Champ Car, Indy Racing League (IRL) Get Together

Speed TV ^ | 8 Feb 2008 | Robin Miller

[Sax]

I just went to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona a few weeks back. Haven’t missed one in 7 years. A 24 hour tailgate in the infield & the stands. A lot of talented racers there every year from every racing series imaginable - and a mix of GT cars and prototypes. This year, I think the field was around 73 cars.

[whatexit]

I think it had much less to do with Nascar than with Tony George. The IRL was a joke for years. IRL Championship meant nothing, since the drivers were nobody’s or 3rd tier drivers that defected from CART. And even the 500 was a joke. Now CHAMP is in that position. IRL still isn’t what CART was, and CHAMP is irrelevant. It’s only been the last couple years that I’ve been able to sit through an IRL race, and I haven’t watched the other series in years.

[af_vet_rr]

CCWS was having to pay ESPN, etc., to carry their races. ESPN wasn't paying Champ, Champ was paying ESPN. That is not a sustainable business model.

I understand where you are coming from - Champ did a lot of things right, but unfortunately, money walks....and with Bridgestone and Ford dropping sponsorship last year, it was only a matter of time.

[af_vet_rr]

One problem with American open-wheel racing is the difficulty of getting good American drivers in the series. All these guys come from Brazil and other countries with their pockets full of sponsorship money, and even good American drivers can’t compete with that.

At the same time though, a lot of American kids coming up through the ranks in racing have their eyes on NASCAR from the start. Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Germany, Canada, etc., don't have NASCAR flooding the airwaves and so they trend towards open wheel (although NASCAR is trying to change that in Canada).

And let's be blunt - there's more money to be made in NASCAR.

If you were an American drive, unless your last name is Rahal or Andretti, you would be foolish to ignore NASCAR - an IRL driver coming in between 5th and 10th places is probably going to win less than almost all of the NASCAR Cup places, and quite a of the Busch series spots. More money = more coverage.

[Reo]

Great news! Requires some musical accompanyment. For Mark Knopfler’s “Speedway at Nazareth” link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWo-51v-SFA&NR=1

[Para-Ord.45]

CCWS was having to pay ESPN

---

ESPN is scheduled to broadcast the series with 4 races to appear on the ABC netowrk.Does Champ pay for it, I don`t know.

Irl broadcasts are advertising buys by the series to the network partner.

[Steve_Seattle]

"If you were an American drive, unless your last name is Rahal or Andretti, you would be foolish to ignore NASCAR - an IRL driver coming in between 5th and 10th places is probably going to win less than almost all of the NASCAR Cup places, and quite a of the Busch series spots. More money = more coverage."

I've always been attracted to open wheel racing more than NASCAR - to me an open-wheel car is what a racing car is supposed to look like. But I don't bash NASCAR, and I watch some of the races, but rarely an entire race (maybe Daytona), because they last so long.

But you're right about the money and fame being better in NASCAR. Also, open-wheel racing strikes me as much more dangerous than NASCAR, and if I were a driver I don't know how long I'd be willing to test my luck in open-wheel cars.

[af_vet_rr]

ESPN is scheduled to broadcast the series with 4 races to appear on the ABC netowrk.Does Champ pay for it, I don`t know.

If you look at the schedules, The ABC shows are scheduled one-hour highlights. There are some that they weren't paying for (probably because of sponsors and possibly the lives), but they were paying to have some shown, and I believe they were the tape delayed shows (since those wouldn't be as interesting, although most of the tape-delayed shows were because of timezones).

I do find it interesting though that ESPN/ABC cover IRL as well, and there is some speculation that ESPN/ABC had a small role in pushing this forward. Given Fox's NASCAR deal, ABC/ESPN might have sweetened the pot for both series to work their differences out.

[HenpeckedCon]

Tony George moved the start time of the 500 to 12:00 central time. That means the NASCAR guys can’t run Indy and make it back to the Charlotte in time to run the Coke 600. Hopefully he will move it back to 11:00. It would be great to have some drama again on “bump day”.

[af_vet_rr]

Tony will move it back to 11:00 (or even 10:30) in a heartbeat if he thought it would make him a lot of money. I think moving it to 12pm was him taking a jab at NASCAR, but in this instance, it would benefit him to have Tony, Montoya, Dario, and Robby Gordon show up and race.

