The 2004 Schedule

[Flatspot]

From the CART website:2004 Schedule

[Tenoch]

The time has come and here it is, as we all suspected Korea has a tentitive date.

2004 BRIDGESTONE PRESENTS THE CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES POWERED BY FORD SCHEDULE

February 22 – St. Petersburg, Florida – Street Course

April 18 – Long Beach, California – Street Course

May 16 – Las Vegas, Nevada – Venue to be confirmed

May 23 – Monterrey, Mexico – Road Course

June 5 – The Milwaukee Mile – Oval

June 20 – Portland International Raceway – Road Course*

July 3 – Cleveland, Ohio - Road Course

July 11 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Street Course

July 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Street Course

August 8 – Road America – Road Course

August 15 – Denver, Colorado – Street Course

August 29 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Road Course

September 12 – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – Road Course

October 24 – Surfers Paradise, Australia – Street Course

TBA – Miami, Florida – Street Course**

TBA – Mexico City, Mexico – Road Course**

TBA – Seoul, South Korea – Road Course**

TBA – California Speedway – Superspeedway Oval**

Brands Hatch, UK event status to be determined with track owner/promoter

* - Subject to final commercial terms

** - 2004 sanctioning agreements in place




CART releases the 2004 Champ Car World Series Schedule.


ChampCar ChampCars ChampCar ChampCars ChampCar ChampCars

Here's a link to the rest of the article.


http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=7384

[gi_gav]

"Brands Hatch, UK event status to be determined with track owner/promoter"

At least there could be a chance that i'll get to see these beauties up close again next year...

[Fogelhund]

Well, at least there is a schedule now, and some firm dates. As a fan of CART, and one of those who is bearish on its future, I have a couple of comments.

Unless these UK and Korea dates are arranged such that entrants/OWRS are both profitable from the ventures, I see them making little sense. As I've mentioned numerous times, when organizations are distressed, the key to survival is to reduce costs and consolidate.

The scheduling is very poor.

EAST Coast St. Petersburg, Florida – Street Course

West coast -Long Beach, California – Street Course

May 16 – Las Vegas, Nevada – Venue to be confirmed

May 23 – Monterrey, Mexico – Road Course

Cross country travel back to East

June 5 – The Milwaukee Mile – Oval

Cross country travel back to West

June 20 – Portland International Raceway – Road Course*

Cross country back to East

July 3 – Cleveland, Ohio - Road Course

July 11 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Street Course

Cross country back to West

July 25 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Street Course

Cross country back to East

August 8 – Road America – Road Course

Only half a continent this time.

August 15 – Denver, Colorado – Street Course

Cross country back to east.

August 29 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Road Course

Cross country back to west.

September 12 – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – Road Course

October 24 – Surfers Paradise, Australia – Street Course

Now, who exactly was the genius who decided to rack up this much mileage? In a year above all, when the costs to entrants is incredibly important, one would have thought that the schedule makers might have had a bit of sense and bunched geographically similar events together a bit better. This criss-crossing of the continents is remarkly short-sighted.

Well, there it is, hopefully this time next year, us bears will be eating crow as we talk about the 05' schedule.

[macdaddy]

So that list includes 18 events, without counting Brands.

I'm bumming about Vegas, because I can't get time off in May. Was hoping for a September date.

At least the schedule is finally out, now the teams can bring it to prospective sponsors.

[corkholio]

Almost seems like OWRS is doing too much too soon with 2 new races when everything has yet to settle.

[macdaddy]

Again, the teams will be racing during Indy quals.

Portland falls on the same date as the USGP, which won't help TV numbers. But what can you do?

Cleveland is again slated on a Saturday. You don't suppose they're thinking about another night race? It was great, but the expenses were huge. Milwaukee is also on a Saturday, but the lights are permanent there.

[sgw2]

Laguna Seca is set (yeah!)

Miami, Portland and Fontana are all in deep trouble. I don't expect any of them to actually happen.

But I'm convinced Gentilozzi's long standing -since long before his CART adventure- desire to base operations in Las Vegas and tie in with SEMA, will make this happen. Easy sell family vacation.

Brands Hatch is talking to CART ... I imagine the asking price is very steep. hum.

Seoul is possibly a great addition. Might try to make that on a swing to China.

Bummers are Mid-Ohio gone and Denver on the schedule. Lost a great road circuit, kept the worst street race.

[macdaddy]

Feb. 22 - St. Petersburg
April 18 - Long Beach
That's eight weeks between the two!

Hopefully another date will help to fill that void, but it can't be MexicoCity, Miami or Seoul, (due to proximity to other Florida/Mexican events, and Seoul will be scheduled around Australia).

And then there's another month between LongBeach and Vegas!
Six weeks between Laguna and Surfer's!

[indycool]

Macdaddy, Mexico City and possibly Miami will wind up between Laguna and Surfers. If Fontana goes away, as expected, Miami will probably get the season closer....unless it goes away because it's a financial albatross.

As far as this announcement, what it answers leads to more questions. It appears it's a "wish list" just a bit better than the previous "confirmed venues" list.

