2004 Events

[power&glory]

I just read on Champweb that there could be a race in South Africa, in connection with a South African driver at PKR, and that got me back to thinking about the what the schedule will look like, and I was unsure on some things, maybe some people can help me clarify:

Street-
Long Beach
Denver
Toronto
Vancouver
Surfer's Paradise
St. Pete???
Las Vegas??

Road-
Portland
Laguna
Montreal
Seoul
Mexico City
Monterrey
Cleveland
South Africa???
Road America???

Oval-
Milwaukee
Las Vegas??

Miami???

[Snrub]

Some events have to get cut for CART to pay the bills. Miami was first, RA sounds like it will be gone again, Route 88 is stiring up trouble so Fontana is probably out. South Africa was mentioned by Tag as 'on'. I don't know how this race is going to make any money. South Africans feel free to prove me wrong! PG has said Vegas is 'on'. I'm not sure how they can be so sure it will be a winner...

Long Beach, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Surfer's, Mexico City, Monterrey are the 7 winners and we know South Korea is 'on'. Based on comments from the OWRS guys it sounds like Milwaukee has support and for some god unknown reason Mid-Ohio too (great track, but horrible racing with CART). Throw in a couple of money losers and that's that. Perhaps those will be Denver and Cleveland? That's a pretty good list with only Vancouver and Mid-Ohio prevent all passing.

[Electrocuted]

Originally posted by power&glory

Street-
Long Beach
Denver
Toronto
Vancouver
Surfer's Paradise
St. Pete??? CART lawyers said in court it is off.
Las Vegas?? IMO,,, 2005 not 2004,,, IMO.

Road-
Portland That one's still very shakey.
Laguna
Montreal
Seoul Cant wait to see how the racing is. But, buisness sense??
Mexico City
Monterrey
Cleveland
South Africa??? Same as Korea. Maybe 2005 or 06 would be better??
Road America??? I think it's over.
>>Mid O<< I think it's over.

Oval-
Milwaukee
Las Vegas?? From everything said at sites, ya can probably scratch this.

Miami??? OWRS did not buy that thing. It's gone!!

I didnt change from bold to normal in my replies above. Just scan through it to read.

All things considered, not a bad schedule for rebuilding years. The Africa and Korea I'm not fond of,, but hey,, I'll sure watch them if they run. Really would like to see more US races and either switch that Monterrey to someplace better or add a third Mexico race. I think Monterrey will bite the dust (on and off the track) in a year or two anyway.

[indycool]

I don't know if this will be viewed as good or bad news, but here goes:

Mid-Ohio -- no contract.

Miami and Fontana -- not involved in the OWRS purchase of assets, so both are gone.

Cleveland and Portland -- no promoters.

Denver -- City councilwoman there is balking at the date switch, but might be okay.

Seoul -- What contract was signed by who? CART? OWRS? It's not listed in the assets list that OWRS proposes to acquire from CART.

[Ac.]

The Seoul event is likely one that is being put together by OWRS, and is conditional on their acquisition of CART's assets. Thus, it will not be seen in the list of assets being purchased from CART.

[indycool]

Good point, Ac., but I thought it was Clare who was putting the thing together and he works for CART. You're probably right though.

[suzmac]

Please don't let them take my Cleveland race away!! We need to find someone to promote!! I like the Cleveland race as it is the closest one to my home!!!

Sue

[GP Racer]

To bad about Cleveland, it was definetely one of the best races of the year, and it looked like a good crowd too.

Those airport tracks are great. They give the drivers room to maneuver and pass.

[Ac.]

So what are the economics of putting on a race? Ticket revenue for an event like Cleveland must be $4-5 million. With local sponsors kicking in additional amounts for advertising it seems like the event should fly(pun intended)!

What are the other costs for sanctioning, staffing, site rental, etc.?

[MolsonBoy]

Not sure when they put this up but this is what is on CART.com:

Apr 18: Grand Prix of Long Beach
May 16: Las Vegas Las Vegas - Las Vegas, NV USA(venue to be confirmed)
May 23: Monterrey Grand Prix
Jun 5: Milwaukee
Jun 20: Portland
Portland International Raceway - Portland, OR USA
(subject to final commercial terms)
Jul 3: Cleveland Grand Prix
Jul 11: Molson Indy Toronto
Jul 25: Molson Indy Vancouver
Aug 8: Road America
Road America - Elkhart Lake, WI USA
Aug 15: Grand Prix of Denver
ug 29: Molson Indy Montreal
Sep 12: Grand Prix of Monterey
Oct 24: Indy 300 Gold Coast
TBD: Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
TBD: Miami
TBD: Mexico City(2004 Sanctioning Agreements in place)
TBD: Seoul
Seoul - Seoul South Korea
(2004 Sanctioning Agreements in place)
TBD: Fontana
California Speedway - Fontana, CA USA
(2004 Sanctioning Agreements in place)
-----------------------------
Brands Hatch, UK event status to be determined with track owner/promoter.

[indycool]

AC, Cleveland has lost money for several years. In fact, IMG was not going to do it unless CART took the risk for '03. CART did and lost.

The reasons the past couple of years are a lack of sponsors and attendance. Despite attendance numbers that have been announced, Cleveland only has 25,000 or so seats. With sanction fees rising until IMG said "no mas," the ledger went from black to red.

Molson Boy, that was put up some time ago -- I want to say November -- and is well out-of-date.

[Fogelhund]

While the schedule may or may not have some validity, I believe it was put up in December, and Gentilozzi has stated that it will be followed since then.

Until further notice, it is the OWRS schedule, should OWRS happen.

[macdaddy]

...Although I've heard that Vegas may be moved deeper into the season.