CART Says Aloha To Hawaiian Super Prix

21 October 1999

Coming as no great surprise is the announcement that there will be no Hawaiian Super Prix has been canceled, "due to the race promoter's inability to meet its financial obligations, in accordance with the terms of its agreement with CART." CART CEO/President, ANDREW CRAIG expressed his disappointment in making the announcement Tuesday.

The race was scheduled for the second weekend in November, and promised a purse of $10 million, half of which was to go to the winner. The TV package was to be pay-for-view television, which was then changed to network coverage, but no television contract was negotiated.

Tuesday 19 October 1999 was the day payments for the purse and other fees were due to Championship Auto Race Teams, and they weren't forthcoming. A $5 million surety bond was posted with Frontier Insurance in February 1999, with CART named as beneficiary, as per the agreement between CART and the Hawaiian Super Prix. CART will proceed with exercising its rights under the bond. This one-time gain will not be reflected in CART's ability to achieve third and fourth quarter estimates.

Craig said "Turning to the financial aspects of our business, despite this development,CART is comfortable it will achieve the consensus analyst estimates for the third and fourth quarters of 1999 and for the year 2000."

The top 12 in the standings were to be invited this week, with four more to be added as "Promoters Options," with the stipulation that all of the drivers had competed in at least 40% of this year's races, effectively eliminated crowd-pleasers such as former champions JACQUES VILLENEUVE and ALEX ZANARDI.

CART has renewed contracts with several of its other venues, including most recently the Surfer's Paradise race in Australia, as well as Long Beach, Mid-Ohio and Road America. Cleveland was added back to the calendar almost as quickly as it was removed. To CART, this means about $40 million worth of sanction fees, a 22% increase on average in the renewal years of the respective agreements.

This year's season's finale is in two weeks, at California Speedway in Fontana CA. The winner of that race takes home $1 million, with another $1 million going to the season's champion. And the way the race is shaping up between DARIO FRANCHITTI, current points leader, and former points leader/current contender JUAN MONTOYA, the winner of the former could also be the winner of the latter.

DRIVERS' STANDINGS

# 1 DARIO FRANCHITTI 209
# 2 *JUAN MONTOYA 100
# 3 PAUL TRACY 161
# 4 MICHAEL ANDRETTI 151
# 5 MAX PAPIS 133
# 6 ADRIAN FERNANDEZ 120
# 7 CRISTIANO FITTIPALDI 107
# 8 GIL de FERRAN 104
# 9 GREG MOORE 97
#10 JIMMY VASSER 94
#11 BRYAN HERTA 84
#12 TONY KANAAN 80
13 PATRICK CARPENTIER 61
14 ROBERTO MORENO 58
15 HELIO CASTRO-NEVES 48
16 PJ JONES 37
17 MAURICIO GUGELMIN 36
18 *CRISTIANO da MATTA 32
19 SCOTT PRUETT 27
20 RICHIE HEARN 26
21 ROBBY GORDON 25
22 AL UNSER Jr 20
23 MARK BLUNDELL 9
24 JAN MAGNUSSEN 8
25 MICHEL JOURDAIN Jr 7
26 GUALTER SALLES 5
27 ALEX BARRON 4
28 *TARSO MARQUES 4
29 *MEMO GIDLEY 4
30 DENNIS VITOLO 2
31 ANDREA MONTERMINI 2
32 RAUL BOESEL 1
33 *GONZALO RODRIGUEZ 1
34 *LUIZ GARCIA Jr 0
35 *NAOKI HATTORI 0
36 *SHIGEAKI HATTORI 0

#-ELIGIBLE FOR INVITATION TO HAWAIIAN SUPER PRIX

*-ROOKIE

MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1 HONDA TURBO V8 371
2 99 FORD COSWORTH 280
3 MERCEDES-BENZ E3 185
4 TOYOTA 77

CONSTRUCTOR'S CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1 REYNARD 402
2 SWIFT 227
3 LOLA 69
4 EAGLE 11
5 PENSKE 4

ROOKIE STANDINGS

1 JUAN MONTOYA 200
2 CRISTIANO da MATTA 32
3 TARSO MARQUES 4
4 MEMO GIDLEY 4
5 GONZALO RODRIGUEZ 1
6 LUIZ GARCIA Jr 1
7 NAOKI HATTORI 0
8 SHIGEAKI HATTORI 0

NATIONS CUP Standings

1 Brazil 257
2 United States 253
3 Canada 248
4 Scotland 209
5 Colombia 200
6 Italy 135
7 Mexico 120
8 England 9
9 Denmark 8
10 Uruguay 1
11 Japan 0

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