Champ Cars & Indy Racing League Merger

[Don]

With the anticipated merger, there will be a sufficient number of cars to fill the field. NASCAR uses 43, maximum cars for the IRL is ?

Indy 500 should return to the drama of the past, Bubble Day, to fill the 33 slots. Believe it was the last few years where Teams entered their back up cars in order to have 33 cars for the race.

Overall, a good move for US racing, maybe those in control of F1 now wish they had stayed in the US.

[Don]

Source: AutoWeek.com


Indy Racing League boss Tony George signed an agreement to combine the IRL and Champ Car.
By CURT CAVIN

Open-wheel racing completed a wild week on Friday by ending up as one series.

Indy Racing League founder Tony George and Champ Car World Series co-owners Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven completed a merger by putting their names on a contract that gives control of the sport to George's IRL IndyCar Series.

Few additional details were given. A press conference is expected next week, perhaps at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the IRL will stage its first test of the season on Wednesday and Thursday.

George and Kalkhoven signed their portion of the deal Thursday night over dinner in Indianapolis. There was some confusion when a planned Friday news conference was canceled and Kalkhoven left the city, but George delivered the move of the week by flying to Chicago to discuss the particulars with Forsythe.

George returned to Indy with Forsythe's signature and a unified sport for the first time since he started the IRL in 1996.

George said he did not want to hold a news conference until he has details related to several key issues. He did not elaborate, but it's likely one of them involves the particulars of a doubleheader weekend April 19-20 in Long Beach, California, and Motegi, Japan.

The IRL is expected to see its 16-race schedule expand to 19 races this season with the addition of the Long Beach race plus Champ Car's events in Edmonton and Australia.

It remains unclear how many Champ Car teams will participate in the IRL, but it's safe to assume that at least eight will, led by the Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing team that won the past four series championships with Sebastien Bourdais at the wheel.

In a statement, IRL team owner Bobby Rahal said: "This is a great day for open-wheel racing and one that I and my Rahal Letterman Racing team have looked forward to for a long time. I applaud all of those that made this possible, but want to especially recognize all of those that made sacrifices and concessions to secure the future of open-wheel racing. I truly believe that this is the first step toward restoring open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 to not only where it once was, but beyond."

Champ Car team owner Derrick Walker said: “It’s back to the future. It’s been a long road, but it has finally come together. From a fan and sports business point of view, one open wheel racing series in the United States has long been recognized as what fans and sponsors want to have both series together and I’m happy to say that Walker Racing embraces the decision.”
Other reactions
Tim Mayer, COO of International Motor Sports Association and the American Le Mans Series: "For 2008 we have six of our 12 races slated to be shared with the two open wheel racing series, three with Champ Car and three with the IRL. Many details have yet to be worked out, so it is simply too soon to know all of these answers, and we do not think it is productive to speculate. However, we believe that it will affect our participation in the events very little.

John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president: "This is a good day for fans who have long awaited a unification of the two series and we hope it is the beginning of a bright future for open wheel racing."

Erik Berkman, president of Honda Performance Development: “We are elated that the sanctioning bodies have elected to combine into a single, cohesive and powerful IndyCar Series.”


AutoWeek | Updated: 02/22/08, 8:11 pm et

Article URL: Champ Car, IRL reach deal - AutoWeek Magazine

[Omathisen]

The reality is that the series have to get together to survive. Unfortunately. One problem is that the people who will be in charge - Tony George, Roger Penske, Honda execs., etc. - are the same ones that for reasons of ego and greed caused the split and the ongoing civil war in the first place.
Now we have to watch Dallaras go round and round. . . Even the old Lolas and Reynards with their turbocharged engines were more fun to watch (and faster) than the Dallaras with their Honda engines (and what happened to Toyota and Chevy).
Also, noted today that the Indianapolis Star today said that IRL's most recognizable driver is Dannicka Patrick. . . .
Champ Car used to attract retired FI drivers and would also feed young drivers to FI.
Due to egos and greed, we have lost a lot, including tracks, and in my case, we lost Nazareth, Loudon, Montreal and now Cleveland -- all tracks we have been going to regularly. We also traveled to Road America for Champ Car and Las Vegas and even had tickets for Phoenix (last fall).
Having followed Champ Car racing since the early 60s, I have seriously mixed emotions. Champ Car racing used to be on the level of FI -- drivers even got points for the 500. Jack Brabham, Jimmy Clark and Graham Hill would race. Now, the focus is on a fashion model driver, according to Indianapolis Star. . .
Maybe time will heal.

