Nations Cup??

[Apexx]

When I examine the qualifying results from St. Petes, it occurs to me that Americans are severely under represented (in numbers, not talent). Why are we not seeing more hot shoes from the U.S.A.? As a pure population ratio, if there are 3 canucks, there should be 30 Americans (based on population).
This needs to be addressed so that the series gets a greater thrust from a loyal patriotic fan base.

Just an observation.

[Jay]

Very simple, American companies are not sponsoring drivers.

It's nearly impossible to get a company in North America to support racing. Racing is seen as a hobby here, not so much a profession as it is in South America and Europe. There are three Canadian drivers because Player's has been supporting Canadian drivers for years. If it wasn't for Players there's a good chance Tags and Pat would not be in the series, Greg Moore might never have gotten to Cart and possibly even Jacques Villeneuve in Cart and then F1 (he was nothing special 'til Players picked him up).

There are enough good American drivers aspiring to Cart to fill an entire grid. But, there's barely enough American sponsors to cover a single team...if that.

[Omega99]

That's very true, but NASCAR is very popular and that's why they have no trouble finding sponsors. Unfortunately, CART isn't as popular in the US because there aren't as many american drivers, and so sponsors aren't as interested, and they don't sign up as many American drivers. It's a vicious circle.

Speaking of PLAYERS, since this is their last year because of the tobacco laws, what's going to happen to Forsythe Racing? (Molson maybe?) It would be a shame to loose another one of CART's strongest teams, not to mention "Team Canada".

Dishwalla said it best, "We count only blue cars..."

[macdaddy]

Players won't even be able to show their livery at Fontana this year, as the Canadian ban comes into effect Oct. 1.

After signing PT for two years, I remember Forsythe saying that he had a major European sponsor (hopefully) lined up for 2004.

[DNQ]

Forsythe will be in CART in 2004, no doubt about that, we're not gonna lose them to the IRL

I agree the lack of American drivers is a shame. Herta, Gidley, or Fogarty for example would have fitted in nicely.

But personally, I wanna see an Aussie racing! Sure we had Bright in 2000 at Surfers, and Dixon (well he was BORN here...) until last year, but this year there's no Aussie representation

Hopefully Murchinson can get a Rahal deal for Surfers.

[macdaddy]

I think Pook wants an Aussie as badly as you do.

[camcartfan]

macdaddy, I thought Players found a loop hole in the Canadian law by putting "Players.com" on the side pods, instead of the cigarette logo? No?

[macdaddy]

Not sure why they added the ".com" to the sidepods last year. But I do remember reading that Players will not be on the cars, in any capacity, at Fontana.

[Snrub]

When Jaguar gets out of F1, Webber can come to CART.