Interesting Article

[GoFaster]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...orts/4924974.h

[Liz]

I don't think CWS is hamburger and I definitely don't think F1 is filet mignon.

I think CWS is a full menu and F1 is Sushi.

[Brian W Keske]

I read these comments by Pook last week. Very disturbing to me. It's coments like this that make me wonder where Pook is actually leading CART.

CART never took a back seat to anyone in the past, but Pook seems willing to do so.

[indycool]

It's been disturbing to me since he first called it a "feeder" series to F1 in Montreal. I guess it's known here by now that I'm not much of a Pook fan, but now the series being hamburger...will he take it to a Porterhouse or a PBJ sandwich?

[Ben 93 325is]

I have a hard time believing those are accurate quotes from Pook.

[Jay]

Sushi can be the best thing around when it's good fish and prepared, yet the most disgusting thing if the fish isn't good or it isn't prepared properly...

yeah, that's F1 alright!

[Snrub]

It does bother me that Pook doesn't see CART as being a competitor in any sense ever, period. Short term it's a good idea to work together. In the future mutual acceptance would be mutually benificial, but CART should not aim to be a lesser series. The fact that he says every four years or so CART could send a driver to F1 shows he does recognize that being a feeder like F3000 isn't the right route.

[deloreanboy]

i agree with you guys
especially about the feeder series stuff. personally i think that cart is a stand alone series and is a top level one at that. also the stuff with switching the cars to v-10
running on gasoline----seems like hes leaning towards f-1 in more ways than one.

[camcartfan]

I agree with Ben. GoFaster, aren't you an IRL fan/Anti CART?

[Flatspot]

I'm going to defend Pook a little here. Not because I think he's the end all, but rather because I think at present his words are wise from a business point of view. Let me explain.

How bummed out do we all get when TG starts talking about being the big bad ass and how he's going to kill CART. A couple of months ago he said, paraphrasing, that he would overtake F1 and NASCAR in the end. Where do you suppose that's got him? I don't suppose Bernie and the Frances lose any sleep but I also don't suppose they call him up to play golf either.

As we all know CART has been severely wounded over the last couple of seasons. CART needs an ally. They are few and far between in North America and who is stronger than F1 (Bernie)? CART needs global exposure to survive and Bernie can help provide that, ala Brands Hatch. If Pook were out saying "CART's gonna kick your butt" I don't suppose that would've happened. Pook has been careful to not say CART would be a feeder but rather that it would be nice to see some guys move arround between the two. With the shape CART's in a little cross pollination can only be a good thing.

Pook is not the world's most eloquent guy but he's pretty savvy when it comes to how the motorsport game is played. It's agreed the filet/burger commet was a very poor choice of words. Wouldn't it be great if we were all perfect. We're not! It's easy from the outside looking in but we're not the ones being interviewed and having to come up with the quick answers.

Now is not the time to go head up with Bernie. Alienation would not be a good strategy. We may need his support to fight some other battles. Soon enough he will be faced with big problems of his own. CART will be stronger and then the tune may change.

[Raven]

Good post Flatspot, I totally agree w/you. I think Pook is taking a wise approach in his leadership of this series and in the task of bringing CART to Europe, at least for the time being. I think it shows he is both a realist but also a man with a plan.

[GoFaster]

camcartfan-Yes I enjoy IRL,not a big TG fan though,not anti-cart,just don't care for the direction it has taken over the last year or so.

[indycool]

Good post, Flatspot, and I agree for the most part. But Pook DID, in fact, publicly call CART a feeder series to F1 starting in Montreal and continuing.

He could suck up to F1 easily WITHOUT denigrating or lowering the image of his series. Putting his series lower doesn't make F1 higher. There's another forum which has dissed him on the hamburger quote but calling all CART fans, employees and competitors "Hamburger Helpers."

Pook has dissed practically everyone in his short reign. He has said CART fans "don't smoke Winstons, drink Bud or drive pickup trucks." He has said CART's market is well-to-do 17-34 year olds who are bored by American V8s.

Pook has dissed those who have switched series to IRL, but he didn't diss Fittipaldi about going to NASCAR.

It is this elitist condescending mentality, starting with CART Chairman John Frasco in the '80s, that has put CART not ABOVE the rest of the motorsports world, but AGAINST and APART from the rest of the motorsports world. And that's why CART has few friends in the motorsports world.

