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Champ Car & IRL agree to merger

Scotland’s Dario Franchitti left IndyCar for Nascar last October

The owners of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League (IRL) have reached agreement in principle to unify the two competitions for the 2008 season.The new body will keep the name Indy Racing League and the competition will still be known as the IndyCar Series.

The IRL, which has the Indianapolis 500, broke away from Champ Car in 1996 but both series are battling against dwindling sponsors and attendances.

Full details have yet to be announced but tests for 2008 begin on Wednesday.

“This is a great day for open-wheel racing, one I’ve looked forward to for a long time,” said 1986 Indy 500 winner and IRL race team co-owner Bobby Rahal.

“This is the first step to restorng open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 not only to where it was but beyond.”

IRL boss Tony George is expected to pay Champ Car teams who join the new series about $1.2m for chassis and engines that conform to IndyCar rules. About six teams are expected to sign up, with the rest folding.

Which races will be run in the combined series has yet to be confirmed, but it is expected that IndyCar will pick up one or two prime Champ Car events such as Australia and Long Beach, California.

George, owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, failed in a bid to take control of Champ Car in 1994.

Instead, he opted to pull the famed Indianapolis 500 out of the series to establish the breakaway IRL.

For eight years, the rivals battled, the IRL mainly on oval tracks and Champ Car, or Championship Auto Racing Teams (Cart) as it was then known, mostly on road circuits with more non-US events.

Cart went bankrupt in 2003 and emerged as Champ Car in 2004 to battle on for another four seasons.

The deal ends several near-miss merger attempts and could revitalise the IndyCar circuit as well as its showpiece race, the Indy 500. The 92nd Indy 500 is set for 25 May.