Was Champ Car sold to Boy George...

[mueber]

This kind of relates to a discussion I am involved in on another forum:

Given the number of Gomerville related articles on the front page of the Champ Car World Series web site lately, I'm curious. Who the @!$* is running the marketing? Surely, they can find something better to send the money on than touting someone else's series.

At least they could get rid of “living the ‘60s” types like Robin Miller and hire some one to write positive articles about what is happening in Champ Car.

[racer2c]

I just noticed that when you click on the Ford emblem inside the Champ Car logo on their front page, it takes you to Ford.com. Clever.

[DagoFast]

Mueber, it's May and all the 'ol timers have an outbreak of Findyitis.

The center for disease control reports there is a 3 prong attack;
1. Old gomers are dying off.
2. There are very few cases of young people getting infected.
3. Ftg is doing his damndest to eradicate the virus at it's source.

Hang in there! :)

[FRANKY]

Mueber, it's May and all the 'ol timers have an outbreak of Findyitis.

The center for disease control reports there is a 3 prong attack;
1. Old gomers are dying off.
2. There are very few cases of young people getting infected.
3. Ftg is doing his damndest to eradicate the virus at it's source.

Hang in there! :)

"I tried very hard the past two years to make this race and now we're finally here and it feels great," said Bourdais"

Seems like Robin is just pumping up the 500 for Champ Car and Bourdais fans.

[Andrew Longman]

I have no problem with the 500. It used to be a biggest racing event of the year. You couldn't go to a memorial day BBQ without people talking about who won, who was hurt, or worse. It's a shadow of its former self, but they've been doing it for 89 years.

As much as I despise TG and what he's done to OW racing the last ten years, if and when his IRL goes bust (and I think its more a matter of when), it would be great for sponsors and fans of CCWS if there was still some sort of I500 to go back to.

That doesn't make me Indycentric or infected with Indyitis. It still is just one race on the schedule, but it is likely to be a bigger and more important race to the series than anything they can schedule in Bejing, Argentina, Brazil, RA or MO (not that there is anything wrong with those sites).

If it never happens, I'm OK and CCWS can thrive anyway. But you'd have to be pretty stubborn not to admit that fans and sponsors would be less confused, the series much easier to market, and the series generally much more healthy if TG was just a track owner and I500 was a race on the CCWS schedule.

So why does the CCWS site feature the I500 on their site? You's have to ask them, but its May and that's what the public is going to talk about anyway (though fewer every year). CCWS might as well keep themselves relevant to the only IRL property that has any value to them (even if it is only to reclaim their rightful history)

[dando]

Given the number of Gomerville related articles on the front page of the Champ Car World Series web site lately, I'm curious. Who the @!$* is running the marketing? Surely, they can find something better to send the money on than touting someone else's series.


Market what? We're in the midst of 6 weeks w/o real racing. :flame: Albeit Imola helped some. WTF do we hafta endure these doldrums after the opening race teaser each and every year??? :mad:

-Kevin

[Jervis Tetch 1]

Your guess is as good as mine.

[nrc]

So why does the CCWS site feature the I500 on their site? You's have to ask them, but its May and that's what the public is going to talk about anyway (though fewer every year). CCWS might as well keep themselves relevant to the only IRL property that has any value to them (even if it is only to reclaim their rightful history)

After another slew of IRL 500 related stories, all I can figure is that they've decided to promote their drivers whatever they're doing. So Seabass got big PR for the IROC win and he and Junky will get PR for their IRL 500 run.

[2DB]

Robin, the way I read it, is just reporting on a CCWS driver that is racing, which is his passion, at a track that he has always wanted to try. I don't think that bashing Robin for an article that is clearly about a driver and his love of racing, considering there are no conflicting races, is bad for CCWS.
I reviewed the piece and I did not see any praise for the IRL nor any bad words about CCWS. The author wrote a report about a CCWS driver, I thought, I don't think there were any subliminal messages I missed!

