MVN - Most Valuable Network

Notes: Unification’s the goal as IRL officials fly to Japan

League mulling overseas events if merger occurs

As reported by multiple sources, Indy Racing League officials are flying today to Japan in an attempt to persuade Twin Ring Motegi officials to move their Apr. 19 IndyCar Series event. The goal of this is to accommodate at least three Champ Car events for the 2008 IndyCar Series schedule, including the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix.

Since then, there hasn’t been much news to report. But the Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin writes in today’s edition that the IRL is looking at an “international package” of events after they close their season on Sept. 7 in Joliet, Illinois. Cavin mentions that the Motegi event and Champ Car races at Surfer’s Paradise, Australia and Mexico City could be involved in this deal.

In any case, the IRL appears set on continuing their quest for open-wheel unification in 2008, despite Champ Car ownership saying yesterday in a statement that talks between them and the IRL have been suspended. Said IRL racing operations boss Brian Barnhart to Cavin about George’s efforts:

“I’ve never seen him work harder on this than he has in the past couple three weeks.”

And what do the “jumpers” think?

Meanwhile, down in Daytona Beach, Fla., a bevy of former open-wheel stars are taking the first legitimate laps of their NASCAR careers in preparation for the 2008 Daytona 500.

While former Champ Car star Patrick Carpentier (now driving a Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series) was “happy” about the news of merger talks, he told the AP’s Chris Jenkins that his open-wheel career is done.

As for Kyle Petty, one of the elder statesmen in the Sprint Cup paddock, he felt that even if open-wheel came under one roof, they’d still be in a major hole:

“Now they’ve got to go head to head with [NASCAR], you’ve got to go head to head with drag racing, you’ve got to go head to head with a lot. It’s like opening up a coffee shop next to Starbucks. I mean, how successful can you be?”

Panther downsized

As found by my IndyCar “blog consortium” partner MyNameIsIRL.com, Panther Racing confirmed yesterday that they will be a one-car team in 2008 with driver Vitor Meira behind the wheel of the No. 4 Delphi machine. A second car for P.J. Chesson was unable to materialize due to, presumably, sponsorship problems.

However, they also revealed that they are leaning towards adding a second car for the Indianapolis 500, so don’t expect Chesson to turn into a stranger in Panther’s shop any time soon.

As for Meira’s program, my opinion is that we’ll know more by late February, which would give the team a month’s time to focus before the season-opener on March 29.

Come to think of it, with all the sponsors that Panther had been trying to hook up with Chesson, maybe one of them took a shine to the team even though he won’t be in a full-time ride. It’s a stretch, but not impossible.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.