Silly Season Update

NOW AVAILABLE! — The Official Directory for CART Racing
Silly Season Update
©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
More cars in '98 and still some open seats
The latest scoop on the Carpentier/Bettenhausen parting of ways:Patrick, who always had close ties to Players, will be running asecond car for Forsythe racing in '98 if the Canadian governmentpasses a bill that will allow tobacco advertising in motorsports.That this bill will pass is considered a done deal by many insiders,especially after Jacques Villeneuve's F1 Championship title.
The Carpentier/Players deal has been in discussion since mid summer,but only recently did the political climate towards tobacco in racingchange enough to allow Players to prepare for the team expansion.Greg Moore's manager (and dad) will probably go ballistic once Gregisn't the only Canadian hero on the team, but that's the breaks.Players needs a French Canadian driver to address their market inQuebec. There are few drivers to choose from that fit the bill, andsince Patrick already had a personal sponsorship deal with Players,his decision to leave Bettenhausen must not have been too difficult.Looking at Patrick's personal website (www.carpentier.com), it seemslike his webmaster has already found the RGB color values for thePlayers blue...
Tasman still seems undecided regarding their driver lineup, and morerecent rumors suggest they may even become the 'Lola Factory Team'due to lack of sponsorship. Buying a fleet of Reynards doesn't comecheap. Earlier this fall SpeedCenter heard that Project Indy maybecome the 'Lola Factory Team,' with Christian Danner at the wheel,unless another driver with a bag of money steps in. One thing iscertain - there won't be many Swifts in the '98 field.
Another interesting silly season observation: there are more peoplevisiting SpeedCenter now than during the race season. The same thinghappened last fall. Maybe it's time to convert the site to a CARTrumor mill and ingore all the actual racing coverage?


		NOW AVAILABLE! — The Official Directory for CART Racing

		Silly Season Update ©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. More cars in '98 and still some open seats The latest scoop on the Carpentier/Bettenhausen parting of ways:Patrick, who always had close ties to Players, will be running asecond car for Forsythe racing in '98 if the Canadian governmentpasses a bill that will allow tobacco advertising in motorsports.That this bill will pass is considered a done deal by many insiders,especially after Jacques Villeneuve's F1 Championship title. The Carpentier/Players deal has been in discussion since mid summer,but only recently did the political climate towards tobacco in racingchange enough to allow Players to prepare for the team expansion.Greg Moore's manager (and dad) will probably go ballistic once Gregisn't the only Canadian hero on the team, but that's the breaks.Players needs a French Canadian driver to address their market inQuebec. There are few drivers to choose from that fit the bill, andsince Patrick already had a personal sponsorship deal with Players,his decision to leave Bettenhausen must not have been too difficult.Looking at Patrick's personal website (www.carpentier.com), it seemslike his webmaster has already found the RGB color values for thePlayers blue... Tasman still seems undecided regarding their driver lineup, and morerecent rumors suggest they may even become the 'Lola Factory Team'due to lack of sponsorship. Buying a fleet of Reynards doesn't comecheap. Earlier this fall SpeedCenter heard that Project Indy maybecome the 'Lola Factory Team,' with Christian Danner at the wheel,unless another driver with a bag of money steps in. One thing iscertain - there won't be many Swifts in the '98 field. Another interesting silly season observation: there are more peoplevisiting SpeedCenter now than during the race season. The same thinghappened last fall. Maybe it's time to convert the site to a CARTrumor mill and ingore all the actual racing coverage?