[DOF_power]

Originally Posted by grandprix.com

...
"It was CVC. That is the rumour on Wall Street." "How very interesting," said The Mole. "And what a marvellous machine."
CVC was going to buy NASCAR from the France Family. That was an interesting idea.
...
"Well they have plenty of money, that is for sure," she said. "And after the F1 purchases they realized the value of owning motor racing championships. They just spent about $300m to buy GP2."
...
"The point is that in March CVC established its first US office on Fifth Avenue in New York, the aim being to expand its business in the United States. It hired a string of private equity people and they began sniffing around US firms to target. The first deal was the $1.7bn purchase of Samsonite." "NASCAR is only big in the US," said The Mole. "And to a venture capital person that means there is a world of profit out there. And that expansion could be nicely controlled if CVC owned both F1 and NASCAR. The two series could work together.
...
"F1 and NASCAR don't overlap at all. They are different businesses but you can bet that there would be some synergies when it came to selling TV rights and stuff like that."
...

According to Grandprix.com, CVC Capital Partners - which already owns F1 and the GP2 series and indirectly controls/owns MotoGP through another company - is negotiating to buy NASCAR.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is said to be involved as well.



Report: CVC in negotiations to buy NASCAR at AutoRacingSport.com

[Racer Duck]

interesting...

out of the frying pan into the fire, so to speak.

[DOF_power]

>



^ I'm one of those people who wasn't very happy when hearing that CVC bought F1. I was even less happy to hear they bought GP2. And let's not forget MotoGP witch they own/control thru Dorna.
As if NASCAR doesn't have enough of its own problem, with CVC and Ecclestone it would really top the cake.
I hope it's just a rumour, or if not, that the France family would not accept.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

>



^ I'm one of those people who wasn't very happy when hearing that CVC bought F1. I was even less happy to hear they bought GP2. And let's not forget MotoGP witch they own/control thru Dorna.
As if NASCAR doesn't have enough of its own problem, with CVC and Ecclestone it would really top the cake.
I hope it's just a rumour, or if not, that the France family would not accept.

I think we all know the France family is about money. That Brian has been "replaced" by the #1 stockholder, Jim France, isn't surprising. That gives us hope that they will continue to follow the path laid dawn by Bill Sr.

Unfortunately, because money is involved, the only question is whether the "go" price is beyond what CVC will pay. I hope so.

[DOF_power]

Acording to the thecupscene.com

Could NASCAR Be For Sale?
October 30 On the heels of another report of a drop in TV ratings, this time a 16% dip over last year for this weeks Atlanta event, comes another indication that there could be a chink in the once impregnable armor of NASCAR.
Just weeks after rumblings that there could be a change in the NASCAR leadership with current CEO Brian France stepping aside for his uncle Jim France, there seems to be speculation that NASCAR itself could be for sale.
Multiple sources are saying that NASCAR’s parent company, International Speedway Corporation, is studying the sale of the world’s largest stock car auto racing sanctioning body due to financial troubles. Two sources say that an investment bank, most likely New York based Lehman Brothers, has completed a study that placed a value on NASCAR and that a prospectus has been prepared.
The financial troubles for ISC include the costs of lawsuit mitigation, combined with the loss of potential tracks in New York and Washington State. Combined with falling ticket sales and TV ratings, according to some, investors are getting weary. This concern could force not only the change in leadership, but also a partial or full sale of the entire sanctioning body.


http://www.cupscene.com/103007.htm

[DOF_power]

And http://enews.mnews.com.au at page 14, "NASCAR to the sell up ?" article.

Aparently, the CVC are also interested, besided NASCAR, in the Dakar Rally and Tour De France owner, the Aumary Sport Organisation.

[Quality88]

Talk about your silly season.

[DOF_power]

>



^ True, it is silly season, that's why the RUMOR in the title.
But on the other hand, that's the same thing that people said before CVC bought SLEC/F1 from Ecclestone and the banks.

[NASCAR Gnome]

Food for thought...

#1 Rumors often are like SMOKE (no not Tony Stewart!) and we know that... "where there's smoke..."

#2 EVERYONE - again - EVERYONE - has a PRICE!!! Don't fool yourself to believe that the France family will hold onto NASCAR because it's a: "family heirloom" BULL!!! I say it again: EVERYONE HAS A PRICE! If the price is right, then everything is for sale!

