Unification

It appears, once again, that the powers that be in the IRL and Champ Car are about to come to an agreement to unify open wheel racing. I, for one, will welcome a unification of the series as one is nearly defunct as I write and the other is a bad idea which has done as much harm to the sport as it has done good. And lest we start calling Tony George the salvation of the sport since he is the point man on these negotiations, let's not forget it was his, along with the CART owners, whose greed led us to where we are now.

The unification story goes as such. A couple of weeks ago FTG offered the owners of the CC teams both cars and money to come race in the IRL and effectively end the war that has raged since 1995 and split the series teams and fans and diminishing both. For some reason that only idiots like Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe could understand, the offer was not good enough. More was demanded and George, not unlike what he did to Bernie last year after the USGP, said no. For some reason, Forsythe and Kalkhoven decided that getting nothing was better than getting quite a bit. Had they accepted the proposal they would be back in the only race that pays worth a crap, the 500. Plus they would be able to take part in George's share the wealth TEAMS plan, which rewards teams for running the whole season rather than cherry picking the 500. I mean, that isn't that smart anyway if you look at the payout, but I've been all over that before.

The CC principals, it has been revealed, didn't even share the plan with the other owners who are getting ready for their second year in the DP01 and with little to no sponsorship money. The 500 may be diminished from what it was, but sponsors know it's bigger than any other open wheel race. That leaves few scraps for the CC teams and they are feeling the pinch as they have lost their top driver Bourdais to F1.

Now it appears as though Derrick Walker has decided that he is going to go to the IRL and it sounds like the Newman Haas team will follow. What does that leave for CC? Nothing, that’s what. They may have their few money making races, but who’s going to go watch the mostly no-name drivers run through street courses where they see the cars for a few second each lap? There simply isn’t any viability to the series without Newman Haas.

So the end of the war seems to be near. Will it matter to anyone but the few passionate race fans left? To me if it means increased visibility for the 500 then I am all for it. I don’t think it will make any real difference this year, but the increased field sizes can only help as well as the lack of confusion over the two series. I hope that the CC guys realize that they have an opportunity to put an end to the lunacy that has occurred over the past 12 years. It seems as though George has decided it is time to end and to me it is time to put the ego’s aside and do what is best for the sport. If that means TG wins then so be it. He had the trump card all along with the Speedway. The time for greed is over. KK thought he could get a bargain and sell for a profit when he bought the CART assets. Clearly he didn’t and it is time he swallowed his pride and quit losing money to save face, for spite or whatever.

If the unification doesn’t take place this time around it most likely will only happen because of the demise of CC. But worse than that, those fans who want the end of this and will welcome the end and unification will feel like we have been duped yet again by the little boys who cry wolf!