Green racing

[FastCar5]

I am new to this site but I have found all the info and rumors facinating.

I heard a rumor that Barry Green sold his team so that he did not have to follow honda to IRL and is looking to start up a new one car team in CART for 2003. Does this have any merit? Just asking.

[Emfa]

Welcome aboard FastCar5 - hope you enjoy your time here.

Your guess is probably as good as anybody's if you are looking for merit in the rumor regarding Barry Green. If you consider the grief that Barry went through after this year's race in Indianapolis, it may be more likely that he just didn't want anything to do with the people that run that series.

[f1manoz]

I'd assume as much. Barry is 100% committed to CART and it's future, and I'd expect him to stay in the series somehow. He's a recognisable name in the CART series, so finding a sponsor shouldn't be too hard.

[Mariofan]

First time poster here. Looks and sounds like a civil place to be! Barry Green is a gentleman that CART should cultivate into creating a new team. He is everything that a owner should be--intelligent, articulate and smart. Pook needs to convince him to return.

[Jay]

I don't think it's a matter of convincing him, I think it's a matter of Barry finding sponsorship...this is the case for all the teams actually. If sponsorship wasn't a problem for anyone, Cart could easily have 30+ cars next year, but we're going through tough times, and getting sponsorship is tough. Still, I'm optimistic that Barry's record as an owner will help him land enough to field at least one car next year.

[macdaddy]

This silly season has been particularly rumour-filled, hasn't it? Here's what I THINK is happening: Having purchased the assets of PacWest, Barry is right now sitting with the guys at Molson, dotting the i's and crossing the t's. When everything is in place, he's going to announce his team. Maybe even a two-car effort.

All of that is speculation, not fact.
(Or maybe it is fact and we just don't know it)

And when the announcement is made, Barry will automatically become my favourite owner. For ditching the team that he worked so hard to build, because it was destined for IRL, and he wanted nothing to do with it.

At the very least he'll be "tied" as my fave owner. I'm still looking forward to Mario starting up a team. But now I'm not so sure about what's going on there, what with the impending press release from Newman/Haas...

[BootsOntheSide]

Barry's showed himself really well in all of this as a man of integrity and character, with a love of racing and a real personal pride, ensuring that no sponsor, driver or weasely series boss will walk all over him. I'd love to see his new team in action in 2003. The Molson / PacWest assets / 2 cars combination seems to be the most likely, which, along with Mario ideally, would be a coup for CART- IRL can keep its whiny Andretti and Green partnership, Chris Pook would have the respective real deals.

[racer69]

The question i still have is why bother selling his team in the first place to go and start up another one? He didn't have to go to the IRL with Honda and all that, if this Molson deals turns out why couldn't he have just gotton it through the current team? (there is probably a simple answer )

I suspect he will be there is some way, the thing is these Molson rumours have been around for ages, yet we haven't heard anything from anyone, Molson, Green, whoever was selling PWR assets.

[Liz]

I'm glad to hear encouraging, er, rumours about Barry Green. I have always liked him and I hope that something good comes from the whole Fruit Basket Turnover between the two "leagues". Molson keeps its cards pretty close to its vest and they don't have a lot of leaks over there (learned from years of filling beer bottles I guess. )

So perhaps we'll have a giant announcement at the Mexico City race and everybody will be happy again.

Except people from the Dark Side who will have to say "Curses! Foiled again!"

[macdaddy]

Racer69, let me try to answer your question. Although (as always) I may be totally wrong! I was of the understanding that not only did Honda want Green to switch, but so did KOOL. Not wanting to be told what to do by anybody, Barry just washed his hands of the whole operation. It was the only way he could be sure to avoid the IRL. By starting a new team, he would be able to find sponsors who are totally committed to CART. But now there is a hole in my theory, as KOOL may not be back as a racing sponsor in any capacity at all next year.

[Flatspot]

To add a little speculation to the mix...

Barry was probably able to sell his team to Andretti for a bunch more than he paid for the Pac-West team leaving him a tidy sum to build a new team. There are probably several guys in the garages that will be in the job market for CART as this restructuring plays out. With a number of the "top teams" leaving he will be at the top of the game when it comes to owners. With all of the equipment freezes the Pac-West stable is not obsolete and won't become so for a couple of years.

In other words he gets to stay in CART, be competative, grow with the series, and pocket a little extra cash to help him along the way. Makes perfect sense to me.

[macdaddy]

Pocket ALOT of extra cash. I'm sure the pricetags for TKG and PW were lightyears apart.

[Crash Test]

Any idea of sponsors? Could this be an avenue for Kool? What about drivers?

