IRL/Champ Car: Merger talks to continue today

[Rory Phoulorie]

By Steven English Friday, February 22nd 2008, 10:26 GMT

Champ Car and Indy Racing League officials are continuing talks about the unification of the two series after a meeting between series bosses Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George in Indianapolis yesterday.

The pair will meet again today in an attempt to resolve the final issues of the proposed merger. The IRL is believed to be seeking the full rights to open-wheel racing in North America and to have all races run under the IRL banner.

An official statement, issued jointly by the IRL and Champ Car, confirmed that the deal has not yet been completed, but that an agreement is expected soon.

"Much progress has been made towards unifying the sport. The ongoing talks in regards to the unification of open-wheel racing will continue into at least Friday.

"Any confirmation of the unification will be made once an agreement is in place, but there are no plans for a news conference at this time."

The April 19-20 weekend is still a point of contention in the deal, with clashing dates at Long Beach and Motegi. George and Kalkhoven are said to be considering running both events using each series' respective cars but awarding points to the IRL system.

autosport

[Rory Phoulorie]

They say that Tony George of the IRL is offering Champ Car teams free IRL cars and US$1.2M if they come across to the IRL.

What I am wondering is what will happen to the Panoz cars that were to be used in 2008. I guess if Panoz had been paid for the cars already then the problem might not be so big. But what about all the machinery and staff that Panoz has to support the Champ Car series throughout the year?

Of the two series' cars, I found that the Panoz was the better car, faster and more technologically advanced than the IRL cars.