MVN - Most Valuable Network

IRL Notes: Derrick Walker vs. Craig Gore

Financially strapped team owner wants his money

Derrick Walker saw his top driver, his former partner and his former sponsor switch over to KV Racing Technology in one fell swoop last week. At the time, I wondered what his thoughts were on the situation.

Those thoughts can now be summed up in one word: Lawsuit. After recently reporting that Craig Gore — owner of Aussie Vineyards and Walker’s former partner in the Team Australia project — owed Walker at least $1.5 million for their Champ Car exploits last year, SPEED Channel’s Robin Miller is now reporting that barring the unexpected, Walker’s going to take Gore to court for the cash.

I also remember saying that all the signs pointed to KV co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven as the culprit behind the pillaging of Walker Racing, but it appears I may have been mistaken. Walker’s pointing the finger at Gore and he’s using some pretty loaded words to back it up. He tells Miller:

“[Gore] took my driver, my engineer and completely submarined us, so it’s pretty shabby to say the least. If he’s smart, he’ll make a good faith effort and he can settle this by taking care of last year.”

Kalkhoven recently welcomed Gore and former Walker pilot Will Power to the KV Racing Technology team that will compete in the 2008 IndyCar Series season. The team, which is also co-owned by former CART star Jimmy Vasser, will run Power in the No. 8 Team Australia machine and Spanish pilot Oriol Servia in the No. 32. Meanwhile, Walker has been forced to shut down his former Champ Car team and put singular focus on his Atlantics squad.

I don’t blame Gore for trying to continue his relationship with Power. He knows that Power is a rising star that can greatly promote his product in North America. But if Gore had $1.5 million to pay for some time, you have to wonder what — or maybe, who — compelled him to split off with Walker without settling his bill.

In any case, it certainly continues a string of bad PR as of late for the Australian millionaire. Last month, he abandoned his V8 Supercar team back home in Oz after finally giving up his search for someone to buy the team.

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Menard to sponsor Ed Carpenter

John Menard, a former car owner and sponsor in the Indy Racing League from 1996-2005, is ready to get back into the open-wheel world.

While his top priority will be to continue presiding over his son Paul’s NASCAR career with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the home improvement billionaire will return to the IRL as a sponsor for Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter, according to SPEED’s Robin Miller.

While it was a bit off-putting to see him leave the series after his long tenure of service, I understood that he had put his family first by going off to NASCAR and following his son’s travails. It’s great to have him back, but I think it’d be even better if he returned as a team owner like he was from 1996-2001.

Oh well, it may mean we get to see some of those patented Menard paint jobs on Carpenter’s machine this season. Who doesn’t remember these beauties?

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Picking Fernandez’s brain

IndyCar.com has a short but enlightening interview up with former series driver/owner Adrian Fernandez, who’s now racing in the American Le Mans Series. The piece is set up around the Open Tests coming up for transitioning Champ Car World Series teams and deals with Fernandez’s own 11th-hour journey from Champ Car to the IRL in 2004.

Despite missing the first race of the season and suffering through initial troubles upon his arrival to IndyCar, Fernandez became a force in the 2004 campaign. He scored three wins at Kentucky, Chicagoland and California in the home stretch to finish fifth in the points standings, with six top-5s and 12 top-10s to his credit. He got out of the cockpit after the season and had a two-year tenure as owner of Fernandez Racing before moving the entire operation to ALMS.

New teams and drivers coming over from Champ Car would do wise to follow in Adrian’s footsteps as far as how he adapted to the IRL so quickly. In addition to leaning on their appointed IndyCar Series team for technical advice, they ought to be asking a bunch of questions to the old CART pilots (Tony Kanaan, Darren Manning, Helio Castroneves, et al.). It will be a brave new world for these guys and they’re going to need all the help they can get. Fortunately, it appears the IRL contingent has been forthcoming with information in this run up to the season opener.

The interview’s a good read overall, if a little on the slim side. Check it out.

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Other cool stuff

Dan Wheldon, who had long extolled the benefits of being single during his time in the IRL, has fallen into wedded bliss. The 2005 Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion married Susie Behm over the weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. Congratulations to the couple…Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo tequila brand will return as associate sponsor on A.J. Foyt Racing’s No. 14 IndyCar for driver Darren Manning…Mitch Cunningham, 21, the brother of 2005 Indy Pro Series champion Wade Cunningham, will drive all four IPS road-course doubleheaders for Brian Stewart Racing this season, according to the Otago Daily Times of New Zealand.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 10:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.