IndyCar and ChampCar soon to merge?

The co-owner of the four-time Champcar champion team with Sébastien Bourdais, Carl Haas, has been very threatening towards the Champcar series. He indeed wishes to see a merger between Champcar and Indy car (two very similar American disciplines) and threatens to join the IRL in 2009 if this does not happen.

Haas is the co-owner of the Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing team with Paul Newman and Mike Lanigan. He admitted to Speed newspaper that it hasn’t happened yet but we’re seriously considering it!

« We could migrate as early as this year, but it’s much more likely that we’ll do it in 2009 because it’s vital; there must be only one series! »

The American is among the activists for the unification of the Champcar and Indycar championships. For more than 13 years, various attempts have been made to merge Indy with Champ or vice versa since their separation.

With only Paul Tracy, Graham Rahal, and Oriol Servia confirmed so far in the 2008 Champcar, the head of the Indy Championship—Tony George—has reportedly made an enticing offer to the directors of the Champcar teams.

Jimmy Vasser – co-owner of PKV Racing and 1996 champion admits his eagerness to see the two series reunited again: « We have to do something significant with Tony George. »

On his side, Eric Bachelart, the boss of Conquest Racing, believes that too many issues are still on the agenda to consider a merger: « The problem I see is that the IRL and Tony [George] would like to control all American disciplines, and that is really hard to accept for many people in Champcar! »