There're some new dates added to those already announced by track promoters. Otherwise, nothing concrete, so, IMO, the teams don't know what to tell sponsors any more now than what they did before.

I'd guess Brand's is on there because CART loaned it $1m for pit lane improvements to be paid back over five years and some sanction agreement is still in place. But CART asked Lausitz for $1m more, Lausitz said no, and that eliminated a cooperative effort on expenses with Brand's. So that's not going to happen.

Portland is iffy because of dollars. Cleveland again goes on Saturday night with the expenses of lights against the Pepsi 400 at Daytona and no promoter named (it was CART promoted last year).

This list is attaching some dates to current contracts but it's certainly not the final version that'll play out.

[Liz]

I'm not going to Korea, but if they have Brands again I will go to that. I liked that race last year.

Good that they are ignoring the IRL 499 again too.

As for the odd Frequent Flyer Miles look to the schedule, perhaps that is because of the dates the promoters have available. We're not in a position to dictate track dates to anybody, after all.

[mandretti39]

Anyone know why Las Vegas is "venue to be confirmed?" Are they planning a street circuit location, or are they deciding on using the LVMS superspeedway or its road course?

[Brian W Keske]

Indycool. Another post of reason and rational. Much the way I'm seeing it.

In addition, this 'schedule' does nothing for sponsorship. It isn't 'real' yet. Sponsors with enough money to invest know what is going on, and everything is still on hold untill the sale goes through. CART, today, can not afford to implement this schedule; Or for that matter, *any* schedule.

[Snrub]

Not bad assuming Vegas will be profitable. Cut Mid-Ohio, Brands, Miami to reduce costs. Everyone always says Portland has a cash crunch, is it really that bad? The race always seems to get good support.

[Tailwind]

Well I’m glad they at least have a tentative schedule in place. Many of those dates are now confirmed. I’m disappointed about Mid-Ohio. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I understand. I don’t expect Fontana to really close out the season and I don’t see Brands materializing this year either.

Only 101 days till the green flag drops in Florida!

[jetsetter]

With the date for our race set down for October 24 they've now got to do something about the starting time of the race to avoid those Queensland mid afternoon storms which are common place at that time of year.

[The Snout]

Thought I was looking at a ALMS schedule when I saw those first two dates.

Like activity during May, Seoul should be a hit and I'd imagine a few car manufacturers will be in the crowd checking out our series as well as a few big wigs from China.

I like the concept of being under lights at Cleveland, it's unique on the schedule and adds to the diversification , so if they are able to sustain it then lets roll with it. Same with Milwaukee, and one thing Milwaukee hasn't done for a while in the CART schedule is follow a big race. If Las Vegas lives up to it's potential then Milwaukee can again piggyback a little and help it's cause.

I don't see any of the 3 doubtful venues as a big issue.
There's enough pubicity and opinion saying Fontana, Portland and Brands are going or gone that if they do drop off it's hardly going to be shattering news. Personally like to keep Fontana for more diversification and being our only large oval, but if we don't I'm sure things will go on.

Just have to wait for the final to come out, but no sweat so far.

[jjspierx]

Great schedule, if it all works out. I was expecting the loss of Elkhart, Portland and Laguna. The will reall miss Mid-Ohio though, it has been of the best tracks for years in the CART series.

Fogelhund - You have to realize, CART can't just say to each city and venue, "ok, we are coming to you on this date so its convenient for us". It doesn't work that way. Many races are scheduled around other events. For instance Portland's race has ALWAYS been the finale event of the Portland Rose Festival, the single largest festival in Oregon by FAR. The CART event has ALWAYS been the 3rd week in June since 82 or 83 when the event began. So yeah, CART can't help that sometimes they have to travel from West to East and back again because thats the only option that they have. I'm sure traveling distance and time were all considerations for the schedule.

Macdaddy - I don't the USGP will be too much of a conflict. Portland has been a CBS broadcasted race for the last few years if my memory serves me correctly. The USGP is east coast, so it will start 3 hours earlier on Speed than the Portland CART race on the West Coast.

[indycool]

Vegas went from a "confirmed venue" at LVMS to a TBA. That means "we'd like to run in that town." Nothing more.

[Hazza]

Maybe they'll run on a Roval ha.
I bet its just a case of if Fonana comes under you have a cookie cutter copy to race on instead.

[Fogelhund]

Jeremy - I have a full understanding of how scheduling works. Having said that, I also understand budgeting, and this doesn't cut the mustard in making things affordable. While there are some events that are impossible to move, there are others that feature some flexibility. A strong management team would easily be able to move some dates around to save on funds. Many teams are on nearly non-existant budgets, and last year relying for most of the money from Pook. That money won't be around in 04'. We've seen one team drop out. Another two or three teams drop out, and the scheduling becomes a mute point, as there won't be enough cars to fulfill the contract requirements.

All efforts should have been made to reduce costs. It hasn't happened, and once again Pook et al. have proven to be poor managers.

[spider]

Brands Hatch is still holding on, come on investors keep CART in the UK...

[Dov]

Overall I would say that I'm happy with the 2004 ChampCar schedule, but I'm really going to miss Mid-Ohio!

