While many would guess that the Million Dollar Tracy is actually a pimp by the picture to the left, Gerry Forsythe was really the sugar daddy. Well, Gerry put the slap to Paul when he stopped paying him.

Though the suit is out there in many forms, I’ve got my main man Fred on the deal. You probably don’t remember, but thanks to Fred, I was the person who was getting all sorts of details about the CCWS bankruptcy proceedings. Well, fear not, because Fred is back at it. While you can do some sleuthing, I’ll give you some of the juicy details from PT’s contract. I’ve certainly never had the chance to read a driver’s contract before.

Basically, the lawsuit against both Forsythe Racing and Gerald Forsythe says that the Termination Fee owed to PT is at least $2,312,5000, which includes the termination fee itself at $1,000,000 and seven months pay for 2008.

By the end of PT’s contract, he was making $2,250,000 per year. This had been his salary since 2004. For 2002 and 2003, he was making $3,000,000 per year. In addition to his base salary, he received $200,000 for a race win, with bonuses down to fifth, and a $50,000 bonus for scoring a pole position. For winning the series championship, he got another $300,000. Finally, he received 25% of race prizes and CART bonuses.

PT got to keep any cars, jewelry, or trophies awarded to him. The team, though, kept all pit stop competition prizes.

PT could be penalized $75,000 if he was unable to drive for reasons that were not caused by racing. If something serious were to happen to PT in the car, he’d get paid for the remainder of the season and the team would also pay for insurance to cover him while under contract.

PT’s sponsorship duties were not to exceed six hours. He would not do more than sixteen per season and four per offseason. Race weekend appearances do not count in these totals.

PT was contractually obligated to be positive and up beat in nature. He was to never ever bring into question the professionalism, dedication, or integrity of the TEAM or its sponsors and suppliers. Should he get out of line, he could be fined $5,000 (or 0.002% of his annual pay) for a maximum of $50,000 per year.

There was a clause demanding that PT be in good physical and mental shape. If he plumped up to above 190 lbs, he would have 30 days per 10 lbs to get under the limit. Should be still be a butterball, he could be terminated without penalty.

PT got travel expenses paid not only for him, but for one girlfriend or spouse. They got to travel business class. PT had to keep receipts. In his last deal, he was to get a $250,000 voucher for a private jet should the team ever get a major sponsor that wasn’t INDECK.

His deal was exclusive until the last update, where he was allowed to race elsewhere as long as it didn’t conflict with CCWS activities and wasn’t in the IRL.

For the Canadian events of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, he got 10 tickets a piece.

PT’s contract bound Forsythe to the Lola chassis. In fact, his contract may have been breached for the entire 2007 season, as the DP-01 wasn’t a Lola and there’s no proof, from the documents provided, that the Lola clause was ever removed.

Good stuff, and keep your eyes peeled, because when Fred’s on the job, we’re set.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm and is filed under ICS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.