CART Goes for the Gold
CART is the latest in a rapidly expanding line of motor racing
companies to offer its stock to the public, a move which is
expected to generate around $60 million. What will they do with the
money? Besides buying Indy Lights for almost five times the value of
its assets? Only the sketchiest outline has been provided.

Bucking Bernie
What began as an obscure law suit in Germany has turned into a full-scale investigation of Bernie Ecclestone's deal with the FIA, an arrangement which may now be ruled illegal by the European Commission. Thanks to the commission, we're beginning to get a look at some of Formula 1's best kept secrets, including what Ecclestone has done to keep CART off overseas television.

Whitewash on Black Tuesday
As the headline indicates, we were less than satisfied with the decisions handed down by Max Mosley and his World Council this week. We look at the rationale behind the decisions, and what they say about the sport and its administrators, with a sideways glance at Bernie Ecclestone's political contributions. Where there's smoke, there's Bernie.

Tale of the Tapes
Ferrari is apparently behind the leak of the transcripts of radio communication between Villeneuve and Schumacher and their respective pits. They make interesting reading, but consider the source.

FIA Press Release -- World Council Decisions of November 11, 1997
The test of the FIA press release providing the rationale for its
decisions regarding Michael Schumacher's collision with Jacques
Villeneuve and with respect to Williams and McLaren. Not included:
the council took the time to approve the breaking of the Land Speed
Record and the sound barrier by Andy Green.

Sentencing Guidelines
In advance of the FIA's judgment of Michael Schumacher and the Williams and McLaren teams, we consider the ramifications of various penalties, should the verdicts be 'guilty.' In addition, the editors of RaceFax each offer what they think the FIA will do, and provide our individual opinions of what the FIA should do. Now, what do you think?

F1 Rocked by Second Scandal: Jerez Race Result Was Fixed
The Times of London has published extensive transcripts of the Jerez
radio communication between Jacques Villeneuve and Jock Clear, and
between Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn. What the tapes and
accompanying articles make clear is that the order of the first three
finishers was fixed by Williams and McLaren. As a result, the
credibility of the sport, the teams and the FIA have all been called
into question. We examine what happened, and the absence of ethics
in Formula 1.

Mosley's Asian Threat Works In England
The threat by Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone to pull Formula 1 out
of Europe in the face of a ban on cigarette advertising has worked,
at least in England. On November 5th, the new Labour government
announced it would exempt the sport from any such restrictions.
Action and reaction.

Major Changes for the IRL in '98
The Indy Racing League has announced major changes for the 1998
season. Thankfully, many are intended to provide much needed safety
improvements in rear impacts. In addition, the Indy schedule has
once again been revised, restoring a form of rookie orientation, and
race weekend schedules have been standardized for the events beyond
Indy. A series of open tests have been slated, and a new
championship points scheme has been developed, which increases the
reward for winning races.

Motegi's a Hit in First CART Test
Fourteen CART drivers traveled to Japan for the series' first full–on test of the Honda-owned, 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval. The track drew universal praise from the drivers as Jimmy Vasser topped the timing sheets both days, eventually producing laps at 215 mph. A report, session times and artist's rendering of the facility.

Fixing Formula 1
Was Jerez fixed? A lot of people believe that the prearranged price
of Jacques Villeneuve's first world title was Mika Hakkinen's first
GP win. David Coulthard is said to be livid over losing a third
season win after being caught up in the intrigue in Spain. That,
however, proves to be just the tip of the iceberg, if you believe an
unsubstantiated story which is in wide circulation in Europe and
England.

Of Accidental Champions and Damage Control
Michael Schumacher sees no reason to apologize for his actions at
Jerez. The rest of the world seems to disagree. Forrest Bond looks
at what happened at Jerez, and what should happen in Paris on
November 11th, which Schumacher has his day in court.

1997 Formula 1 Year
Statistician Steve Bronder breaks down the 1997 Formula 1 season in a
series of informative charts.

Blowing Smoke
In an attempt to defend the indefensible, FIA president Max Mosley went before the F1 press corps at Jerez to justify and expand upon his threat to pull Formula 1 out of Europe if faced with a cigarette advertising ban by the European Union. Then he turned to the continuing debate over the Concorde Agreement and the division of Formula 1's profits. It all makes interesting, if largely illogical, reading.

Spanish Showdown
In the run-up to the final Grand Prix of the season, no one is talking about the relative strengths of Schumacher and Villeneuve. Instead, the possibility of a fourth championship in 9 years being decided by accident dominates pre-race speculation. It's a sad commentary on the sport.

L'Affaire Villeneuve
Cynicism reached new heights in Japan as the Williams team and Jacques Villeneuve manipulated the rules for personal advantage, turning the Japanese Grand Prix, and the world driving championship, into a farce. Forget the cars; just line lawyers up on the grid for a debate, winner take all....

Penske: Tracy Wanted Out
On Monday (10/13), Roger Penske and Andre Ribeiro held a press conference. As expected, most of the questions dealt with Paul Tracy leaving the team. We present a partial transcript of the press conference.

