15-04, 11:46 PM
I dunno..... I think there is Kool-Aid in that Coffee Cup...... :rolleyes:


He sounds both sincere and distraught at something he really didn't want to do but the uncertainty of the situation made him do it. He saw too many things recently that disturbed him; Carpentier without a ride, Tracy without a sponsor,lack of communication, not seeing a business plan, funded drivers being poached by money teams. He felt he was no longer able to run his team on a promise of "trust us" by the OWRS group. He went to Long Beach for answers and didn't get any.

(His comments are disturbing)

Winston Wolfe
03-15-04, 11:47 PM
Can you say DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS :eek: :rofl:

He looked spooked to say the least.

I love the last caller who actually said "crapwagons" on the air !!!

That was classic.

I actually feel some sympathy for Adrian, since if in fact "no one called him", and no one asked him for sponsor assistance, and he never met the new CEO, then he has some grounds for concerns.
BUT
Conversation is a TWO WAY STREET, Adrian.... Is your phone broken, or did your calling card from TELEMEX run out of credits. C'Mon, you can pick up the phone and call them just as well as they can call you.

He seemed VERY DEFENSIVE, and wanted to make sure that we knew that it was not his first decision, but turns out that it was his ONLY Decision, if he wanted to feel secure as a team owner and driver.

Still scary if half of what he says is true. No mexican TV contract, etc.

But I just want to see them race down shoreline and hear the turbo whine ONE MORE TIME !!!!

RaceGrrl
03-15-04, 11:47 PM
Adrian has become an expert whiner since he became a team owner. I'm not buying it. If he had all of these concerns, then he was being disingenous by showing up at Long Beach.

My guess: Someone waved a fistful of dollars at him and he bit.

lone_groover
03-15-04, 11:58 PM
He's not much of an actor, alright. But he'll get better as he treads the boards, in front of the footlights that illuminate his way to the bigger stage.

Break a leg, Adrian!

:p

JoeBob
03-16-04, 12:00 AM
I didn't see Wind Tunnel, but he had an interesting "letter to the fans" on his website: http://www.fernandezracing.net/English/News/2004/various/march14_04.htm

Lizzerd
03-16-04, 12:00 AM
He seemed to be backed in a corner and playing defense with every comment. "How long can I wait? How long can I wait?" Well, Adrian, you could at least have competed at LB first...

Off topic... Some guy called Despain about women in racing (as drivers). Despain replied with something like "I'd love to see more women in there beating the pants off the guys." Um... so would I, Dave...

Robstar
03-16-04, 12:03 AM
"I'd love to see more women in there beating the pants off the guys." Um... so would I, Dave...

:rofl: :rofl:

nissan gtp
03-16-04, 12:16 AM
He seemed to be backed in a corner and playing defense with every comment. "How long can I wait? How long can I wait?" Well, Adrian, you could at least have competed at LB first...
yep, exactamundo ....


Off topic... Some guy called Despain about women in racing (as drivers). Despain replied with something like "I'd love to see more women in there beating the pants off the guys." Um... so would I, Dave...
*redneck call of the month* LMAO :rofl:

JT265
03-16-04, 12:23 AM
Lotsa spin to go around.

I for one won't lose any sleep over a journeyman driver that I never had an interest in suddenly having a "yen" for the wild wonderful world of earl.

I'm still pissed at his Mickey the Chin like antics on the podium in Toronto when the rest of us knew that Jeff and Gary were still on the backstretch in a bad way.

KLang
03-16-04, 12:29 AM
I didn't watch the show.

I can't help wondering why Tecate pulled back so much on their sponsorship, assuming reports are correct. Perhaps because of lack of performance?????

dando
03-16-04, 12:56 AM
I didn't see Wind Tunnel, but he had an interesting "letter to the fans" on his website: http://www.fernandezracing.net/English/News/2004/various/march14_04.htm
First, he should get his facts straight. Penske was long gone to the EARL by 11/02. Second, he professes his support of C^RT with his feet firmly planted on both sides of the fence. :shakehead

His letter and interview seems like a bunch of excuse making to me. Supposedly he was in LB for all of two hours. What the heck did he expect to learn in that short of a time period that he couldn't have found out by picking up the phone? How did the future of CCWS appear any more certain back in January than it does today? Did he forget his comments about a single, unified series after the judge's decision? :shakehead

In short, I'm sure Honder and TG made it worth his while to bail on CCWS.

