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18 Apr 2005, 00:03 (Ref:1280769) | #1 | ||
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Speed News: New Effort to Unify the Indy Racing League and Champ Car
~~~ Sorry, there is incredibly little news on this at the moment, so bare with me ~~~
This was just reported as 'breaking news' on the road-racing edition of Speed News. I'm waiting for it to come up on the Speed website. Robin Miller described the situation like this:
There will probably be more news on this on Windtunnel tonight, or on the Speed website. I hope this story holds some water. But realistically, I expect as this story develops, it will spring leaks like a sieve. |
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18 Apr 2005, 00:19 (Ref:1280775) | #2 | ||
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Obviously, this thread is more-than interesting.
We'll be keeping a close eye on it, especially as fans, but also as moderators because we simply won't allow any bashing of individuals or racing series. It comes as quite a surprise, though. I wouldn't be surprised if one or more manufacturers have something to do with this. Especially Bridgestone/Firestone, and perhaps even some of the promoters. I don't think that Tony George is doing this of his own freewill, (if in fact this is happening at all). But I tend to believe the source. Silly Season will NEVER end at this rate! |
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18 Apr 2005, 00:26 (Ref:1280783) | #3 | ||
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Ok, I guess it's that time of year again....Champcar has a sucessful event and proves to everyone it's not going anywhere and is on more solid ground than people think, and BAM, time for some unification rumours to appear....
If it's true, then I'm sorry, but with someone like Tony George you need to ask what his real motivation is.....NASCAR suddenly being cold towards him?? I think the Three Amigos should send Gentalozzi to talk with George, then TG will announce that he has a handshake from Pg to unify open wheel racing together, only to turn out a couple of months later PG has gotten out of it and gone with something else......two birds, one stone! Although seriously, if it's the IRL cars, or anything like them I'm out. Thank you and Goodnight, back to F1 where I came from..... |
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18 Apr 2005, 00:55 (Ref:1280795) | #4 | ||
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The infamous meeting in the Michigan airport hangar saw the "bigwigs" from ChampCar meeting with a representative of Tony George. This time, it's vice-versa.
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18 Apr 2005, 00:56 (Ref:1280797) | #5 | |||
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Reading the article posted on the SPEED website, things become clearer:
(and reading it took me past the edit time, sorry) SPEED Article on Unification Quote:
If he does that, basically all Champcar gets is the oppertunity to run Indy, in IRL cars most likely. IRL gets everything we have, and discards what they don't want. Fair? |
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18 Apr 2005, 00:58 (Ref:1280798) | #6 | ||
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You tell 'em, Kevin!
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18 Apr 2005, 01:00 (Ref:1280799) | #7 | ||
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But from the sounds of things if George wanted to run outside of America as well it'd be fine by them?
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18 Apr 2005, 01:02 (Ref:1280803) | #8 | ||
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Too many promoters, too many contracts...
Can't fit 'em all into one season as it stands right now. WindTunnel is beginning as I type, and this is to be a main topic of discussion. |
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18 Apr 2005, 01:22 (Ref:1280812) | #9 | ||
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WindTunnel...
Kendall is slamming Gentilozzi. Big-time. As a driver, not as an analyst. |
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18 Apr 2005, 01:25 (Ref:1280814) | #10 | |||
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Quote:
I don't know if he's the fall guy of the three, the one who deals with all the bad press, but every time I see his name attached to a statment I worry what he's running his mouth off about this time.... Thank goodness he's a minority stakeholder! And he's making the other two look good, I guess! |
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18 Apr 2005, 02:17 (Ref:1280826) | #11 | ||
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I posted this in the IRL forum by mistake so...
Mario has been pushing the common formula as a start to reconcilation. Obviously, the window of opportunity has arrived, with decisions for 2007 to be made soon. If it`s lost, I`m convinced their will be 2 series for years to come, and probably forever. (maybe a good thing if this is finally put to rest) Then again, how many fans that are left that still care? |
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18 Apr 2005, 02:42 (Ref:1280834) | #12 | ||
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It doesn't seem to me that even if TG wants to buy Champ Car and is rejected it will be the end of it.
Chevy is leaving the IRL after this season and everyone thinks that Toyota and Honda will be gone after 2006, so if Tony George doesn't make some attempt to cooperate with OWRS (I just mean as opposed to buying them out) it doesn't look too good for him as far as engines go. This news is shocking to me, and it will be interesting to see what comes of it. I honestly think that Champ Car will be fine if there is no reunification, which seems most likely. |
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18 Apr 2005, 03:57 (Ref:1280856) | #13 | |
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From reading the article I can't really see any new developments. MR. George is still as disrespectful as always as in "Here's a check, screw your teams, venues and fans". No respect shown at all. He just wants to off a competitor in the marketplace and as we found out last year(the infamous gulfstream meeting brokered by Penske), there is zero interest on his side in reunifying.
