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To Head Jaguar in Formula 1 ©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing
IRVINE, Calif. (September 14, 2000) - Its a rumor that has reared its ugly head before, but this time it looks real: Bobby Rahal will step away from his involvement in CART to become the team boss for the Ford/Jaguar Formula 1 team in England. Rahal, part owner of the two car Team Rahal CART franchise that fields Ford/Reynards for Max Papis and Kenny Brack, has been serving as CART's interim President and CEO since June when the CART owners overthrew then CEO Andrew Craig and asked Rahal to step in and run the show until someone else could be found. Exhibiting a very hands-on style of management, Rahal has moved swiftly to address some of the problems that caused the CART owners to grow unhappy with Craig. He announced the 2001 CART schedule, spearheaded the move to decrease turbo boost over the next two years to slow down the cars, and initiated contract talks with ESPN and ABC to improve TV coverage of the CART series. It may be this aggressive management style that attracted Ford's F1 team to the three-time CART champion. Rahal has ties to Ford through his CART team, and has experienced a modicum of success as a team owner, winning his last CART series championship in his first year of ownership in 1992. But his recent success in steering CART has raised his profile with the engine manufacturer, and they are desperate to experience success in the highly competitive F1 series. After assuming control of Jackie Stewart's 1999 F1 team, the 2000 Ford-financed Jaguar team has had little success. They have posted only three points so far in their debut season, but have suffered 11 retirements. With Formula 1 returning to the United States this year with a race on September 24 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the announcement of Rahal's new position is expected to be made in Indy sometime next week, possibly on Wednesday. This rumor was first reported by Robin Miller in the Indianapolis Star immediately after the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey, and then jumped upon by Speedvision and Autosport. But with the confirmation this morning by Columbus Dispatch sports reporter Tim May, it appears that this rumor has turned to fact. Possibly joining Rahal overseas is Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Juan Montoya, who has long been rumored to be leaving CART after the 2000 season to join Williams F1, who loaned him to Ganassi in exchange for Alex Zanardi at the beginning of the 1999 racing season. And recent rumors have Barry Green leaving the day-to-day operations of his Team Kool Green CART team to his brother Kim to go overseas to become team boss for the BAR F1 team. This would reunite him with his 1995 CART driver Jacques Villeneuve, with whom he won that year's Indy 500 and CART championship. Just as Rahal has ties across the pond through Ford, Green has ties to Honda, who supply engines to both his CART team and the BAR team. Another even more important connection between the two teams is that British American Tobacco owns both Kool and Lucky Strike, the primary sponsors of the respective teams. The only thing that is sure is that this has become a Silly Season for the record books. -Lesley Miller, SpeedCenter Senior Editor
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