igor Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...502/1004/SPORTS http://www.crash.net/news_view~t~Ford-canc...3~id~142451.htm Igor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZanatWork Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 No great loss. Until Champ Car and Indycar kiss and make up, open wheel racing in the US continues to be on diminishing life support. I loved the CART days, but since the split...F1, NASCAR, and Grand-Am look better every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Champ Car president Steve Johnson said the announcement shouldn't tarnish the partnership forced between the series and the car manufacturer over the past 15 years and gave thanks for the continued support shown. "Today's decision was made from a business standpoint on both sides and in no way should tarnish the long legacy of success that the Ford Motor Company has established in Champ Car competition," he said. (...) WTF? Bad journalist! "Hey Sean! You want to go ride bikes?" "I can't, I've wet myself" "Sean Harris you've got problems" -- http://www.weebls-stuff.com/wab/email/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Somewhere off in the distance, if you listen carefully, you can hear Paul Tracy crying again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 We evaluate all of our racing programs on an annual basis and have decided that this sponsorship does not align with our current business objectives," said Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology. Starting to think Dan Davis, is full of it...or at the very least he's in the wrong position at Ford (nothing new when it comes to placing Ford personnel). Late last year he talked about the unwaivering loyalty Ford has to NASCAR. Well, it's even more evident today that NASCAR is a farce...no relevent street car technology for Ford...people are only loyal to the dollar. All you're paying for in NASCAR are the billboards (the cars) and the drama generated by the personalities of the drivers, nothing relevent to the automotive industry(meaning car brands don't matter). Dropping ChampCar will not help, ChampCar has a promising future especially with the Panoz DP01 chassis...wish I could say the same about Ford Racing. They're paying a hefty price for just keeping the Ford name a buzzword in the world of professional motorsports...I digress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Ford gets little to 'improve the breed' from Champ Car. It was different when they owned Cosworth, or before that, when they rotated engineers through the Champ Car and F1 programs. OTOH, Ford gets a definite return by keeping Robert Yates and Jack Roush happy. Not to mention the 'family loyalty' between the Fords and the Wood brothers. Since Ford doesn't work with any other Nascar teams, I don't see their involvement in Nascar as all that stupid. Sure, they pay lip service to the France propaganda, but in the end, it's about keeping some of their best aftermarket suppliers happy, and keeping up family honor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 If memory serves, the Wood brothers supplied pit crews to Ford's LeMans efforts, and showed the Ferrari teams a thing or two..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4d4evr-1 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 If memory serves, the Wood brothers supplied pit crews to Ford's LeMans efforts, and showed the Ferrari teams a thing or two..... I'm not certain about LeMans but I know they were @ Indy in the late '60's or early 70's and showed them how it was done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue II Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Ford gets little to 'improve the breed' from Champ Car. It was different when they owned Cosworth, or before that, when they rotated engineers through the Champ Car and F1 programs. OTOH, Ford gets a definite return by keeping Robert Yates and Jack Roush happy. Not to mention the 'family loyalty' between the Fords and the Wood brothers. Since Ford doesn't work with any other Nascar teams, I don't see their involvement in Nascar as all that stupid. Sure, they pay lip service to the France propaganda, but in the end, it's about keeping some of their best aftermarket suppliers happy, and keeping up family honor. Robby Gordon is in the Ford NASCAR camp this year as well. The Indy group from the 60's of Colin Chapman, Jim Clark, and the Woods brothers had a language barrier. An Englishman, a Scottsman, and some Southern gents all spoke English but didn't always understand each other. Great story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ150 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Dump all of it- I would rather see a racing series that raced what I can buy (or at least close to what I can buy). Put the money into Rally and Trans Am type racing. Nascar's house could tumble if a smart person found a way to get real cars on tracks on TV with the right marketing. I would much rather watch a Mustang race and look similar to what I can buy than that silly looking Car of Tomorrow that nascar is going to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZanatWork Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Rumors are growing that the "Busch" series is going to pony cars in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Ford gets little to 'improve the breed' from Champ Car. It was different when they owned Cosworth, or before that, when they rotated engineers through the Champ Car and F1 programs. OTOH, Ford gets a definite return by keeping Robert Yates and Jack Roush happy. Not to mention the 'family loyalty' between the Fords and the Wood brothers. Since Ford doesn't work with any other Nascar teams, I don't see their involvement in Nascar as all that stupid. Sure, they pay lip service to the France propaganda, but in the end, it's about keeping some of their best aftermarket suppliers happy, and keeping up family honor. A valid