Indycar News & Rumors.

[bjohnsonsmith]

KV and HVM to merge?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103745

Will that KVHVM or KHVM?

[Jacques Rabbit]

Kalkhoven-Vasser Herdéz Viva México Racing Technologies.

Hmm.

Maybe time for Wiggins to assimilate and allow KVW to happen.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

KV and HVM to merge?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103745

Will that KVHVM or KHVM?

I guess the merged team will become a 4-driver South American team. (unless Barrichello and Viso move away that is)

[DS"]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

I guess the merged team will become a 4-driver South American team. (unless Barrichello and Viso move away that is)

Which they'll do anyway. I wonder though, if Kanaan will still be with KV for next year. I thought they wanted to do one-car operation only. Then again, the merger with HVM could make sense.

[jondownunder]

Autosport are now reporting no KV-HVM merger, but Simona will join Kanaan at KV:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103750

Although it was previously believed that there was potential for KV and HVM to work together in tandem, AUTOSPORT understands that there will in fact be no HVM involvement in de Silvestro's programme.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

Autosport are now reporting no KV-HVM merger, but Simona will join Kanaan at KV:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103750

Quote:
"Although it was previously believed that there was potential for KV and HVM to work together in tandem, AUTOSPORT understands that there will in fact be no HVM involvement in de Silvestro's programme."

The article also said "KV representatives could not be reached for comment.", so it is anyone's guess.

[JohnSSC]

The KV/HVM plans sound like another clear articulation of the great new developments and the fabulous new compelling storylines for the upcoming IndyCar season.

2013 IndyCar Motto: "Racing For What?"

[HJJ]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...th-georgetown/

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by HJJ

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...th-georgetown/

That's an excellent article, thanks for posting it.

[TheMightyM]

Have to agree with Robin Miller, the lack of public support that IndyCar/Hulman & Company have offered Randy Bernard is simply embarrassing. It’s almost as if Hulman’s board is deeply divided and doesn’t know what it wants to do, so we get noncommittal press statements like “Randy has not been terminated and his employment status is the same as it was last week and last month.” That’s not exactly an endorsement of his leadership and makes it difficult to take the series seriously.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by HJJ

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...th-georgetown/

It's been amateur hour at the speedway for almost 40 years.

It's a legacy business that lives off it's one great past, but time moved on and it didn't. It had it's chance to stay with CART and develop with the times, but tony george chose to go back and now it's swirling around the toilet. I don't have any compassion for their gasping for business survival. They poisoned everyone and we are not going to be reaching out to save them.

HVM and KV is a great example of all the belt tightening that is going on. People are scrambling to grab a parachute.

[JohnSSC]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

It's been amateur hour at the speedway for almost 40 years.

It's a legacy business that lives off it's one great past, but time moved on and it didn't. It had it's chance to stay with CART and develop with the times, but tony george chose to go back and now it's swirling around the toilet. I don't have any compassion for their gasping for business survival. They poisoned everyone and we are not going to be reaching out to save them.

HVM and KV is a great example of all the belt tightening that is going on. People are scrambling to grab a parachute.

Is it safe to bail out when you are this close to the ground?

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

Have to agree with Robin Miller, the lack of public support that IndyCar/Hulman & Company have offered Randy Bernard is simply embarrassing. It’s almost as if Hulman’s board is deeply divided and doesn’t know what it wants to do, so we get noncommittal press statements like “Randy has not been terminated and his employment status is the same as it was last week and last month.” That’s not exactly an endorsement of his leadership and makes it difficult to take the series seriously.

I'm sure I could go back to whenever it was when rodeo randy was hired and dig through my comments and I'm sure I made it clear this guy was always going to be the patsy or fall guy years down the road whenever the inevitable decline was too much to stomach.

The thing is with this family is their egos are so large, to them they are never, ever at fault. So there is always going to have to be someone to blame. First it was CART, then CHAMPCAR and now they have to eat their own, which they will.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

I'm sure I could go back to whenever it was when rodeo randy was hired and dig through my comments and I'm sure I made it clear this guy was always going to be the patsy or fall guy years down the road whenever the inevitable decline was too much to stomach.

The thing is with this family is their egos are so large, to them they are never, ever at fault. So there is always going to have to be someone to blame. First it was CART, then CHAMPCAR and now they have to eat their own, which they will.

All this latest drama is doing is ****ing off the remaining fans they have left. I feel bad for Randy, I really believe he has tried his best. Perhaps you are right, the sooner this thing blows up, the better. Maybe something better can then rise up. How much pull would the family have if there was series built not 100% around their track? Uh oh, history is repeating...

[JohnSSC]

Randy was asked to rejuvenate a series that no one really thinks is relevant any longer. The fans have moved on to other things. The teams attract drivers, mostly those bearing sponsorship, because the drivers who bear sponsorship are trying to drive SOMEWHERE and it does not really matter where. The teams "compete" in this series for some reason - I have no idea why and neither do they, I believe, except for reasons of perpetuating the sponsor dollars they receive from their sponsors and the pay drivers. The Hulman Family apparently is only interested in the Series so long as it provides an entry list for the 500. Of course, the 500 exists for the reason of perpetuating the revenue that flows there baseed on the tradition of competition that once existed there but now has only become something we do in May along with applying weed and seed to the lawn.