Maybe these drivers jumping into NASCAR from open-wheel know something we don't?!? Hmmm.... interesting...

[Bob Tanner]

Scene: The GTG Awards at the Holiday Inn in Nashville, TN. Steve is at the podium and announces, 'Now, the the award for the most far-out-but plausible post affecting NA__AR; Duck, the envelope, please"

Duck gives Steve the envelope.

"And the winner is..... DOF, for his fine post "RUMOR HAS IT - CVC/F1 Interested in buying NA__AR!"

The crowd breaks into applause, PPS, Bette, Yates and Bob (Hey! I'm nothing if not a sensitive kinda guy!)break into tears. Don and Dustin angrily throw their napkins and drinks on the table and storm from the room, and DOF rises to humbly accept the award.

The above stated completely in jest
================================================== ======
WOW! I completely missed this one, my friend. Talk about something that would turn racing in the USA on its ear!

I don't see it happening. I can see the France family selling the ISC part of NA__AR but not the whole enchilada. I can see Bruton Smith becoming more of a player in the goings on of ISC and NA__AR (we'll see more of this after the Kentucky Speedway/Jerry Carroll law suit in April). I just can't envision a CVC-controlled US major auto racing series.

But, since 1918 almost every political administration has been dabbling in sitting this country up for a One World Government, so why not One World Racing. It'd, sadly, just kind of "fit."

[DOF_power]

>



^ Well CVC could just use one of their an american subsidiary company to buy ISC and/or use such a company (like Samsonite witch they own) as the next official sponsor, witch in one way or another would give them power.

CVC has bought F1 in 2 tranches, tranche 1 the SLEC/FOA witch hold/controls the financial interest of F1 ,given to it by the FIA, and tranche 2 the Allsport aquisition witch controled advertising at the F1 tracks. The govening body, the FIA is not owned by CVC in any way.

So I don't know what the France family would do. Once upon a time the idea of Bernie selling would have also seemed just as far fetched.

[Bob Tanner]

Just read the following on Jayski:
NASCAR NOT for sale: NASCAR says speculation that its family-owned company is for sale to the same European private equity firm that owns the Formula One group is "unequivocally false." A recent report in the racing business newsletter The Business of Motorsport, suggested that CVC Capital Partners, which manages funds internationally totaling more than $23.7 billion, was the "most-likely buyer" of NASCAR, Inc. from the France family. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston, quoting a conversation he had on the matter with chairman Brian France, said France's reaction was an emphatic no. "[France said] It's a dead end story that has nothing remotely accurate," Poston said. "I spoke with Brian. NASCAR is not for sale." CVC representatives, reached in the company's New York office Friday, chose not to comment on the matter. CVC Capital Partners opened its first US office in Manhattan in March "to expand its American business," and already has purchased the luggage company Samsonite for $1.7 billion. CVC also recently bought the GP2 racing series for $300 million, and the report states that speculation has surfaced that they're also contemplating purchasing the sanctioning body that owns the Dakar Rally and Tour de France cycle race.(Marty Smith/ESPN.com)(11-18-2007)

Two immediate thoughts:
(1) Would we really expect Brian to reply to this idea with anything less that "an emphatic, 'no'?"
(2) Marty Smith, formerly of nascar.com, is the consummate NA__AR flunky who would sell his mother's virtue before writing anything not previously cleared by the NA__AR Lords of Media Hype in Daytona Beach.

I still don't see it happening. I think a merger between ISC and SMI would be a better chance, but that is a long way down the road, if ever.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

Scene: The GTG Awards at the Holiday Inn in Nashville, TN. Steve is at the podium and announces, 'Now, the the award for the most far-out-but plausible post affecting NA__AR; Duck, the envelope, please"

Duck gives Steve the envelope.

"And the winner is..... DOF, for his fine post "RUMOR HAS IT - CVC/F1 Interested in buying NA__AR!"

The crowd breaks into applause, PPS, Bette, Yates and Bob (Hey! I'm nothing if not a sensitive kinda guy!)break into tears. Don and Dustin angrily throw their napkins and drinks on the table and storm from the room, and DOF rises to humbly accept the award.

Napkin yes, drink no... I need it for the long ride home

[loco4pablo]

what eventually happens when a father passes away and leaves the family farm to the kids?

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by loco4pablo

what eventually happens when a father passes away and leaves the family farm to the kids?

depends on whether they stayed on the farm or moved to the city...