For the greater good, I understand the compromise, but GOOD GRIEF!!! It’s really like kissing your sister!

If the only hiccup for an unified series is for the IRL to race in Japan and the CC to race in Long Beach for this one time only, then so be it.

I’d just like to comment on how entertaining this article was to read. Specially the 1st three paragraphs. I had to read that out loud to some co-workers here at the office and it was hilarious. As to the issue, ChampCar’s funeral is long overdue. Get rid of Kalkoven and get Kevorkian.

Why do they have to run the old cars?  Seems if they have to be separate they could at least use the same equipment.

Fisha695 - 21 February 2008 01:46 PM

Hmm the weekend of April 18-20 is a Cup off week, could we see some deals being brokered to try and get some of the former open-wheelers back into the cars again for a one off race (JV, JPM, Robby, Smoke in the Long Beach race, and maybe the rest of them in Japan racing on the Oval) to try and make sure this deal works (ratings/attendance wise)

Even though I doubt that would ever happen, the idea is intriguing. It would in a way be a nice farewell to Champ Car/CART and a great way to end the series.

I agree that a unification needs to happen and that it would be for the best for both series however I sad that Champ Car will no longer exist. I don’t know if I can support the unification.  I have been a loyal fan for over 15 year.  Champ Car stood for so much and now there is going to be nothing left.  It’s a sad day.

Why can’t Honda as a company be the one to step up to the plate? They own Motegi, and oh, by the way, they supply ALL the engines to the IRL, and being that in a very short time, they will have a couple more seriously high profile teams coming into “their” series, they should just swallow hard and scuttle the race in Japan this year, and put a combined series on the grid in LB.

Going forward with a clean sheet of paper, they should have a good mix of ovals, street courses, and permanent road courses, here and abroad, and call it what it is: The IndyCar World Series with the Indy 500 as it’s crown jewel.

Yes, sadly, we’ll all have to forget terms like IRL and CCWS and CART, and (hopefully) get open wheel back to some semblance of what it once was.

But, that’s just my opinion.... it could happen though..

Running IRL races with the Dallara-Hondas, then switching back to the Cosworth-Panoz for one final race, and then switching back to the Dallara-Honda makes no sense at all.  Either the ex-Champ car teams will have enough Dallaras to run the season or they won’t.  If they don’t, this entire merger thing is going to be the final fiasco that puts both series into the toilet and finishes off any credibility open wheel racing might ever hope to get back in the US.  If they do have enough cars, why nopt run the Dallaras at Long Beach.  The biggest question that I have is “Why do all of the cars have to run Hondas?” There was a time when Indianapolis acrtually stood for something in racing.  It has now degenerated into a “spec” series.  There was a time when Chevy, Ford, Honda, Toyota, & Ilmor Mercedes all competed with each other at Indy and the rest of the IRL tracks.  Honda “said” they wanted competition when Toyota, Chevy, et all pulled out leaving Honda as the sole engine supplier.  Wouldn’t the transition be smoother if the Panoz Chassis and the Cosworth was modified to be at least somewhat competitive with Dallara, and then run them against each other.  Certainly the Champ Car is much faster than the IRL car if they are allowed to use the nos, but it would seem that the use of nos could be eliminated and if the Cosworth is still more powerful than the Honda, have it detuned to match Honda.  Are these cars really so far apart that they can’t be made to run against each other on a competitive basis?

Why cannot the CCWS teams use the CCWS equipment for 2008?  What is wrong with that?  If the Cosworth’s make too much power, then limit the boost.

This is point is so silly to me!  We USED to have multiple chassis and engines so why can’t IRL do that for 2008?

Same thing for the Atlantics competing in the IPS for 2008.

I have not heard anyone discuss why this can’t be done!

This would eliminate the cost of equipment change to the CCWS teams and not require TG to pay for cars for all the CCWS teams.  Further, the CCWS would be able to use their Panoz/Cosworth engineering knowledge to run the cars for 2008. 

More successful CCWS teams CAN buy Dallara/Honda packages for racing aand learn them through the 2008 season but they should not HAVE to buy the Dallara/Honda package!

I don’t know if anyone else noticed but the articles talks in reference to the “Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.” Obviously though F1 is not racing at Suzuka this year but instead are going back to Fuji Speedway as they did last year.