IndyCar and Champ Car series close to uniting

IndyCar's appeal and attendance have steadily declined since its bitter split with CART (now Champ Car) in 1996. Gavin Lawrence/Getty Images

By Bruce Martin, SI.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A deal to put the rival IndyCar Series and Champ Car Series into one unified body is as close as it's ever been since the war in open wheel racing began 13 years ago.

Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven of Champ Car are close to reaching an agreement with Indy Racing League founder Tony George to join forces, but the one hurdle that needs to be cleared is getting officials at Twin-Ring Motegi in Japan to move that race date from April to later in the season so that the Long Beach Grand Prix can be added to the IndyCar schedule.

This story was first reported by SpeedTV.com and PA-SportsTicker on Thursday night.

Reached by PA-SportsTicker on Thursday, IndyCar vice president of public relations John Griffin remained hopeful that a resolution could be reached.

"Meetings have and will continue to be ongoing but there are no set dates for a formal announcement," Griffin said from Indianapolis. "There's still some work to be done."

George and Robert Clarke, a retired Honda racing executive, will meet with Honda officials in Japan on Monday to personally negotiate the move in the Japan race date, which is vital because that facility is owned by Honda, the sole engine supplier of IndyCar.

"It's as close as it's ever been to being together, but we don't know if we can get across the goal line," George told Robin Miller of SpeedTV.com on Thursday evening. "But no one is giving up yet."

Under terms of the agreement, any Champ Car team that agrees to compete on the full IndyCar schedule will get free Dallara chassis and Honda engines to assist in the transition from Champ Car, which uses a completely different engine/car formula. They would also qualify for the TEAMS incentive program, which pays $1.2 million per car for full-time series participation in place of prize money.

In addition to adding the Long Beach Grand Prix to the schedule, IndyCar is expected to add two more races off the Champ Car schedule, including Edmonton and Surfer's Paradise Australia.

Champ Car would cease to exist and IndyCar would run the series.

Such a deal was greeted as tremendous news by Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, who promotes the second biggest race on the IndyCar schedule after the one at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Reports that open-wheel racing is close to unification is the best thing to happen to the sport since Rick Mears, Mario Andretti, Al Unser Jr. and Danny Sullivan were battling each other in front of huge crowds 20 years ago," Gossage said. "I hope this deal can be wrapped up and we can all focus on stabilizing the schedule, teams and sponsors, and ramp up the promotion.

"This has the potential to be the biggest, most important motorsports story of the year because it is so important to the fans," he added. "From a promoter's perspective, it will provide our fans with a larger field, which could lead to even more exciting races and drama, an opportunity for future stars to emerge for the fans to root for and embrace, and, most importantly, reunite all open-wheel fans and give them one series to follow."

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