Asian Motor Sports

Editor’s note: Say hi and welcome to Australia’s Peter G. He has been a long-time commenter at my affiliate siteFull Throttle and has gotten the “bug,” (read, pissed off) to write this open letter to V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane concerning his letter relating to the Gold Coast IndyCar event scheduling.

As a side note, Peter may be my eyes on the ground so to speak as he has tentative plans to attend F1’s first night race in Singapore. With luck he may be filing on scene reports from Lion City.

So without further adieu I give you Peter G.

I apologise in advance if the tone of this open letter from V8 boss, Tony Cochrane, regarding the Gold Coast Indy sounds like American bashing, he really should have used the words Tony George or IRL instead of nationality.

It would appear that TG in his infinite wisdom does not value one of the longest running & best supported races on the calendar. The IRL’s apparent refusal to accept the reasons as to why the date can’t be moved may see the event dropped by the Queensland Government.

I confess that I have broken my vow, to only say nice things about the new merged series, & I’am almost at the stage of saying please don’t bother coming. Why, you ask?

Firstly, it is an insult to not run the event as a points scoring round, no explanation is necessary as to why it has earned its place on the championship. It devalues the event, enough said.

Secondly, to be blunt, the IRL should be grateful that a race with a proud history of hosting a quality product i.e. Lola’s, Reynard’s & Penske’s with drivers like Mario Andretti, Emerson, Nigel, Juan, Alex & Jimmy etc, should feature (in this merged re-building season) a second rate offering. With no disrespect to Mr Dallara, the current chassis/engine road course car is an embarrassment to watch. Nor is this Honda’s fault, as that engine was never meant for this type of racing. The cars don’t hold a candle to other F3000 type series GP2, A1GP or WsbR.

Considering the Gold Coast was prepared to accept this sub standard offering, while the league found it’s feet & a new car to handle the demands of ovals, road course, street & super speedways, it is naïve (if not plain ignorant) to not accommodate the Gold Coast’s wishes regarding dates.

I’m getting the feeling that Tony George does not understand or value this event, or that he is not the only player in the field. The implicit threat of “other” international series can only mean A1GP, or even the high quality GP2ASIA, which feature the exact same teams that compete in the F1/Euro/GP2 & exactly half of the drivers from that series.

If the IRL will not abide by the Gold Coast wishes then I am 90% convinced Tony George should be shown the door, & supplant the “packed to the rafter’s” weekend with the V8’s & A1GP.

Maybe Australia does not feature on the radar of Tony’s vision for the future of American Open Wheel. If so, it was great having the old CART/Champ boys down here since 1991 & we can go our own way & the “new” IRL can go its own. What a pity that the direction of American Open Wheel was passed on to this generation of the Hulman family. Lucky sperm club for one & unlucky race fans for the rest of us.

Peter G.

Cross Posted @ Full Throttle

Technorati Tags: Tony Cochrane, V8 Supercars, IRL, IndyCar, Gold Coast, Gold Coast Indy