Chip Carter's Newsroom

You probably didn't even notice the news today that the Indy Racing League merged with the Champ Car series.....this will help the St. Pete Grand Prix....

Its a huge move for any driver that wants to have a history in open wheel racing.....

Twelve years ago, the two sides started fighting...NASCAR then took over motorsports, now some of the top open wheel drivers from the IRL and Champ series are now racing in NASCAR.......

I think that is what finally got the merger going....they were watching more and more open wheel drivers leave Indy racing, in racing, the drivers are the pull...its not the teams, not the owners, its the driver behind the wheel...if the IRL and Champ kept losing drivers, the series would eventually just dry up and blow away...

The merger means that one of the biggest races now on the schedule is the St. Pete Grand Prix....the merger won't be done for this race, but next year...the St. Pete Grand Prix, will have more big name drivers, more teams, which means more publicity, more coverage....which will pull in more racing fans....

Simply put this was a move the IRL had to make...or risk losing more drivers, turning the IRL into a series that despite a deep history in motor racing, could have become history....