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New bid to CART muddies buyout

Prospective buyers' proposal could lead to bankruptcy and further threaten the local race.

The attempted buyout of Championship Auto Racing Teams took another strange turn that may leave shareholders with almost nothing and has a St. Petersburg official fearing doom for the local race.

Open Wheel Racing Series, the buyout group, released a statement late Tuesday night saying it was unlikely CART would meet terms of the original sale proposal because it doesn't have enough commitments from team owners to field the needed 18 cars per race for the 2004 season. Open Wheel submitted a new proposal to provide temporary financing to CART while it worked to acquire some of the racing series' assets.

That likely would leave the rest of CART to limp into bankruptcy.

"There's nothing to liquidate," said Dennis McAlpine, a stock analyst who follows CART and believes Open Wheel might be trying to get out of the original deal. "It's almost forcing CART into bankruptcy and gets Open Wheel out. ... It's very surprising they come up with this now when no one in the world thought they would have 18 cars six months ago. To me, it sounds like a negotiating ploy to get the price down and cherry pick assets."

One of the assets Open Wheel might seek to acquire is promotional rights to CART markets such as St. Petersburg.

Dover Motorsports promoted the St. Petersburg Grand Prix in February, but on Monday it reassigned the promotional rights to CART, which indefinitely postponed the 2004 race. With the St. Petersburg race's fortunes in the hands of CART, St. Petersburg City Council member Bill Foster said the altered buyout offer was disappointing. He said the only hope now is CART merging with the rival Indy Racing League and including St. Petersburg on future schedules.

Foster, a private practice attorney, said if CART files for bankruptcy, the St. Petersburg race, which lost $1.3-million in its first year, is doomed.

"No bankruptcy lawyer is going to allow them to take a chance on a money-losing proposition," he said.

CART issued a release reiterating that bankruptcy was an option: "Although (CART) 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."

Tom Begley, chairman of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Foundation, the charity organization affiliated with the race, said 2004 is probably a lost cause. But Begley, who was replaced as general manager of the event after the 2003 race, said he is optimistic about 2005.

"My real reaction is everything will be fine," he said. "Whatever comes out of this situation, the people involved will have a strong commitment to open-wheel racing in an urban environment."

CART, which posted losses of $84-million this year, paid subsidies in excess of $31-million to maintain 13 teams and a 19-car racing pool in 2003. The buyout group has said it doesn't plan to subsidize teams at anywhere near such a level, making the viability of some teams questionable.

The only CART team to return calls on Wednesday - Herdez Competition - said its "focus is totally on CART," according to team manager Vince Kremer.

"But we know what we would do if the CART series went away," he said. "You have to have backup plans; whether it's Plan B or Plan Z is the question."

After 28 years of running Winston Cup races nearly every week from February to November, Bill Elliott wants a weekend off every once in awhile.

So today in New York, the man who started racing his father's Fords on the dirt tracks of North Georgia and rose to the very top of the sport, is expected to announce he's cutting back to a part-time schedule in NASCAR's elite division.

"I'm just tired, and I'm at an age where I want to do what I want to do," said Elliott, 48. "I'd like to go watch (son) Chase race his go-kart or just be able to stay home a weekend or two every once in awhile."

He said he plans to run 10 to 15 Nextel Cup races next year in a Ray Evernham-owned Dodge. He also will participate in other NASCAR events and do lots of on-track testing for his team.

"I might run some Busch or Craftsman Truck Series races, and I'll run my dirt car some," he said.

"I feel like I've got the best deal going. I'm going to pick and choose the tracks that I like and get totally prepared to run them. I may do that for the next two or three years."

Elliott ended the 2003 season as one of the circuit's hottest drivers. He won at Rockingham, then came within a half-lap of winning the season finale at Homestead before a tire blew out. He finished ninth in the points standings.

He expressed few regrets about giving up a chance to add another championship to the one he won in 1988.

"I'm way past all that," he said. "What I'm thinking about is what happens if you get to the middle of the season and you're not running competitively and having a miserable time. Then you'd be wondering, "Why am I continuing to do this?"'

Elliott said he might have considered running one more season, but gave up on that idea when his crew chief, Mike Ford, decided to leave the team to work for Dale Jarrett at Robert Yates Racing.

"If everything had stayed the same, I might have kept on going," he said.

Kasey Kahne, who has risen to the Busch Series with backing from Ford, is expected to obtain his release and take over Elliott's full-time ride. But the team plans to reserve the No. 9 for Elliott in the races he runs.

AUTOZONE STEPS IN: Autozone Inc., the largest U.S. retailer of car parts, will become title sponsor of NASCAR's four regional stock car racing series in the Southwest, Midwest, Southeast and Northwest. The series, which develop drivers for the Nextel Cup and Busch circuits, will be called the NASCAR Autozone Elite Division.

- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.