The Montegi vs. Long Beach disagreement has been solved, with the Montegi race rumoured to be moving to October, and obviously something close to a complete agreement reached, enough for owners in the series to believe they're headed for a single series.
A clutch of the big teams from Champ Car appear to have agreed to move over, with the only major exception being Minardi USA, which obviously increases the field and competition for the new season.
However, I'm still a bit worried. It still looks like a bunch of the road courses will be lost - Laguna Seca, Cleveland Airport, the two (admittedly awful) Champ Car races in Europe last year. This is one area where the Indycar Series seems to have the huge advantage. Champ Car races on a lot of the well known street circuits - Long Beach, Toronto, Surfers' Paradise - while these may be incorporated into the new calendar they may be lost. And I'd rather see these tracks, all very different put in, even if it comes at the expense of some of the oval tracks the IRL currently use. If some of these tracks are dropped long term, am I the only one who can see Kentucky vs. NASCAR style law suits on the horizon.
Also we're probably looking at a bunch of drivers out of work. Most of the CCWS drivers are road course specialists - Justin Wilson, Robert Doorboos, Will Power, to my mind only Paul Tracy has oval experience. With these guys getting them into a series which is mainly run on ovals, is like trying to put a square peg in a round (or oval) hole. My fear is that what looks like a good idea on paper may cause teams to drop out through lack of drivers/results/sponsorhship, or the quality of the field to drop by engaging unknown drivers simply for their oval know-how.
Even if they do run in the same series there will still be two very distinct groups or teams and drivers, and this division may take years to disappear, and while it still exists the future of open-wheel racing is still in the balance.
I'm hoping this isn't what I fear, which is a speedy merger for it's own sake, where not everything has been sorted out, and the problems are more than likely to tear the two apart again.
... will be very interesting to see which tracks are retained. I agree with your sentiments - and would very much like to see some of the road courses brought into the IndyCar series.
We do NOT need for open-wheel racing in the states to attempt to mimic the wildly successful NASCAR Cup series. They will lose that battle. They need to define what makes open-wheeled racing it's own, exciting style of racing and pursue that. And it's NOT artificially close races.
IMO, it's speed & innovation. The latter costs a lot of money, but it would give them an edge on their competition again. The former they already have in ####s (IndyCar vs. NASCAR is like the hare and the tortoise - simply no comparison - it's even more apparent live than on T.V.).
I like this news. The only IRL races I watch are the ovals. Nice close, dicey racing. But, I wouldn't mind the merged series running half ovals, half road courses.
Lori...funny, girl. Maybe Ken Schrader and John Andretti will get a ride now.
Last edited by countryjag on February 19th at 12:09 PM.
kl - The race at Infineon is probably safe, but the 'as was' CCWS race at San Jose is more doubtful. The intended Indy Series calendar seems to be intact, with selcted CCWS events added to it. However, we won't know for sure until a calendar for the combined season is released.
moseby - I too would like to keep those tracks, among others, but it seems inevitable that so will be lost. As for the chassis, looks like the Dallara/Honda combo the Indy Series uses
I would think this merger has the flexibility to give NASCAR a run for their money. Considering both IRL and Champ run so fewer races, I would think they would not need to cut back any tracks to speak of. Just expand the number of races to cover all the tracks retaining ovals and raod courses.
Last edited by photogr on February 19th at 1:50 PM.
1. NO - do not stretch the season out to 9+ months. That is absolutely ridiculous (of NASCAR). Even hardcore fans will burn out after another season or two of non-stop "racing".
2. Add one more word to the "b l e e p" list: "s p a d e" (as in, Bill Belichick is loaded with charm and class, he has charisma in s p a d e s).
jbroomy, this is exciting. However, I have to agree with Dave/Soccer ref on all of his points. Dave, have you been "bad" again or are you not in Indy anymore?
Photo/Soccer ref - the pre-merger Indycar calendar was 16 races, which they're saying may increase to 19, with Long Beach, Edmonton and Surfer's Paradise being added.
I reckon about 20 races is the maximum, but I'd still like more road courses than this would mean, especially in place of the cookie-cutter ovals (Texas, Chicagoland)
While it seems to be a done deal for 2008, I'm not too sure how many of the CCWS teams will actually merge with the current IRL ones, especially since as it's been stated, the IRL is mostly ovals this year.
Perhaps if everyone can get through the difficulties of a hastily rearranged season, there will be time to get a nice mix and balance of tracks for the 2009 season to add more diversity to the current IRL schedule.
I hope "other than indy" this will cure the 18 car field and have close to 30 a race. That would be a good start to get some fans back. Since the split and the 15-18 car field its like watching races at a local track. Only we have more in the feature...I think there will be some bumps in the road, but in time this will make it a race worth going to see...
I always want to write something witty here, but my wit is always confused with something worse ------------- ------------- ----NASCAR and Auto Racing in general mostly here, but I get distracted by shiny sporting objects as well and give them an airing too---------- ------------- -----Pastimes include rooting for the underdog and trying to fathom why Golf is considered a sport-------- ------------- ---
Send Lawyers, Guns and Money.
