This particular article is rather dated (12/08/2003), but even the
most devout and dedicated CHUMPS and pro-CART'ers out there cannot
deny it is from one of the most PRO-CART CHEERLEADERS in history, Ed
Donath.

Ed Donath has run his website - www.deepthrottle.com - for quite some
time, and it has been FANATICALLY pro-CART from its inception. He
pulls no punches in his dislike for the IRL, Tony George, and anything
to do with IMS, and makes no secret of his undying devotion to CART
and its policies.

But yet, take a quick look at what he wrote back in December 2003.

You can link to it at:

http://www.deepthrottle.com/Donath/manny.shtml

or read it right here:

"Keeping It Off the Wall
by Ed Donath

Manny, Moe & Jack
....or just more Moe, Larry, and Curly?

12/8/03

ATHENS, NY - Take your pick. Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven, and
Gerry Forsythe are either a force of pep boys to be reckoned with or
they’re just another three rich stooges who have the resources to
re-invent the CART wheel but just don’t seem to be in a great enough
hurry to do so.

With scant seconds left on the clock in which to take a shot at a 2004
season, the co-spokesmen of the OWRS troika are full of hope-provoking
quotes for anxious Champ Car fans - and little else.

"We are basically moving toward purchasing the assets [of CART],"
Kevin Kalkhoven recently told the Long Beach Press Telegram. "We
believe that there are advantages in the long run for teams and
sponsors. It will also remove the uncertainty of a [shareholder] vote,
and I believe it will allow us to move more quickly."

Excuse me, but if moving "more quickly" is a top priority - as
certainly it should have been right from the get-go - then why wasn’t
an alternative plan like this one that KK speaks of initiated weeks
ago when there were still enough teams, and uncommitted sponsors in
the Champ Car racing business to perhaps make 18-car minimum fields a
reality?

You say: "Well, that’s because CART - a publicly owned company - put
itself on the market while there were still enough corporate assets to
keep a lid on bankruptcy talk. OWRS made its offer to purchase, in
good faith, under those circumstances."

Good point.

But having an insider like Gerald Forsythe, who is the holder of
nearly one fourth of CART’s shares on your team - a guy who certainly
knows first-hand just how slowly the wheels at Champ Car Company
headquarters tend to turn - should have given the OWRS partnership the
impetus, early on, to press for a much quicker conclusion.

Hey, it’s not like there were other prospective buyers waiting in the
wings who might have been willing to play the game in a kinder/gentler
manner.

Meanwhile, according to a SPEED news story, "CART says that while it
'is reviewing this proposal, there can be no assurance that any
agreement will be entered into or that any transaction, if completed,
will result in any payments to stockholders.’ A sale of CART’s assets
following a bankruptcy declaration would likely have to be approved by
a bankruptcy court."

Which only proves how little whoever is currently steering the Titanic
directly toward the iceberg really cares what will happen next to its
passengers and crew.

While the loquacious Kalkhoven continues his running commentary to the
press about the ever-changing nuts-and-bolts issues involved in OWRS’
takeover, his slightly more subdued partner, Trans-Am racer Paul
Gentilozzi, waxes more optimistic at the exit of each new chicane that
the partnership encounters on the twisty road to the completion of the
deal.

"This proposal will allow OWRS to acquire the assets necessary to
continue the CART racing tradition into 2004," explains Gentilozzi.
"OWRS expects to retain a sufficient number of cars to meet CART’s
contractual obligations with our race promoters."

One can only hope that enough money can be saved if this latest Plan B
takes effect that would enable OWRS to subsidize team owners -
including themselves - just as Grandpa Chris Pook was forced to do in
order to achieve the 18-car magic number in 2003.

"OWRS plans to maintain, and ultimately expand the CART racing series
in the Americas and throughout the world," Gentilozzi adds. "While
OWRS is disappointed that the previously announced [56-cent-a-share
CART stock buyout] transaction appears no longer feasible, it remains
committed to the CART racing series."

And then there’s the (currently) silent partner, Gerald Forsythe who
obviously got what was bothering him off his chest when he dissed a
friendly nation’s government on worldwide TV as his team
simultaneously dominated the CART championship while losing its
long-time benefactor, Player’s Cigarettes, to Canada’s sweeping
anti-tobacco products advertising regulations."


Funny stuff, you have to admit, and oooooooooooh so true.