Offside Undo.(Ford's Team Jaguar)(Brief Article)

With the sacking of Bobby Rahal, America's man in Formula One, we learn that either nothing succeeds like success, or that it pays to speak German when running Ford's Team Jaguar.

In December last year, Bobby was recruited to oversee Ford's F1 effort, a team the Blue Oval boys had just acquired for $60 million in ransom and transfer fees from Jackie Stewart. Bobby was brought aboard because of his considerable business acumen, organizational and people skills, as well as racing knowledge for a team in disarray and discontent. Cut the dead wood, Bobby, and point the team toward parc ferme.

Now Bob was smart. He didn't voice too grand expectations. He was realistic, which perhaps in hindsight wasn't gloriously gilded enough. He told 'em all to gun for respectability in '01 and move toward the top in '02. He said it would be three years, at least, to get talented people and a talented car in place to have Jaguar consistently among the best. And it would take money.

The Powers in Detroit accepted what Bobby said last December. For two months anyway. In February, Wolfgang Reitzle, head of Premier Automotive Group, hired the Austrian former world champion Niki Lauda as director of the Premier Performance Division. In other words, Lauda was brought in as Bobby's boss.

As the old racer axiom goes: Don't turn ...