MILLER: TG Will Win OW's Game of Monopoly


Written by: Robin MillerIndianapolis, Ind. – 1/28/2008

Carl Haas and Paul Newman agree it's way past time to make peace with Tony George. Derrick Walker says "anything" Champ Car can do to unify open wheel racing is a "no-brainer." Jimmy Vasser was emphatic when he said his series has "got to find a way" to do a deal with the IRL founder. Keith Wiggins might already be in the IRL if he still had his own team. 

So, if all these CART Lifers understand the reality of the situation, then why are Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven still kidding themselves?

Why in the name of Joe Heitzler wouldn't they accept George's gracious offer to give them cars and engines for 2008, plus put five of their key races on the IRL schedule and pay them a sanction fee?

Why wouldn't they want to be part of the Indianapolis 500, where maybe they could get enough exposure to score a sponsor?

Why wouldn't they want to stop spending millions of dollars to be a stepchild on ESPN and ABC?

Why wouldn't they want to stop throwing away millions to promote races that lose millions? 

Why wouldn't they want to stop the bleeding of a sport that's been all but left for dead?

Because, my friends, they aren't racers.

They don't care about what's good for everyone who makes a living driving or working on cars, or the die-hard fans who still shell out money to support this dysfunctional genre of auto racing.

They don't care that their supposed three-year plan was a financial farce, painted in red and camouflaged by phoney, three-day crowd figures.

They don't care that they're the laughing stock of motorsports, that their front office is amateur hour and they take advice from one of the least respected men in any paddock on this planet. 

And, obviously, they don't care about the future. 

Now, I've always praised Forsythe for his loyalty to Champ Car and his willingness to spend his own money. Nobody, save TG, has spent more on open wheel racing in the past decade.

But, as smart as he is in the business world, Forsythe doesn't seem to have a similar acumen in racing. Impulsive and impatient, he changes drivers and crews as often as he changes his mind and then wonders why he can't beat Newman/Haas(/Lanigan). Supposedly, he's refused to take sponsorship unless it's big money like CART got in its heyday.

He also seems to have no passion for racing per se, usually only showing up on race mornings. Last year he only went to the first three races and never came back. Why spend $20 million not to go watch?

On the flip side, Kalkhoven genuinely likes the racing, the atmosphere and the whole weekend of interacting with people. He also loves being interviewed and quoted, something Gerry doesn't.

When they saved CART in bankruptcy court four years ago, many of us were optimistic that Kevin could really do some good. He had no baggage with TGeorge and he didn't seem like the standard car owner who would say anything to avoid the truth.

In their first two years, Forsythe and Kalkoven made some good decisions (securing Long Beach and Toronto, buying Cosworth and Pi, hiring Tony Cotman), and this California-to-Chicago partnership seemed to be working.

But there's been a big disconnect the past two years.

They may be putting on a good act lately, but Forsythe, Dan Pettit (who made his fortune as Kalkhoven's partner before their friendship cooled) and Paul Gentilozzi have made a sport out of out-voting Kalkhoven on just about everything.

Don't you find it interesting that two guys with minimum investments (Gentilozzi and Pettit) accompanied Forsythe to last November's meetings with George but Kalkhoven wasn't there?

Or is it more surprising to learn that Vasser, Walker, Bachelart and Wiggins claim they didn't know about George's blanket offer until I called them last week?

Unlike the days when Dick Eidswick ran the office from Monday-Friday, there is no leadership in the Champ Car office and no communication. Morale is at an all-time low and there is nothing resembling a game plan unless you count the failed Far East strategy.

Kalkhoven's barking about 20-24 new Panoz chassis on the grid in 2007 turned out to be hot air. Their new owners/promoters/partners in Las Vegas and Phoenix lost a fortune in April and were gone before September. The musical chairs in Forsythe's team alone was almost as amateurish as the never-ending driver swap in the paddock. Or the fact that most of the drivers weren't announced until the engines started at Long Beach. Or those two six-week gaps in the '07 schedule. 

Those are some of the reasons Haas approached George about switching sides. That's correct, the co-owner of Champ Car's premier team went to the IRL leader because he, Newman and Mike Lanigan are troubled about the lack of professionalism, lack of communication and lack of anything resembling a future.

Ditto for the small Champ Car owners, who wonder how they can operate on tawdry purses with no sponsorship.

George has been beaten up constantly in this space (and rightly so) since 1996 but he's no longer the bad guy. His offer appears to have been as sensible as it was viable and nobody can say anymore that he's trying to block unification. 

Now let's be up front. TG has easily spent $300 million keeping the IRL afloat the past 12 years and his car count for 2008 is south of 18 at the moment. Adding the Champ Car teams would strengthen his grid, deepen his competition and make qualifying at Indy mean something again.

It's as good, if not better, for the IRL as it is for Champ Car, whose teams would likely get kicked this season but be back of equal footing in 2009 or 2010 when George's series has new cars. In the meantime, it would be great for open wheel racing.

Had an agreement been reached back in November, there already could have been a press conference with Graham Rahal sitting next to Marco Andretti and Paul Tracy trading barbs with Dan Wheldon. George was willing to accommodate Long Beach, Toronto, Edmonton, Australia and Mexico City in 2008 and switch his schedule around. It could have been 19 races, all with live television and a buzz about a new era.

Now it's not probably going to happen until at least 2009. If then. 

The word is that Forsythe put a fork in the deal unless George agreed to pay $100 million over 10 years. 

So you see this doesn't have anything to do with left-foot braking, outside passes, rewarding the fans, improving the product or trying to restore all that was right with Indy-style racing in the mid-90s.

This is evidently about saving face, not saving open wheel racing because Forsythe must figure if he gets Tony to pay, he and Kalkhoven will look like winners.

But the real bottom line is that racing is a way of life for George and his family. He's not going away and he's got the only open wheel race that anybody in this country still cares about. He's also got the Brickyard 400 to pay for Indy cars. 

It's not a way of life for Forsythe and Kalkhoven: it's a hobby, albeit an expensive one. It couldn't be a business or else they wouldn't run it so poorly.

No, this is all about ego and power and rich guys playing Monopoly with a sport many of us treasure.

But, until those two understand that Tony George is always going to have Boardwalk and Park Place, open wheel is going to be screwed. 

Robin Miller covers open wheel racing for SPEEDTV.com, 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.