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18 Apr 2005, 04:00 (Ref:1280859) | #14 | ||
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Quote:
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18 Apr 2005, 04:21 (Ref:1280866) | #15 | ||
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Given the grumblings that Toyota and Honda are about to leave, George's attempt to buy CCWS is a desperate attempt to save his series. If I am CCWS, I wait it out and see what Honda and Toyota do.
If I read between the lines, George knows something is up and he is trying to buy the Ford contract. It's one thing to compete against the CCWS, but to run the Indy 500 without a known American engine manufacturer like a Chevy or a Ford - not to mention known foreign engines like Honda or Toyota is another matter altogether. Don't know about you guys, but I do not think that ABC/ESPN or big time sponsors are going to line up for an Indy 500 with Hyundai engines or even Zytec for that matter. The great american race open wheel race will always need an american manufacturer. I think, and I have had a couple of pints here in Denver ce soir, that unification is close. I see desperation from the IRL |
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18 Apr 2005, 05:26 (Ref:1280877) | #16 | |
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One series is the only way forward.
Otherwise both die and NASCAR pulls ever further ahead. |
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18 Apr 2005, 06:00 (Ref:1280888) | #17 | ||
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From what I have heard & read, tonight, Penske is behind all of this. You know what they say, when the music stops, Roger always has a chair. Kind of ironic, that the first to leave CART is the one trying to get CC & IRL back together.
Jeff |
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18 Apr 2005, 06:57 (Ref:1280919) | #18 | ||
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I think Mario Andretti has a pretty interesting take on this:
Quote:
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18 Apr 2005, 07:11 (Ref:1280925) | #19 | |
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Andretti's idea would muddy the waters even further.
We need a single series with a balanced schedule of oval and road racing. |
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18 Apr 2005, 07:45 (Ref:1280943) | #20 | ||
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K-B is right; there has to be one series.
Here are some questions that i have: 1. When is CC's contract with Ford expiring? 2. If Honda and Toyota leave after 2006, what are their plans afterwards - especially Honda because Toyota will more than likely focus on NASCAR after 06. |
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18 Apr 2005, 07:47 (Ref:1280946) | #21 | |
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CC's contract with Ford is a sponsorship deal - the engines are Cosworths - Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe own Cosworth.
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18 Apr 2005, 08:47 (Ref:1280977) | #22 | ||
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If i were CC i will turn my back on Tony George period.
OWRS does not need Tony George Die hard Champcar fans don't like Tony George. Trust me they don't. You would think Tony George has everthing going for him at the moment that would put him and his series on top of the world right now like engine and chassis manufactures, teams, indy, and TV exposure and still can't even turn a dime. But Behold, things seam to be slipping fast away from Tony and he can't do anything to stop it. So i question people in this forum, do we really need Tony George or could we do with out him?? |
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18 Apr 2005, 09:11 (Ref:1280993) | #23 | ||
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Quote:
Personally I think Mario's idea sounds excellent, as it would please both hardcore audiences as well as the "in-between ones" (like myself). |
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18 Apr 2005, 10:06 (Ref:1281048) | #24 | |
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I think GF and KK should play real nice and offer to supply Cosworth engines for 2006 when Tony is left pulling the engines out of his limos to put in the back of the Penske's...
Seriously though, the ownership of Cosworth could be important. Are the current CCWS Cosworth engines totally incompatible with the Dallara/Panoz chassis? Could a supply of Cosworth engines force the IRL to effectively adopt Champ Car specs? At worst everyone could happily run at Indy every year and Mario's 'conference' idea could become the first step towards a full unification. |
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18 Apr 2005, 10:42 (Ref:1281084) | #25 | ||
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The pendulum may jsut have swung back in ChampCar's favour, with them having a secure in-house engine supply and the IRL faced with losing its Honda/Toyota backing for 2007 or sooner. Even then, while the IRl has the biggest race in US racing, it can only be ignored at your peril. Years of lacklustre fields didn't stop the race being the biggest thing in the US, even as NASCAR rose and CART staged their rival Michigan 500. The success of the USGP might come down purely to its location - certainly the fact that it was on a proper road course rather than a street circuti was crucial. TV companies won't lose interest simply because the engines don't have big-name brands on.
A merger is the best thing for US OW racing, and I guess everyone will have to make sacrifices. The IRL might have to give up its chassis, outside-produced engines and an ocal-dominated schedule, while ChampCars would give up its overseas vision and most of its street races (in favur of the voals it lost to the IRL in the first place). |
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