Rookie driver passionate about CART's future, local race
Sebastien Bourdais lauds courses and a group seeking to buy the circuit.
By BRANT JAMES
Published October 1, 2003
Sebastien Bourdais speaks with surprising passion about the glory days of CART and how its vein of open-wheel racing needs to be preserved in the United States.
The 24-year-old rookie racer with Newman/Haas hopes the proposed buyout of CART finally restores the circuit to the status it enjoyed in the 1980s. There's no better place for that rebirth to occur, he said, than in his adopted home when the second Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is run through downtown streets Feb. 20-22.
"I wish the problems had never happened because it used to be bigger than NASCAR and now see what NASCAR is," Bourdais said. "I think everybody can look at each other and say how stupid we've been. The package of street courses and oval courses and ovals is just phenomenal.
"It is just impossible to see it dying. Come on, that just doesn't make any sense to me."
Paul Gentilozzi, part of the Open Wheel Racing LLC group attempting to buy out CART, said in an interview Monday on Speed Channel that the deal could be ready for the approval process by early next week. Because CART is a publicly traded company, the proposal must first be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It will then be put to a shareholder vote. Because Open Wheel controls about 22.9 percent of the stock, Gentilozzi said, it would need 51 percent of the remaining shares voted for the deal.
"The last couple of months have been very difficult," said Bourdais, who lives in Tampa with girlfriend Claire Ragot, a hurdler at USF. "But since we found out who is leading the move and was involved in it, we are all pretty safe in the future. These guys are rich, very rich, because they're smart. They are not going to spend the money just to waste it. They will only do it if it's worth it. That's a very good sign."
So then is the prognosis for Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which will commence the 2004 CART season for the second consecutive year. Paul Tracy won the inaugural event.
CART has purchased television time from CBS to broadcast the race live nationally. CART vice president of communications Adam Saal said the only current teams not yet committed for next season are those that also run in the Indy Racing League. Bourdais said Newman/Haas was "definitely committed."
Tickets for the Grand Prix went on sale Tuesday.
Though the event lost a reported $1.3-million last year, such initial shortfalls are expected, said Jim Michaelian of Dover Motorsports, which runs the event.
"You have a lot of expenses subsequently, and it's a learning curve," he said. "Fortunately for us, the success we had from an operations standpoint means we're pretty close to the mark with regards to where we can go with the financial success side.
"The lack of a title sponsor is a major factor. But that's not to say the race will go away if we don't have a title sponsor because Dover is committed to motorsports and to this event."
Grand Prix general manager Tim Ramsberger said the search for a title sponsor is progressing.