Again, Pook can accomplish a relationship with F1 WITHOUT downgrading his series. He can gain fans in the general audience that may not know the difference between Paul Tracy and John Force WITHOUT dissing a guy who has a $40,000 pickup truck and has the money to buy a race ticket if he so chooses.

And he might just have a better chance of keeping the fans he's got if he doesn't reduce them to the status of "Hamburger Helpers."

[The Snout]

There's success to be had dining at F1's table, instead of getting in a food fight with them. This whole feeder series, smaller brother of F1 thing is a mile out of context by now. Pook's angle seems to be that the more interest in open wheel roadcourse type racing the better, doesn't matter if it's F1 or Cart. If Cart can gain even 25% of interest from fans interested in F1 that currently only distantly know about Cart then Cart would have gained a big following internationally. Vice Versa, if F1 can gain the fans in the United States that are interested in Cart, then F1 would have lifted it's popularity by a good jump in the U.S., which is in Bernie's interest.

Any "feeder" intent is only meant the same way it's always been happening, occasionally a Cart driver goes over, and occasionally a ex-F1 jock comes over to Cart. Nothing more. And Pook backs that up in the Autosport interview.

"Feeder series is a difficult marketing word to accept. I would like to say: 'Can we help in the development of Formula One drivers once in a while?' Absolutely, we'd love to.

"Can we help in the retirement process for Formula One drivers coming down the ladder? Absolutely, we'd love to.

"Are we going to be sending a new Formula One driver every year to Formula One? Absolutely not. If we send one every three or four years it would be outstanding.

".....Are we going to be sending a new Formula One driver every year to Formula One? Absolutely not." Doesn't sound like he's setting Cart up to be F3000 to me, he knows you can't market that, they've been trying since 1985.

Apart from a bit of minor detail I have no problem with where Pook is leading Cart, he's worked his guts out to turn it around and I'm prepared to cut a guy like that some slack.

[Lee Janotta]

F1 as the epitome of motorsport? My arse!

How about we just scrap the whole thing and have a world championship for slot cars? That'd be about as exciting!

[DNQ]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
F1 as the epitome of motorsport? My arse!

Lee, of course it's the epitome...for anyone who wants traction control, launch control, power steering, grooved tyres, auto gearboxes, no overtaking, staged finishes and basically no privateers

[Jay]

It's the most watched form of motorbusiness around... I'd say 80% of F1 fans think motorsports IS F1, and that there's nothing else. At least, I'd say that seeing the mass of people that will leave after and F1 qualifying session and not bother staying for the FF or Atlantic race that will be 1000% times better than teh race they payed $400 to see the next day.

[indycool]

Guess we'll respectfully disagree, Snout...sorry, just not a Pook fan...his credibility with me is zero...all the "pookie" statements, all the direction changes...I just can't seem to warm up to 'em.

[The Snout]

Guess we'll respectfully disagree, Snout...sorry, just not a Pook fan...his credibility with me is zero...all the "pookie" statements, all the direction changes...I just can't seem to warm up to 'em.

I'm cool with that Indycool. When I was saying there are some minor details about Pook I don't like it's things like lack of ovals, I recon Cart needs at least say 6 with a couple of 500 milers, one of them being a big event eg. US500. I still feel Cart missed a opportunity with the US500, great name for a race, so it should be the big event. Pook doesn't seem to see it that way, which is something I don't agree with him about.

One thing I will say is that unless you run in a guy's circle you don't really know the guy. Now, I have absolute respect for Mario Andretti, a no bullsh1t person if ever there was one. And to me if Mario trusts this guy, and says he's the right guy for the job, then I'm prepared to back him as well. That's arguably the best way I can't describe why I'm behind him.

[veeten]

I look at it this way, the US 500( which was done under acrimony to the situation with the Indy 500) was not one of CART's better contests, as it could've been done differently. 500 mile races can, and have, been staged without being more of a "grudge" race towards another series, the Coca-Cola 600 under NASCAR is a prime example. I believe that soon enough, you will see a 500 mile race return to CART's repetoire.

Just don't expect them to overwhelm the schedule, as if one IRL race at Watkins Glen would turn them into a Champ Car "clone"...