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/...ts/641028.html

CART's Mid-Ohio run ends
No race on schedule for 2004

By Rob McCurdy
News Journal

LEXINGTON -- All the petitions and all the outcries on the Internet went for naught. The CART Champ Car World Series will not be racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2004.

"It basically came down to it wasn't a business plan that made sense for us and for them in their transition and we needed to move forward," Mid-Ohio media relations co- ordinator Reece White said.

CART released its 2004 schedule Thursday and Mid-Ohio wasn't on it.

"We have crafted a schedule that is challenging for our teams and drivers, as well as enticing to our sponsors and fans," CART CEO and President Chris Pook said. "This schedule holds true to our philosophy of taking the racing to the major urban markets of NAFTA while at the same time embracing our ties to the rich history of Champ Car racing at such places like Milwaukee, Road America and Long Beach."

Other than the Milwaukee Mile, no event on the CART schedule had a richer and longer history than Mid-Ohio. The permanent road course hosted Champ Car's first race under the CART-sanctioning umbrella in 1980 and returned for a 21-year run in 1983.

It was speculated before the 2003 Champ Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio that it was going to be CART's last at the Lexington track. Fans tried to rally with a petition drive during race weekend, while others railed on open-wheel racing Web site forums. A strong walk-up crowd on race day gave it a slight attendance boost over the 2002 race, bringing both sides together for talks about the future.

"It was a case where we exhausted every option," White said. "It's a fine line between the emotions of what you want to do and what you have to do."

So the 2003 race was indeed the Lame Duck Grand Prix.

"We weren't going to put ourselves in a place where we were in jeopardy over one race, not that it got to that point," White said of TrueSports' stance, the company that owns and operates Mid-Ohio.

When Miller Brewing pulled out as title sponsor of the race after 2001, CART stepped in to help as co-promoter of the event.

With CART's financial woes reaching a point of possible bankruptcy in 2004, it can't afford to subsidize tracks and promoters. With CART's unstable future and slumping stature in attracting spon- sors and keeping fans, TrueSports didn't want to underwrite an event that could cost them millions of dollars.

CART team owners Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi and Kevin Kalkhoven have banded together to buy out CART, but their fate won't be known until mid-December at the earliest, when CART stockholders vote on the sale.

"We're pretty much going forward (for) 2004 with no open-wheel racing," White said. "It will be the first time since 1982 that's happened."

White said TrueSports and CART parted on good terms, so future races are possible. The Indy Racing League said it will go road racing in 2005. Mid-Ohio probably won't go long before major league open-wheel racing returns.

"If something makes sense in the future we'll talk with anybody," White said.

Meanwhile, the Grand American Road Racing Association will slide into the traditional CART date of Aug. 6 to 8 with its Rolex Cup and Grand-Am Cup endurance sports car races.

"It made sense to space things out and it gave us some room," even if things would have worked out and CART came back to the track in 2004, White said.

Big time events are still on Mid-Ohio's schedule.

Top-flight sports car racing returns in June with the American Le Mans Series. It will be the first appearance in America after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Honda Super Cycle Weekend emerged in recent years as a rival to the CART weekend in terms of fan support. The best in motorcycle road racing come back to Mid-Ohio the last weekend in July, preceded a week by the mammoth AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days.

The Sprint Vintage Grand Prix and the Valvoline Runoffs will start and finish the 2004 season.

"We still have six events and it's kind of back to our roots with three sports car events plus the Runoffs," White said.

[macdaddy]

Everybody's gonna miss Mid-Ohio. But the way I see it, judging from some of the things Pook had said earlier in the season, it came down to a choice:

Mid-Ohio or Cleveland?

They weren't about to do both, and it's a good thing that they're doing either! Although I hate to lose MidO, I'd rather have the airport.

[Flatspot]

I really like the schedule. From a perfectly selfish point of view it basically puts a race a month within a days drive of home. I'm sure my wife hates the schedule.

I have to disagree with the assessment of the schedule being improper by bouncing back and forth across the country. The only real additional cost is fuel. Although that is not insignificant it is not a huge number in the scheme of running a team. The debt service on your transporter is the same whether its in Miami or Portland. Drivers, crew, etc. are salaried. The bottom line doesn't change much whether they move in a nice orderly fashion from point to point or have to scramble their butts off to get there on time.

Another issue is saturation of a market. If you run events too close together, both geographically and by the calender,you lose a great deal of revenue from repeat customers. I've seen a number of case studies on this, particularly with sport. They typically show both a boost in expense and revenue with revenue outweighing the expense.

Not to make it personal but I am the prime example. If CART were to run Denver, Vegas, Long Beach, Laguna Seca,Portland,Vancouver, back to back because it makes logistical sense, I could make one or two of the races. Given the way the schedule is currently laid out I may be able to make them all or at least most of them. Most of my freinds are already planning on at least 3 possibly 4 of the races above wherein the past they've been 1 sometimes 2 a year type people.I think this schedule had more thought put into it than some of you imagine.

Looks like I'll spend some serious time in a sleeping bag this summer (can't afford that many hotels).