Indy Racing League and Champ Car Merge for 2008 Season

Unification of open-wheel series would provide fresh start for IRL
Associated Press

The possible unification of America's two open-wheel racing series was in the hands of the lawyers Wednesday, working out the final details of a deal that could re-energize the struggling sport.

Rather than a merger, the proposed deal, which could be announced as soon as Friday, would see some teams from the Champ Car World Series blended into the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series, with immediate gains in car count and races.

``It is still not done, but still moving,'' IRL spokesman Fred Nation told The Associated Press Wednesday.

``The lawyers are still lawyering and we are still trading drafts and whittling away at the issues. We're optimistic the issues can be resolved.''

Meanwhile, Champ Car spokesman David Higdon said series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven, a key person in the negotiations was still in England on family business and would not return to the U.S. until sometime late Thursday.

Since the IRL began competing with what was then the established CART series in 1996, the two have gone head to head for drivers, teams, fans, sponsors and TV ratings, generally losing out on all counts.

Things have only gotten worse for both sides in the face of the current U.S. economic woes.

Before the proposed agreement, Champ Car was set to begin its season April 29 at Long Beach, Calif., with no more than 17 cars, while the IndyCar Series was in danger of starting its season March 29 at Homestead, Fla., with as few as 16.

With the deal apparently nearing completion, it appeared Wednesday that between six and 10 cars from the Champ Car side would take the offer from IRL founder and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George of a free Honda engine lease program, free Dallara chassis and $1.2 million in team incentives.

Several Champ Car teams are not expected to take George's offer because, even with the engines, cars and incentives, it would take an additional $2 million or more to compete in the IRL. The teams that don't have the sponsorship or backing to continue will either close down or move to sports car racing, which is less costly.

Obviously, those who would take the deal see it as a winning proposition.

``I believe it would be a stronger series again with a lot of solid events,'' said Eric Bachelart, a former open-wheel driver and now owner of Conquest Racing in the Champ Car series.

``What the IRL has is a good package, with the Indianapolis 500 and some other things that will help attract sponsors. There will be lots of cars, lots of teams. A good show.''

Like everyone else involved, though, Bachelart was waiting anxiously to hear a confirmation that the deal is done.

``I'm ready to move any time soon and enter two cars in the IRL,'' Bachelart said. ``I believe this is the best option to go that way. And, with Champ Car, it has lost a lot of credibility at this point.''

CART went into bankruptcy in January 2004 and was bought by Kalkhoven, Gerald Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi, all team owners in what is now Champ Car. They have since added Dan Pettit, another team owner, as a partner.

Led by Kalkhoven and Forsythe, Champ Car decided to go away from the traditional open-wheel ovals and focus its efforts on city street races, hoping the carnival atmosphere surrounding these events would assure success, and on racing outside the U.S., away from the IRL.

It worked, to a point. Champ Car's most successful events are the street, airport or road races in Long Beach, Edmonton, Toronto, Australia and Mexico City. And most of the races outside the U.S., including several events in Europe, did make money.

Overall, the series made little impact in America, its home base.

The impending deal is expected to include Long Beach, Edmonton and Australia in 2008, with negotiations for several other current Champ Car events to be added to the IRL schedule in 2009, likely including Toronto and Mexico City.

George's initial concept for the IRL was to concentrate on taking open-wheel racing back to its roots on oval tracks. Eventually, eventually began adding the better-attended road and street circuits to the schedule.

The unification and addition of the three races would give the IRL a solid 19 race schedule for 2008. Nation said the organization would then take ``a clean sheet of paper'' in building its 2009 schedule.

Other Champ Car teams expected to make the move include series powerhouse Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, which has won four straight series championships, Kalkhoven, Pettit and former CART champion Jimmy Vasser's PKV team, Forsythe Championship Racing, Derrick Walker Racing and Dale Coyne Racing. Several others could also take the deal, but have remained mum on their intentions.

