Champ Car Still Doesn't Get It! Rant.

[23Racer]

Just my personal opinion and believe me I can't stand Tony George and his two faced operation of the IRL, but the racers in Champ Car are so out of touch with what they are paid to do. Just finished listening to an interview with Ron Fellows on the FAN 590. He was friendly, open and discussing not only his last minute deal to run in the Trans-Am race on Saturday (for Molson Canadian) but also smoothly got in mentions of his ALMS Corvette ride as well as his NASCAR ride for DEI. It was a very nice and well done interview. You couldn't tell that he was called 5 minutes before he was to appear and he was at the track just getting fitted to a car that he hadn't sat in before this morning. Good local content and again way to go Ron.

This interview was a last, last minute deal as Alex Tagliani had been scheduled to be interviewed and blew off the local station at the last minute. Yesterday both Paul Tracy and Patrick Carpentier blew off scheduled interviews with the FAN 590. Bob Singleton has been on the radio more than any Champ Car race driver.

In PRO racing driving fast is only a small part of the deal. You can't be a prima donna and blow off scheduled promotional activities just because you want to. NASCAR is so popular because they market the drivers and they have been so available to interviews (even in the car while racing). This makes the drivers real to the average fan. PRO Racing is personality driven in a series where the cars are as near to the same that the rulemakers can make them. This is where Champ Car is with spec motors and all but 1 car Lolas.

Paul, Alex and Patrick, I am seriously disappointed with your lack of care for the local fan base and it is little wonder why Champ Car is having difficulty attracting sponsorship from consumer goods companies. Champ Car is not Formula 1 and it is not racing go-karts at Goodwood. Look what has happened to Jacques Villeneuve. You are mostly paid to get your sponsors message to the public/ consumers. DO IT!!!! Let the people know who you are every year, at every venue. This is why the IRL has managed to grab far more of the consumer goods sponsorship and can race in front of empty stands. Their drivers are like NASCAR drivers doing shill work for their sponsors.

There, got that off my chest. I feel so much better now.

[Trackside]

I agree with most of what you have said, but one must remember that at this particular event puts enormous stresses on the Canadian drivers.

Even though the majority are not sponsored by Canadian companies anymore, they are still in very high demand at the Canadian events.

The same holds true for Mexican drivers in Mexico and the Americans in the specific states where they hail from or are current residents.

Wait until they run at Vegas, Paul, Pat, Alex and Jimmy Vasser will all be under the bright lights as that is where they all currently live. They can never possibly answer all the requests that they get for interviews and other appearances.

When I was setting up signings with some of the ChampCar stars over the last few years it usually came down to show up and be available all weekend and IF they could find an hour they would be available to me. This meant being at the track on the Wednesday or Thursday during setup and being available from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm each day until the signing was accomplished. It was usually a spur of the moment notice as well after a couple of possible times had to be cancelled because a sponsor needed the driver.

So basically cut the guys some slack they have a lot of pressures that many of us have no idea what they are like. I have been in the inner circle with them and when they do get a chance to kick back and relax they take full advantage of it.