-Kevin

Willam
03-16-04, 01:20 AM
Yes it stinks that AF is gone, No I won't watch and IRL race. But even if Adrian is half right about OWRS not having an engine and a tire deal, about the attitude of the new owners (Forsythe may have "saved" CART, but in my mind what he did to Carpentier is completely unforgivable) and about the schedule, it will turn me completely off OWRS too. I guess time will tell, but whether you like to admit it we're even worse than when CART was bankrupt, IRL is complete and utter crap, and by the looks of it OWRS is headed into a nosedive. You can say FAF or wait until Long Beach or whatever, but it's pretty gloomy right now...I guess I'll just watch F-1 and WRC for now.

Oldtimer
03-16-04, 02:37 AM
First time poster. Hello all!

Adrian's interview on Speed seemed sincere and honest and for the most part, straight forward. He pointed to several reasons as to why he had to make a decision to jump ship. Most here feel that TG and Honda made a significant contribution to the Fernandez Racing bank account. Adrian's comments about this issue makes sense. He didn't dance around the question, he gave his reasons and addressed why that wouldn't make sense.

The biggest problem he pointed out was the fact that OWRS didn't provide support for the teams. In fact, they took ride buying drivers away from the teams that needed it the most. His list of reasons goes on...

PT with no sponsership other than Forsythe Racing.
Patrick farmed out to a team that so far, dosen't exist.
Lavin, a ride buyer to Forsythe.

No contract with Ford.
No contract with Bridgestone.
No contract with Spike

Incomplete race schedule.

No confirmed 16 - 18 teams.

Teams are left to their own devices to "sell" the series to potential sponsers with no support form the OWRS management team.

As said in a previous post. It is what it is....

Dr. Corkski
03-16-04, 05:09 AM
Since it costs about $2mil to run a barebones, I figure about 500 members here can easily fork out the required $4000 a piece to buy AF's car and run it in there. A rich ride-buying wanker would probably lower that figure but it's rather hard to pry one loose from the OWRS group. Since JT has run a team before you can just send your money to him, and $4000 should be a piece of cake if a journeyman wanker like AF is be able to find 1000 times that every year.

Jag_Warrior
03-16-04, 09:06 AM
I see someone left the door open again. :shakehead

cart7
03-16-04, 09:47 AM
I've always been neutral on AF, never a fan nor did I dislike him either. I know he was good for Cart as a strong Mexican ambassador. Looking at it from the business side, I find it bothersome that Adrian came to LB looking for answers to begin with. Why was the OWRS group not in contact with team owners to keep them abreast of whats going on with the direction and particulars of the series? To then come to LB and find a lot of announcements coming up lacking not to mention the apparent driver poaching by the new series owners must have been real disturbing.

How would you, as a team owner, try and sell a potential sponsor on supporting your team without being able to provide even the most minute of details (venues, TV schedule, series sponsors, dates, etc. )??

Sorry, I can't blame Adrian for taking the direction he went. Knowing the guy is 40 and now facing running high-speed ovals most of the season can't be comforting to him. I wonder how long before he bails out of the seat ala Andretti and runs the team only?

KLang
03-16-04, 09:59 AM
Regarding the poaching rumors, a quote from Adrians website:


We were not approached or had any type of plans to run Rodolfo Lavin, Roberto Gonzalez, etc. So rumors to that effect that we are mad because someone stole a driver from us are completely false.

Link (http://www.fernandezracing.net/English/index_e.html)

I don't believe some of what he's said so I'm not sure about this quote either.

Whining about not hearing from the new owners doesn't cut it with me. He is in charge of his own organization and it should be his responsibility to seek out the answers if he has questions. And it should have been done before showing up at Long Beach.

Insomniac
03-16-04, 10:21 AM
First time poster. Hello all!

Adrian's interview on Speed seemed sincere and honest and for the most part, straight forward. He pointed to several reasons as to why he had to make a decision to jump ship. Most here feel that TG and Honda made a significant contribution to the Fernandez Racing bank account. Adrian's comments about this issue makes sense. He didn't dance around the question, he gave his reasons and addressed why that wouldn't make sense.

The biggest problem he pointed out was the fact that OWRS didn't provide support for the teams. In fact, they took ride buying drivers away from the teams that needed it the most. His list of reasons goes on...

PT with no sponsership other than Forsythe Racing.
Patrick farmed out to a team that so far, dosen't exist.
Lavin, a ride buyer to Forsythe.

