It seems certain that CART is likely to be put up for sale
with the most likely buyer being F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone
source: pitpass.com According to reports Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc has hired the Wall Street investment firm Bear Stearns to look at various scenarios as the troubled company continues to suffer. In 1998 stock in CART went as high as $33 a share compared to $2.98 on Monday. "We want to help our shareholders and the larger investment community in measuring CART's progress as the year unfolds and in understanding management's own expectations for the year," said CART president Chris Pook. Ecclestone has been linked with a CART buy out for some time but has continually denied that he is interested in buying the series. However there are many that believe that by buying into CART Ecclestone could go about increasing F1's foothold in North America, with some predicting that the Englishman would bring the disciplines closer together possibly running CART as a 'feeder' series for F1. Former BAR boss Craig Pollock, who now runs the PK CART team was present at Montreal and attended a meeting with Ecclestone and Pook, as a result in some quarters there's speculation that the Scot could be put in charge of the series should Bernie gain control. "I don't think it's inevitable," Tom Carter, CART's chief financial officer, told AP, referring to the sale of the company. "It's one of the alternatives, but it's not the only one." CART has suffered ever since the split which saw the creation of the Indy Racing League, with drivers, sponsors, team and engine manufacturers slowly but surely moving over to the new series. Self promoted races, such as those at Brands Hatch and in Germany recently, have lost money as has the decision to buy airtime for race coverage - paying all production costs - in the hope that advertisers and foreign broadcasters would buy the coverage. Pook took control at the end of 2001 and at first it looked as though he would be able to turn things around, with today's news it would appear that he hasn't. Perhaps Bernie can.
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