Deal reaches finish line

Rahal: Merger years in making

Finally.

That was Bobby Rahal's first thought yesterday when he heard Champ Car and the Indy Racing League had signed an agreement to merge for the 2008 season.

A former driver and owner with the Championship Auto Racing Teams circuit, which later became Champ Car after CART's bankruptcy in 2004, Rahal now owns an IRL team, Rahal Letterman Racing, with talk show host David Letterman. During his days as a CART owner and board member, though, Rahal worked to bring about a unification. He thought he had helped both sides reach an accord, but it was to no avail.

"I think it was in 1999 and 2000, myself, Barry Green, Derrick Walker, and a couple of other members on the CART board, we came very, very close to having a done deal then," said Rahal when reached by telephone.

"Unfortunately, it just didn't come through. But you look back now and see how much damage was done."

Asked what had been the stumbling block back then, Rahal paused. "I can't even remember," he said. "The IRL teams were very upset by it, and it never went anywhere. We tried and everybody put forth a good effort. But finally it worked, and that's the most important thing. Now it's time to commit to it and to make it work."

IRL, the sanctioning body of the IndyCar Series and Indy Pro Series, and Champ Car finally came to their senses after watching their sport languish under two governing bodies.

Although they had engaged in informal talks before, Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven met Thursday in Indianapolis with IRL founder Tony George, who offered any Champ Car team that switched to IRL free Honda engine leases, free Dallara chassis, and the same $1.2 million incentive program available to IRL teams.

Yesterday, Kalkhoven met with Champ Car partner Gerald Forsythe in Chicago, where they signed off on an agreement that would allow teams to join the IRL and compete under different engine specifications: Champ Cars use turbocharged Cosworths, IRL normally aspirated Hondas.

Now, it appears, at least six Champ Car teams with up to 10 cars will make the switch in time for the IndyCar Series opener March 29 at Homestead, Fla., where a field of 26 is expected. The agreement will likely add three Champ Car venues - Long Beach, Calif.; Surfers Paradise in Australia; and Edmonton, Alberta - to the IRL's 16-race schedule.

There exists, however, one scheduling conflict: the IRL race in Motegi, Japan, and the Champ Car race at Long Beach. One IRL source suggested a one-time accommodation could be made to allow the series to split for that weekend.

"I'm glad that they were able to get it done," said four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt in a statement. "It'll eliminate the confusion for the race fans and the sponsors because there will be just one type of car and one type of motor and everyone will be running together."

When open-wheel racing operated as two series, however, NASCAR reaped the rewards and lapped the field. Its meteoric rise as one of the most popular - not to mention lucrative - motorsports contributed to the recent defection of IRL drivers such as Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti, both IndyCar Series champions as well as Indy 500 winners, to the stock car circuit.

"They're going there because of the money," Rahal said. "But let's see how the open-wheel guys go through the year. You're even seeing some companies withdrawing because it's gotten so expensive [in NASCAR]. Now, with the teams we'll have coming in, it'll make it more commercially viable, and the more commercially viable it is, the more money there is [for drivers]. I think this is going to do a lot in stopping that exodus of talent."

And while logistical problems remain, Rahal expressed confidence that it wouldn't be long before open-wheel racing restored its lost prestige and luster.

"It's going to be difficult for everybody, especially the Champ Car guys, to gear up at the last minute," Rahal said. "I'm sure, regrettably, they're not all going to make the switch. But now the field, the quality of it and the depth of it, has gone up exponentially.

"It's going to be kind of the way it was in CART. Now there will be renewed commercial interest among those companies that were sitting on the fence. We're all going to be at Indy now. There's going to be difficulties, the whole amalgamation of the two series, but the upside is so great it more than outweighs the short-term obstacles."

Blazing new trail

Rahal's 19-year-old son, Graham, a driver for the Newman-Haas-Lanigan Champ Car team, will be among those fresh faces the IRL will welcome, and no doubt stake its future on. When he makes his debut at Indianapolis in May, it won't be with his father's team.

"I'm not sure what to think about that," said Bobby Rahal, who won the Indy 500 as a driver in 1986 and as an owner with driver Buddy Rice in 2004. "I'm going to be cheering for my kid. Then again, he might be trying to beat us, so I'll certainly be torn. He's going to be with a great team.

"The guys coming over from Champ Car - Newman-Haas[-Lanigan], Forsythe, Walker - they're going to be at a disadvantage on the ovals. But now you can have the old battle between the Rahals and Andrettis," Rahal said, referring to his son and IRL's Marco Andretti.

Asked if he wanted to be the one to bring his son along at the fabled Brickyard, Rahal said, "For him, he's in the best place that he can be. People can't say, 'Oh, he's here because the old man owns the team.' For him and his credibility in the sport, being with Newman-Haas says a lot. It's like coming out of high school and playing for the New York Yankees." Correcting himself, Rahal added, "Or, in this case, the world champion Red Sox."

Return to NHMS?

A native of Windfall, Ind., Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, was excited to hear of the open-wheel unification. "I think it's good news," he said. "I appreciate the fact they got together. They had to do something and they had to do it quick. Now, it's not going to be fixed overnight, but at least they can work together." Asked if there was any chance open-wheel racing might return to NHMS, the site of Honda's first open-wheel triumph on American soil in 1995 with Andre Ribeiro, Gappens said, "I'm open, especially in 2009, to any new ideas on what would make for a great third weekend at our facility to go along with our two NASCAR dates. We've had them here before, but when they split, the numbers dropped off and the crowds waned. Obviously, they've put on some of the most exciting racing around, just looking at some of the races Eddie [Gossage] has had at Texas, so certainly it's something we'd definitely be open to." . . . Qualifying for tomorrow's Auto Club 500 NASCAR race was rained out yesterday, with the 43-car field determined by car owner points from last season. Thus, two-time reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon will start in the front row in Fontana, Calif. . . . One of the neatest things about last week's 50th Daytona 500 was the opportunity to catch up with those former winners who are no longer active. Marvin Panch, who at 81 is the oldest living winner, was asked how much he earned for his victory in 1961 in a year-old Pontiac that had been rotting away in the back of Smokey Yunick's famed garage in Daytona. "It paid $21,050," Panch said. "I had a 40 percent deal to drive for Smokey, and after the race, he said, 'Anybody good enough to win the race is worth 50 percent.' But I'm very jealous. They make money now." To wit: Ryan Newman pocketed a whopping $1,506,045 in first-place money, while Penske teammate Kurt Busch took home $1,063,870 for second. Kenny Wallace was paid $256,735 for his last-place finish, more than 10 times what Panch was paid for his victory.

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, sanctioning bodies, race teams, sponsors, and track publicity departments was used in this report.