Respected Indy racing journalist Robin Miller has reported that Champ Car and the Indy Racing League (IRL) have cut a deal to get back together after splitting up 12 years ago. Having been an 'open wheel' fanatic for many years, I never thought I'd see the day that these two organizations would agree to get back together.
It is a bittersweet day in my opinion. I have worked in Champ Car and believed the series had a better formula than IRL but no one cared (especially with so few American drivers; something the IRL will have to deal with now). Tony George and the Indy 500 finally prevailed. But at what cost? The real winner appears to be NASCAR. (Note how many open wheel defections have happened in the last year alone.)
Nearly everyone agrees that unification is the best thing for open wheel racing, however, I wonder if the wrong side won. Champ Car had its faults, but the racing was always good, and the new Panoz/Cosworth cars were far superior to the IRL's version. IRL says they will take on some of Champ Cars races like Long Beach Grand Prix and Australia, but what about great events like Cleveland, which has had an "Indycar" race since 1983?
The key factor in making this deal happen is Tony George's offer of free cars and engines, plus $1.2 million to any Champ Car team that fields a car in the IRL this year. Already, there are about 8 cars that can be counted on from Champ Car to switch to IRL.
The deal is not officially official yet, but it is expected to be announced shortly.
See Robin Miller's report on Speedtv.com:
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/report-champ-car-indycar-deal-done/