No contract with Ford.
No contract with Bridgestone.
No contract with Spike

Incomplete race schedule.

No confirmed 16 - 18 teams.

Teams are left to their own devices to "sell" the series to potential sponsers with no support form the OWRS management team.

As said in a previous post. It is what it is....

We have a deal with Spike TV and HDNet.
The race schedule has 14 races and 2 TBAs
They had 13 confirmed until AF dropped out. 3 away from 16 with 5 weeks until LB.
If OWRS could help them find sponsorship, don't you think PT would have sponsorship?

I've said it before, if the choice was AF and a ride buyer and only PT at Forsythe or PT and a ride buyer, then the smart move was the first since they need cars. But now AF himself is saying it wasn't that so what was it? I don't have any info on Ford or Bridgestone, but they signed on late last season too.

KLang
03-16-04, 10:32 AM
I don't have any info on Ford or Bridgestone, but they signed on late last season too.

They were on the schedule for Tuesday in Long Beach. I don't see anything on Champcar's website about what was said. Both have publicly stated they are supporting the series. I would think Ford and Bridgestone would be the least of anyone's worries.

robot9000
03-16-04, 10:35 AM
Hey all, first time poster (7G refugee...)

I think AF is a whiner of the 1st order. And he has been that way for 3+ years now. To whit:

"Then we found out about all the deals in the background – a recognizable race winning driver with a contract but no ride who was told this at the last possible moment; sanctioning body owners talking with funded drivers who were also negotiating with other race teams. And, just to set the record straight, this had nothing to do with us. We were not approached or had any type of plans to run Rodolfo Lavin, Roberto Gonzalez, etc. So rumors to that effect that we are mad because someone stole a driver from us are completely false."


THEN WHY BRING IT UP IF YOU AREN'T JUST DOING IT TO BAD MOUTH OWR?

They announced the Spike TV deal, Ford has said publicly they are on board for weeks, same with bridgstone!

Typicall politics - throw enough xxxx on the wall and some people will believe it sticks.

JoeBob
03-16-04, 11:35 AM
I'm still pissed at his Mickey the Chin like antics on the podium in Toronto when the rest of us knew that Jeff and Gary were still on the backstretch in a bad way.

Agreed.

mueber
03-16-04, 01:08 PM
I didn’t watch the interview because once they leave CART I don’t care what they do, but…poaching ride buying drivers from unfunded teams is pretty harsh, I'd like hear from the principals about that.

I understand that Forsythe and Kalkoven are gonna have to put their own money into this series to make it work, but I just don’t see taking money from other teams. Not the way to make friends. As for the Carpentier thing, isn't Forsythe obligated to find him a ride?

Does it justify doing business with Boy George? In my view nothing does, and nothing will change that. But let's be frank here, if Paul Newman shows up at Gomervile this May, there won't be anyone in open wheeled auto racing worth admiring.

Wolverine
03-16-04, 02:34 PM
Just someone else in charge.

And that's the whole point - and it has been the whole point since 1994.

racer2c
03-16-04, 02:45 PM
I didn’t watch the interview because once they leave CART I don’t care what they do, but…poaching ride buying drivers from unfunded teams is pretty harsh, I'd like hear from the principals about that.



Didn't GF make a very small comment on this last Saturday saying that Lavin and Corona came to him?

Racing Truth
03-16-04, 02:46 PM
I've always been neutral on AF, never a fan nor did I dislike him either. I know he was good for Cart as a strong Mexican ambassador. Looking at it from the business side, I find it bothersome that Adrian came to LB looking for answers to begin with. Why was the OWRS group not in contact with team owners to keep them abreast of whats going on with the direction and particulars of the series? To then come to LB and find a lot of announcements coming up lacking not to mention the apparent driver poaching by the new series owners must have been real disturbing.

How would you, as a team owner, try and sell a potential sponsor on supporting your team without being able to provide even the most minute of details (venues, TV schedule, series sponsors, dates, etc. )??

Sorry, I can't blame Adrian for taking the direction he went. Knowing the guy is 40 and now facing running high-speed ovals most of the season can't be comforting to him. I wonder how long before he bails out of the seat ala Andretti and runs the team only?

Thank you.

