No answer yet

[indycool]

http://www.indystar.com/articles/3/101760-2403-036.html

[rush1]

tick tock tick tock...

[GP Racer]

Kind of like waiting for a jury to decide your fate!

[sgw2]

I don't think the Board will make any reccomendation, especially since Pook has run away and gone into "hiding" (concerning CART for the moment).

The vote is scheduled for the end of the week. But my guess is most of the shareholders will not vote. This is because over 4M shares are now held by lame ducks, those sold after Novemeber 7th. Add to this Vannini's 1,255,000 shares and the "Yes" vote is certain to fail.

So the board will be forced to file to liquidate ASAP. My guess is that will happen the Monday or Tuesday following the vote, or December 22-23. In all likelihood the judge will defer the matter until after the Christmas break impounding everything CART owns in the meantime.

The earliest likely actions will begin the week of Jauary 5th. It will be then that the judge will set a time and place for inspection, auction and bidding. Who knows? Maybe late January or perhaps in February?

tick-tock tick-tock is absolutely correct.

[Jay]

Well...they do have til mid-April now... so if it wrapped up sometime in January...or even early February for that matter, there'd still be time to get the series together for the first race in Long Beach.

[indycool]

McAlpine said in one recent article that Long Beach will wait till mid-January to decide what it'll do.

sgw2, am I wrong that OWRS rescinded its merger offer that the shareholders would be voting on and made a new one? If that's the case, is the vote still in effect?

[Snrub]

So the OWRS has ~1 month to get it's affairs in order. Not good.

Is the vote still on? I thought the OWRS decided they no longer wanted to merge.


EDIT: The "autocensor" rule really isn't that hard to understand!

[Fogelhund]

There is no vote. For all purposes, if this isn't wrapped up by Mid-January, its over.

[Snrub]

EDIT: The "autocensor" rule really isn't that hard to understand!

I didn't realize there was a rule, just an autosensor. :confused: Anyway... I find the sensor a lot more offensive than the actual words. Strong sitations call for strong language. It may be a family forum, but I sware in front of everyone in my family. But, since you're the one moderator who's decisions I respect, I will cease and desist. (here I come F1 forum!)

Back on topic: I thought this thread would have more discussion on if/when CART/OWRS will get this stuff sorted out and if which races might not happen.

[macdaddy]

Thanks, Snrub. I simply ask that we avoid the "dodge".
Unless, of course, you're spelling Hiro's last name!

[Wrex]

Originally posted by Snrub
(here I come F1 forum!)

My stick is even bigger


OT, I really hope they can pull something together, but it is'nt looking good. With all this uncertainty, how on earth are teams going to secure drivers and sponsorship on a 'maybe'?


*fingers cossed*

[sgw2]

OWRS says they will probably not purchase CART even if the vote is for the "merger." They then made a counter offer of $2M with the proviso that CART pay the teams thier owed point fund money of $1.6M (excepting the OWRS teams).

Effectively OWRS has withdrawn the offer, although they still techinically have the option to accept a yes vote. What OWRS wanted was the CART board to approve the asset sale and creditor status of OWRS and to file for bankruptcy.

CART's Board, probably including Pook, must have decided that voting for the bankruptcy and insider sale was not a good idea, or at least one they had better get some really good personal legal advice on. Kalkhoven and Gentilozzi appear to have misread the board on this one. So it'll be off to the judge.

OWRS messed up their last move, and may have been a little too cheap to pull it off - assuming they really intended to pull it off in the first place.

[indycool]

Understand, sgw2. The CART BoD's safest CYA move is to let a bankruptcy judge decide. If they do the insider sale and go bankrupt and the judge throws out the sale, they're in the same boat anyway and may assume some personal liability.

Pook has gotten out of Dodge, at least physically. That might mean that the BoD has a major disagreement among its members on this issue or is preparing to throw him under the bus for all the problems and past practices anyway.

