POOK reveals plans.(Chris Pook, CART CEO.)(Interview)

Speaking to the Motor Press Guild in Los Angeles this past week, CART CEO Chris Pook revealed some of his plans for the open-wheel series for this year and next.

First, the upcoming Road America event, recently returned to Aug. 3 on the 2003 CART schedule, will be televised in high-definition format. The race, canceled earlier due to a money dispute between CART and track management (AW, May 5) then reinstated after intervention by Mario Andretti, has apparently lost its original broadcast slot.

Pook reported he is work- ing to add two new venues to the schedule next year: another European date at an as yet unspecified location, and "a Northern Pacific venue'' as well.

He also repeated his goal of keeping CART "in-market,'' with races placed directly in urban centers, "not 40 or 50 miles outside the market.'' Earlier in the week, at a town meeting for CART fans in Cleveland, Pook was noncommittal on the future of CART at Mid-Ohio. "Well, this is the last year of Mid-Ohio's contract and we are looking at that very carefully,'' he said. "We are in discussions with the Mid-Ohio folks as to how we continue, under what format we continue. At the end of the day, as you know, it's about economics.'' On the CART schedule, Pook sees the presence of Cleveland and Mid-Ohio, 80 miles south near Mansfield, as duplicate appearances in the same market. With its location downtown at Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland is the closer match for Pook's "in-market'' vision.

In Los Angeles, Pook offer-ed some conciliatory words for Tony George and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Previous CART management "treated Tony like crap and not with respect, which he deserved,'' said Pook. But just prior to that in Cleveland, Pook had volunteered his own partisan critique of the Indy 500. "It's terribly, terribly sad that such a huge, tremendous event, and for the whole community, could have slipped as badly as it slipped,'' said Pook.

GPWC moves forward

The Dutch-incorporated Grand Prix World Championship company, comprising BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ferrari, Ford and Renault, has filed applications to register trademarks and a website domain name. There's some quibbling in Europe over the use of the phrase "Grand Prix,'' because the FIA and/or Bernie Eccle-stone's Formula One Manage-ment might decide to claim its exclusive use in a motorsport context.