Champ Car team to split

UPDATE #6 Our integrity has been questioned regarding whether our report of the Hustler Strip Club sponsorship decals on the No. 8 Champ Car prior to being shipped to Europe was true. Let's just say we bit our tongue long enough. To throw some cold water on all those naysayers, here you go, in living color on the No. 8 car. Notice how the car was wrapped in a tarp so the livery wasn't visible until our agent uncovered it. [Note: Photo pulled at the request of Champ Car, we assume to avoid further embarrassment to the series.]

08/27/07 Correction: CDW is not in competition with Trust. Trust, a Dutch firm, makes computers and accessories and CDW sells such equipment so in fact there may be some synergy between the two companies should Trust choose to sell through CDW at some point in time.

08/25/07 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, What was the other company that was going to sponsor the #8 car that was in competition with CDW and hence caused the split in the team? Dan Parker

Dear Dan, The split between the two teams came about because the #8 car was loaded onto the plane in Indy to come to Europe with decals on the sidepods for Larry Flynt's Hustler Clubs. When Gerry Forsythe found out he met with Paul Gentilozzi this past Tuesday and told him he couldn't run with sponsorship from the Hustler Clubs, it wouldn't fly with normal sponsors like McDonald's and CDW, which is similar to why the AVN sponsored car was squashed despite AVN's press release. Hence the car is devoid of any sponsorship here in Europe. The #8 car was running the Wal-Mart Canada logo (even after the three Canadian races) in violation of US Wal-Mart rules so they too had to be removed from the car. There wasn't anymore money behind it anyway. So even though the teams are operating as two entities now, the #8 car still cannot just put any sponsor they want on the car. Mark C.

08/24/07 This Hot News item explains the relationship between Rocketsports and RuSPORT going forward. The split had to do with a sponsor conflict Rocketsports was pursuing that competed with CDW.

08/23/07 Hearing now that the split may only be temporary, Apparently there was a sponsor conflict then the deal didn't happen. The wheels were in motion and it died yesterday so the team may be back together by Assen. Very confusing we must say.

08/22/07 We hear that RuSPORT will keep that name, even though the Ru in the name was for the previous team owner Carl Russo.

08/22/07 According to AutoRacing1.com sources the RuSPORT and Rocketsports Champ Car teams that merged earlier this year under the RSPORTS moniker, will go back to being individual teams. We assume Rocketsports will assume their old name, but will RuSPORT become PSPORT, the P being for Dan Pettit?