Pook For President
Well, maybe not for -- once the master of the Long Beach Gran Prix, CART's most successful venue is now the head honcho of the series. Pook will try to work his magic on the conglomeration of malcontented car owners, sponsors, and fans. And the guy's got the chops for it.
Commentary from those in the know, and from those who think they know, suggest Pook has the people skills and the leadership ability necessary to restore CART to its place as the nation's premier open wheel racing series.
That will require some accommodation with Tony George, founder of the IRL and head of the family corporation that owns the Indianapolis 500.
It also requires keeping the owners satisfied, bringing some cohesion to the schedule, and mollifying the engine manufacturers. The last is the most arduous of Pook's tasks. There's some rationale for coordinating engine specifications with the IRL, but not every manufacturer is interested. In fact, a disinterested observer might suggest that coming to agreement with corporations like Honda and Toyota, who smell the lure of international competition as exemplified by the F-1 series, will be Pook's toughest task.
Take the summation from a story in the Long Beach (CA) Press-Telegram, "There's a good reason for that. The three-day Grand Prix is the city's single biggest event of the year and one of the premiere sporting events in Southern California. It commands huge media attention, draws scores of celebrities and hundreds of thousands of racing fans from across the nation. Its economic impact on the city has grown to a staggering $35 to $40 million."
And here's a story from the always-well-informed gang at Speedvision ...
Chris Pook Shows His Plan Of Attack
Detroit, Mich., Dec. 20 — Chris Pook was installed as the new leader of Championship Auto Racing Teams primarily on his ability to affect change and get things done.
Odds and Ends
- Jimmy Spencer, who signed on to drive a NASCAR entry for Chip Ganassi, got a chance to test in Kenny Brack's Toyota Lola champ car when Team Target was testing at Sebring. Of course, I'm a bozo, and I'd probably be afraid to get the thing out of first gear, but apparently the team wouldn't let Spencer use anything more than third gear. His lap times were 25 seconds slower than Brack's. Of course, that's not as smile-provoking as the machinations necessary to get the portly Spencer into the miniscule champ car cockpit.
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