Miller on merger attempt

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Oh John you're so melodramatic. I'm being very rational and always have been. Why not find the middle ground so peace can be found?

The irl has failed. It's had 12 years and it's on it's knees. Indy used to be a great event that took up the month of may. There is no innovation, few drivers of interest with many leaving for nascar left and right, pole day and bump day are DEAD like a ghost town, sponsors are drying up left and right, Homestead and Watkins Glen are about to get the boot, Honda might be out the door etc, TV rating suck, etc.

It had it's chance and has failed big time.

ChampCar is worse off than the IRL. It may be a shadow of what it once was, but Indy still attracts more quality entries/TV and press coverage/attendance than the whole ChampCar schedule put together. Series-funded cars and paydrivers make up part of the IRL grid, but almost all the ChampCar grid. ChampCar has gradually lost almost everything it had since 1996, the IRL has had several growth periods. The people who were important in US open-wheel racing in 1996-1999 are all over the place (NASCAR and F1 have sucked up a few, while guys like Patrick have retired), but the highest number are in IRL. What does ChampCar have that IRL doesn't have, or that is worth $100m plus up to 18 free cars?