Tentative CART '98 Driver Lineup
All the top seats are taken, and few rides remain available for 1998. This tentative lineup shows who is confirmed, lists any equipment changes (chassis, tires) which have been announced and lists the possible/probable drivers and the vacancies.

Without France, How Grand is the Prix?
The decision to remove the French Grand Prix from the 1998 F1 calendar has evoked predictable outrage among the French and F1 traditionalists. ADISA provides the view from France, outside that held by Jean-Marie Balestre.

The Sports Car War: A Second Look
In anticipation of this weekend's SportsCar WSC race at Sebring, and the first appearance in the U.S. of the FIA's GT1 cars, we examine the latest salvos from each side in the battle for control of professional sports car racing.

CART Year-End Stats by Steve Bronder
Three pages of charts detailing the 1997 CART season, race by race and driver by driver.

October TV Schedule
We posted this a couple of weeks ago, but it apparently went into the ether. Apologies precede the October U.S. racing television schedule.

FIA Sets F1 Rules Changes, Payout
On Wednesday, October 8th, the FIA World Motor Sport Council confirmed the Andy Green/Richard Noble world land speed record, announced a number of changes to the F1 regulations (some of them rather significant), provided the 1998 F1 calendar (minus the French GP), invited B. Ecclestone to join the GT and sports car commission and, for the first time, provided the formula for "competitors' reimbursement," which is to say, how the money the teams get their respective and varying percentages of the action. What wasn't specified was how much money is divided by the complex formula. This should have stayed buried in the Concorde Agreement. That it didn't tells us that peace is not about to break out in Formula 1.

The Brief Rise and Abrupt Fall of Andy Evans
As fans of the old Can-Am, Group C and IMSA GTP, we would be covering SportsCar (nee IMSA) WSC races, if the class had approached any of those now-dead series. Andy Evans, the latest owner of SportsCar, had visions of increasing excitement with the FIA Merc, Porsche, McLaren-BMW and Panoz GT1 cars, and more, but won't now get the chance. The SCCA, Bill France and others have exhumed the Can-Am name for their own version of WSC cars, in an apparently already successful attempt to drive Andy Evans out of the race sanctioning business. We examine the background and beginning of what should be a short war, and a very long legal action.

Austria: Retrospective
A photographic look back at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Amon Syndrome
Chris Amon became a legend in Formula 1 for picking teams either just before, or just after their good years, one of the key reasons the likable New Zealander never won a GP. His legacy can be seen in such prescient decisions as Damon Hill choosing Arrows over Jordan last year. Editor Forrest Bond looks at the degree of difficulty in making intelligent choices, and recommends Ouija boards for all.

CART Season Stats, Through Laguna Seca
Steve Bronder's charts detail the CART season through the Laguna Seca race, and provide a background for this weekend's finale at the new California Speedway north of Los Angeles.

Austrian GP Thursday Practice Times
As usual with a new or long disused circuit, the FIA allowed the drivers 30 laps of free practice in Austria, which is both largely new, and long disused. The track surface was slick with dirt and what not, and the time don't mean much, though with three Bridgestone cars out front, it looks like the Japanese have dirt tires down to a science. Here, the best times for the 22 drivers.

Monza: Retrospective
The first installment in what should be a regular series. About six days after each Formula 1 race, we'll have a look back at the race in pictures, supplied by ICN. We'll keep the captions short, and the photos as large as the page limits allow. We begin with Monza.

F1 Season Stats, Through Monza
Steve Bronder's charts detail the F1 season, through the Italian Grand Prix.

The Death of Tradition and the Resurrection of Ayrton Senna
In his eighth column, Robert Duncan considers the shortening of the traditional Month of May at Indy and the announcement that Sylvester Stallone's F1 film will now be an Ayrton Senna bio-pic.

CART RaceStats, Through Vancouver
With the return of Steve Bronder, ace statistician, the old RaceFax/RaceZone staff is complete again. Herewith, Bronder's statistical look at the CART season, through Vancouver.

Zanardi's Just Fine
CART's young lions are raising the level. Suddenly, if you want a podium, you've got to charge throughout. One of the art form's leading practitioners is Alessandro Zanardi, and for his efforts on Sunday, CART fined him $25,000 and put him on probation. We look at that decision, and what it says about CART.

September U.S. Racing TV Schedule
The entire month's schedule of open-wheel racing coverage.

Media & Marketing #7: Institutional Memory
Each network has its own way of doing sports coverage, and draws on its own institutional memory -- everything from what its people know to the film and tape in its library -- to create its unique approach. Our Robert Duncan shows how it affects what we see when different networks cover various races in a single series.

Indy Car Madness
CART's audience is turning television sets off in alarming numbers. What viewers remain for open-wheel racing have been divided between CART and the IRL, further reducing the primary justification for sponsorship. CART has finally recognized its problem, but hasn't a clue how to fix it.