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Wednesday, August 1
CART's future is in jeopardy
By Robin Miller
ESPN.com

CART is in the epicenter of the Gloom & Doom Report these days. Two canceled races, a major caulk-up with its three engine manufacturers, suspicion about a new television contract, losing its best show at Michigan, a huge lack of racing knowledge in the front office, the implosion of the Indy Lights series, uncertainty about engine rules and an alarming number of empty seats at certain tracks have brought out the vultures.

From respected writers like Ed Hinton, who penned a brilliant evaluation of open wheel racing's plight in last Sunday's Chicago Tribune, to every "expert" on the Internet, the general theme is that the FedEx Championship has all but been fitted for a casket.


	CART is a major hit in big city street shows, but plays to only half-full houses at ovals, like Chicago Motor Speedway.

"There are so many good things about CART, I don't understand why people spend so much time running it down," said Anita Brack late last Sunday afternoon in Victory Lane as her hubby, Kenny, sprayed champagne.

Anita's observation is spot on in that there is no finer test of motorsports on this planet than champ cars and no organization with more snipers taking shots at it -- from the media to fans to its own members.

But what this lovely lady can't know is all the dimwitted decisions that were made before the Bracks came to CART in 2000. And all the ones it continues to make, which, in turn, makes it such an easy punching bag.

It's not a stretch to say if these major issues mentioned above aren't handled properly, it could be life or death for this series.

For now, CART's heart is still beating, it simply needs a frontal lobotomy.

So here's a common sense (not a term usually associated with open wheel racing these days) critique from someone who loves the competition, hates the politics and is very concerned with the future of his passion for the past five decades.

Does anybody speak the language?
Las Vegas Motor Speedway currently hosts a little driving exercise called CART 101. For a nominal fee, men and women can either drive this rough copy of a champ car at 140 mph or take a ride in a two-seater. The intent is to educate the general public on what exactly is CART racing.

For some reason this course hasn't been made mandatory to the current CART staff in Troy, Mich., but it certainly should be because many of them are very much in the dark about their product.

From CEO Joe Heitzler to new marketing director, Rich Henley, to promoter relations director, Rena Shanaman, to the senior vice president of racing operations, Tim Mayer, this group is a learning curve in progress.

Mayer is the son of longtime racing manager, Teddy, and nobody has been dazzled by his knowledge to this point, while Shanaman got into the sport in 1994 by putting together Mario Andretti's farewell tour and now, incredibly, she's the liaison between Hetizler and the promoters.

Henley had a successful run with a major cruise line and is thought to be pretty bright, but his experience with lifeboats may come in handy for the next several months while he learns about life in the deep end.

Naturally, Heitzler has come under the most fire since taking control last December. In typical style, a third of the car owners already want to get rid of him because I guess either they expected miracles in eight months or they're simply acting like the impetuous egomaniacs they are.

Truth be, 'ol Joe may be a world-class tap dancer, but he's spent most of his time trying to extricate CART from one public relations disaster after another. He inherited Brazil's political war, the Texas safety issue, International Speedway Corporation's ire and the embarrassing pop-off valve debacle. He showed some finesse in assuaging Honda, Ford and Toyota in last month's engine controversy.

What's made this situation even more difficult is that Heitzler has no racing savvy nor can he be expected to in such a short time. More importantly, he doesn't have anybody who can guide him through these land mines. He needs a right-hand man who knows the personalities and pitfalls of the CART paddock, in addition to a technical chief who understands the rules and daily problems of the fastest, most competitive and cutthroat circuit going.

Hiring from within is mandatory
Hal Whiteford didn't last very long as president of racing operations because he was in way over his head and not smart enough to know it. Mayer has no business making any racing decisions that don't involve pace cars.

Obviously, Heitzler isn't familiar enough with the teams to know if the right people for these two key jobs are in the CART paddock so he hired a head hunter to help find them. Trouble with that theory is that John Mengelt, an ex-Chicago Bull, is doing the hunting and he's virtually clueless about CART racing.

The good news for CART is Heitzler and Mengelt have asked some of CART's veteran team managers for a list of candidates. The bad news is that a couple of them have yet to be contacted.

Former owner Steve Horne would be perfect to run the racing end, but he wants no part of taking orders from men he's much smarter than in terms of racing. Roger Bailey turned down the job several times before he was unceremoniously dumped from Indy Lights last month. He would have been perfect.

Team Penske president Tim Cindric and Mike Hull, managing director of Target/Ganassi Racing, are both good candidates but nobody is saying whether they'd be interested.

On the technical side, Kirk Russell has run the show since CART's inception in 1979. Nobody questions his dedication, just his decisions over the years and it's way past time he was replaced. His wing packages have ruined the short ovals, he still has no longterm engine plan and his inept handling of the pop-off valve issue in June left Ford, Honda and Toyota threatening to bail. His rule book is referred to as the "Gray Book" by most mechanics because of all the vagueness.

Give Kirk another job, just not near the tech shed.

CART needs to take a page from NASCAR, Formula One and the Indy Racing League. They all have former mechanics (something Russell never was) as tech chiefs and all three do a nice job.

Kyle Moyer, who started in the early 1980s as a stooge and worked his way from lead mechanic to team manager for Team KOOL Green, is an obvious choice. Ditto for veterans Larry Ellert and Mitch Davis, both currently working in the IRL. CART already has a very clever electronics man in Jeff Horton.

These two hires will be the most critical of Heitzler's short history and he must understand if the racing director and technical chief don't have the respect of the competitors, they won't have a chance. And neither will he.

Are they in, out or bluffing?
CART's three engine manufacturers are the most important food group in the paddock because Ford, Honda and Toyota provide horsepower, promote the series on TV and in print and also sponsor races. In addition, Honda and Toyota are propping up a couple teams financially.