Racing Truth
03-16-04, 03:40 PM
He sounds both sincere and distraught at something he really didn't want to do but the uncertainty of the situation made him do it. He saw too many things recently that disturbed him; Carpentier without a ride, Tracy without a sponsor,lack of communication, not seeing a business plan, funded drivers being poached by money teams. He felt he was no longer able to run his team on a promise of "trust us" by the OWRS group. He went to Long Beach for answers and didn't get any.

(His comments are disturbing)

Yep. Apparently, AF was far too logical and sincere for some here. Maybe I'm naive, but I believed the guy.

Riddle me this: If HondaBucks was the main factor, why didn't he just bolt earlier? At this point, for what its worth, he has no reasonable chance at the IRL title. If this was planned, he sure did a horrible job on the timing.

racer2c
03-16-04, 03:51 PM
Any word on who AF is selling his ChampCar too? That is if he sells it.

pchall
03-16-04, 04:36 PM
Oh please, give him a break, he was on live with us last night and even fielded a call from a die-hard CART fan... he was honest and said he wouldn't miss the interview just because of the uproar surrounding his announcement. That's just part of the job.

He'll be live... since I'm at work, I can't see it until the replay, but I'm sure he'll be just fine!


Crasher
www.SpeedFreaks.TV
The Mod Squad of Motorsports


Haven't you taken the hint and left yet?

TheDJ
03-16-04, 05:06 PM
Haven't you taken the hint and left yet?

Now why would I want to do that, pchall. Some here may think I'm Indycentric, but hell everyone is entitled to their opinions.

I could give a crap what you think. Our show is kickin' a ton of ass and we provide racing fans from all disciplines in motorsports something they won't hear anywhere else... the true personalities, exclusive stories, humor and diversification... with regard to open wheel, we cover CART and IRL evenly... just some of you will never "Get it" and only read or listen to what you want to.

I'm not doing anything wrong by posting here... when I do it's usually to let you all know where you can hear your favorite drivers - and if you have the cajones, you can call in and ask them questions yourself. Should you, the fans, be made aware where you can see and hear your favs? Of course.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Crasher

lone_groover
03-16-04, 05:15 PM
Yeah pchall! That's no way to treat a shill!

BTW, if you don't have the cajones(sic), wait 'til next week, IKEA is having a spring sale.

:gomer: :p :gomer:

Ed_Severson
03-16-04, 05:15 PM
"Our show is kickin' a ton of ass"

Your show is a ton of ass.

Go pimp it elsewhere. You aren't fooling anybody here.

Don Quixote
03-16-04, 05:24 PM
So I learned that speedfreaks covers the IRL and CCWS evenly ( :rolleyes: ), and they do so with humor ( :rolleyes: ) and they kick ass ( :rolleyes: ). :laugh:

Wheel-Nut
03-16-04, 05:30 PM
So I learned that speedfreaks covers the IRL and CCWS evenly ( :rolleyes: ), and they do so with humor ( ) and they kick ass ( :rolleyes: ). :laugh:


and cajones will be on sale at IKEA next week!! :rofl:

Sean O'Gorman
03-16-04, 06:03 PM
Now why would I want to do that, pchall. Some here may think I'm Indycentric, but hell everyone is entitled to their opinions.

I could give a crap what you think. Our show is kickin' a ton of ass and we provide racing fans from all disciplines in motorsports something they won't hear anywhere else... the true personalities, exclusive stories, humor and diversification... with regard to open wheel, we cover CART and IRL evenly... just some of you will never "Get it" and only read or listen to what you want to.

I'm not doing anything wrong by posting here... when I do it's usually to let you all know where you can hear your favorite drivers - and if you have the cajones, you can call in and ask them questions yourself. Should you, the fans, be made aware where you can see and hear your favs? Of course.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Crasher

5

JT265
03-16-04, 06:30 PM
Corkski said:
Since it costs about $2mil to run a barebones, I figure about 500 members here can easily fork out the required $4000 a piece to buy AF's car and run it in there. A rich ride-buying wanker would probably lower that figure but it's rather hard to pry one loose from the OWRS group. Since JT has run a team before you can just send your money to him, and $4000 should be a piece of cake if a journeyman wanker like AF is be able to find 1000 times that every year.

We might be able to pull that off with one of those sweet Reynard leases outta Forsythe and very limited testing, but can you and Ank get along all season engineering the deal?

:)

PS: I'm in western Canada hunting up old motor homes and discount macaroni. Let me know. :D

Spicoli
03-16-04, 06:31 PM
Now why would I want to do that, pchall. Some here may think I'm Indycentric, but hell everyone is entitled to their opinions.