point indeed, however, there now is an unprecendented wave of money now hitting the motorsport of NASCAR, partly because of Toyota. Indicated by drivers' moves to other teams for the all mighty dollar, and poll after poll shows that the drivers are what matter to fans. It's only a matter of time before the fans stop connecting their favorite driver to that driver's sponsor. Jackie Stewart was loyal to Ford in F1, but that didn't yield envious results, and ultimately the loyalty to Ford (inadequate financial backing) handicapped the team on the track. Ferrari was spending three times as much as Ford on their team. A similar situation could be brewing in NASCAR with Toyota. Peformance of Ford cars on the tracks in NASCAR is already hit or miss...with Roush Racing really the only team producing results. The Wood Brothers are barely ever competative. As far as pony cars in the Busch series, it sounds great, but I doubt it will be as great as it sounds. A byproduct of oval racing are cars that are very simple in design or sleek. Compare and IRL car to a F1 or ChampCar, the IRL does not have the dynamic curves of a ChampCar let alone a F1 car. Whatever incarnation we will see of the Mustang on the oval, won't look as good as the one on the road coarse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 A valid point indeed, however, there now is an unprecendented wave of money now hitting the motorsport of NASCAR, partly because of Toyota. Indicated by drivers' moves to other teams for the all mighty dollar, and poll after poll shows that the drivers are what matter to fans. It's only a matter of time before the fans stop connecting their favorite driver to that driver's sponsor. Jackie Stewart was loyal to Ford in F1, but that didn't yield envious results, and ultimately the loyalty to Ford (inadequate financial backing) handicapped the team on the track. Ferrari was spending three times as much as Ford on their team. A similar situation could be brewing in NASCAR with Toyota. Peformance of Ford cars on the tracks in NASCAR is already hit or miss...with Roush Racing really the only team producing results. The Wood Brothers are barely ever competative. As far as pony cars in the Busch series, it sounds great, but I doubt it will be as great as it sounds. A byproduct of oval racing are cars that are very simple in design or sleek. Compare and IRL car to a F1 or ChampCar, the IRL does not have the dynamic curves of a ChampCar let alone a F1 car. Whatever incarnation we will see of the Mustang on the oval, won't look as good as the one on the road coarse. 1) Jackie Stewart's loyalty to Ford (the Ford/Stewart F1 program being your point of reference, I assume) wasn't necessarily a problem for him, in that while he was inadequately funded by Ford, he would not have been funded by Ferrari. In theory, he may have gone farther by teaming up with BMW, Mercedes, or Renault, but they already had their dance partners, and he was no more likely to get in with any of them, than with Ferrari, IMO. 2) Let Wood Brothers, Yates, or Roush leave Ford, rather than vice versa. As far as the "Fords" not being competitive, all Ford does is provide sponsorship money. I don't think much Ford supplied R&D talent goes into those beasts. Ford spends sponsorship money with all three teams (IIRC), not to mention funds for engine development and such. 3) Any 'pony' cars at Busch would be silhouette racers with spec engines, IMO, as that's the 'formula' the Frances know. Sure they sanction the Grand Am series, but when push comes to shove, I doubt they'd change the Busch formula to something more closely related to Grand Am or even the Trans Am spec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue II Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 1) Jackie Stewart's loyalty to Ford (the Ford/Stewart F1 program being your point of reference, I assume) wasn't necessarily a problem for him, in that while he was inadequately funded by Ford, he would not have been funded by Ferrari. In theory, he may have gone farther by teaming up with BMW, Mercedes, or Renault, but they already had their dance partners, and he was no more likely to get in with any of them, than with Ferrari, IMO. 2) Let Wood Brothers, Yates, or Roush leave Ford, rather than vice versa. As far as the "Fords" not being competitive, all Ford does is provide sponsorship money. I don't think much Ford supplied R&D talent goes into those beasts. Ford spends sponsorship money with all three teams (IIRC), not to mention funds for engine development and such. 3) Any 'pony' cars at Busch would be silhouette racers with spec engines, IMO, as that's the 'formula' the Frances know. Sure they sanction the Grand Am series, but when push comes to shove, I doubt they'd change the Busch formula to something more closely related to Grand Am or even the Trans Am spec. Ford is at a serious disadvantage in engine design. The Windsor block dates to 1969. NASCAR has allowed Toyota to copy the best attributes of the Chevy and Dodge, while not allowing Ford to update it's engine. Toyota is spending vast sums of money to buy influence and NASCAR is allowing it. Toyota did the same in IRL. Their engine was copied from the Cosworth. The Japanese will ultimately destroy the American car industry just like they did the electronics industry. A lot of it is self inflicted by the auto industry. But our governments liberal trade laws that favor foreign country's is to blame as well. Ford has a long road to recovery and I hope they make it. It will not be easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I didn't think the Fords were at that much of a disadvantage, given that the good Ford drivers are pretty much always in the thick of things. I mean they've got no shot at winning the mfrs' cup, because there's hardly any of them around, but the engines seem equal to the task. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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