Why the long wait?

[StuiE]

there is almost a month until longbeach WHY!!!!!!
i want CART!!

[macdaddy]

I hear ya! Every year they give us a taste and then leave us wanting for more! Good for daMatta though, as he's got five weeks to work off his hangover.

[StuiE]

[KC]

From what I understood, the Mexico city race was held very early and could not be held the two weeks before Long Beach. It is kind of a shame because it allows NASCAR and IRL to steal a march and get themselves on TV more consistently than CART.

[philneast]

I think it is on Mr Pook's "to do" list.

[Teacher]

I thought I read somewhere that the 2003 schedule will attempt to fix this problem.

[Lee Janotta]

I hope so. It's just lazy to have a break like this. You'd think with all this time off, some of the CART guys would show at Sebring. Oh well... Y'know, CART at Sebring on Sunday afternoon, after the 12 hours, could be a very enjoyable weekend. Or how about Sears Point, Road Atlanta, or Virginia? Any of those would make for a great race. It's too early in the year for Mosport or Lime Rock, sadly. Rio seems politically unfeasable, but how about Buenos Aires (running a sligtly different layout from the former F1 layout, with the big banked turn just before turning back onto the pit straight).

[Rob29]

B.Aires unlikely as country currently bankrupt. Next year they start in St.Petersburg in February,so month gaps between first 3 rounds.

[Lee Janotta]

I'd think that would encourage the Argentinian authorities even more. Without F1, they don't have a motorsports cash cow. The track's fine, doesn't need any real reworking. And Pook's set a trend with CART renting tracks to promote races themselves (much better system, IMO).

[knackaneal]

Originally posted by KC
From what I understood, the Mexico city race was held very early ...

Sorry to knit-pick Mate but we haven't had Mexico City yet ... presume you meant Monterrey with two "Rs"

Anyway this long, long gap between CART races is absolutely ridiculous ... why not start the season 6 weeks later and consolidate it?????

The situation is so bad I even enjoyed the IRL race at Fontana last weekend ... and that statement comes from DownUnder where I don't exactly become partial to Oval left-hand-turn races, even CART

[Speedworx]

Argentina still has rallying and a round of the Formula Nissan (Open Telefonica)

[Lee Janotta]

Hmm... The rumor mill (http://www.autoracing1.com/rumors.htm) has CART back in Brazil. Well, it's something. I'd rather they run on the road course... With the Rio oval, CART would run on more ovals outside the US than in it! But at least it's a race to fill the void on the scedule. I still think Buenos Aires would be a good race, though.

[Muzza]

The problem to take a CART race to Argentina is simply lack of cash - the local organizers would have a very tough time to raise the capital to run the race. I worked for years in the Interlagos circuit (tourism and local endurance races, non-F1 stuff) and many of you folks cannot imagine how difficult it is to raise money for motorsports in a country that, we have to recognize, has much more important and urgent social priorities to deal with.

I wish my Argentinean friends would get a CART race though... Who knows? Chris Pook has considerably lowered the sanctioning fees for the races, and with a little goodwill... It could happen. Another problem, though, is that Argentina is not a "big market" to sponsors and car manufacturers - both the size of the local market as the average purchasing power are relatively "small" compared to other places. But a combination of CART races in Brazil and Argentina would benefit both countries (although I think the CART calendar is getting a little too stretched).

In Brazil, Brasilia is an excellent racing track, and Goiania has good facilities. But Rio is one of the most charming places on Earth and it would be difficult to envision the racing held elsewhere.

(Why Rio lost CART? The current Rio de Janeiro mayor used the agreement between CART and his predecessor - and political rival - as an "example" of "bad administration of public assets". He also seriously hinted that some sort of "dirty water could have run under the bridge" (corruption). I don't know if this is true or not, but actually the city is cash-starved and the CART sanctioning fees have been significantly increased on the course of the last years. The mayor tried to gamble with CART and with the local promoters to get a good deal, but he did not expected to have the CART circus being professionally run... His behavior was pretty pathetic during the negotiations, a real shame, and the whole thing fell apart)

Also, the proposed race in Salvador - that would be organized and promoted by Emerson Fittipaldi - was never a real possibility. It was propelled by a disagreement between Nelson Piquet and Fittipaldi, who had an agreement to co-manage the Rio circuit. Piquet and Fittipaldi parties did not agree about the calendar for the venue or about the renovation of the road track. Things got very sour and the two walked apart. They no longer have business together.

Still talking about Salvador (State of Bahia), there was quite some "support" by the local governor (then and still involved on a mud war with his opponents) for the race (the famous "panis et circensis" policy - entertaining the people with non-important things). And there are already enough street circuits on the CART calendar!

Cheers,

Muzza