One of the most resilient and over-achieving teams in major open-wheel racing of the past two decades is out of business.
“I’ve been keeping this thing going for the last four months because I thought we could work things out, but I finally ran out of time and money. I had to pull the plug,” said Derrick Walker, whose CART team started in 1991 with Willy T. Ribbs and actor Bill Cosby. “I dropped the bomb on my team Friday and it was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do. Everybody was shocked, to say the least, because I had been optimistic we were going to get sponsorship.”
Three years ago, Walker entered into a partnership with Craig Gore and Team Australia was formed. Last season, Aussie Will Power scored a pair of victories, earned five pole positions and finished fourth in the Champ Car points standings.
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But Walker is reportedly owed $1.5 million from Gore, who is now rumored to be heading to KV Racing and joining fellow countryman Kevin Kalkhoven.
“Yes, Mr. Gore owes a fair amount of money to this company and he told me he wanted to be part of this team again 2008,” said Walker, who employs about 40 people at his shop on the northwest side of Indianapolis. “It’s very sad because the Team Australia concept was working and now this impacts a lot of good people.
“I’ve had loyal people with me for 17 years and we were building something good with Will and Simon (Pagenaud, who captured the 2006 Atlantic title and was impressive as a Champ Car rookie in 2007). “I feel bad for Will because he likes our environment and didn’t want to leave. Same for Simon.”
