CART yesterday "disputed the interpretation" of an out-
of-court settlement concerning the use of the term
"IndyCar," according to Norris McDonald of the Toronto GLOBE
& MAIL. On Tuesday, IMS Chair and IRL Founder Tony George
said CART would no longer be able to use "IndyCar" in
promotion of its races, but CART President Andrew Craig said
that "although CART had agreed to stop using the brand name
'IndyCar' in its dealings, there was no way it intended to
stop calling its business 'Indy car' racing." Craig: "The
use of 'Indy car' and its variants to describe our type of
racing, our drivers and our cars will continue under the
agreement." Craig added, as part of the deal, the IRL and
IMS cannot use "IndyCar" as their brand name until "at
least" 2003 (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 12/19). IMS VP/Corporate
Communications Fred Nation declined to comment on whether
the IRL and IMS are "banned" from using IndyCar until 2003.
Nation: "We have an agreement not to talk about the details
of the settlement. But the use of the word 'IndyCar' isn't
the issue to us" (Beth Tuschak, USA TODAY, 12/19).