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(2-23-08) Ever since Robin Miller
posed his
"Is
Open-Wheel Peace Finally at Hand"
question February 7th at
http://www.speedtv.com/ fans of both sides of split between
the two warring sanctioning bodies that control American Indy
type racing have been on a rollercoaster ride of hope, desire,
denial, euphoria, desperation and confusion. Immediately after
the piece was published there were claims "that leaks in the
media had interfered with negotiations and all but scuttled the
deal." Shortly after that I received two unsolicited, unexpected
and supposedly unrelated assurances via E-mail, "that the deal
had been in the works for quite some time and was all but
impossible to derail." Shortly after that, IRL founder Tony
George clarified his position regarding "free Dallara's to CCWS
teams," saying there were other conditions and requirements to
the offer, involving a two-year commitment to run every event of
the IRL IndyCar series (2008-2009), and also the purchase of
another used Dallara backup car per entry.
Supposedly, one of the big
stumbling blocks to an agreement was the date conflict
between the IndyCar event at Motegi, Japan and the CCWS weekend
at Long Beach, CA. Shortly after that Tony George, Honda's
Robert Clarke and several ICS officials flew to Japan to confer
with Honda officials, ostensibly to secure a date change for the
2008 Motegi race and clear the way for the Long Beach Grand Prix
to become an added event on the 2008 IndyCar schedule. Since
then there has been no official statement regarding Honda's
position on that, but no shortages of rumors that I'll refrain
from commenting on at this time.
On February 19, Miller was back
with a follow-up article on the same site, claiming
"Champ
Car/IndyCar Deal Done."
On Thursday of this week in
Indianapolis Tony George of the ICS met with Kevin Kalkhoven,
a co-owner of The CCWS along with Gerald Forsythe, for close
to six hours, and before Kalkhoven departed for California, he
signed an agreement in principle that will unify the two
series under the IndyCar banner. The following day George flew
to Chicago to meet with Forsythe, at that meeting Forsythe
also signed the agreement that will unify major American
open-wheel racing for 2008, ending the painful discord between
George's IRL Series and CART, the long time predecessor of the
CCWS, CART was forced into bankruptcy in 2004.
CCWS teams that intend to enter
IndyCar events will run ICS Dallara's with Honda power, and
several have indicated willingness to run as many as two entries
in IndyCar this season. It also appears that perhaps four other
CCWS teams are ready to either disband or switch to another
series and form of racing.
The IndyCar series will conduct
an open test at Homestead Miami Speedway Wednesday and Thursday
of this week, supposedly at that time there will be a press
conference where we will learn more about the agreement. One
thing we are sure to learn is how many CCWS teams have been able
to secure Dallara Honda's and prepare them for the test. Most
CCWS drivers have little or no oval track experience, or have
been away for them for a couple of seasons. That said, there is
still plenty of time and provisions in place for off-season
testing before the ICS returns to HMS for the season opener on
March 29th.
At the moment it is unclear just how many events from the CCWS
schedule will be included in the ICS schedule this year, Long
Beach for sure, plus perhaps also Edmonton, and Surfers Paradise
in Australia. Mexico City had been mentioned recently, but may
have fallen out of favor recently. It also appears that there
may have to be some sort of convoluted arrangement whereby there
will be ICS points paying races at both Motegi and Long Beach on
the April 19th weekend, with ICS drivers running their equipment
at Motegi and CCWS drivers running their DP01 cars with Cosworth
power at Long Beach. That would be uncomfortable and
unfortunate, lets hope they can find a better solution to the
last conflict in a deal most of us have been waiting for far too
long. If not, so be it, lets get 'er done and get past it. I
only hope the people involved with the Long Beach race and the
fans that have supported that event (I've attended two) for more
than 20 years, will be equally understanding and charitable.
While a brief click on
THE
CCWS website revealed no mention of the agreement and a
business-as-usual appearance, the IndyCar Series site headlines
a
"Done Deal!
I'm out of the loop out here in
Wendover, NV, reading forums and clicking on hyperlinks trying
to learn as much as possible about what is going on, here are
two links to articles from THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR Auto
Race beat writers
Steve Ballard and
Curt Cavin, who are much closer to the situation and far
better informed than I am.
I would also like to commend
Robin Miller for his efforts on behalf of all of us that are
fans of Indy racing. While in the past Robin has been more of a
part of the problem rather than the solution, clearly he has
stepped up to make this happen, and I'm told played and
important behind-the-scenes roll in bringing the two sides
together in this agreement. |
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(10-2-2007) This morning at IMS the IndyCar
Series presented the long rumored and anxiously awaited details
of a revenue sharing plan designed to help existing teams and
also attract additional entries and one-off participation in the
Indy 500.
Here are all the details...
On the
surface it appears to be a great concept. "The Leaders Circle
Program will continue, that plan helps full-season entries with
a tire allocation and other incentives as well. Apparently the
purse structure will remain the same, with additional bonuses of
35,000 for first place, $25,000 for second, $20,000 for third,
$15,000 for fourth and $10,000 for fifth place at each race
outside of the 92nd Indianapolis 500. The IndyCar
Series champion will continue to receive a $1 million bonus, as
in past seasons, with second through fifth place receiving
bonuses of $250,000, $175,000, $125,000 and $75,000. There are
also rumors of two related sponsorship announcements on Oct. 31
in Las Vegas (The SEMA Show date), and January 1st. |