[greg.n]

The initial discussion of selling the team took place at Long Beach, before the Indy farce. That may be one of the reasons Kool didn't go to the IRL. They haven't been mentioned as a sponsor of Mikey's team. Barry probably didn't want to go to the IRL and saw selling the team to Mike as a chance to get rid of it at a good price rather than see open wheel racing destruct and get nothing for it. the other partners aren't carrying the bulk of the cost so have less to lose. barry has his cash and can then make a sensible unpressured decision on his racing future. With Dario has gone I'm just curious about who barry is going to have as drivers. Has Tracy been confirmed/announced yet at Players-Forsythe? He would be a good bet for a Molson sponsored Green team.

[macdaddy]

Tracy is signed, sealed, and delivered. So are Tags and Pat.

[Tailwind]

So if Barry has Molson backing and wants to run a Canadian team, but the three Champ Car drivers from the North are spoken for, it seems Michael Valiante from Toyota Atlantic would make a good fit. He looks ready to make the move. That would keep Barry's costs down while the new team has a chance to meld together as an organization.

[Jay]

I don't know if I'd want to throw young Mr. Valiante into a situation like that...(Remember T. Bell) The Molson thing is just a rumour, although I imagine he's looking for whatever sponsors he can get (if he is indeed looking to start a team).

He'd be smarter to go with an experienced driver like Moreno or Vasser. If he has two cars, maybe offer a ride to Valiante, or David Rutledge(although I think he's negotiating with F3000 teams)

[Tiresmoke]

No doubt Barry has been working to secure deals for his own team in '03. He made a bundle off what went to Andretti and Barry may have got to keep the old TKG Reynards that they owned before honda bought everyone lola's, so he may have a couple cars already. PWR is going dirt cheap. If the rumors about angry pit crews not wanting to compete in the IRL, staffing a team should be simple, and who wouldn't want to work for Barry. I can only hope that Barry has kept Kool on the good side, not letting them go with Andretti. There's still a huge stable of competent drivers to choose from, and driver selection really isn't a huge problem.

Optimism says Barry's team is:
1 car Molson
2 cars Kool

[mac]

I reckon Barry will be with CART. After Indy this year, he was never going to be there. And don't forget, he gets to compete in his home country with CART.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kool stay with Barry. Team Kool Green has a ring to it - just rolls off the tongue.

Then again, Molson has put a lot into CART - it would also be good to see them jump into sponsoring a team. Although, I would prefer they didn't make it such that Barry could only hire Canadian drivers.

I can't see Barry doing anything less than two cars either.

As for drivers - who knows? Maybe he can give a young Aussie a go - paging Mr Courtney.

[Race_Girl]

If Molson were ever to follow through and sponsor a team, why would they not team up with Forsythe who will be looking for new sponsors after next year? He has been good to Pat and Tag for the last few years, and now with Paul, it would be a Canadian powerhouse.

[Tailwind]

Now I'd like to see Barry run a team with an Aussie driver. Maybe even a sponser from down under. I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with Mr. Courtney. (Please forgive my ignorance.)

[mac]

James Courtney just finished 2nd in the British F3 championship. Really an underachievement - as he should have won. He is also a Jag F1 tester. He had a monster shunt in testing at Monza earlier this year. The recorded G force was bigger than that of Luciano Burti's big prang last year at Spa.

[Jay]

He'd be great to continue to build Aussie interest in the sport, although is he interested in Cart or does he have his heart set on F1? If you win Cart though, F1 will watch you closely...we know this much.

Maybe a year in Atlantics couldn't hurt to familiarize himself with the tracks and the atmosphere of Cart. Although I'm sure he could handle going straight to Champ Cars, we still remember Mr. Bell.

[Tiresmoke]

With all the popularity of CART in Australia and CART's desire to keep NZ'der Dixon, I have to wonder if CART isn't planning for a second race in the area, keeping CART there for two weeks instead of just the one weekend at surfer's.

[Barbarosa]

The word on KOOL is that Brown and Williamson was really put off by Mikey's antics. That's why they are not mentioned in any of the IRL-ICS propaganda. They have a long and profitable relationship with Barry Green, and the word from Road America this weekend was that it was a pretty good bet that if Green starts a new team, Brown and Williamson will be right there with them.

Now, whether or not they go with an all Canadian team still remains to be seen. The feeling in Wisconsin is that Pook is going to focus on North American tracks, leveraging NAFTA to build up again. That means more races in Mexico, the States, and Canada, where the core of CART's fans are. Surfer's and Europe are nice places to expand into for CART, but right now Pook is pushing the NAFTA angle, especially with sponsors.

As for a formal announcement, since the general feeling is that Ganassi is waiting to drop his bombshell right after Ford makes its announcement to maximize the damage, look for Pook to say "That's a shame, Chip. By the way, we have a few announcements we'd also like to make..."

Barbarosa