Champ Car Sued By China Promoter (merged)

[Tim Northcutt]

The suit was filed in Marion County Civil Court in Indy, and it alleges breach of contract and fraud.

Here is the link to the news item published in today's Indianapolis Star:


http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...=2007706010481

[paul-collins]

Gosh!

[indycool]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/37751/

[mountainstar]

Well it is unfortunate. From champcars position the promoters changed and requested a later date which was granted. However the Fia being the *******s they are said a race happening three weeks later 800 miles away was too much of a clash. However the fia glosses over the fact that the british and french grand prix occur back to back within 800 miles of one another and the same happens with the USGP and the canadian gp. I think it is another example of the Fia undermining other race series. I wouldn't be too quick to roast champcar when the FIA is the culprit. I think the autocratic way they do business needs to be examined further.

Ultimately, while I think it is great champcar has races elsewhere in the world I think we need to stay more here in the USA. Here we do not have the difficulties of dealing with other countries and all of the assorted language, cultural and legal problems that come into play outside of the USA. As someone who has dealt with the FIA outside the USA, I can say it is a royal pain in the ass trying to do something in other countries.

I would not call for the replacing of steve johnson, but I am currently wary of his ability to do a good job for champcar. Last year after the new car had been released and the tv deal done, the PERCEPTION was that there was high fives and ass slapping all around and then everyone went home for six months until spring training. We all know how steve f'ed up SCCA pro racing ESPECIALLY RALLYING(probably better Rally America exists anyways) so I can't say I'm confident of who is driving the bus here.

[mountainstar]

Formula One Management objected to the October date on the grounds that it was too close in space and time to the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on October 7.

Well we know who is driving the bus here. Shows FIA is not the independent organization it proclaims to be. I believe the EU was looking into a lawsuit concerning their anti competitive actions. If I was champcar I'd fight it. Someone needs to stand up to them.

[Purist]

Frankly, if the circuit/promoter have the approvals needed to run a race in their area, and they contract with a series, that race should not be subject to interference by another sanction.

If I were the man from CART, I'd have a mind to tell Mosley, face to face, that it's not an FIA series, it's not under his jurisdiction, and he needs to sod-off!

[Tim Northcutt]

The FIA is the sanctioning body for worldwide motorsports...

Champ Car is a member of ACCUS, which is the North American entity that interfaces with and is a recognized governance arm here for the FIA.... the IRL, IMSA, Grand-Am, NHRA, NASCAR, and other racing series also are members....

The series that are run by the FIA are only a small part of the huge pie that encompasses that governing body....

But as an ACCUS member, Champ Car inherently must abide by FIA rulings, standards, etc.

FWIW

[paul-collins]

A strange twist on this: The original promoter said this when the race was initially announced.

"Champ Car is one of the top international racing series in the world with a focus on driver and team performances and we are proud to bring it to China," said France Corbeil, CEO FRC USA LLC.
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...e.asp?ID=10945

The TV rights were held by a different company:

"This great TV package was made possible with the works of many essential collaborators that believes in the great potential of Champ Car in China, including Guangdong TV Chief of Sports LU Xiao Feng" said Mr. France Corbeil, CEO & President of Sino Sports & Entertainment Inc., the US company that owns Event and TV rights for China.

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...e.asp?ID=11376

Now the series is being sued by the second company which claims it's the promoter?

In the suit, filed in Marion County Superior Court, Sino Sports and Entertainment Inc. claims it paid Champ Car $1.6 million in advance for rights to promote a Champ Car race in China and telecast the full schedule in China. It claims $15 million in lost revenue because Champ Car didn't get permission from the FIA, the world governing body for motor sports, for either.

-from the indystar story at the start of the thread

Here's a blast from the past: Asian television rights for F1.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns11280.html

Sounds to me like CC is being shaken down in the same way that Corbeil tried to shake down BAT and Bernie Ecclestone.

[indycool]

You could be right about the TV shakedown, paul......but judging from the complaints from those from Australia and other countries on the boards about their lack of CC TV this year, it's hard to guess if even the first three races got shown in China.

[Leighton Irwin]

Mountainstar: It is not just Johnson at SCCA. They have managed to screw up every pro series they got involved in since they very reluctantly got into pro racing. When Canada first started having pro sports car racing before SCCA admitted it existed they threatened SCCA drivers with loss of license if they raced in Canada.
I have never had any faith in any SCCA type past or present!

[paul-collins]

Not a Bishop fan, then, Leighton?

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

The FIA is the sanctioning body for worldwide motorsports...

Champ Car is a member of ACCUS, which is the North American entity that interfaces with and is a recognized governance arm here for the FIA.... the IRL, IMSA, Grand-Am, NHRA, NASCAR, and other racing series also are members....

The series that are run by the FIA are only a small part of the huge pie that encompasses that governing body....

But as an ACCUS member, Champ Car inherently must abide by FIA rulings, standards, etc.

FWIW

ACCUS is a toothless organization that really only exists to represent american interests overseas. All of the sanctioning bodies listed pay something like $9800 to accus to pay for it's upkeep. Within the USA, pretty much sanctioning bodies do what they want with their own licences, regulations, rules, etc. Sometimes Fia guidelines are followed, sometimes not.

