CART Wins $48M Settlement From ISL; Board To Meet Tomorrow

CART was awarded $48M in compensatory and consequential damages at a hearing in Oakland County (MI) Circuit Court for its breach-of-contract lawsuit against ISL Marketing. The suit was filed in February (CART). CART originally sought $100M. When ISL earlier this year terminated its nine-year deal with CART signed in '98, ISL said that CART "broke an exclusivity clause" (DETROIT NEWS, 12/2).

TAKING SIDES: ESPN.com's Robin Miller, on the CART BOD meeting tomorrow in Phoenix: "At stake is control

Chris Pook

of CART's direction, future and very existence." The focus of the meeting "will be on leadership and whether it needs to remain the same or change for the fifth time in 10 years." While CART team Owner and majority shareholder Gerald Forsythe and team Owner Chip Ganassi support CART CEO Joe Heitzler, CART investors Jon Vannini and James Grosfeld, along with team Owners Barry Green, Carl Haas, Pat Patrick and Derrick Walker, "are pushing" Long Beach Grand Prix Association President Chris Pook "to replace Heitzler." (ESPN.com, 12/1). The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan writes, "Despite persistent requests from analysts, [CART] has not been able to give financial guidance for 2002, saying it still does not have a handle on expenses or revenue." But CART execs said that they plan to "give that guidance" after tomorrow's meeting (SBJ, 12/3 issue).