DEARBORN, Mich., January 24, 2007 – Ford Motor Company announced today that it would no longer serve as an official sponsor of the Champ Car World Series. Ford had participated in Champ Car and its predecessor, CART, since re-entering open-wheel racing in 1992.
“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. “Although we are leaving open wheel racing at this time, we’re proud of our long relationship with Champ Car, its teams and drivers, and we wish them well as they try to grow the sport.”
Ford’s withdrawal from Champ Car will not affect the other racing programs the company currently supports, including NASCAR’s three major national touring series, the NHRA PowerAde Drag Racing Series, both the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car and KONI Challenge Series and several series sanctioned by USAC.
From Susan Pollack
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3 comments:
Perfect. Next time I'm shopping for a carburetted, pushrod-powered jalopy, I'll visit a Ford dealer.
“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,”
Translation: "We're running out of money and it's hard to file for bankruptcy when you're running a race series with no competitors"
“Although we are leaving open wheel racing at this time, we’re proud of our long relationship with Champ Car, its teams and drivers, and we wish them well as they try to grow the sport.”
Translation: "We were happy to do this when it was a worth while series, but after 5 years of unification talks, even our incompetent company can tell it's not going to happen."
Is it safe to call CHAMPCAR the Keith Richards of racing?
How many near death experiences can one series have before they go the way of Can-Am, Trans-Am and anything else ending in Am?
Sadly CHAMPCAR will survive, continue to fade into whatever comes after obscurity and Bourdais will win again.
In the Immortal words of Alfred E. Newman - Blech!
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