Perhaps as a parting gift or smoothing the way for AJ Almendinger’s DEFECTION to “RASSCAR,” Red Bull will sponsor Gerry Forsythe’s Champ Cars Atlantic team in 2007…
The news came prior to Forsythe’s vote of no confidence towards Champ Cars by publicly stating that his team will only campaign a single car in 2007 unless he finds a driver bringing sponsorship of $5 million along with him…
Since the Champ Car season finale, Forsythe has reduced his payroll by keeping only a skeleton staff intact over the winter. And even though Red Bull will partner with Forsythe in Atlantics, Forsythe has reduced his entry from four cars to only two for the upcoming season…
As Robin Miller recently stated; what bad timing for Champ Cars… There doesn’t get any bigger backer of the series then Gerry Forsythe who’s thrown millions of his own towards Champ Cars since starting in 1983…
Yet Forsythe has been unable to find a legitimate sponsor for the past three years since Players was forced out when the Tobacco sponsorship ban was enacted. The only money Forsythe found was from Corona beer to sponsor Rodolfo Lavin for a single season…
So is it just the typical “scare tactics” prattle of an owner trying to “stop the bleeding?” Forsythe as all team owners is keen to spend somebody else’s money instead of watching his fortune slip away…
Or could Forsythe simply be trying to stir up some much needed off season controversy to keep Champ Cars in the media spotlight…
And speaking of fortunes… Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing’s current test driver Robert Doornbos is rumoured to be flush with cash, as in $5-10 million from a Dutch sponsor. What better way to promote the expected 2007 inaugural Netherlands Champ Car race, which is expected to be announced shortly…
