IRL - Champ Car Merger

Champ Car, IRL nearing merger - Indystar.com

Okay, with all this "Merger" talk... lets look at what each series brings to the table.

Indy Racing League:
Tony George brings his millions and The month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a little thing called the 500.

Oval Venues:
Indy, Texas, Kentucky, Chicagoland, Kansas City, Michigan, Homestead, Richmond, Motegi, Milwaukee, Nashville and the new oval in Iowa.

Road and Street Circuits:
Watkins Glen, Infineon and St. Petersburg

Personalities:
DanicaMania, MarcoMania, Spiderman

Former Indy 500 Winners:
Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish, Dan Wheldon, Eddie Cheever, Buddy Lazier, Al Unser Jr.

Former IndyCar Series Champions:
Tony Kanaan, Sam Hornish, Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Buddy Lazier

Other Drivers:
Scott Sharp, Vitor Meira, Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta, Kosuke Matsura, Tomas Scheckter, Felipe Giaffone, Buddy Rice, Ed Carpenter, Jeff Simmons, PJ Chesson,

Owners:
Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, Michael Andretti/Kim Green, Bobby Rahal/David Letterman, Tony George, AJ Foyt, John Barnes, Adrian Fernandez, Eddie Cheever, Dennis Reinbold, Carmelo Anthony

Engine:
Honda and their 3.0 liter normally aspirated, fuel-injected, aluminum alloy cylinder block V-8.

Fuel:
Ethanol

Tires:
Firestone and their AWFUL recycled Andretti commercials from 1998.

Chassis:
Dallara and Panoz. New Dallara in 08.

TV Package:
Awfully Bad Coverage (ABC) and Especially Sucky Production Network (ESPN)

TV Talent:
Marty Reid, Rusty Wallace, Scott Goodyear, Dr. Jerry Punch, Jack Arute, Jamie Little

Intangibles:
Downforce fan club, Ashley Judd

Champ Car:
Kevin Kalkhoven brings his millions.

Ovals:
Milwaukee

Road Courses:
Monterrey, Montreal, Road America, Mexico City

Street Venues:
Long Beach, Burke Lakefront, Surfers Paradise Australia, Portland, Houston, Toronto, Edmonton, San Jose, and Denver

Personalities:
Paul Tracy, Kathryn Legge

Former Indy 500 Winners:
None

CCWS Series Champions:
Sebastien Bordais, Paul Tracy, Christiano deMatta

Other Drivers:
AJ Allmendinger, Bruno Junqueira, Christiano DeMatta, Oriol Servia, Justin Wilson, Mario Dominguez, Alex Tagliani, Will Power, Nelson Phillipe, Dan Clarke, Jan Heylen, Charles Zwolsman, Tonis Kasemets, Andrew Ranger, Nikky Pastorelli

Owners:
Paul Newman/Carl Haas, Dan Pettit/Kevin Kalkhoven/Jimmy Vasser, Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, Carl Russo, Derrick Walker, Dale Coyne, Cedric The Entertainer, Eric Bachelart,

Engine:
Ford and their 2.65-liter overhead-cam turbocharged V-8s.

Fuel:
Methanol

Tires:
Bridgestone and their AWFUL Wheel Goes Round and Round and Round and Round commercials

Chassis:
Lola and Reynard. New Panoz in 07.

TV Package:
NBC - 3 races, CBS - 5 races, SpeedTV - 6 races

TV Talent:
Rick Benjamin, Derrick Daly, Jan Beekus, Cameron Steele

Intangibles:
Champ Car Grid Girls, Pole and Winner Stickers on the car, flying the Pole Flag, Push to Pass, Red Tires.

My Thoughts:
The media will call this a merger, but these are not 2 equal entities. One has the Indy 500, one does not. The one with the Indy 500 holds power. But for the good of openwheel racing, one series does need to exist. And in the end, all that is going to happen is Champ Car will go away. Kalkhoven will make his money off the promotion of most of the events. That is where the money is in ChampCar as it stands today. Tony George and the IRL will maintain control over the series that will have the Indy name and will have as it's crown jewel, the Indy 500. Half of the Champ Car teams will continue and the series fields will go up from 20-22 to 26-28. Some of the Champ Car teams will become indy only teams and Indy fields will go up from 33-35 to 38-40 and bumping at Indy should be back in full force, but it is not guaranteed as the teams will have initial costs to get on similar equipment. The biggest gain though, will be that the media will no longer be able to bad mouth both series. Instead they will turn their attention to a true girl on girl rivalry between Danica and Kathryn. And with the confusion between the 2 series gone, new sponsors should be available.