Now the real work begins for Tony George and IRL

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- It didn't have the metaphorical perfection of the driving of the golden spike to link the transcontinental railroad or the significance of a treaty ending some long gone war.

But there Tony George and Kevin Kalkhoven stood before a collection of 22 open-wheel drivers, grinning and grinning some more as shutters clicked, gripping hands for the photo-op on Wednesday that officially ended the Great Open-Wheel War.

George and Kalkhoven, the Champ Car co-owner whose series agreed to have its teams and most valued assets melded into the once-rival circuit, knew much ground had been lost in 30 years of squabbling within the sport and 12 years of outward venom since George founded the IRL and broke away from what was then known as CART.

NASCAR drove through the wreckage and was an easy lap ahead now. So everyone spoke of small gains.

"It's going to take some time,'' George said. "But it all starts here today.''

Everyone spoke of determination.

"This is not some magic bullet,'' Kalkhoven said. "It's going to take an awful lot of hard work.''

And everyone spoke of modest expectations.

"This is the time we've been waiting for, for open-wheel racing to come back,'' said driver Helio Castroneves. "We are not competing against NASCAR. We're just a different type of racing. Now we just have good things to show to everyone.''

But regaining that lost status was clearly an objective for a sport that collectively weak and divided could only ponder holding onto memories. But is it up to the job of reclaiming its legacy?

"I do think so. At least I hope so,'' said former Champ Car driver Graham Rahal, who at 19 will soon be a new young marketing tool for the IRL. "I think that the way we look at it now is we're not going to be a challenger to NASCAR right away, but certainly I think over time we can get back to that position."

Peter DeLorenzo, an auto industry analyst and editor of autoextremist.com, said the IRL can establish a new beachhead with fans and ever-important sponsors, especially as NASCAR has "started to spiral downward a little bit." But he noted the IRL should temper expectations.

"I think (the IRL) definitely can get a toehold,'' he said. "Will they ever recover from the 12 years of rancor and discord that basically handed the platform of American racing and the mainstream media to NASCAR? No. There's no chance. I think basically all they can hope for is a focused presentation of their type of racing and a gradual return from a lot of their fans that drifted away during the twelve years.''

DeLorenzo said NASCAR's ebb after 20 seasons of explosive growth may allow the new IRL a chance to succeed, if not with fans, in corporate board rooms. That will be just as important for a series that has struggled to find sponsorship in competition with the higher-profile NASCAR series. The cost of sponsoring a high-level Sprint Cup team is over $20-million, with perhaps twice that required to properly "activate'' or promote a brand. NASCAR has recently lost high-profile sponsors such as Tide, with other stalwarts such as Interstate Batteries routinely selling their races to recoup their investment.

"Part of the reason for that is a lot of corporate America is getting tired of the money involved to get involved with a top NASCAR team,'' DeLorenzo said. "You have lowering TV numbers, empty seats and I think corporate America is starting to drift away from NASCAR. So yes, I would think the IRL will get a closer look now.''

Zak Brown, CEO of Just Marketing International, which the IRL retained as a consultant six months ago, said several companies have expressed an interest in the unified series and he anticipates announcing a crucial title sponsorship this season. Brown said he is targeting financial institutions and electronics companies in the Fortune 1000 -- mentioning Bank of America, Panasonic and Sony -- for what he expects would be a $10 million deal. IRL commercial division president Terry Angstadt said the series is "on the 10-yard line,'' in attaining a presenting sponsor.

"It's very important because the title sponsor helps build the racing series and its profile (much like Winston did for NASCAR),'' Brown said. "It's a must we get one.''

Eric Wright, vice president of research and development for Joyce Julius & Associates, which tracks sponsor value with a system that quantifies television exposure, said it's difficult to compare the merit of sponsoring NASCAR teams versus the IRL because open-wheel sponsorships often cost half as much. And although NASCAR dwarfs the IRL in exposure, ratings, purses and most tangible categories over a season, Wright emphasized the value of the Indianapolis 500.

