much ado about…

I would say nothing, but I’d be lying.

It was definitely something, and for about 12hrs it polarized the fanbase and the media.

Lots of spinning, bucket loads of denial, finger pointing, blame, meltdowns, more denial. My god… the daily soaps paled in comparison.

here’s a recap (cause I’m too lazy to write it all out again and well, hell, the site could use the hits!)

So where does that leave us now?

Well, the boxes that were being packed up at HQ yesterday (yes, that was happening according to one of my sources) are being unpacked today.  (or at least the packing stopped,  and the boxes are probably sitting on the floor beside the desk)

Everyone is likely, or at least should be, stepping back and taking stock of things. This was the flare over the side of the bow. Instead of being pissed off, those that were blindsided should be grateful for the opportunity to now reinforce their foundation. I’m speaking mostly to the CCA teams who were most certainly taken aback by all of this and would have suffered the biggest fallout. I’m sure Vicki O’Connor was a busy busy lady today.

What did I learn?

Well, I  discovered I’m glad I hadn’t booked and paid for anything in advance at this point. I  discovered that I would really struggle with covering a unified series, at least in the package that it was being delivered in. I discovered that I have a really great core group of friends and fellow race fans with whom I can have hours of conversation with, void of conjecture and name calling (at least towards each other!), and filled with logic and intelligence. I swear, we solve the problems of AOW daily in our little chats.

ick… that was an uncharacteristically girly sentiment… moving on.

Lost in the shuffle was the farewell of my friend Kat. I will be speaking to that over the weekend. She deserves at least her own blog entry on my little island in the interweb universe.

and with that I wish you a happy Friday. I am going out this evening, away from the computer and the politics of racing.  Actually I’m reuniting with 4 grade school chums who I haven’t seen since we were all 14yrs old! There will be laughing and reminiscing and lot’s of mind numbing alcohol! I suggest you all do the same! (well, not the reuniting with my friends, but the imbibing of copious quantities of alcohol! )

Cheers!

careful what you wish for…

for you just might get it. Just not in the form you wanted.

So, apparently, we were but a whisper away from mergification Thursday, but Honda pulled the plug (or at least halted the proceedings) due to one date conflict.

now, I’m a pretty intelligent woman… and I fully agree that unification is needed for American Open wheel to survive at this point, but this… this seems off.

Why the rush? Why the cloak and dagger? The ramifications of an 08 merge are huge and ugly and in some cases may be irreparable. (events, promoters, sponsors and fans could be, no, will be mighty pissed and pull away for good)

That said, now that it’s out there in all it’s ugly glory, why not take a step back, run the respective series for their 08 season as is, while openly and actively planning and preparing for an 09 merge. Think of it. There is an entire year to establish sponsors, work out schedules , design/build a new unified chassis, repair the relationship with the media and fill every weekend with merger progress updates. The buzz generated would be huge by the end of the year. Both series go out in a blaze of glory, then start the 09 season as one. New name, new leadership, new car, new attitude. At least that’s how I’d do it.

Selling out the assets of CC (events and fans) and morphing into some bastardized version of the IRL seemingly overnight reeks of desperation and lack of planning or forethought. But then most of the decisions made lately fall into the same category.