With Andretti and Patrick not standing for re-election to the BoD in July, Walker, Biggs and Haas bailing on the BoD over the last six months, and now Pook headed for the hills, I think that leaves Hardymon, Henderson, Sanchez and Tucker to form the current CART BoD. Of those, only Sanchez is a racing person although Tucker, I believe, has been involved peripherally in the past in some Motorola sponsorships.

Because of that, the remaining BoD is likely to play a safety, by the book, without regard for OWRS, its plans, and/or its machinations.

[Fogelhund]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
For all purposes, if this isn't wrapped up by Mid-January, its over.

I just thought I'd clarify something in this post. By wrapped up, I mean complete change in ownership completed, schedule out, I mean everything done.

[CART_4ever]

We need input from someone that's got the inside info on the television side... I would think one of the first to know what's going on is the network that's going to carry the series. They have to schedule everything way in advance. (Speed? - CBS?)

[indycool]

I don't think there IS inside info on the TV side. Pook announced CBS for 10 races in July. There isn't 10 races firm on the schedule right now. Rumors have had MTV doing something with Motorock and SPIKE doing some races. OWRS and Motorock haven't been able to clean anything up there because OWRS doesn't have the series or its assets yet and there's no firm schedule to work with for any of them.

[Fogelhund]

The rumours suggest that Pook is no longer involved with CART. There are also rumours that the law suits have already started.

Rumours from Transam internet league.

[macdaddy]

I'd like to sue for "mental distress" !

[macdaddy]

The "BoD" page on CART.com still lists Pook. But that's not concrete evidence - perhaps it simply hasn't been updated.

[indycool]

Fogel, one lawsuit HAS started. Tom Begley sued everyone over a St. Pete issue -- Dover, CART I and II, OWRS I and II, Pook personally, etc.

Do you have a link to that tainternetleague page?

Macdaddy, could be an oversight, they could be waiting to announce until after something's done. Pook HAS been removed from the staff page.

[Ac.]

Originally posted by indycool
With Andretti and Patrick not standing for re-election to the BoD in July, Walker, Biggs and Haas bailing on the BoD over the last six months, and now Pook headed for the hills, I think that leaves Hardymon, Henderson, Sanchez and Tucker to form the current CART BoD.

At what point does this BoD cease to be able to operate? As I understand it a corporate board must have a certain number of members to be able to make decisions. Does anyone know if there is a minimum number required by CART?

[Fogelhund]

I don't have the link saved at all, just type transam internetleague in a search browser.

macdaddy - No ummm you know. One way or the other, lets find out what is going on.

Perhaps not the place for this, but it is pretty depressing thinking what thin ice professional road racing in North America is on. CART, Trans-Am and Atlantics about this close to disappearing, and IMSA with few LMP entries (with some risk attached).

Just what would all of these teams do if these series closed up?

[indycool]

Understand, Fogel....I'd guess the CART-owned series like Atlantics would be in search of a sanctioning body (IMSA?) but Toyota or someone would hafta buy it out of bankruptcy court.

Or the SCCA might take a shot at getting both Atlantics and Trans-Am back. Gentilozzi's had hiw own problems making a go of that, both creatively and in the paddock.

Mike Shank already took his team to Grand Am.

[Fogelhund]

indycool - Re; Atlantics - well, who would want it, and what room for it is there on the sched? On its own, Atlantics was weakening. Too expensive compared to some of the competition, such as FranAm, and Formula Mazda. IMSA already has Speed WC GT and Touring, plus Formula Mazda on the undercards. There really isn't room left for an Atlantics addition.

TA - the most likely scenario, if everything folded, was to have this new series named TA.

[indycool]

Understand and good points, Fogelhund....that series started back in the '70s and started the careers of drivers like Gilles Villeneuve and Michael Andretti....it'd be a shame, but its car count is off and it costs some $$$$.

Trans-Am is in the same pickle.....car count is off already for '04 (and wasn't large in '03) and Gentilozzi seems to be ignoring it while he plays with CC.