FORT WORTH, Texas -- If Bobby Rahal, a former
three-time CART champion and the winner of the 1986 Indy 500, can maintain
his breath-taking pace, he may soon have the "interim" status taken from his
title.
Rahal is the interim president at CART, and he put together another piece of the puzzle in Texas on Tuesday. He announced that CART's Fed-Ex Championship Series will race at Texas Motor Speedway next year. He only stayed at the
announcement for about an hour because he had to go catch a plane.
There's a surprise. Rahal has only been the head of CART for three weeks,
but he's spent most of the time traveling. And that won't stop for a couple
of more weeks. He'll soon be at announcements involving races in Mexico,
Germany and England for next year, all new events on the CART schedule.
The stop in Texas and the travel overseas are part of Rahal's mandate from the CART board: Improve the schedule. "We want to align ourselves with two
entities," Rahal says. "We want to be in great markets and we want to work
with great promoters. This is a step in the right direction. Fort
Worth-Dallas is a key market for us. The teams and sponsors are excited
about being here. It's a first-class facility and we'll put on a great show
for the fans."
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| Bobby Rahal (left) and TMS general manager Eddie Gossage listen to Jimmy Vasser talk about racing in Texas.(AP) | |
Rahal said that the 2001 CART schedule should be completed in a week to 10
days, and that it would likely have 22 races. This is a change from in the
past, when an agreement among CART board members had capped the schedule at
20 races. Rahal said the board lifted the restriction when they decided to
improve the schedule. At the Texas announcement, Rahal said CART was
very interested in racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Both the Texas and
Las Vegas tracks are owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
"We just have to go to stronger venues than we have in the past," Rahal
says.
Rahal said that CART's biggest sponsors are excited about the new schedule,
even though all of the details aren't worked out. He said he has already
visited personally with the leaders of Fed-Ex, Phillip Morris, PPG,
Firestone and Goodyear, some of CART's biggest supporters. Of course, he had
to travel to places such as New York City, Memphis and Cleveland for those
audiences.
"They're really excited about where we are going and the direction we are
taking," Rahal says. "Of course, I'm doing the best I can to listen to what
they need and want."
Rahal has to make sure that he has assembled a strong schedule and
sponsorship package before he tackles his next big task; a new television
package. He has high hopes that sister networks ABC and ESPN, longtime
partners of Indy racing, will support the CART series at a level higher than
ever seen before. Rahal hopes that CBS, which also has some slots opening on
weekend afternoons, will consider being a CART partner.
Yes, Rahal has already flown to New York to visit some of the network types.
"We just have to make the TV situation better," Rahal says. "That's
something we really have to focus on for 2002, when we will need to be
making a new deal."
Rahal also hopes to slow down CART cars, a task that he says is proving to be easier than he thought it would be. "All the engine makers have been
really open to just about anything, so hopefully we'll get this done pretty
quickly," Rahal says. "We can lose 150 horsepower and still be the fastest
cars in the world, something we take a great deal of pride in."
Evidently, CART and Rahal are also very interested at racing in
Indianapolis. The May 6 date for the TMS race keeps open the window for CART
teams to race in the Indianapolis 500. Indianapolis Motor Speedway president
Tony George recently announced a three-week schedule for the Indy 500, with
Pole Day qualifying scheduled for May 12, 2000.
Rahal had been trying to arrange a CART schedule that would keep the teams free to participate in the Indy 500 if they wanted. "I was kind of surprised when that was announced, even though I knew it was a possibility," Rahal said. "That might make it more difficult for CART teams to compete."
Rahal says he'd like to be the "interim" president of CART for a short as
time as possible, though he understands he has at least six months of hard
work in front of him to accomplish his minimal goals. He doesn't say whether
or not he wants the job on a permanent basis, saying that he can't worry
about that because he has too much work to do.
But he gives a big smile when he says it, leading an observer to believe
that maybe he wouldn't mind having the job. Perhaps then he could stay at
home for an evening.