I could give a crap what you think. Our show is kickin' a ton of ass and we provide racing fans from all disciplines in motorsports something they won't hear anywhere else... the true personalities, exclusive stories, humor and diversification... with regard to open wheel, we cover CART and IRL evenly... just some of you will never "Get it" and only read or listen to what you want to.

I'm not doing anything wrong by posting here... when I do it's usually to let you all know where you can hear your favorite drivers - and if you have the cajones, you can call in and ask them questions yourself. Should you, the fans, be made aware where you can see and hear your favs? Of course.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Crasher

Dood - your show sucks.

Hard Driver
03-16-04, 06:33 PM
Adrian was just trying to set the record strait. I respect him for that. All of you can bash him, but it is not your millions of dollars at risk.

So ask yourselves honestly, if you had a couple million dollars, would you use it to buy a Champcar team?

KLang
03-16-04, 06:37 PM
So ask yourselves honestly, if you had a couple million dollars, would you use it to buy a Champcar team?

In a heartbeat! :)

FRANKY
03-16-04, 06:45 PM
Adrian was just trying to set the record strait. I respect him for that. All of you can bash him, but it is not your millions of dollars at risk.

So ask yourselves honestly, if you had a couple million dollars, would you use it to buy a Champcar team?

I don't want to agree, but I do. Maybe there were to many trust me conversations. I think we all thought the LB rollout was an 18 car one, I sure as heck thought so. I just finished watching the tape of Fernandez on Windbag that a coworker brought in for me. It looks like his was a last minute decision based on LB, and that leads me to think it was more about less faith than about more Honda. Pity.

Spicoli
03-16-04, 06:47 PM
Adrian was just trying to set the record strait. I respect him for that. All of you can bash him, but it is not your millions of dollars at risk.

So ask yourselves honestly, if you had a couple million dollars, would you use it to buy a Champcar team?

AF had the $4mill deal fom honda signed Friday before LB. He then tried to extort KK. Later.


Btw - yes I would buy a ChampCar team. :D

FRANKY
03-16-04, 06:50 PM
AF had the $4mill deal fom honda signed Friday before LB. He then tried to extort KK. Later.


Btw - yes I would buy a ChampCar team. :D

Why show up then? Just to "extort" KK? For how much?

RTKar
03-16-04, 07:20 PM
Yep. Apparently, AF was far too logical and sincere for some here. Maybe I'm naive, but I believed the guy.

Riddle me this: If HondaBucks was the main factor, why didn't he just bolt earlier? At this point, for what its worth, he has no reasonable chance at the IRL title. If this was planned, he sure did a horrible job on the timing.


Also, as he stated, he won't be racing in his home country in two races he helped develop. Races, that a Mexican driver and team owner, would most likely want to be at to showcase his team to potential Mexican sponsors. I think Adrian the team owner made the decision for the sake of his employees, not Adrian the driver. I give him credit for appearing on TV and explaining himself and the situation as he sees it.

JohnHKart
03-16-04, 07:44 PM
Lotsa spin to go around.

I for one won't lose any sleep over a journeyman driver that I never had an interest in suddenly having a "yen" for the wild wonderful world of earl.

I'm still pissed at his Mickey the Chin like antics on the podium in Toronto when the rest of us knew that Jeff and Gary were still on the backstretch in a bad way.

This has been addressed before....He didn't know it....when they show Steve Horne and his wife they also don't know anything.....they say to the camera"we just hope everybody's ok". Ok?????? Sheesh isn't it obvious they don't know? When Senna died....I believe Schuey also celebrated his win...because nobody had been told anything. I have an AF poster....at my old place I'm clearing out it has him celebrating on that podium I always see that and shake my head, but it wasn't his fault.

JH

Spicoli
03-16-04, 08:01 PM
Why show up then? Just to "extort" KK? For how much?

He wanted 2 mill to stay in champcar - saying he "lost sponsorship dollars" (in that amount) b/c of the late sched, uncertainty, TV package, etc.

I have no prollem with AF going to EARL. If that's where he needs to be, then go. Watch your back.

My prollem is him attempting to extort KK, and having the Honda deal already in place.

scum.

ChampcarShark
03-16-04, 08:04 PM
hummmmm, let me see if understand you guys.

cajones = drawers (according to babel translation)

So we are talking about having some furniture to watch the speedfreaks show. Very interesting.

