IRL, CART merger nixed for now

Monday, Sept. 27, 1999 | 10:55 a.m.

Reunification talks between open-wheel racing rivals the Indy Racing League and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) have hit the wall, according to IRL founder Tony George.

George said that the IRL will continue to move forward under its current rules and regulations that are in effect through the 2004 season, effectively quashing any hope that the two series will reunite.

"When we started having discussions last spring, we kind of agreed that there was a very short window of opportunity to do something, certainly for 2001," George said while attending the IRL Vegas.com 500 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"We agreed that September 1 was kind of a drop-dead date and it obviously came and went and I think, a lot of the (IRL) teams were wanting to know what the future was for the IRL so they could make their plans."

George said although the two series will continue "to communicate as open-wheel racing organizations," he held out little hope for a merger with CART in the immediate future.

"We have got a lot of opportunities before us today that are very good opportunities," George said, "and we need to leverage those and not worry about a lot of conjecture or what-if type of scenarios because, to be honest, everything that has to be worked through to result in a merger is going to take a lot of time. There are a lot of issues (keeping the two series apart) and in some instances there is absolutely no good way of doing it."

CART chairman and CEO Andrew Craig issued a statement in response to George's comments that read, in part: "CART initiated contact with Tony George and with representatives of the IRL last March and has led the process since then in an attempt to unify the sport for the benefit of the fans.

"We regard this as time well-spent."

George said there were too many "philosophical" differences between the two series to resolve.

"My preference is to pursue the potential of the Indy Racing League as opposed trying to work through a lot of issues that may never end up being resolved in a satisfactory way," George said. "It has got to be a good deal for both sides for it to happen; compromise for the sake of compromise is not something I'm interested in.

"We know where we're going ... it's not clear to me CART knows where they're going. Maybe they'll get around to coming to terms with that and we'll see where it ends up."

One of the biggest hurdles that the IRL and CART had to clear in order to effect a merger was the differences in the engines the two series use. The IRL runs normally aspirated engines while CART uses turbocharged engines.

Although it appears as if the IRL and CART won't merge into one series in the near future, there are signs that many of the top CART teams will compete in the Indianapolis 500 next year.

CART has been excluded from Indy -- the IRL's cornerstone event -- since the two series split in 1996. But CART is expected to release its 2000 schedule soon and it is said to have an open date on Memorial Day weekend, when the Indy 500 is run, allowing CART owners who wish to purchase IRL cars the opportunity to attempt to qualify for the 500.

George, president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said he is happy with the progress the 4-year-old IRL is making and sees no reason to cater to CART's wishes.

"We're not the ones the feel an urgency to get back together," George said. "They're the ones who need Indy."