IndyCar Racing
Reunification!
By Andrew Cutler
February 23 2008
An agreement in principle has been reached between Tony George, founder and CEO of the Indy Racing League, and Champ Car World Series majority owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe, bringing an end to the thirteen year-old rift in the "American" open-wheel racing scene.
Details will be forthcomming in a press conference at some point next week, but the gist of the deal is that the IRL will "absorb" a handful of the CCWS race venue contracts and whichever CCWS teams that wish to join the IndyCar Series. The "new" unified series can, for all intents and purposes, be considerd as being in exsistance effective immediately.
The unification ball began rolling back in October of last year when George tendered an offer to supply any CCWS squad that wished to cross over to the IndyCar Series with free chassis and engines. Since then there has been a constant dialog between the principles of both series, which lead to serious negotiations commencing last week.
Comming off of several years of failed growth plans, cancelled races and red ink, the CCWS was in dire financial straits and the owners were reluctant to keep digging into their own pocketbooks to keep the series afloat.
It is not yet certian which CCWs teams will join the Indycar Series: some may opt for the American Le Mans Series or simply close up shop. "Powerhouse" squads like Newman-Haas-Lanigan and Forsythe will likely take the deal. Another team that seems poised to make the move is Derrick Walker's Team Australia, which fields a car for Englishman Will Power. "It's great that we've all got together for the future," Power commented. "This will give the sport a big boost and allow it to grow in many areas. Having one series will put all the best open-wheel drivers in the United States in one series and it's going to be a really tough and exciting field."
Despite voicing some concerns earlier this week about the possible details of any merger deal, driving great and long time IndyCar team owner A.J. Foyt Jr. is also happy to see reunification come about; "I'm glad that they were able to get it done. It'll eliminate the confusion for the race fans and the sponsors because there'll be just one type of car and one type of motor and everyone will be running together. May the best team win."
I will post a follow-up article spelling out the pertainent details of the deal as soon as the press annoucement is made.
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StumbleuponAs editor of this site, my first thought is; "I'm going to have ALOT of work to do to get this site properly updated"!
But I wouldn't have it any other way.
All CCWS squads that are interested in moving over to the ICS are supposed to be in Indy today for "orientation" - except maybe Pacfic Coast Motorsports, who couldn't make the meeting on such short notice. I'll let you know who specifically was there once they post a list.
On Wednesday the IRL starts a two day ICS/Indy Pro test session at Homestead FL. The new CCWS converts will not be there, but are supposed to be at next week's test in Sebring FL, and may get a "make-up" session at Homestead later on.
A press conference has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday at Homestead to lay out all of the details of the merger agreement.
I'll keep everyone posted.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008:02:25:15:40:05 by IndyAndy.
"Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary... That's what gets you."-Jeremy Clarkson
Granted, that doesn't mean that all will actually opt to compete, but at least they were willing to come and scope things out. Of those in attendance, Conquest, NHL & Walker Racing have allready submitted papers to get Dallara/Hondas delivered ASAP. I feel pretty confident that more will do the same in the next few days.
