APRIL 3, 2002
When Formula 1 looks like a sensible world...
There are time when Formula 1 looks like a mad world with all the quibbling and back-biting that goes on in the sport but the Americans have it far worse at the moment.
The former head of CART Joseph Heitzler has just filed a $20m defamation lawsuit against team owners Pat Patrick and Carl Haas alleging that they conducted a smear campaign against him when he was chairman, president and chief executive of the organization. The allegations include slander, libel and says that the two team bosses hired a legal firm to investigate Heitzler. This is the second law suit from Heitzler, filed last week, which claims $2m for breach of contract and fraud. This alleges that CART directors sold their shareholdings before a controversial new engine regulations caused the price of the shares to tumble. Heitzler claims that he was fired for taking action to try to stop such a thing happening again. CART has filed a law suit against Heitzler alleging that he was involved in fraudulent behavior.