IRL-Champ Car merger would solve problems, animosity

BY BRIAN GOMEZ

The Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - (KRT) - Four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rick Mears has discovered the perfect solution to the long-standing feud between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car.

"The solution is to just keep going forward, just keep doing what we're doing," said Mears, suggesting now is not the right time for a reunification.

If the answer was that simple, racing fans across the country probably would have stopped squabbling over the pair of open-wheel series a long time ago.

The open-wheel racing controversy started in 1995 after Tony George founded the IRL in hopes of minimizing costs for teams and generating exposure for American drivers that was virtually nonexistent in the Champ Car series.

George's family owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It seemed logical for George to set aside 25 spots for his drivers in the Indy 500.

Champ Car responded by boycotting the Indy500. After all, it had nearly all of the nation's premier open-wheel drivers.

Ten years later, Champ Car is struggling to recover from bankruptcy. The IRL hasn't reached the heights George envisioned. And NASCAR has put both series in its rearview mirror.

Mears, an adviser for Marlboro Team Penske, blames Champ Car officials for causing settlement talks to stall over the summer.

"The IRL has given and given and given," he said. "There are some things that are being wanted (by Champ Car) that absolutely will not and cannot happen."

An IRL-Champ Car merger would enable the IRL to hold a wider variety of events, such as the Long Beach Grand Prix, which is controlled by Champ Car majority owner Kevin Kalkhoven. It also would open the door for more international events, similar to the IRL race that's contested annually in Japan.

Perhaps more important, merging forces would offer the IRL and Champ Car a chance to win back the stars they've lost to NASCAR.

Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart got their starts in open-wheel racing, and have since grown famous in NASCAR. Their fans also have made the transition to NASCAR, leaving Danica Patrick, points leader Dan Wheldon and two-time Indy500 champ Helio Castroneves as some of the IRL's few marketing icons.

"You still have people who are not going to come out because of the split," said Buddy Rice, the 2004 Indy500 champion. "We have to keep building on the young base that we have right now. Open-wheel racing has been around for a long time, but the IRL has been around for only 10 years, so there's a lot to make happen."

Fueled by consistent coverage on ABC and ESPN, the IRL has experienced a 42percent increase in cable ratings this season. Champ Car has struggled to attract viewers, partly because more than half of its races can be seen only on the low-profile SPEED Channel. Neither series has come close to matching the publicity attained by NASCAR.

Like the IRL, Champ Car has tried to attract fans by promoting a female driver in Toyota Atlantic rookie Katherine Legge, who has posted three wins this season. But fans still flock to Patrick, whose popularity continues to soar despite her recent struggles on the track."It's only Danica, Danica," IRL driver Kosuke Matsuura said of the media's coverage. "Fans are interested to see how much difference there is between male drivers and female drivers."

New venues in Edmonton and San Jose make Kalkhoven believe that Champ Car can survive without merging with the IRL. Other drivers aren't quite as confident.

"It depends how deep their pockets are," Tomas Scheckter said. "From what I hear, they are pretty deep."

Said Tomas Enge: "There's no space for two series. There needs to be one series with more cars, more people and more sponsors, then we can both go up together and we can probably start to catch NASCAR."

Sam Hornish Jr. contends IRL and Champ Car must benefit from a reconciliation.

"It's going to have to be good for all parties. It can't just be good for one or the other," he said. "It's going to be a tough deal to get done. It's going to have to be the right thing at the right time. If it's done right, it could be the right thing for everybody."