Now back to topic, whatever Adiran says are just excuses to me. I am convinced he had the deal made with honda some time ago.

Besides, why in the world would a mexican sponsor request that a team changes operations to another series that do not race in the country you are from??? that is a good indication that Adrian is just looking for excuses.

Insomniac
03-16-04, 11:31 PM
As for the Carpentier thing, isn't Forsythe obligated to find him a ride?

He is only obligated to pay his salary. What he'll do is try and get someone to pay part of it to let him drive for them. And I'm sure if it comes down to it, give him out for free.

Insomniac
03-16-04, 11:35 PM
Adrian was just trying to set the record strait. I respect him for that. All of you can bash him, but it is not your millions of dollars at risk.

So ask yourselves honestly, if you had a couple million dollars, would you use it to buy a Champcar team?

If I didn't need it I would. Plus all the hot babes. :)

jonovision_man
03-17-04, 12:12 AM
Yep. Apparently, AF was far too logical and sincere for some here. Maybe I'm naive, but I believed the guy.

Riddle me this: If HondaBucks was the main factor, why didn't he just bolt earlier? At this point, for what its worth, he has no reasonable chance at the IRL title. If this was planned, he sure did a horrible job on the timing.

You're dangerously close to being labelled a troll... :)

I agree with you, but it's easier to believe that AF is a greedy TG loving Honda suck than to think that the wheels might be coming off OWRS/CCWS...

I believe AF, mostly, and hopefully this is enough of a wake-up call for KK (and PG) that the owners can't be taken for granted.

jono

RaceGrrl
03-17-04, 01:30 AM
I could give a crap what you think. Our show is kickin' a ton of ass and we provide racing fans from all disciplines in motorsports something they won't hear anywhere else... the true personalities, exclusive stories, humor and diversification... with regard to open wheel, we cover CART and IRL evenly... just some of you will never "Get it" and only read or listen to what you want to.

I'm not doing anything wrong by posting here... when I do it's usually to let you all know where you can hear your favorite drivers - and if you have the cajones, you can call in and ask them questions yourself. Should you, the fans, be made aware where you can see and hear your favs? Of course.

Nothing more, nothing less.


"Be sure to drink your Ovaltine." "Ovaltine?... A crummy commercial?"

Personally, I prefer not to have commercials like yours posted in the forums here. But since shameless self promotion is what you're into, why don't we all promote our own stuff. Did I mention that my dear friend Mariah is dancing with the Bellydance Superstars next Tuesday night? Be sure to watch for it. :rolleyes:

Willam
03-17-04, 01:36 AM
BTW, it's "cojones". "cajones" means drawers, not underwear but those found in your desk...and I'm guessing pretty much everyone in here has "cajones".

PS.- No one, and I do mean NO ONE, in a spanish speaking country uses the word "cojones", so a piece of advice to all you gringos, etc. If you don't want to be labeled, stop using it...please.

RaceGrrl
03-17-04, 01:38 AM
BTW, it's "cojones". "cajones" means drawers, not underwear but those found in your desk...and I'm guessing pretty much everyone in here has "cajones".

PS.- No one, and I do mean NO ONE, in a spanish speaking country uses the word "cojones", so a piece of advice to all you gringos, etc. If you don't want to be labeled, stop using it...please.

:laugh:

Is it okay if gomers use it?

JT265
03-17-04, 05:04 AM
Not to get into a pissing contest JHK, but if Steve Horne wasn't watching the monitors at the exact moment of the impact, he would have had no way of knowing, as it wasn't replayed. Adrian, on the other hand, had to thread his way thru the wreckage for at least two laps before the race was called, and the devestation at that corner suggested something that Tylenol couldn't cure. Enough for me at least to turn and walk away.

pfc_m_drake
03-17-04, 08:20 AM
Not to get into a pissing contest JHK, but if Steve Horne wasn't watching the monitors at the exact moment of the impact, he would have had no way of knowing, as it wasn't replayed. Adrian, on the other hand, had to thread his way thru the wreckage for at least two laps before the race was called, and the devestation at that corner suggested something that Tylenol couldn't cure. Enough for me at least to turn and walk away.
As I recall, the race was flagged checkered+red with 2 laps to go - on the same lap as the accident. That probably should have tipped everybody off that things were not so good - I know it did for me.

