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Joint statement released by IRL, Champ Car

A joint statement from the Indy Racing League and Champ Car has been released on IndyCar.com:

“The ongoing talks between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series will continue into at least (Feb. 22) in regards to the unification of open-wheel racing. Any confirmation will be made once an agreement is in place. There are no plans for a news conference at this time. Much progress has been made toward unifying the sport.”

In other words, “We’re still talking, so be patient.” We’ve waited 12 years for this to happen, so what’s another weekend, right?

Meanwhile, somebody oughta buy Curt Cavin a cup of coffee — or ten — for covering last night’s late meeting between the IRL’s Tony George and Kevin Kalhkoven. In today’s Indianapolis Star, the IRL beat writer adds a few tidbits to what we already know:

• The open-wheel owners are “likely” to run both Long Beach and Motegi on Apr. 18-20 with equal IRL points for both races. Bizarre.

• The Champ Car event at Edmonton, Alberta will need to be moved to either July 27 or Aug. 3 — their current date of July 20 conflicts with the IRL’s date at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In my opinion, there’s got to be a better way to bring open-wheel under one roof than to have Champ Car throw a goodbye party at Long Beach (with the Panoz/Cosworth machines) at the same time the IRL regulars are racing in Japan.

Besides the obvious fact that both series wouldn’t be able to make the 18-car minimum at both events without some major subsidizing for field-fillers, what do you think the drivers that are expected to join this unified series are gonna wanna do?

Take the obsolete Panoz/Cosworth machines out for one last joyride in Snoop Dogg’s backyard? Or gain some valuable time working with the Dallara/Honda package at Motegi? The new teams would already be in a massive hole, since we’re just 36 days away from the start of the IndyCar season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Yes, the LBGP will probably be a nice trip into nostalgia, but any former Champ Car team that decides to take that over gaining ground on their new rivals needs to get their heads straight. Again, there has to be a way to fully unite everyone at Homestead.

UPDATE: 2-22-08, 1:02 p.m. ET — No deal today. Kalhkoven apparently left Indy before lunch time and according to Cavin, George is starting to get a little worried about that ticking clock over in the corner, which now stands at 36 days, 5 hours and 57 minutes.

Sooner or later, time is going to become the overriding factor and not trying to help Champ Car save face. What is holding things up?

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 am 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.