Overheard in Cleveland

UPDATE #2 Dale Coyne told us he is locked in with his two drivers for the rest of the year and Mario Dominguez told us he does not have any definite sponsor deals in place yet…….Sierra Sierra said it is not true that the would not move up into Champ Car. If the sponsorship money was there and Matos or Hinchcliffe win the $2M championship they would move up to Champ Car. Mark C.

06/23/07 We forgot to mention that we spotted former CART Champ Car team boss Steve Horne talking to Kevin Kalkhoven and we hear a meeting was set up for Sunday morning. Hmmm………Horne is very well respected on both sides of the great divide. We wonder if Horne is ready to get back into racing?

06/23/07 We are seeing more sponsorship as well as more grassroots marketing at Champ Car events this year. This has resulted in attendance to date to be up over 20%. There are a lot of people at the Cleveland event this year, far more than in previous years and as we left the track at 8 PM thousands were still pouring in to see the drag races tonight. For two days now racing has been non-stop until 10 PM. The new promoters have done a fantastic job and the great weather isn't hurting either……After a 6-week lull Champ Car now has 8 races in 12 weeks so you will see them gain momentum……..After the CBS race this weekend we are told ESPN/ABC will start their Champ Car marketing campaign which will include many drop-in ads on many websites and coverage on most ESPN outlets………We hear that Champ Car is courting five potential title sponsors……..We keep hearing there will be two new European races added to next year's schedule and one new USA venue, but one weak existing race (Portland?)may be dropped…….Jeremy Shaw reports that Eurosport is thrilled with the TV ratings Champ Car is getting in Europe this year. A lot of that has to do with all the European drivers in the series……..We spotted Mario Dominguez in meetings with Dale Coyne so it looks like Dominguez may have found some sponsorship money……….Bobby Rahal is here in Cleveland this weekend watching his son race instead of with his IRL team in the cornfields of Iowa……Don't look for the Sierra Sierra team to move up to Champ Car next year even if one of their drivers (Matos or Hinchcliffe) win the $2M title. Seems they like working with young drivers and developing them………Do, however, look for the Polestar Atlantic team to again try to move up to Champ Car in 2008. Recall they almost made it this year but came up a little short on the money side…….Look for the Las Vegas race to run the week after Easter next year we hear. If true that would make the Champ Car season opener on March 30th next year. Mark C.