Here's an interesting observation by Taildragger on another forum; I found it well thought out and thought I'd share it. It comes on the heals of Honda official stating they would be participating in CART next year:

When I visit Honda in Japan, CART is referred to in a manner that assumes Honda's long term involvement. It's not hard to discover why.

While some point out that CART's oval track following in the Midwest is waning, other areas are flourishing. Roadracing in the Great Lakes region is going strong, with Road America, Toronto, Cleveland and Mid-Ohio all strong events.

CART is attracting Spanish speaking fans in the US, and those in Mexico as well. This is an important market segment, and no other racing series connects with. A race in Mexico City will be huge, and Miami would just increase that penetration. As it is, with races at Monterrey, Long Beach, Houston, Ontario and Laguna Seca, CART is already drawing heavily. Even Portland has a substantial Spanish speaking polulation, and it's growing fast.

CART also draws well with the very large Asian American population in Califoria, Oregon, Washington, and of course Vancouver where the population is around 60% Asian. Sure, there is a Canadian GP at Montreal, but that's a 5hr plane ride if you live in Vancouver.

These are both significant markets that Honda wants to reach, and keep reaching. Both are groups that tend to follow racing at a higher rate than the general population. Both are groups Honda does well with.

There are a lot more sides to CART that the Euro-centric or Indy-centric folks can see. Rest assured Honda sees them. Expect them to be more interested in fast growth emerging markets than with static or stagnent markets. My guess is that these markets should be attractive to many potential sponsors. We already have major sponsorship from Mexican and Japanese companies, and my guess is we will see more.

 

It doesn't matter how many Brazilians or Mexicans watch. CART is a US series with primarily US sponsors. As US viewership declines so will CART.

The good news is the Speedvison deal for three reasons:
1. More CART coverage
2. Something other than NASCRAP will be shown on Speedvision
3. With the Fox purchase Speedvision will be in more homes and thus more CART in more Homes.

 

I sure hope you're right about #3. But, from what I've read to date it didn't sound anymore promising just because Fox purchased it.

I've been after our local cable company for Speedvision since it first came out... with no success. At the time I wanted to watch some of the rally stuff, etc. Then F1 and vintage racing films; now I can add CART to the list. I'd go with a dish but then I lose local channels; can't win. Like I said - sure hope you're right.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dlq04
[B]I sure hope you're right about #3.

 

One of the problems is my wife likes the local channels, and the second is the local channels are all 45 to 90 min. driving away, so we would need a really big ugly tower type antenna for decent reception.

 

There is an interesting article in this month's R&T that makes the case that Honda wants out of CART altogether. Check it out.

I glanced through it, I'll read it in depth later...

 

There has been speculation for a couple months that Honda would pull out to concentrate on it's F1 efforts, which has much greater marketing worldwide. Several mag's have speculated this, so that's kinda old news. They felt Honda was spreading itself too thin in too many series, including motorcycles, etc.

Just recently Shoichi Tanaka, Honda F1 boss, stated that Honda will not leave CART. He went on to say that CART is critical to American Honda and there has been no discussion about leaving to concetrate on F1.

Can we totally believe him? Who knows. There is always a lot of BS in the racing game. But, let's hope so.