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©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing Clarin Digital of Buenos Aires, Argentina, reports that their countryman Norberto Fontana is in danger of spending the rest of the season without a ride. Champcar Team owner John Della Penna told the publication that the team was going to sit out the next race at Milwaukee. The reason behind this hiatus is unrelated to Fontana's recent accidents. It's all about money. Della Penna said that a certain "Marcelo Tinelli guaranteed a sponsorship ... of 850 thousand dollars. We fulfilled fully:we painted the car in Videomatch colors. We already ran 5 races." But so far, none of that sponsorship money has been received by Della Penna Motorsports. Fontana was named as Della Penna's driver early this season when the team was unable to secure enough funds to field their long-term driver Richie Hearn. Fontana was able to bring Tinelli on board as associate sponsor, which allowed the team to enter the season. Della Penna explains: "We had a meeting in Buenos Aires with Tinelli where we signed a minimum sponsorship. Since then they haven't answered my phone calls. When I met Tinelli before the race of Brazil he assured to me that they would fulfill the deal." Another version of what happened comes from Fabian Scoltore, commercial manager of Ideas of the South, the producer of Tinelli's TV programs: "We did the possible thing to help Fontana but when Telefé (Argentine TV Station) decided not to broadcast the races because of poor ratings, everything fell through. For that reason Tinelli decided to break the verbal agreement with Della Penna and to pay what we owe him now. We are hoping that Della Penna's invoice arrives so we can send 200 thousand dollars to him, which corresponds to the 5 races that have been run so far." Fontana declared that he decided along with John Della Penna not to run the next weekend in Milwaukee.
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