Series faces sanctioning hurdle

ACCUS - America's representative of the FIA that is responsible for listing American events that appear on the international racing calendar - was made up last year with NASCAR, IRL, NHRA, Grand-Am, IMSA/ALMS, USAC, SCCA and CART. But now that CART has new owners in OWRS, questions were raised at an ACCUS meeting in Miami last week as to whether CART/OWRS still kept its place.

The question is whether CART's place is a tangible asset that OWRS purchased in last month's ruling by the Federal Bankruptcy Court. It is the latest in a long line of hurdles put in the series' way by rival championships since it was put up for sale in the middle of last year.

"There is some question as to what the status of CART is," said Burdette Martin, president of ACCUS. "The only thing I can really say is, if indeed there is a Championship Auto Racing Teams or whatever it is, they were told from the beginning that if an organisation bought stock in the corporation it would be a continuation, just a change in the stockholders. That would be no problem. But, apparently, the Open Wheel group thought it would be more beneficial to buy the assets. That being so, our position is that membership in ACCUS is not an asset you can buy or sell...

"As far as we understand, CART is an organisation that is in protection under Chapter 11. If that organisation were to substantially be changed into another organisation, then that new organisation would have to join the ACCUS as a new organisation. If there were a merger, we would feel the same way."

In the end, if CART/OWRS are not granted a sanction, it is likely that one of the other bodies will sanction the opening race of the 2004 Champ Car World Series. But it is certain that the new owners were not expecting such a bumpy ride as they rebuild the series.