Apparently Roger Penske has met with both sides and is supposed to meet with Tony George today with an initial proposal for a re-unification of CART and the IRL.

The details are not clear but I believe it will call for 10 ovals and 10 road courses and use IRL engines. There would be an eight body committee formed with four people from each side.

These are just the basics and I don't have a source. They were talking about it the last couple of nights on WindTunnel.

 

My guess is Penske sees the writing on the wall for the Retirement League and is trying to get Tony George to see the light. The Indy 499 was a DISASTER this year, they didn't even have a bump day ! The Hulman family has had it with Tonys spending to prop up a series with no fans other than the 499. They may have an ultimatum from Honda and Toyota to get it done or else, gee isn't it good to see who's really running the show at IRL !! Exactly what Tony said was the reason for starting the IRL in the first place - Owners and big engine manufacturers calling the shots, sound familiar !!

Meanwhile, they expected to put Champ Car out of business this off season and that didn't happen. As a matter of fact, it's the opposite. Champ Car has 3 owners, 2 are billionaires and don't need mommys $$ to survive. They have a 3 year business plan that's already ahead of schedule, and every race so far this season has had better attendance than last year. One other thing, none of their teams are dependent on tobacco sponsorship for survival like Marlboro/Penske which will be legislated out in 2 years. Champ Car are the ones satisfied with their results so far, other than t.v. ratings which IS a huge issue.

It's funny how this whole thing has come full circle, Tony now has the league run by the big teams and engine manufacturers and NEEDS Champ Car to merge in order to save his butt. My guess is his ego will keep this from getting done. Good riddance to them