Kelvis

[Napoleon]

"I tried very hard the past two years to make this race and now we're finally here and it feels great," said Bourdais"

Seems like Robin is just pumping up the 500 for Champ Car and Bourdais fans.

Todays Cleveland Plain Dealer has a picture of Bourdais which identifies him as an IRL driver.

[cameraman]

Todays Cleveland Plain Dealer has a picture of Bourdais which identifies him as an IRL driver.

Ya think the paper is going to get a few emails :rolleyes:

[SurfaceUnits]

The only confused fans are the gomers trying to keep up with and spin the daily Re-Vision :gomer:

[G.]

Todays Cleveland Plain Dealer has a picture of Bourdais which identifies him as an IRL driver.He is an earl driver for part of the month that rhymes with "spay".

[mueber]

Todays Cleveland Plain Dealer has a picture of Bourdais which identifies him as an IRL driver.

That marketing program, which amounts to "Fat Carl is going to Gomerville so let's try to lessen the damage by putting articles written by the Gomerville obsessed Robin Miller on our web site" is working like a charm.

There is a reason you don't see articles about the IHRA on the NHRA web site. There is reason you don't see articles about USAC sprint cars on the World of Outlaws web site. There is a reason you don't see articles about GrandAm on the ALMS web site. And it is the reason why you should not see articles about the IRL on the Champ Car web site. It is free advertising for the competition.

But it is more than that. Until the management of Champ Car gets over ITS Gomverville obsession, they won’t be fully focused on developing their series, serving their fans, promoting their drivers, and developing their sponsors and suppliers.

[Steve99]

Seems like it is about time for another "reunification" rumor to start up. Who will start it this time?

[cameraman]

People on Champ Car forums have complained for years about the anonymous drivers in the CCWS. "People don't watch Champ Car because they have never heard of any of the drivers", that has been on this board about a thousand times.

Well it seems to me that Paul Newman is out to fix that problem. Bourdais is a highly skilled driver who is up for racing anything with four wheels. Newman is using that skill to make Bourdais a known quantity to people outside of Champ Car. He is out to create a fanbase for Bourdais among people who are not currently watching Champ Car. If they get interested in Bourdais then they will want to see him race and where might that be 16 times a year?

Champ Car needs to get on the radar screen. It needs to prove that is has the best drivers. It needs to attract people who are not currently watching open wheel racing. Running Bourdais in everything that has wheels will help to do that. The folks running Champ Car see this and they are publicizing Bourdais doing this and Bourdais doing that. IROC, Grand Am (well if they had kept the car on the track it would have helped) and the Indy 500 are all being used to build a fan base for a Champ Car driver.

The people who are obsessed with FTG only see that he is running in FTG's back yard and they only view it thru the filter of it's possible effect on FTG's finances. Who ****ing cares? Champ Car will get far more mileage out of this than FTG will. The folks currently running CCWS are not morons.

[DagoFast]

That marketing program, which amounts to "Fat Carl is going to Gomerville so let's try to lessen the damage by putting articles written by the Gomerville obsessed Robin Miller on our web site" is working like a charm.

There is a reason you don't see articles about the IHRA on the NHRA web site. There is reason you don't see articles about USAC sprint cars on the World of Outlaws web site. There is a reason you don't see articles about GrandAm on the ALMS web site. And it is the reason why you should not see articles about the IRL on the Champ Car web site. It is free advertising for the competition.

But it is more than that. Until the management of Champ Car gets over ITS Gomverville obsession, they won’t be fully focused on developing their series, serving their fans, promoting their drivers, and developing their sponsors and suppliers.

You are absolultly correct Mueber. My first response was a glib joke because every year this kinda stuff pisses me off too, and making fun of 'em is about all I can do.

OWRS should have a race (or 2) in May. They should fine teams who get findyitis. And you are dead on about the no-no of giving your competitor free advertising on your own website.

