Quick......name one person other than John Menard who has spent millions in NA open-wheel racing.........answer: Chicago, Illinois native Gerry Forsythe, who's been a scion of the sport since the 1980's.
Ever since losing Player's as a sponsor in 2003, Forsythe has literally spent millions out of his own pocket(estimates are around $125 million) fielding two cars with little or no outside sponsorship(that's on top of sharing the day-to-day costs of running ChampCar with Kevin Kakhoven and Paul Gentilozzi). In addition, Forsythe lost millions buying tons of CART stock(at the same time everyone else was
selling theirs.......
) so its' a wonder he hasn't hit any reefs over the past few years........until now.
According to Speed Channel's Robin Miller and corroborated by both autoracing1.com and paddocktalk.com, Gerry Forsythe has given an ultimatum to driver Paul Tracy........either renegotiate your contract down from the $2.5 million yearly salary or else.
Why could this be the grounding that could ultimately spell ChampCar's end? Simple.....although Paul Tracy is, unfortunately(......
) at 39, on the downward slope of a legendary career that has included} 1--31 wins, 2--15 brain fades that cost him wins, 3--several on-track
contretemps, 4--miles and miles of passes, both brillant and boneheaded, 5--one championship and 6--17 years of brutally honest opinions.
Granted, "the Thrill from West Hill" hasn't thrilled many the past two years with only one win in 2006 and 2007, which was why everyone(myself included) thought it was very honorable of Forsythe to offer PT a 5-year contract so that he could finish his career in ChampCar.....a nice reward for being ChampCar's most loyal personality. Fast forward to Dec. 2007 and it looks as though Forsythe's either 1--lost his ------- mind(fill in the blanks.....
), 2--believes he can force PT to renegotiate(.......
........) or 3--he's decided to take ChampCar down the path of ritual seppaku(..........
)......say what will you about Paul Tracy, he still packs the fans into the seats as every race, he drives 10/10th's every lap, takes chances the rest of us would blanche at and still, thankfully, speaks his mind.....
Only three scenarios can come out of this.................
1--Paul Tracy decides to bite the bullet and accepts a paycut(which could force other teams to decide to go 100% ride-buyer.....the reasoning being, if PT's contract isn't iron-clad, why should anyone else's be?)
2--PT leaves Forsythe and heads to Newman-Haas-Lanigan and partners up with Graham Rahal, or.....
3--PR leaves Forsythe
AND leaves ChampCar for the IRL(now, imagine three Canadian races without Paul Tracy.......I can't!
)
While scenarios 1 and 2 are the most likely, wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall at 16th and Georgetown and hear Tony George say, "Let's try to sign PT to an IndyCar Series contract." With the millions TG has, that's a distinct possibility; throw in the fact that, when PT races for then-Team Green in CART, Honda always had a great working relationship with Tracy and have been known to throw wads of money to teams to sign drivers......
All I know is this.........if Gerry Forsythe does what I suspect he might do and cuts Paul Tracy loose, this insanely stupid open-wheel split could be over, because if ChampCar's heart and soul goes over to the IRL, it would be game......set...........and match.
That's my say................what's yours?
category........another embarrassment for Messers. Kalkhoven, Forsythe and Gentilozzi.......
