That's what I want...and I want it now...
For those of you who haven't heard, CORR (Championship Off Road Racing) announced the cancellation of its final '08 event which was to be held on 12/6 & 12/7 in Chula Vista, CA. The CORR press release can be found here: www.corracing.com/blog.asp?bid=1&pid=227
That means the final two CORR races of the year were canceled, 25% of its entire '08 schedule...gone...and yet, in the press release they are talking about six and possibly eight weekends of racing in '09?? Come on, lets get real...CORR bent over every team, every sponsor, every fan in '08 and left them all holding a massive bag. What sponsor or team in their right mind would ever put their faith in Jim and Cissy Baldwin ever again? What sponsor would put their faith in any team choosing to run in CORR ever again?? Just to start the '09 season CORR would somehow have to pay off the massive amounts of debt they have run up so far...let alone the more difficult task of regaining the trust of racers and sponsors they so cowardly stabbed in the back this year---Its not going to happen, so why pretend that it is?
Cissy Baldwin has now rightfully ascended the podium for "Most Despised Woman in Motorsports" taking the silver medal behind only Teresa Earnhardt. Cissy, as the COO of CORR is the one most responsible for the day to day operations. While Jim put up the money and vision (flawed though it was), it was Cissy's job to follow through...and she couldn't have failed more miserably...Whether it was the decision to PAY NBC for CORR's TV coverage, the idea of building up and tearing down an entire race track in Pomona three times a year (and the costs associated with it) or the oft derided high food/drink prices and poor parking situations, CORR wanted to look/sound good first and be solid operating entity second. Additionally, Cissy has been unanswerable to anyone...Has she come out in the public and discussed CORR's problems?? No...Has she responded to teams and sponsors looking for answers on if events were going to take place? No...Has she been forthcoming in interviews taking place on outlets such as Totally Off Road Radio? No... Cissy has remained hidden behind two press releases and the strange support of Jim Baldwin, with neither having made a public comment in months despite CORR's rapid collapse...CEO's at Lehman Bros. and Freddie Mac have been more answerable to their shareholders than these two have been...
That said, Jim should not escape criticism either...it was he who shelled out the coin for CORR in the first place and then moved the whole damn thing from the Mid-West where it had a LONG term, deeply entrenched following along with a supportive title sponsor (Lucas Oil) and minimal competition, to an exclusively South Western US entity that had to compete with numerous entertainment options and a much higher operating cost than it did previously--all without a title sponsor once Nissan dropped the series at the end of '07.
While many will compare CORR's rise and fall to that of the Mickey Thompson series, there is no comparison. MTEG (Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group) was founded in 1979, operated for nearly 20 years, survived its founders murder in 1988, was televised extensively on ESPN and TNN and drew hundreds of thousands of spectators to its events over the course of its run. CORR lasted LESS THAN TWO YEARS--Let there be no mistake, though Jim Baldwin may have bought the CORR name and brought it West, the Mid-West WSORR (World Series of Off Road Racing who just started right up after Jim left with the CORR name is the TRUE heart and soul of short course off road racing. With the same staff, events and sponsors (adding a few even) that they always have had, WSORR operated a full schedule in '08 and are poised to see a large influx of competitors from the West Coast, whether CORR tries to put on a show or not---Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me is the thinking now.
Where things go now is any ones guess but CORR has done more harm to the world of short course off road racing than any good that can be seen...The ill will CORR has generated amongst sponsors, teams, NBC, Speed, fans, vendors, event locations, media, etc., is not something that will just disappear with another press release. But a good first step in repairing the ill will that has been generated would be the immediate and unconditional firing of Cissy Baldwin and a gutting of the entire CORR hierarchy. If Jim wants to keep his name on the letterhead (once he has paid off all his outstanding debt) that's fine, but anyone new coming in to fill Cissy's COO shoes would be insane to allow anyone with their finger in the huge blame pie that is CORR now, to have any say on where it goes in the future...
No comments:
Post a Comment