"Indy is still a great event,'' he said. "It's in the top tier of U.S. motorsports without a doubt. I think sometimes that gets lost on people. It may not be No. 1 any longer but it's still up there. I always hesitate to pile on Indy because Indy itself is still a pretty fantastic opportunity for sponsors.''

Especially if a dynamic, boundary-crossing driver is involved. And the IRL currently has one of the best in the world in terms of marketing in Danica Patrick. Whereas Joyce Julius calculates that KevinHarvick's sponsors recouped $8.9 million worth of advertising value for his on-camera exposure in winning the 2007 Daytona 500 and Dario Franchitti just $3.6 million, Patrick generated $8.1 million for finishing eighth.

"She's off the chart,'' Wright said. "She is a unique personality and she's usually the storyline one way or another.''

Now the IRL has to find a way to parlay her popularity and that of two-time Indy 500 and Dancing with the Stars winner Castroneves into broader appeal.

"I think Danica Patrick personally needs to win this year because she's been right on the cusp,'' DeLorenzo said. "But I think it's absolutely crucial for the series. She and Marco Andretti and maybe Graham Rahal are the future stars. ... Selfishly, I'm sure the IRL has their fingers crossed that she wins, because that would do a lot for the series. Will it be an instant fix? Not a chance.''

Eddie Gossage is concerned about the allure of instant fixes. As track president at Texas Motor Speedway, he's responsible for filling seats in what was the land of A.J. Foyt but is now Labonte territory. He does well, averaging the IRL's largest crowds aside from the Indianapolis 500. He has an affinity for open-wheel racing and says nothing is quite as exciting as watching the cars on a high-banked speedway such as his. But therein lies a concern: with the IRL debuting on non-ovals in 2005 on the streets of St. Petersburg, adding four more non-ovals since and in reunification acquiring Long Beach, Edmonton and Surfers Paradise, Australia, Gossage is concerned the series could follow the formula he feels doomed CART.

"Do we really want to follow the model that caused CART and Champ Car to go out of business?'' he posed. "Temporary street courses, taking a paycheck from a promoter that has no future and won't be here in three years, foreign drivers? Or do we stand back and look at it, the slow nickel versus the fast dime?"

Gossage's thinking is contrary to the movement inside the IRL even before the amalgamation and the success in St. Petersburg. The thought: do something NASCAR could not by bringing racing into intimate urban environments. As recently as last year, the league had discussed informally the prospect of racing on Governors Island in New York Harbor. George envisions a 20-race series with only about half ovals.

Though he stressed "there's a certain charm that international flavor brings,'' and doesn't want to sound xenophobic, Gossage said the IRL must not become "CART II.''

But above all, he said, there must be humility.

"Be humble. Be loyal,'' he said. "IndyCar racing, through its 'heydays' never acted humble toward the fans. Give them a reason to come back to see you.''

To that end, George and Kalkhoven used the word "fan" no less than 15 times in their news conference on Wednesday.

An offseason in which IRL drivers won dancing trophies on national television and posed for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue (Patrick) has given the series one of its biggest boosts in years even before reunification, Gossage said.

So now the league must sell itself on the track. Two-hour races often decided by fractions of second at speeds in excess of 200 mph would seemingly do that. At least they do at Texas Motor Speedway. Gossage said therein lies the formula.

"I'm not suggesting it try to be NASCAR,'' he said. "There's a unique nature of open-wheel racing -- open cockpit, open-wheel, speed, that makes it so cool. There's no way you can look at an IndyCar and think about anything but it being fast, man. And that's what it needs to sell itself as.''

But it'll never get to sell itself in the same market as NASCAR, Gossage said. Though chairman Brian France has espoused motorsports prosperity across regimens, he's against his top series competing on the same weekend at a common venue with the IRL. Trucks, yes, Sprint Cup no. A head-to-head comparison is apparently not in the long-range plan.

"Not going to happen,'' Gossage said.

