Unification orrr.......

UPDATE: It seems kind of either ironic or just funny in overview that the key to American Open Wheel Racings merger lies in fixing a schedule change in Japan...

So as the week comes to an end, the merger talks in Indy Car land are going nutso, and to be honest, more nutso than ever.

I think the 2 reasons mostly being that people are sick and tired of the split AND because what Robin Miller has discovered has some real concrete to it; I mean he essentially forced all the other paid media outlets to do their job. Everything since Robin's report has a LOT of skepticism to it, but thats just being cautious from over the years. The most glaring thing for me so far today is how much Kevin Kalkhoven really needs to stay away from the press:

"It's a major hurdle but it's not the only one. There are significant advantages in merging but there are also significant advantages in not doing it. But at the moment there are no discussions until they move Motegi."

Please, anyone name one significant advantage to Kevin Kalkhoven or CHAMP Car of not unifying?

"Once again, as has happened previously in the past four years, somebody has leaked a story to the press, and the press has turned it into a tornado," "Now it has everyone running around in a circle. It's almost malicious, and it disappoints and infuriates me." "We were very close to a deal a couple of years ago and everything got leaked. Then instead of the key people working it out, everybody gets involved in the discussion. If people are trying to help unification, silence is the best thing."

Two BIG things here... welcome to the world Mr. Kalkhoven; have you ever seen umm... ANYTHING else in the world: look at NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA etc trades, Free Agency, new teams, pre-season the drafts; just look at the college football recruiting that just went on... they all seem to do perfectly fine under a fine amount of scrutiny. If you can't stand up to any of those things to make a decision you know is good and well, then you have no business running anything...

Now I don't think Kevin is a stupid person (yet); he's just a horrible public speaker and immature in taking shots at Robin Miller for doing his job.

Give credit to Robin where its due people, the man has a true source and while some people want to play his reports as false... I have yet to see anyone deny anything he's reported...

I honestly think Kalkhoven is just pissed it got announced before he got to announce it, and I think this is also a way of brushing people off so he can go back to working in silence... because to be honest, if they actually call this off because it was leaked, then he/they are by far the stupidest people on the planet.

The promising thing about it all is that it seems that Tony George and company are still on their way to Japan, and of course only time will tell what comes of it, and I doubt that Robin's source is on the trip (assuming its a source and not George himself) or that anything further will be leaked until an announcement of either a merger or a confirmation from the IRL that it is all gone.


on other issues concerning it: a lot of fans seem to be freaking out over 2 things: losing tracks and the disparity of competition and teams that will happen but the best thing that can be said was said by Paul Tracy:

“We’ll be at a disadvantage to the IRL teams the first year but such is life. Getting everybody back under one roof is what needs to happen.”

Maybe only 3 tracks get in the schedule for 2008, but that certainly doesn't translate for all the future, there will be tons of compromise, but people need to realize compromise is the only way this is going to work. Hopefully sometime next week I can report on some kind of good announcement, but until then we'll just have to focus on what little series-related team news exists...