IRL-Champ Car Merger, Finally?

The Star's Curt Cavin suggests a merger between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car series may be in the works. In an e-mail to the Star, [Tony] George warned that there are still no guarantees to ending the sport’s 13-year-old split.“Nothing is going to happen quickly, if at all,” he said. Since open wheel racing split 13 years ago, it has been completely eclipsed in popularity by the NASCAR series. Even if the two sides unite, it will be hard for open wheel racing to catch up with the stock car series, but at least it's a start. As an interesting side note, key players in this long-running dispute have a link to my home town of Marshall, Illinois. One of the three owners of the Champ Car series is Gerry Forsythe, who is from Marshall where he owns half the town. One of my brothers used to work for Gerry and another brother is related to him by marriage. Tony George's wife, Laura Livvix George, is from Marshall as well. She graduated two years ahead of me in high school. You would have thought Forsythe and George would have been able to work out their differences many years ago given their small town connection, but there is apparently more to their differences than meets the eye.