Unfortunately, Adrian had plenty of opportunity to learn to better deal with tragedy in his subsequent years in CART. Recall that it was debris from his accident at MIS in '98 that killed 3 spectators. He also won the race at Fontana in '99. I genuinely feel bad for him...seems like whenever things were going really bad he was in the center of it.

FRANKY
03-17-04, 12:34 PM
He wanted 2 mill to stay in champcar - saying he "lost sponsorship dollars" (in that amount) b/c of the late sched, uncertainty, TV package, etc.

I have no prollem with AF going to EARL. If that's where he needs to be, then go. Watch your back.

My prollem is him attempting to extort KK, and having the Honda deal already in place.

scum.

So if KK wrote him a check where would AF be racing this season?

Wally
03-17-04, 12:37 PM
A schlepping dj and tragedy in Toronto has taken this thread to the dumpster.... :shakehead

Fitti Fan
03-17-04, 02:55 PM
"Be sure to drink your Ovaltine." "Ovaltine?... A crummy commercial?"




LOL!!!! Too funny!! Don't ya just love that part?

Insomniac
03-17-04, 07:17 PM
So if KK wrote him a check where would AF be racing this season?

I'd hope in ChampCar. That'd suck if KK paid him to run in the IRL. ;)

JohnHKart
03-17-04, 08:45 PM
And with regards to the Speedfreaks show....I will probably not get a chance to listen to it ever.....because I prefer to watch my races on tape Sunday afternoon and later in the week so therefore I avoid shows like Speednews and anything else that's going to spoil the result such as Speedfreaks.

John

Spicoli
03-18-04, 10:43 AM
So if KK wrote him a check where would AF be racing this season?

:gomer:

You aren't serious, are you?

FRANKY
03-18-04, 11:43 AM
:gomer:

You aren't serious, are you?

Yes I am. You claim he had the Honda money before LB, but that he was hitting up KK for money to stay. So if he got $$$ from KK would he have stayed in Champ Cars? :gomer:

JLMannin
03-18-04, 01:01 PM
Yes I am. You claim he had the Honda money before LB, but that he was hitting up KK for money to stay. So if he got $$$ from KK would he have stayed in Champ Cars? :gomer:

Was Fernandez one of the teams that received insentive $$ last year? Maybe part of that , or prize money from the 03 season was what Fernandez was after. If I were the three amigos, I'd pay out that money at the end of the 04 season, pro-rated to the number of Champcar events raced. I would also deduct the $$ by the amount earned in prize money from any competing series.

Insomniac
03-18-04, 05:32 PM
Was Fernandez one of the teams that received insentive $$ last year? Maybe part of that , or prize money from the 03 season was what Fernandez was after. If I were the three amigos, I'd pay out that money at the end of the 04 season, pro-rated to the number of Champcar events raced. I would also deduct the $$ by the amount earned in prize money from any competing series.

Somewhere they said he was owed $2M from last year. But, OWRS isn't the place to get it, CART is.

JLMannin
03-19-04, 01:16 PM
Somewhere they said he was owed $2M from last year. But, OWRS isn't the place to get it, CART is.

I thought that part of the OWRS bid was to assume the liabilities CART had to the non-OWRS teams. I also thought that the OWRS principals were going to tie participation in Champcar in 2004 to getting this money. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Why pay owners with inditis to help kill off your own series?

Did AF want it up front so that he could add it to the Honda bucks and go-a-irl-ing?

Spicoli
03-19-04, 03:01 PM
Yes I am. You claim he had the Honda money before LB, but that he was hitting up KK for money to stay. So if he got $$$ from KK would he have stayed in Champ Cars? :gomer:

Yes, I do think AF wanted to stay in ChampCars, but it was how he did what he did, not what he did so much. KK, like Homoco, probably wanted him to get on one side of the fence or the other.

Homoco has been using the likes of AF & BR for years. Nothing is beneath them.

I think things like this are the root of this "impending lawsuit"....

Insomniac
03-19-04, 09:45 PM
I thought that part of the OWRS bid was to assume the liabilities CART had to the non-OWRS teams. I also thought that the OWRS principals were going to tie participation in Champcar in 2004 to getting this money. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Why pay owners with inditis to help kill off your own series?

Did AF want it up front so that he could add it to the Honda bucks and go-a-irl-ing?

I was thinking the liabilities they took on were the contracts and winnings to be paid out from thw 2003 season, not all of the debt. My understanding is the $2M he feels is owed is from the ESP II program last year.