The first year of the surfers race in 1991 was run outside of FIA sanction.

I think having a bunch of bureaucrats sitting around in Paris of all places, dictating from the throne, this series gets a race, this one doesn't, etc. Who are they, God? What gives them the right?

[norman-normal]

I'm sure the FIA is not as fearsome in Europe as they once were, sense they are shaking down every EU Country and moving the F1 races out.

It may be time for a big change. I really hope so.

[mountainstar]

The EU has been rattling about the FIA's anti competitive practices.

Someone else made a point about the USGP and Cleveland only being a week apart yet that is not an issue?

When I first got into racing as a teenager, Mosley just came in and was considered a relief after the tyrany of Balestre, the former president of the FIA. Funny how history repeats itself.

[bil588]

Originally Posted by indycool

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/37751/

as if people will boycott either race? I'd go to both if I was there.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/37751/

Basically, Champ Car originally scheduled their race to take place in May. The event then changed promoter, who asked them to move it to October. Champ Car applied for a new date at the FIA, who "flatly denied" this request. Thus, no CC race in China (Zuhai track) this year. Some interesting quotes:

“The question of a Champ Car race in Zhuhai in October of 2007 is closed,” said FIA president Max Mosley today. “There is no question of such a race taking place.”

Apart from the fact that rescheduling the Zhuhai race so late in the game would have required the FIA to make another exception, Formula One Management objected to the October date on the grounds that it was too close in space and time to the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on October 7.

[Rockmunky]

That's the FIA for you.

What's the actual point of that? Makes no sense.

[SALEEN S7R]

Indeed it makes no sense at all. Champcar isnt really a threat to F1 anymore, not like it was back in the mid to late 90s anyway, I really dont see what the FIA has to gain by preventing Champcar from racing at Zhuhai. I wonder if Bernie has had a hand in this somewhere along the line? Woudnt suprise me in the least.

[Rockmunky]

It seems more than likely it was the doing of the Bernie and Max show...

[Adam43]

merged with the ChampCar thread!

[f1manoz]

ChampCar cannot be blamed at all for this latest piece of farce, although I'm sure one or two will still take a pop-shot at the series anyway.

ChampCar wanted to race in China and did all they could to make sure it would still happen. But because the FIA decided to get it's grubby little fingers involved now, the race won't happen.

Saleen, it would not surprise me at all if a certain Mr. B. Ecclestone was involved. The man is a manipulative swine who should have retired long ago. All you had to do was read his rants regarding the McLaren 'incident' in Monaco to see how out of touch with reality the deluded old fool is.

It really is just completely unfair on the ChampCar series. It's doing it's best to get back on its feet after all the recent problems but measures like this are not going to help it.

[indycool]

With all the fingers in the pie and all their motion, i.e., (apparently) two different Chinese promoters and TV rights holders, CC scheduling China in May, then calling TG for free engines for Indy, then changing China, then being turned down by the FIA, adding Assen and Zolder, the FIA approving, then Mosley and/or Ecclestone saying "no" to another China change, how could any one single entity be blamed for this cluster?

[Tim Northcutt]

With all due respect, Champ Car seems to make its own problems...

They picked a promoter in China that is not involved anymore...and they are being sued by that promoter for alleged breach of contract and fraud...

They also chose poorly in Korea....

My Dad had a saying: "Don't blame the person who was fired; blame the person (people) who hired him/her"

Whine about the FIA all you want, but Champ Car needs the FIA affiliation to race overseas in the long run....

and more important, the drivers need their FIA license to race elsewhere, like Le mans or in F-1, if they choose to move on....

Think Seabass would stick around for a New York second if Champ car would go against the FIA and run in China anyway, only to possibly jeopardize his FIA license??? How about Rahal, or Bruno, or Justin Wilson, or Oriol, or PT????

CCWS used up their exemptions for 2007 with the revisions to run in Belgium and Holland...

Maybe this is a wake up call to CCWS to get its act together and schedule events that will actually take place and to have all of the "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed before announcing events....

Finally, I think it stinks that CCWS had a letter in its hands dated April 2 from the FIA that stated that their October date was rejected, yet no one finds out about it until June 1 (nearly 2 months later) when they get sued by the former promoter of the China race in court, then SpeedTV.com digs into this to find out the truth...

Does anyone here who follows Champ Car feel betrayed or lied to by the people running the show in this series???

If not, you probably should...because they withheld info from you, and didn't fess up until the turds hit the fan this week....

Sure...they can appeal and state their case all they ant, but the FIA said it is "DOA"...so move on and wait for next year...which seems to be a recurring theme with this Series....if there will be a next year....

[Purist]

Tim, how is the promoter backing out after everything seems in place CC's fault? The promoter pulled out, so they need to "get over it."

As for CC needing to know better, it's not so simple or easy to sort out. How do you explain very accomplished businessmen and managers like Penske, Walker, and Dallenbach creating such problems in CART? Hell, who would have seen it coming. I mean, if someone had told me they're not qualified for the job of running the series, I would have said, "Then who the hell is?! It's their money, and they seem to know how to spend it astutely!"

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Aye. The promotor switched sponsors and asked for another date. When the FIA wouldn't oblige the promoter thought "Well I'm going to get my money anyway, doesn't matter how" and sued CC.