Shake-up at Arciero-Brooke/Blair.

2001 Fed-Ex Series new-boys Arciero-Brooke Racing have announced that the team will now be known as Arciero-Blair Racing and after missing the latest round of the CART series, rookie driver Max Wilson will be back with the team's Lola-Ford, not Lola-Phoenix at Milwaukee next Sunday.

After a slow start to their debut season, Arciero-Brooke, now Arciero-Blair Racing, announced several major changes in the team's set-up with the departure of co-owner Barry Brooke and the change in power-plant from the under-powered Phoenix (Mercedes) unit to the more proven, solid Ford unit.

CART Rookie Max Wilson will continue with the team despite not scoring a point in the opening three races of the 2001 CART Fed-Ex Championship Series while businessman Larry Blair joins Frank and Albert Arciero at the helm. Former Penske and Newman-Haas team-manager Bob Sprow will take over as General Manager with current partner Matthias Czabok assuming the position of Vice President of marketing and business development.

Wilson and the No.25 team have finished two of the opening three races before missing the Firestone Firehawk 500 at Motegi last weekend in order to work on their chassis and new engine, allowing them to be ore prepared when Milwaukee roles around. However the Brazilian driver has often been near, or at the back of the field and his best finish of the season thus far came at Nazareth with 17th place and it is hoped that the shake-up will kick start their season at Milwaukee next Sunday.

In a statement, Albert Arciero said, "Often, the outside business world brings some profound insight to racing. In much the same way as racing benefited from the migration of aerospace talent, Larry [Blair] brings a creative and adventurous approach from the high-tech industry."

Blair, a former Vice President of marketing with current team-sponsors Redback Networks, was also looking forward to combining his expertise with that of the Arciero's. "There are so many similarities between racing and high tech start up companies, said Blair. "I come from a business culture that is like racing, you gather, evaluate and process the information in thousandths of seconds. I want to blend my new economy background to bring a different marketing style and unique perspective to this team and sport. Forming a partnership with the Arcieros, one of the most established names in racing, is a privilege."

The arrival of Blair, and the apparent departure of Barry Brooke will undoubtedly be a major financial boost to the team but it remains to be seen whether Blair, with limited experience in racing, let alone a top-line series such as CART, can bring the Arciero name away from the lower echelons of the CART field and onto the same plateau that fellow 2001 new-boys, Sigma Autosport, have set.