They've split up the 26 cars this year but they also appear very much divided on what they want to do down the road.

Toyota already announced it would build IRL engines starting in 2003 and stated it would continue to support both series if CART adopts a normally-aspirated engine rule like the IRL.

Honda has repeatedly said it's not interested in the low tech, rev-limiter motors of the IRL and Ford has been pretty coy on the subject, although it agrees the turbocharged engine's days are numbered.

Obviously, all three would like to compete at Indianapolis because that's still the largest spotlight for their prowess and at least exposure at Indy would help justify their enormous expense in CART. While Ford and Honda are already in Formula One and Toyota is joining next year, there's not much to brag about over there yet. Sports cars don't seem like a likely alternative either.

The bottom line is CART has allowed this trio to become dangerously powerful.

"If we lose those guys, we're toast," said one CART owner.

Things look stable through 2002 but, after that, it's anybody's guess on whether they'll stay or go.

TV, schedules and sponsors
The Kool-Aid drinkers who believe the IRL is soaring and CART is on life support need to examine some facts. And I'm not referring to CART's sweep of the top five places in this year's Indy 500.

Even in its free falling state, 22 of CART's 26 regular starters are sponsored and 20 of those are major companies. Half of the IRL's 22 regulars have no visible means of support and there are only a handful of sponsors (Pennzoil, Delphi, Coors, Harrah's) which can be considered big timers. CART sports owners who may not have a good grasp of what their series needs but they can afford to play at this level, while the IRL has a serious shortage of viable owners.

Neither series gets much in the way of TV ratings and the return of CART stalwarts Andretti and Team Penske to Indianapolis last May helped drive up that number for the first time since the split.

The IRL crowed about a sellout at Nashville (30,000) while CART bemoaned the same number at Chicago. CART is a major hit in big city street shows and a bust at ovals, while the IRL benefited in the grandstands after being sold as part of a NASCAR package at Kansas City, Kentucky and Chitown.

Ah, but the IRL has Indy and Tony George, who also brings along the Brickyard 400, and that's more than enough to lock up ABC, a CART partner for many years. CART has no such bargaining power and Heitzler has spent lots of frequent flyer miles looking for new networks. He hinted a few weeks ago that CBS, USA and ESPN were interested and TNT supposedly threw its cable in the ring last week.

Heitzler's detractors say he hasn't announced a TV package because he still doesn't have one, while Joe claims he wants to hear from all interested parties before signing on the dotted line.

Many of CART's sponsors are anxiously awaiting a TV package and some, like Miller Brewing Company, are thought to be on the fence on whether it's worth sticking around.

Yet KOOL, the last big name American company to really jump into CART ($50 million was committed to Barry Green for two cars and three years in 1998) is more concerned with the schedule than which network carries the races. Leaving Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania for more races in Mexico and Canada aren't appealing.

"Yes, I'm very concerned with CART's direction," said Bert Kremer, the marketing director for KOOL. "We don't care about more and more international races, we care about racing in the United States."

The sad dichotomy of CART is that its best races (the ovals plus Cleveland) are the worst crowds and the worst races draw huge turnouts at Long Beach, Toronto, Vancouver, Monterrey, Mexico and Australia. But, even though the oval crowds continue to dwindle at Chicago and Milwaukee, it's CART's diversity (superspeedways, short ovals, street circuits and road courses) that's given it a respected niche in worldwide motorsports.

Losing that identity would relegate CART to Formula One Lite.

Still angry about finding out CART was leaving its track at Homestead, Fla., on the Internet, ISC supposedly ended CART's 20-year partnership with Michigan International Speedway when George offered the IRL at a much lower price beginning in 2002.

True, there were only 40,000 spectators at CART's final Michigan 500 last month but, for the fourth straight year, it was a magnificent race that showcased the skill and technology of champ car racing. Losing Michigan and possibly going back to Detroit left many CART loyalists incensed and most of the teams distraught. Roger Penske is furious CART didn't put up much of a fight to save the oval he once owned.

But, with that Wall Street mentality, none of CART's old or new tracks are safe. Loyalty? Only to the almighty dollar.

That treacherous Bottom Line
The savvy and well-liked Bailey got canned for speaking the truth about the CART-owned Indy Lights dying on the vine because only one owner chose to support it this year. It's not fatal since the CART-owned Toyota Atlantic series is just as educational for future champ car drivers and it will continue.

But CART's lack of interest for its own feeder system is a classic example of its inherent problem. Everybody is concerned with his own turf and oblivious to the overall health of open wheel.

The owners don't seem to know what they want -- save for money and rising stock prices. Going public was the worst thing that ever happened to this group and just about every major decision is predicated on what's good for the shareholders -- not what's good for the race fan or the competition.

As for fans, CART is much more popular in Canada, Mexico and Brazil than it is in this country. Other than Michael Andretti, CART's lineup is nameless and faceless to most of the American public.

There are still a few CART bastions like Elkhart Lake, Mid-Ohio and Long Beach but, clearly, this most exciting series doesn't register with the general public or young people. Sadly, it's a secret.

In the next few weeks and months, CART cannot afford to make a mistake when it comes to management, rules and a game plan for the future. Sure, it's got enough successful events and good sponsors to keep plodding along but it can only hope to get back to where it was in 1995 with smarts.

Ideally, some day open wheel racing will be back under one roof but, with CART a publicly-traded company run by greed and George a Bill France wanna-be with more money than sense, that's not looking very promising.

And while both of these dysfunctional groups try to drive each other to destruction, NASCAR is miles down the road, counting money, playing to full houses, looking in the rear-view mirror and laughing. Uncontrollably.

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