If you think merger/bankruptcy talk is hard on Champ Car teams, what about their Atlantic brethren? (LAT photo)
A friend of mine named Paul Rieffle called the other day for my take on the Champ Car/Indy Racing League merger/reunification acquisition/bankruptcy rumors. Neither Paul Gentilozzi, Tony George, Gerald Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven or Dan Pettit would know Rieffle if they tripped over him, but I’ve known Paul since the 1970s when we raced Formula Ford 1600s together . . . or more accurately, since we race Formula Fords on the same tracks at the same time, as Paul was generally considerably further up the road than me.
For the past 10 or 15 years, Rieffle has prepped his small fleet of FF2000s for various “arrive and drive” clients at his RSPORT (catchy name, that) shop near Pittsburgh. As you can imagine, one of his leading sources of revenue is the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland since he and some of his drivers can do one-off sponsorship deals at the only Champ Car event (in this country anyway) within a day’s drive of Western Pennsylvania with FF2000 as a support race.
So as you can also imagine, Rieffle is viewing the goings-on between Champ Car and the IRL with particular interest, given that the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland does not figure on most of the presumptive “unified” schedules making the rounds in cyberspace.
Now, RSPORT isn’t about to go belly-up if the 2008 Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland goes the way of the 2005 (or 2006) Champ Car Prix of Ansan. But Paul Rieffle will take a hit. So will his clients. And they’re the lucky ones.
As Robin Miller noted, Carl Haas Automobiles has millions tied up in spares for the Panoz DP01 chassis that figure to be boat anchors if -- as appears likely -- a unified series is all Dallara-Hondas all the time. And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of those who stand to take it in the shorts should a rush to merger or a Champ Car meltdown transpire.
Panoz invested millions in the DP01 and, as with any mass-produced chassis, lost money in the first year and probably won’t begin to break even before Year Three of the contract. How about Hewland, which supplied the transmissions to the DP01s? Or BBS. which supplied DP01 wheels?
