It's hard to imagine having a race in Mexico City without Mario Dominguez. (Photo: Getty Images/AFP/Alejandro Acosta)
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Oriol Servia and Bruno Junqueira tested well and figure to be in the frame, and it's hard to imagine having a race in Mexico City without Mario Dominguez. Sadly, Andrew Ranger may vanish like Ryan Hunter-Reay, and it's pretty obvious that Champ Car understands nothing about continuity.
The ever-changing driver lineup and lack of Americans is why it's so hard to follow, or care, about Champ Car.
On the business side, all the crowing about a title sponsor for the season opener in Las Vegas has stopped because evidently the deal has come apart.
At the press conference, it was dubbed "The Las Vegas Grand Prix Fueled By VISA" and carried that moniker on the website until a couple weeks ago. Now it's simply the Vegas Grand Prix. No mention of VISA.
And one must wonder if this loss could impact the season finale at Phoenix, which shares the same promoters.
The general lack of information about cars, drivers and races falls in line with Champ Car's overall lack of leadership and communication. The SCCA-flavored front office is clueless about marketing, promoting and public relations -- not to mention open-wheel racing.
Hirings and firings are totally irrational, just like dumping the pace-car program, losing Ford as an ally, running China during May, taking advice from Gentilozzi, sticking with terrible television production partners and having one race a month from October through December.
What appeared to be a breath of fresh air a few years ago now has that same old, stale taste and reinforces the theory that car owners cannot competently run a series. Especially when one is in California, one is in the midwest and their point man (Steve Johnson) still lives in Kansas and makes it into the office at least
four days a month.
Champ Car appeared to have some momentum last summer, but it's evaporated into this amatuerish guessing game that sets them further behind the Indy Racing League.
Kalkhoven and Forsythe have spent a lot of money keeping Cosworth, Long Beach, Toronto and the series going, plus they spend a bundle to be on national television. It's big money, and nobody can knock their commitment. But, instead of cutting corners and making bad decisions during these past few months, they should have been locked and loaded on keeping stability in the ranks, bolstering the staff with smart hires and promoting the product -- damn the cost.
But maybe it's become too expensive, even for guys with their wealth. Or maybe they've simply lost interest. Maybe this would be a good time to cut a deal and cut their losses.
Call Tony George, sell him your assets and save money, if not open-wheel racing.
Robin Miller covers open wheel racing for SPEEDTV.com, SPEED News, The SPEED Report and WIND TUNNEL. A lifelong resident of Indianapolis, an 18-year-old Miller stooged for his hero Jim Hurtubise at the Indianapolis 500 in 1968 and began covering motorsports for The Indianapolis Star in 1969. Besides working on Indy pit crews from 1968-78, Miller also competed on the USAC midget circuit from 1975-83. During the past 35 years he's also been a contributor for Autoweek, Autosport, Car & Driver, ESPN The Magazine and several publications that folded and still owe him money. He is single, a degenerate gambler and despises the NASCAR phrase, "We had a Top 20 car today."
Robin Miller is not affiliated with RACER magazine and his views should not be considered representative of RACER or of Haymarket Worldwide Inc.