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by Omathisen

The reality is that the series have to get together to survive. Unfortunately. One problem is that the people who will be in charge - Tony George, Roger Penske, Honda execs., etc. - are the same ones that for reasons of ego and greed caused the split and the ongoing civil war in the first place.
Now we have to watch Dallaras go round and round. . . Even the old Lolas and Reynards with their turbocharged engines were more fun to watch (and faster) than the Dallaras with their Honda engines (and what happened to Toyota and Chevy).
Also, noted today that the Indianapolis Star today said that IRL's most recognizable driver is Dannicka Patrick. . . .
Champ Car used to attract retired FI drivers and would also feed young drivers to FI.
Due to egos and greed, we have lost a lot, including tracks, and in my case, we lost Nazareth, Loudon, Montreal and now Cleveland -- all tracks we have been going to regularly. We also traveled to Road America for Champ Car and Las Vegas and even had tickets for Phoenix (last fall).
Having followed Champ Car racing since the early 60s, I have seriously mixed emotions. Champ Car racing used to be on the level of FI -- drivers even got points for the 500. Jack Brabham, Jimmy Clark and Graham Hill would race. Now, the focus is on a fashion model driver, according to Indianapolis Star. . .
Maybe time will heal.

I agree. It's a shame that Tony George won. If it wasn't for him controlling Indy, the IRL would not have lasted as long as the XFL football league.

[Don]

Not the same as Dale JR's web site:

The Official Site of Danica Patrick

[Don]

Source: MotorSports.com

John Andretti on open-wheel unification
Andretti Comments on Open Wheel Unification

Archdale, N.C. (February 22, 2008) -- Veteran racer John Andretti has competed in both CART and IRL events throughout his career. His career first started in the series formerly known as CART, now Champ Car, before moving to NASCAR. Andretti returned to open wheel last season to compete in the Indianapolis 500, an event sanctioned by the Indy Racing League. Andretti comments on the recent speculation of the unification of the two open wheel series.

John Andretti, former CART winner, NASCAR Sprint Cup winner and Indianapolis 500 winner:

What do you know or have heard about the unification of open wheel racing?

"I've talked to a few people that are somewhat in the know, or really in the know. I don't even know if it's been announced yet, but the idea and the feeling is that if it hasn't been, it's forthcoming. I think everything is really, really close. It will basically be IRL cars. It will be the IRL Series, but it will include some of the venues of Champ car, so some of the teams will obviously switch over. I assume some will dissolve. I think the process is short, though, because they have a Homestead test coming up and they've got racing to get started. There are cars available. I think there's been so much to take into account, but it's no longer November, December or January. We're right on the heel s of the first race."

Will this be a good step for open wheel racing?

"Right now, it's no different than if NASCAR had a competing series at the highest level. You sit there and talk about if there should be an east and a west series, and set it up like the conferences. Racing is different than football. You want to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte, all of them go head to head every week. You don't want to see them once a year or at the end of the season. That's the difference. We can do that because we have forty-three competitors, forty-three teams every weekend. Then we even have a race to get into that forty-three, so from that standpoint, that's probably the best comparison. That's what will happen -- you'll be bringing people in that fans recognize from both series as great drivers and solid organization team-wise. Yeah, I think it will make everything stronger."

What are your feelings if it happens?

"I thought that years ago when CART was being sold off that the judge made the best decision he could, but I think if you take all of the circumstances into account, this could have been resolved then. Tony (George) could have played hardball in my opinion and he didn't. He's always played fair. This could have happened a long time ago, but it's better to happen now than to keep whittling on. As time passed, that was everyone's excuse. I think the IRL has great racing. It's exciting. Some of those oval races like Texas are just unbelievable. I think the series is now going to have a lot of road racing again, some street racing; it's going to have a lot of diversity. It's going to look like back when Mario, Michael and myself raced and have that same sort of feel which I think is very positive."

-credit: Breaking Limits

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[Omathisen]

Tonight, on Windtunnel (9p.m.), it will be interesting to see who (all?) will claim to have saved open wheel racing. Most likely the people who killed it in the first place. They should run for office. . . .