Maybe catching back up to NASCAR won't either. But on this day, there was finally an excuse to hope.

sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Former series champion Tracy may miss out on unification
February 28, 2008

Paul Tracy is looking for a ride.

A spokesman for Gerald Forsythe, co-owner of the Champ Car World Series and owner of Forsythe Championship Racing, said Thursday the team will no longer race Indy Cars and will instead compete only in the developmental Atlantic Series.

That apparently leaves former series champion Tracy, the biggest name among the drivers hoping to move to the IRL IndyCar Series in the long-awaited unification of America's two open-wheel series, without a ride for 2008.

``It kind of leaves me hung out,'' Tracy said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. ``I just got the information, too. ... Now I have some legal issues to jump through with this. I need to step back with my management and sort through my contract, which has a buyout.''

Neil Micklewright, vice president of operations for the Forsythe team, issued a statement Thursday that said the team had been unable to secure the necessary sponsorship to be able to compete in the IRL IndyCar Series this season.

The 39-year-old Tracy said that once he is free from contractual obligations with Forsythe, he wants to sign with another team as quickly as possible.

``I want to be part of the new series,'' said Tracy, who won the 2003 CART championship, Champ Car's predecessor. ``I'm a race car driver and I love open-wheel racing. I want to be in a competitive situation, to be able to win races and run for the championship.''

Tracy could have one more ride in the Forsythe Champ Car.

Micklewright said the team would participate in the April 20 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which will be the final race run with Champ Car equipment. But Micklewright added that the team's drivers for that race would be announced later.

The IRL teams will race in Japan that week and officials were unable to move either race date. Instead, they agreed to run both races, having the Champ Car series, using a skeleton staff, run what would have been its season-opener. Points earned at Long Beach will count toward the IRL championship.

As both open-wheel series struggled to draw fans and attract sponsors, Champ Car has lost many of its biggest stars in recent years to the IRL, European racing and NASCAR. Most recently, four-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais left at the end of 2007 to drive in Formula One.

Other than Tracy, who leads all active drivers in the series with 31 victories, the biggest name remaining in Champ Car is 19-year-old Graham Rahal, son of former Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time CART champion Bobby Rahal.

Rahal, who was Bourdais' teammate, will move to the IRL with eight-time series champions Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

The Atlantic Series was part of the Champ Car World Series but was not included in the unification agreement with the IRL that was signed by Forsythe, Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George, founder of the Indy Racing League.

Kalkhoven said Wednesday that the Atlantics are now co-owned by him and Forsythe and will run an independent 12-race schedule. But Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser, another former open-wheel champion, will move their team, KV Racing, to the IRL's IndyCar Series in 2008, along with all of the other former Champ Car teams with the exception of Forsythe.

All of the current IRL teams were in Homestead, Fla., on Wednesday and Thursday for a preseason test.

Brian Barnhart, vice president of operations for the IRL, said Wednesday that all of the former Champ Car teams attended an orientation meeting Monday in Indianapolis and that he expected all of them to join the IRL.

A number of drivers and car owners from Champ Car were on hand for a press conference by George and Kalkhoven on Wednesday in Homestead, where some of the details of the agreement were revealed. But there were no representatives of the Forsythe team present and Tracy said he and the rest of the team were told not to go to the test.

``We had planned to go down to the test, but it was passed down from Gerry, nobody's going anywhere down there,'' Tracy said. ``Gerry has never made it a secret he wasn't real interested in getting back together with the IRL.''

Meanwhile, the IRL announced that it will hold special test sessions for the teams that are making the move to the IndyCar Series on March 19-20 on the road circuit at Sebring International Raceway and March 24-25 on the oval at Homestead.

The season-opening race is March 29 at the Homestead track.

Barnhart said he expected between eight and 12 cars from Champ Car to be added to the grid for the opener.

The deal to unify includes George's offer to the former Champ Car teams of a free Honda engine leasing program, two Dallara chassis and $1.2 million in team incentives that are also offered to the ongoing IRL teams.