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 Rather than a merger, the proposed deal, which could be announced as soon as Friday, would see some teams from the Champ Car World Series blended into the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series, with immediate gains in car count and races.
"It is still not done, but still moving," IRL spokesman Fred Nation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
"The lawyers are still lawyering and we are still trading drafts and whittling away at the issues. We're optimistic the issues can be resolved."
Meanwhile, Champ Car spokesman David Higdon said series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven, a key person in the negotiations was still in England on family business and would not return to the U.S. until sometime late Thursday.
Since the IRL began competing with what was then the established CART series in 1996, the two have gone head to head for drivers, teams, fans, sponsors and TV ratings, generally losing out on all counts.
Things have only gotten worse for both sides in the face of the current U.S. economic woes.
Before the proposed agreement, Champ Car was set to begin its season April 20 at Long Beach, Calif., with no more than 17 cars, while the IndyCar Series was in danger of starting its season March 29 at Homestead, Fla., with as few as 16.
With the deal apparently nearing completion, it appeared Wednesday that between six and 10 cars from the Champ Car side would take the offer from IRL founder and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George of a free Honda engine lease program, free Dallara chassis and $1.2 million in team incentives.
Several Champ Car teams are not expected to take George's offer because, even with the engines, cars and incentives, it would take an additional $2 million or more to compete in the IRL. The teams that don't have the sponsorship or backing to continue will either close down or move to sports car racing, which is less costly.
Obviously, those who would take the deal see it as a winning proposition.
"I believe it would be a stronger series again with a lot of solid events," said Eric Bachelart, a former open-wheel driver and now owner of Conquest Racing in the Champ Car series.
"What the IRL has is a good package, with the Indianapolis 500 and some other things that will help attract sponsors. There will be lots of cars, lots of teams. A good show."
Like everyone else involved, though, Bachelart was waiting anxiously to hear a confirmation that the deal is done.
"I'm ready to move any time soon and enter two cars in the IRL," Bachelart said. "I believe this is the best option to go that way. And, with Champ Car, it has lost a lot of credibility at this point."
CART went into bankruptcy in January 2004 and was bought by Kalkhoven, Gerald Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi, all team owners in what is now Champ Car. They have since added Dan Pettit, another team owner, as a partner.
Led by Kalkhoven and Forsythe, Champ Car decided to go away from the traditional open-wheel ovals and focus its efforts on city street races, hoping the carnival atmosphere surrounding these events would assure success, and on racing outside the United States, away from the IRL.
It worked, to a point. Champ Car's most successful events are the street, airport or road races in Long Beach, Edmonton, Toronto, Australia and Mexico City. And most of the races outside the United States, including several events in Europe, did make money.
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Overall, the series made little impact in America, its home base.
Danica Patrick, one of the few big name drivers left in either open-wheel series, said Wednesday a unification is long overdue.
"It has been disappointing for a lot of people," said Patrick, who drives for the IRL's Andretti Green Racing. "I think it has distracted and taken away a lot of good sponsors that were discouraged by the split. I hope this is a new birth of sponsorship and interest."
The IRL's equipment is considerably different than Champ Car's, although the cars look virtually the same. The biggest difference is that the IndyCars are powered by normally aspirated Honda engines, while Champ Cars have turbocharged Cosworth engines.
The agreement will mean Champ Car will abandon the Panoz DP-01 cars that were raced for the first time in 2007. The cars were designed and build specifically for Champ Car.
"It will probably be tougher for the drivers and teams coming over from the other series just because they are going to be walking into our series," Patrick said.
The impending deal is expected to include Long Beach, Edmonton and Australia in 2008, with negotiations for several other current Champ Car events to be added to the IRL schedule in 2009, likely including Toronto and Mexico City.
George's initial concept for the IRL was to concentrate on taking open-wheel racing back to its roots on oval tracks. Eventually, eventually began adding the better-attended road and street circuits to the schedule.
The unification and addition of the three races would give the IRL a solid 19 race schedule for 2008. Nation said the organization would then take "a clean sheet of paper" in building its 2009 schedule.
Other Champ Car teams expected to make the move include series powerhouse Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, which has won four straight series championships, Kalkhoven, Pettit and former CART champion Jimmy Vasser's PKV team, Forsythe Championship Racing, Derrick Walker Racing and Dale Coyne Racing. Several others could also take the deal, but have remained mum on their intentions.
[Associated Press; By MIKE HARRIS]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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