It's too bad the old group of owners were'nt as dedicated to the series as the fans are. And you are correct to worry what the he77 the new owners are doing. You deserve bonus points for pointing it out AND being from indyanner! :)

[FRANKY]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

http://www.barkers-int.co.uk/images/shootft.jpg


I just don't know. I think the worse thing would be if Junky or Seabass wins. They going to announce the winner of the Indy 500 at every Champ Car race and every TV interview throughout the year? 500 focus means blurred focus on Champ Car.

[Racing Truth]

Seems like it is about time for another "reunification" rumor to start up. Who will start it this time?

The afore-mentioned Miller, perhaps? Frankly, if there ever were/are (I still suspect there IS something there) serious talks, I wish Miller, et al, would STFU until something really happens.

[mueber]

Todays Cleveland Plain Dealer has a picture of Bourdais which identifies him as an IRL driver.

Local evening paper did the same thing today. The article did discuss his Champ Car career.

[tantra]

I venture to say that I probably spent more Memorial Day weekends attending the I500 (prior to 1996) than most posters here have spent breathing air.

BUT.......mueber is right, the new owners are getting sucked into the same old pile of sheet, and even if Seb or Bruno win the thing, CCWS will lose. Questions: When JPM won, did the stands at CART events fill or did our TV ratings go up?

What a sad state of affairs when most Americans (and even the race fans I've met in Europe) think the I500 is the only meanful OW race in this country.

BTW, many Europeas I've talked to don't realize and/or don't consider a significant thing that the F1 circus makes a stop in Indy as it rattles about the globe.

[RTKar]

BUT.......mueber is right, the new owners are getting sucked into the same old pile of sheet, and even if Seb or Bruno win the thing, CCWS will lose. Questions: When JPM won, did the stands at CART events fill or did our TV ratings go up?

What a sad state of affairs when most Americans (and even the race fans I've met in Europe) think the I500 is the only meanful OW race in this country.



Face it. Open wheel racing is in a world of hurt. Champcar, or the earl for that matter, could race on the rings of Saturn and TV ratings would be abysmal. Unless something drastic happens soon and sponsorship along with TV ratings increase, we won't have to worry about gaps in the schedule, the split or race venues. IMS should have been ignored day one when tg opened his ignorant fat trap. Why a Champcar team would race their after Tracy was screwed is beyond me.

[Andrew Longman]

I venture to say that I probably spent more Memorial Day weekends attending the I500 (prior to 1996) than most posters here have spent breathing air.

BUT.......mueber is right, the new owners are getting sucked into the same old pile of sheet, and even if Seb or Bruno win the thing, CCWS will lose. Questions: When JPM won, did the stands at CART events fill or did our TV ratings go up?

What a sad state of affairs when most Americans (and even the race fans I've met in Europe) think the I500 is the only meanful OW race in this country.

BTW, many Europeas I've talked to don't realize and/or don't consider a significant thing that the F1 circus makes a stop in Indy as it rattles about the globe.

My experience is a bit different. Most Europeans I come in conatct with forget about the I500 completely. When we talk about doing a race together they talk about doing the USGP in "where is it again, Indiana?". And I say forget that, let's do the Canadian GP, to which they are puzzled why I wouldn't want to do my own counrty's GP. All I have to say is the track sucks and they immediately agree.

But Tantra, as you said, most Americans think the I500 is the only meaningful OW race in America... and therefore so it is. It is become less so all the time and other events get locals excited, but big chuncks of the country isn't talking on a given Monday morning about how Seebass or Kanaan finished the day before (as they do for Dale Jr).

So there you are. OWRS would be better off with IMS on the schedule. TG would be better off with one healthy international series that rolls into town in May. OW racing in NA would be better if TG would stick to running his track. All sorts of people have tried to make it happen.

10 years, I'm still holding my breath.

[Robstar]

I just noticed that when you click on the Ford emblem inside the Champ Car logo on their front page, it takes you to Ford.com. Clever.
:thumbup: