Dead Men Talking
It isn’t a tune anyone likes, but CART’s directors have finally faced the music, filing a bankruptcy petition in Indianapolis. Plan B calls for three team owners to cherry-pick CART’s bones, and run CART Lite in 2004. Shareholders will be left out in the cold. Will CART’s teams and fans be any warmer?

Reinventing the Wheels
Faced with flying race cars, serious injuries, a fatality and palpable risk to spectators, the Indy Racing League is poised to introduce radical, mid-season change to its formula, beginning with the Indianapolis 500. It is one of the most comprehensive set of changes to a formula we’ve seen, and a more sweeping mid-season rules change package than Formula 1 introduced after Ayrton Senna’s death. The intent is to put the emphasis on drivers and race engineers, increasing both passing and safety, and it might just might do that.

Losing Faces
Our annual review of the performance of CART and the IRL on U.S. television helps explain the precarious situation in CART. More important for the future, the numbers show that the IRL has not only failed to find a meaningful audience, but after holding the line in 2002, again lost ground in 2003. The Nielsen ratings also illustrate Formula 1’s failure to penetrate the American market.

Something Old, Something New; McLaren Introduces the MP4-19
Is the MP4-19 the last 2003 F1 car to be introduced, or the first 2004 car?

Staring Into the Abyss
Chris Pook took the shareholders’ $100 million to the tables and crapped out, breaking CART’s bank. With Open Wheel Racing deciding not to buy the company for $7.4 million, CART now has no option but to file bankruptcy. OWRS, however, generously says it will buy CART’s assets, for something between $2 million and $400,000, maybe less. It isn’t criminal, but it should be.

Change for the Sake of Change
For the 2003 season, Formula 1 introduced new qualifying procedures and a new points structure. Five decades of tradition were trashed to improve F1's entertainmnet value. The effect was exactly the opposite.

World Council Ratifies '04 F1 Qualifying Rules
There is nothing radical here, and little that makes sense.

High Noon in Texas
This weekend will see the IRL’s 2003 driving champion decided in a remarkable five-way contest among Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Sam Hornish and Gil de Ferran. All five are more than mere mathematical possibilities. Castroneves and Dixon are tied, and only 30 points separate all five, with 52 points available in Ft. Worth. We examine the possibilities.

Potholes in the Road to Salvation
Seven weeks after reaching agreement with CART’s board of directors on a proposed purchase price, and less than five months before it will need to stage its first race, Open Wheel Racing Series finally began to reveal how it plans to salvage CART. Some initial stumbles — like the wish list which purported to be a schedule of ’04 races — were perhaps only to be expected, but much of the plan remains vague, and is based on false assumptions. Meanwhile, time is running out.

CART Gambols With Gamblers
When the cash begins to run out, people do things which, in better times, they probably wouldn’t consider. That may provide the rationale for CART’s association with an English Internet bookmaker, in a ‘presenting’ sponsorship deal for the CART-promoted Miami race. It doesn’t, however, justify the deal, because it is illegal.

The Great Tire Robbery
With just three races left on the calendar, and the closest championship contest in years set to restore some much-needed excitement to Formula 1, the FIA has magically discovered that the tires Michelin has been using since the season began in Melbourne are illegal. With the FIA once again poised to ‘interpret’ the rules to help Ferrari steal a championship, the season looks set to end as it began, in pointless and self destructive controversy.

Be Careful What You Wish For
Open Wheel Racing Series' 13D Filing, Step One on the Way to (Maybe) Acquiring CART

Waiting for Someone Other Than Bernie
CART has reported a $34 million loss in the second quarter, and projections which again make it clear the company will run out of cash at the end of the year, if not earlier. The search for investors has failed to produce any, and survival now rests on creating what might be called CART Lite, and finding someone -- anyone -- willing to buy the company and run its series in that fashion. Everyone now understands the buyer won’t be Bernie Ecclestone, and while the remaining suspects were rumored to be making a tender offer this week, the stock price has inexplicably soared, at least delaying the buyout. The questions which thus arise are, does anyone still want to save CART, if so, do they have the cash and the ability to do it, and considering what CART is likely to become, will anyone care?

Money for Nothing
CART management thinks it has found a buyer for the company, and in pursuit of that exit strategy is settling lawsuits and hoping there won't be more. We look at the players and the possibilities.

Practiced In the Art of Deception
There’s a fundamental and important difference between placing information in the most favorable light and what Westerners call tall tales. That distinction frequently seems lost on CART’s management, men who are attempting — with considerable success — to distribute false information and manage the news. To that end, CART employs the key open-wheel writers who monopolize the media outlets, writers who then purport to be objective journalists when their work appears on independent Web sites and in print publications. The result is a public, and investors, deceived.

Waiting for Bernie
As promised, CART has provided investors with guidance for 2003, and forecasts for 2004. Against all logic and its own financial estimates, CART says that the company will run out of cash at the end of 2004. They’re off by 12 months, and not to the good.

FIA 'Clarifies' Procedures for Formula Anal-Retentive
The Formula 1 qualifying rules explained. More or less.

Smoke & Mirrors: Filling the Indy Grid
Bump Day at Indy has always been about deal-making, but 2003 was different. Faced with a 28-car grid, the Speedway was making the deals, and as a result, final qualifying was a set-up, with the qualifiers assured before the day started. It was all a measure of how much has been done to, rather than for Indy car racing.

Penske Out-Thinks the Competition: First IndyPole in IRL's Second Era to Toyota
An analysis of Pole Day Qualifying for the 2003 Indianapolis 500.

Max Trades Traction Control for Cheap Engines
Deal-making in Formula 1. Only the fans lose.

What's In It For Me?
The continuing saga revolving around who will control international open-wheel racing going into the next decade is finally getting down to the central issue: money. The manufacturers have offered the teams nearly double their 2002 revenue in 2008, and suggested the team’s cut will be almost five times the 2002 distribution in 2012. That’s music to a team owner’s ears, but what still needs explaining is how the manufacturers plan to increase the sport’s revenues from $930 million to $1.6 billion over that time, and why the GPWC will need to retain up to $700 million when they’ll likely own most of the teams.

Gasping at Straws
According to Chris Pook, CART will finish 2003 with $50 million in cash, “maybe less.” Subsidizing the teams in 2004 will consume all but one of those 50 millions, and the company doesn’t expect a profit until 2005. So who or what is going to keep CART afloat in 2004?

CART Board Member Flies at Indy
Mario Andretti returned to the cockpit today at Indianapolis,
running 225 in preparation for possibly qualifying for the injured
Tony Kanaan, and, it was whispered, maybe substituting for the
also injured Dario Franchitti. And then, out in the 1-2 short
chute, it all went wrong. We look at the day's events, Andretti's
new Indy altitude record, and the appropriateness of a CART board
member lending his name and considerable crowd appeal to the
competitor's marquee event.

Race and U.S. TV Schedule for San Marino Grand Prix
A complete event schedule for various time zones, plus the U.S.
television schedule and the Internet live timing URLs for round four,
the San Marino Grand Prix.

F1 Teams Give GPWC A Tentative Commitment
The Formula 1 manufacturers are boasting that the teams owners
have signed on the dotted line, but they've merely agreed to try
to find an agreement. Is Bernie nervous? Probably not.

Putting the CART Before the League
What began as a race report for the IRL's season opener at Homestead
evolved into an examination of a League transformed by the massive
influx of drivers, teams and engine manufacturers from CART, covering
everything from the comparative television performance of the
season's first CART and IRL races to the challenges which now face
American open-wheel racing in general, and the League in specific.
Because a number of subscribers have elected not to receive IRL race
reports by e-mail, and the article is of broader interest than a pure
race report, we've elected to send it as a feature article, and also
to post it to the IRL race section of the Web site. The race report
is still in there, tucked in the middle, and if that doesn't interest
you, simply read the first and last sections.

Tilting Formula 1's Playing Field
The first 'new look' Grand Prix of the 2003 season promises to be
unpredictable in the extreme, thanks to new qualifying procedures
which have wiped out the conventional wisdom about how to approach a
race weekend. The manner in which new rules were brought into force
has led to a nearly unprecedented level of political vitriol, and it
is an open question whether the racing or the politics will take
center stage in Melbourne. We look at both.

Race and U.S. TV Schedule for IRL Season Opener at Homestead
A complete events schedule in U.S. time zones, plus the U.S.
television schedule and the Internet live timing URLs for the first
IRL race of the season, at Homestead.

Bernie Offers Billions for Buy–Back
Bernie Ecclestone says he's prepared to repurchase 75 percent of
SLEC Holdings, the company which holds F1's commercial rights, for
$1.5 billion and a new Concorde Agreement binding the teams to F1
through 2015. Implicit in the offer is an end to the threat of a
manufacturers series gutting Formula 1 of teams, engines, sponsors
and tracks, which is the point. Is this peace in our time, or just
peace in our mind?

FIA Clarifies 2003 Formula 1 Qualifying Rules and Procedures
The FIA has issued four press releases which clarify the qualifying
procedures, restrictions which will be imposed between qualifying and
Grands Prix and conditions under which spare cars can be used. None
of this applies to the cars which will used in the pre-event private
testing sessions available to Renault, Jordan and Minardi. We
clarify the FIA's clarification, and provide the full text of the
four press releases.

The Poison Pen Letters, Part 2
By return mail, Max Mosley has responded to a variety of charges
leveled by team owners Frank Williams and Ron Dennis, and
challenged them to be more specific, to provide proof of their
contentions and to meet with him on matters ranging from
manufacturer participation to the economics of Formula 1. As with
the owners' letter to Mosley on February 20th, Mosley made his
response public, and we have reproduced it in its entirety, for
the moment withholding comment.

Poker, F1 Style
Frank Williams and Ron Dennis - which is to say, BMW and Mercedes -
have decided to challenge FIA president Max Mosley's instant rule
changes for 2003. We look at the latest skirmish in the struggle
for control of Formula 1 and its cash flow, and settle in for the
long haul.

Williams, McLaren to Fight Mosley's Rule Changes
Team owners Frank Williams and Ron Dennis have announced their
intention to formally oppose most of the rule changes imposed for the
2003 season by FIA president Max Mosley, as well as the future
proposals for two- and six-race engines in coming years. The owners
contend, with apparent justification, that the manner in which the
rules were imposed violates the Concorde Agreement, a contract which
binds the FIA and the teams. Herewith, the press release provided by
the two team owners, and the text of a letter they have sent to
Mosley.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
For the first time since The Split, the Indy Racing League beat CART
in the critical battle for television viewers, attracting more
'eyeballs' with fewer races for a decisive win. Yet even if the two
series and their audiences -- which are distinct now -- could somehow
be combined, U.S. open-wheel racing would still be a distant second
to NASCAR in viewers, track attendance and sponsorship.

Revised 2003 Race Calendar
With CART having made what we can only hope are the final changes
to its race calendar, and its domestic television schedule finally
released seven days before the first practice session of the
season, we are providing a revised race calendar combining F1,
CART and the IRL, as well as individual calendars for each series.

CART Entry List Grows to 19; Calendar Changed; TV Schedule Decided
This article replaces the earlier version, and incorporates
changes to the text, as well as corrected air times for all Speed
Channel race broadcasts (beginning a half hour earlier, with a
pre-race show), air times for the CBS races, and corrections to
driver names in the entry list.

Independents' Day: Mosley Goes Back on the Offensive
Having failed to get the team owners to agree to his supposedly cost-
saving measures, and very much needing their votes, FIA president Max
Mosley has taken the debate about endurance engines and customer cars
and parts public. We evaluate his argument, and access his real motive.

IRL Test in the West, Combined Times from Phoenix
A combined time sheet, showing each drivers best time from the
first day, and individual session times for the second and final
day. Ranked by best overall lap time. Once again, Honda and
Toyota proved evenly matched on the final day, with Chevy a
distant third. But it's alright. They Chevy teams aren't
worried. We know, because they said so.

IRL Test in the West, Day Two Time Sheet
As at Fontana, Toyota and Honda were evenly matched, and Chevy was
well off the pace. Temperatures in the 60s prevented anyone
approaching the 2002 pole time.

F2003-GA: The Key to Michael's Sixth?
Can the new Ferrari carry Michael Schumacher to an unprecedented
sixth world championship? If looks are any guide, the radically
new F2003 is just the weapon Schumacher needs. We provide
photographic comparisons of the new Ferrari and the world
championship-winning car it will replace, along with a technical
analysis.

2003 CART Spring Training Final Time Sheet
Provides best times from the first two days at Sebring, times from
the morning and afternoon sessions on the third day, and
highlights best overall time, which went to rookie Sebastien
Bourdais. The Newman-Haas team scored a one-two, with Bruno
Junqueira second quickest overall. Time sheet corrects errors in
team listings on the previous day's reports, which have also been
corrected in the archive. Our analysis of Spring Training will be
combined with a look at the IRL Test in the West, after that
concludes.

Servia Tops Spring Training Times
With the IRL teams moving from Fontana to Phoenix, CART took
center stage with the second of three days of Spring Training open
testing. Oriol Servia beat Sebastien Bourdais's quick time from
the first day to top the week's combined time sheet. Perhaps
predictably, all the rookies except Bourdais remained clustered at
the back, behind the veterans.

CART, IRL First-Day Testing Times
Times from the first day of open practice at CART's Spring
Training and the IRL's Test in the West, showing positions in each
session and overall. The CART sessions were punctuated by spins,
as was to be expected on a green Sebring track. Rookie Sebastien
Bourdais was quickest, but stuffed his Haas Lola in a tire
barrier, bringing the afternoon session to an early conclusion.
At Fontana, Toyota and Honda were evenly matched, but Chevrolet
was well off the pace.

The Shape of Things Just Around the Corner
With the start of the 2003 season just two weeks away, we look at
the final Formula 1 entry list, and the entries attracted by CART
and the IRL, as well as what it all says about the current state
of open-wheel racing.

FW25: Ferrari Beater?
As promised, Williams has introduced a new car which is represents
a radical change from last year's FW24. Will it, and it's BMW
engine, be enough to allow Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher
to challenge Ferrari?

IRL Test in the West Entry List
The IRL has released an entry list for its annual pre-season media
show and mass test session, the Test in the West. The event is
again divided between Fontana and Phoenix, and the dates are
provided. This represents the first comprehensive breakdown of
cars, drivers, and engine and chassis choices.

Jaguar R4: "A Solid, Sensible Car"
Jaguar's 2003 racer is being billed as a conservative evolution of
the much-modified and much-maligned R3, but the R4 is as new as it's
clean-sheet-of-paper Cosworth V10, the bevy of recently hired
designers and engineering managers and drivers Mark Webber and
Antonio Pizzonia. For Jaguar, it's back to engineering basics, and
the result looks like being a worthwhile advance on its predecessor.

Renault Breaks No New Ground, But Launch Car May Not Be Definitive
With a fourth in the 2002 constructors' championship, Renault's Mike
Gascoyne-led design team has produced a new can not much different
than the one it replaces. Major changes to the aero package are said
to be already in the works, however. Engine reliability was the
team's major shortcoming last year, but no one was talking about
steps taken in that direction, and not surprisingly, the subject of
the proposed 11th hour rule changes took some attention from the
launch of the R203.

Easier Said Than Done
Rebuffed in his attempts to reduce Formula 1 costs and improve the
show, Max Mosley intends to impose a major overhaul on Formula 1. To
do so, however, requires the cooperation and formal consent of the
team owners, and the manufacturers who support them. In what is
likely to be a long-running contest of wills, be prepared for a
demonstration of hard-ball politics, F1-style, and remember that
people lie, and motives are not always what they appear to be.

Willis Downsizes for Speed
With the introduction of the Geoff Willis designed BAR 005 at
Barcelona, the re-christened BAR team has its first F1 racer that
doesn't look like it should be hauling the race car instead of the
race car driver. Lower, lighter and simpler in construction, as
Jacques Villeneuve said, this one looks like a proper F1 car. Could
this be the car to turn BAR's fortunes around, and revitalize
Villeneuve's career? If you judge books by their covers, then yes,
it is.

Toyota Aims for Points Based On Competitiveness, Not Luck
The first 2003 F1 car to break cover, Toyota's TF103 is an evolution
meant to continue its predecessor's reliability, while increasing
performance with more power, more downforce, and less drag and
weight. The team also announced Ricardo Zonta as test driver.

Present, Tense
Bernie Ecclestone wanted the auto manufacturers' engines and their
money, and the enhanced image and marketing support they could bring
to the sport. He got it all, but now he and Formula 1 are facing the
downside. Having invested billions of dollars, the manufacturers
have decided they don't quite approve of either the way Ecclestone
and the FIA have run the sport or distributed its wealth, and are
threatening both Ecclestone's financial empire and the FIA's half-
century of control of Formula 1 with a breakaway 'Grand Prix' series.
As the struggle heats up, we look at the impasse which will take the
sport into 2003, and what brought us to this point.