Family Jewels
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"Invisible, man"
Ed Donath Commentary
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January 10, 2001
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CART's new "permanent" President/CEO has been on the job for more than a month. Granted, Christmas and New Years have punctuated the first forty days and forty nights of Joseph F. Heitzler's term in office but a long enough timeframe has certainly now elapsed wherein there should have been some word from the Big Guy by now. Other than a RealPlayer sound file of his day-one press conference that was posted -- for a minute -- at the official CART website, we have absolutely no idea to this very moment just how Joe Heitzler sounds when he's making a speech…let alone just thinking out loud or ad-libbing.
Likewise, to date, we have not yet been able to gaze upon the new CEO's countenance. The only form of photo evidence of his existence that we have been provided is the official CART "jpeg" of Joe Heitzler that was apparently taken at his 30th College Reunion.
The Official CART "reunion" Mug Shot
Play find the CEO by moving the mouse over pic
Trust me (for reasons I would rather not discuss right now), I have become quite adept at picking these kinds of mug shots out of Rogues Galleries.
What is awfully ironic about Joseph Heitzler's ultra-low profile derives from the fact that the corporation he now "heads" has entered the new millennium laden with more PR personnel and technology than ever before in its history. A veritable army of media types under the command of Patrick Leahy has, over the last few months, literally occupied corporate headquarters.
In light of CART's recent internal marketing/communications expansion and the addition of the Minneapolis-based Tunheim Group PR Agency to the mix, one might expect a PR flak-a-day to be camped outside of Joe Heitzler's Executive Office door.
Any of those snot-nosed eager-to-please corporate PR whizkids should be prepared, at all times, to hand his Fearless Leader the text of a brilliantly concise media briefing statement.
And by now those Tunheimers should have been able to whip up some kind of announcement that could have made Mr. Heitzler and his Champ Car Corporation appear as though it had just invented hot wings and the Internet while you and I were asleep.
You'd even think that the members of CART's two Boards of Directors would want people to know how wise they had been in their selection of Joseph Heitzler to permanently replace the "outgoing" (in more ways than one) Bobby Rahal. Or are the Boards actually responsible for the CEO's long radio silence? Perhaps there is some kind of corporate gag order in effect?
Joseph F. Heitzler might just be the strong silent type whose actions will always speak louder than his words. Long non-communicative periods could turn out to be exactly what we will come to expect from the new boss. Nonetheless, Joe Heitzler -- or somebody at CART -- should have made us aware of that fact by now.
Meanwhile, as is always true during the winter hibernation periods of our beloved speed sport, there are issues to be resolved and announcements to be made before the Champ Cars begin their next campaign. Let's just keep hoping that when Joe Heitzler finally materializes he will provide us with the kind of information that will make us say: "Well, at least it was worth waiting for."
e-mail Ed Donath: speedwriter@hotmail.com
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