Was Bernie involved in Montreal shenanigans?

A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1,com, I had an English friend I was chatting with yesterday who told me that Bernie Ecclestone was in on the Montreal thing.

He said that Bernie wants to come back to the US for the USGP, but that the speedway was so pissed about the USGP fiasco that they were threatening not to have them return. Rumor has it that the race doesn't make the speedway any money anyway, but Bernie gets quite a nice check, and values the US market.

So Bernie offered to pull strings with Legault to sabotage the Champ Car Race in the interest of voiding the contract terms (attendance…etc) and creating a hole for the IRL to slip through.

It seemed interesting to me too that the USGP for 2006 got announced shortly thereafter.

Bernie probably said "give us 2006 and beyond and I will get you into Montreal" Sounds like Bernie's style doesn’t it? Lance Freespeed

Dear Lance, That is a plausible theory but it's just a theory right now. Ironically, instead of helping the IRL it could land the IRL in court if Champ Car presses ahead with a lawsuit for interference with contractual relations. Kalkhoven 1, Ecclestone 0. Mark C.