[HenpeckedCon]

I’m sure Ganassi would be thrilled to run Montoya at Indy. I’m not so sure about Gibbs though. Especially with the Honda-Toyota rivalry. I don’t think Toyota would like seeing a big Honda on Tony’s fire suit.

[af_vet_rr]

Don't forget Dario - between Dario and Montoya, there's two Indy 500 winners right there and I'm sure Ganassi could find a sponsor to cover the costs of additional cars for them.

As far as Tony...he's done some dirt track races since the switch to Toyota using non-Toyota cars, but you bring up a point - the Indy 500 is much more prominent than the Chili Bowl. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a clause in his contract though that let him do it.

[HenpeckedCon]

I think Toyota can live with Chevy Sprint Cars, but I doubt they would be happy to see Tony in a Honda powered Indy Car. I forget Dario was with Ganassi too. I stand corrected. I know Tony wants to win the 500 more than any other race.

[af_vet_rr]

Well it's not Tony George who has the ego now, it's the Champ Car owners:

ESPN

Officials from the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series confirmed Friday morning that negotiations have recently taken place geared toward folding elements of the Champ Car World Series into the IRL IndyCar Series.

But the ongoing saga of American open-wheel-racing unification took another turn shortly after lunch when Champ Car issued a statement claiming that those talks have stalled.

"Unfortunately, leaks and media reports about a possible unification of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League [IRL] have significantly hampered discussions," said series co-principals Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven. "Over the past three years, we have fielded and offered several proposals regarding unification of the two premier U.S.-based open-wheel racing series, but we have been unable to reach an acceptable solution. Discussions currently are at a standstill, and we therefore are proceeding with plans to continue as Champ Car."

I like Tony George about as much as I like the France family, but when you have Paul Newman willing to set aside his differences with George and saying it's the best news he's heard in a long time, you need to work it out, and you need to do it quick, because you could be a year or two away from somebody like Newman leaving to go to IRL.

[Para-Ord.45]

Champ already has an 08 schedule so I wouldn`t fret too much about who`s the stick in the mud.

I`m thinking they have these contractual obligations thru 08 and even maybe 09 with sponsors, tracks, suppliers(love the DP01), etc.

I`ll always be stumped as to why a 3rd tier series draws any viewers or fans at all. Think all agree its F1, then CHAMP with IRL a very distant 3rd.

[af_vet_rr]

I`ll always be stumped as to why a 3rd tier series draws any viewers or fans at all. Think all agree its F1, then CHAMP with IRL a very distant 3rd.

IRL gets the advantage of associating with Indy.

That said, you're right - Formula 1 rules the top of the heap, and as a result, it (and NASCAR) can draw away some of the best and brightest - witness Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal both being fairly open about their desire to go to F1 (and the fact that both have impressed F1 officials and teams means IRL and CCWS are in danger of losing a couple of people who could help energize American open-wheel racing over the long term).

[af_vet_rr]

I should say, with Newman/Haas/Lanigan going to IRL in 2009 (which they just announced they were doing last week), if you have somebody else of their caliber leave Champ Car, then it’s pretty much over.

[Para-Ord.45]

I thought Newman broought in Lanigan so he could retire?

Anyway, CCWS should concentrate on luring in more F1 teams that just cannot compete with the half billion dollar budget big teams. Minardi was a great addition.

A merger maybe in 2009 or 10 but sheesh, those slow ugly 1970`s looking McClarens(Dallaras) gotta go.

[af_vet_rr]

Newman is the face, but Haas is the driving factor behind the announcement last month - according to AutoBlog, Haas is tired of waiting.

[af_vet_rr]

Looks like it's a done deal (sounds like Honda reached an agreement to move their race):

Deal seals Indy's future

If you thought last year's Indy was a beauty -- brace yourself; it is going to get bigger and better.

In an agreement that has the motorsport world abuzz, the two rival North American open-wheel racing bodies are poised to sign a historic merger deal.

It will mean more teams at the iconic Gold Coast event, fiercer competition and a brighter future for the race.

The secret deal between the warring bosses from Champ Car and the Indy Racing League (IRL) is being hailed as the saviour of the Gold Coast race.

Had an agreement not been reached over the weekend, the Bligh Government would have been faced with the prospect of having a world-class motorsport event in October without the international teams and drivers.

Wonder how hard Indy tickets are going to be this year?