This is sure to send Dave Henrie into a rage to match that of Howard Dean
at the Iowa caucus:
From http://www.racesimcentral.net/:
Indy Racing League team owner and Champ Car legend Michael Andretti has
said that the continued existence of Champ Car will not be a good thing
for open-wheel racing in America. The comments come as rumours intensify
that the IRL wants to purchase the former assets of CART.
"My hope is that Champ Car goes away and we become one series," said the
boss of Andretti Green Racing, which begins its second season in the Indy
Racing League next month.
"If open-wheel racing is going to start going where we want it to go,
that's what's going to have to happen. If Champ Car continues on, it's
just going to drag all of open-wheel racing down. It would be a shame for
that to happen."
"The damage has been done," Andretti continued. "Let's not worry about
what happened. Let's worry about fixing it. I'm sick of talking about
whose fault this was and whose fault that was. Who cares? Let's just fix
it. It doesn't matter. Let's fix it."
IRL president Tony George has until Friday to submit a bid on CART's
assets. The Champ Car sanctioning body has filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy to protect itself from creditors. Three Champ Car team owners
- Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe - have formed Open
Wheel Racing Series and also are bidding for CART's assets.
"I'm hoping that things are going on that we don't know about," said
Andretti. "Obviously it's going to come to a head quickly. I think Tony
would like to see one series. He knows it. I'm sure he's going to do
everything he can to try to make it happen.
Andretti's driver Tony Kanaan agreed with his team boss, also voicing
enthusiasm for the IRL's mooted idea of going road racing.
"We should fix things first," said Kanaan. "The biggest problem we have
right now is that the two series are divided. We can go road racing any
time. I'm ready. We came from that. I can't wait to do it again, but I
would rather see something get done first to unify open-wheel racing."
--
Ped Xing
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"A good racing driver doesn't really look like he's going that fast; but
in fact it's a clean, smooth, progressive performance that supplies the
real speed."
-Sir Jackie Stewart