Open wheel racing in the US has no point, no focus and worse, no impetus for anyone wanting to go out and compete and beat the best.

Would anyone really miss it if it were gone? Really?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

Randy was asked to rejuvenate a series that no one really thinks is relevant any longer. The fans have moved on to other things. The teams attract drivers, mostly those bearing sponsorship, because the drivers who bear sponsorship are trying to drive SOMEWHERE and it does not really matter where. The teams "compete" in this series for some reason - I have no idea why and neither do they, I believe, except for reasons of perpetuating the sponsor dollars they receive from their sponsors and the pay drivers. The Hulman Family apparently is only interested in the Series so long as it provides an entry list for the 500. Of course, the 500 exists for the reason of perpetuating the revenue that flows there baseed on the tradition of competition that once existed there but now has only become something we do in May along with applying weed and seed to the lawn.

Open wheel racing in the US has no point, no focus and worse, no impetus for anyone wanting to go out and compete and beat the best.

Would anyone really miss it if it were gone? Really?

As to the question, Would anyone really miss it if it were gone?

No, not in its current state. It's going to take someone or some organisation, with money and motorsport expertise, to reinvent AOWR and get it back to where it used to be. The annoying thing is that there is already a successful blue-print for AOWR to build from but the various factions are so introspective, they've forgotten what AOWR is all about and why they are involved.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

2013 IndyCar Motto: "Racing For What?"

The Win?

[Paradise City]

Robin Miller is worth his weight in gold isn't he?

[JohnSSC]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

The Win?

D.R.T., yes, of course racers race for the win. My focus is on the larger context though.

For a racing series to be viable, there needs to be a relevance factor that makes competing in the series compelling or rewarding. I just do not see that in IndyCar and really, have not seen it in the pre-unification versions of Champ Car or the IRL either.

Both series staged races because, well, there had been open wheel races in previous seasons so doggone, we should have one this year too. The focus though was more on each series trying to kill off the other series in close combat. No one took the step back to look at things globally and strategize about what open wheel in the US in its heyday was about and worse, what open wheel COULD be about today.

Back in the day there was a lot of pride in winning on the USAC Trail and the 500 was the pinnacle of that. But the USAC Trail was an important component and there was fan interest in both. Fast forward to today and what interest is there in the series? Almost none. It is marketed as a "product." Bernard has talked of "developing compelling story lines" for the coming seasons. So in effect, open wheel in the US has become a sort of reality show. A product sold to the public with the hope that they will buy. There is no drama behind winning the championship - oh, maybe for the individual teams it might mean something but for the most part everyone is busy enhancing revenue opportunities, which may or may not include trying to win races. Look how much $$ Danica, with her compelling story line, was able to bring to the sport without actually winning more than once.

This is my point. There is little interest in winning the Borg-Warner on the part of the public, really and there is even less interest in who wins the series. I think this is primarily because when you say "racing" in this country most people think NASCAR. this has been downplayed because of the rivalry of sorts between the tin-tops and open wheel, but NASCAR's story is VERY compelling because the winners stand to get a LOT of $$. This creates interest and makes the series, to the casual person, appear to be very relevant.

Open wheel is lost. Period. Everyone running it is simply looking out to protect their particular business model without thinking that it needs to change or has changed and they just don't realize it. I think a day of reckoning is coming, and it isn't going to be pretty to watch.

[Duff_44]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

I think a day of reckoning is coming, and it isn't going to be pretty to watch.

You might be right...
SPEED & Jenna Fryer Twitter feed reporting that Randy Bernard has been fired as CEO:

An emergency meeting by the members of the Hulman & Co. board was convened on Sunday to weigh the fate of IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard, who was ultimately fired from the position, but is being kept on in a token advisory role.

“We are very grateful for the tireless effort that Randy has invested into learning, understanding and working to grow the IndyCar Series over the last three racing seasons,” said IMS and now interim IndyCar CEO Jeff Belskus. “As both Randy and our organization have reflected on the past season and as we look toward the opportunities ahead and how to best take advantage of them, we agreed that the timing was right to pursue separate paths.”

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...board-meeting/

[TheMightyM]

Associated Press story by Jenna Fryer on the firing of Randy Bernard:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/randy-b...2295--irl.html

Key quote:

Pressed how it was in IndyCar's ''best interest'' to part with a CEO who brought such positive to the series and was popular with fans, Belskus gave no answer. ''I'm not going to comment,'' he said.

[TheMightyM]

And John Oreovicz' story for ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/st...ps-indycar-ceo

[D.R.T.]

This is an absolute joke.

A very sad day.

[captain crunch]

Looking forward to the justification for this, I could use a good laugh. Y'know, for years I always thought mountainstar was just being a negative nancy, but he's right. These people really are beyond saving.

[JohnSSC]

An emergency meeting of the board???

Since when has shooting themselves in an appendage or four taken an emergency meeting? Heck, they have proven they can do it as part of the normal business day...

What a bunch of idiots.