THE LINE #434

February 27, 2008 

 The IRL. Details of the unified Indy Racing League series emerged at a press conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway today. “Our whole racing community is excited and energized about unification and everybody is working hard toward the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway March 29,” said Tony George, CEO and founder of the Indy Racing League. “I’m thrilled we now have a unified open wheel racing series that will feature great drivers, a diversity of world-class venues and numerous top-notch teams,” said Kevin Kalkhoven, co-owner of the Champ Car World Series and PKV Racing team. “I applaud Tony George for his commitment to the sport, and join him in now focusing solely on the future of open wheel racing in North America. I’m eager for our team to race this season, and certainly will do all that I can to help advance our sport in the short- and long-term.” IndyCar Series officials expect several teams from Champ Car to join the series this season, some as early as the first race, while others should join by the time practice starts for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 4. Race venues from the Champ Car Series will be added to the IRL schedule in 2008. Discussions are proceeding to add events in Edmonton, Canada, and Surfers Paradise, Australia, to the current 16 race schedule. The historic Grand Prix of Long Beach Champ Car race finale will be run the same weekend as the already scheduled IRL race in Motegi, Japan. Champ Car will operate the Long Beach race, and Champ Car teams will compete. IndyCar Series points and prize money will be awarded for both races to teams that are participating in the IndyCar Series. Beginning in 2009, the Grand Prix of Long Beach will be part of the IRL schedule. As the 2009 schedule is prepared, the IndyCar Series intends to review all recent Champ Car and current IndyCar Series races, as well as other opportunities to produce the most viable schedule of short ovals, super speedways, street courses and road courses that will be of interest to fans, promoters, sponsors and racers. The IRL will use Dallara chassis and Honda engines in the 2008 season, and George thanked representatives of each company for their help in unifying the sport. “I want to especially thank Al Speyer of Bridgestone-Firestone and Robert Clarke and Erik Berkman of Honda Performance Development for their overwhelming support of this initiative to unify our sport. Finally, it is due to the efforts of Kevin and Gerald Forsythe that we are able to stand together today looking forward to the growth of the sport that we all love,”  George said.

UNIFICATION ELEMENTS

Champ Car teams committing to the IndyCar Series and demonstrating the ability to fund operating budgets will be provided:

* One-year Honda basic engine lease
* Two Dallara chassis from a pool of new and used cars to the extent of the pool available for up to two seasons
* $1.2 million per car from the IndyCar TEAM program
* IndyCar Series officials have developed an assistance program that assigned an IndyCar Series team to work directly with a Champ Car World Series team (i.e., Rahal Letterman Racing will work with Newman/Haas/Lanigan.)

OTHER DETAILS

* IndyCar Series officials began preliminary discussions with ESPN/ABC regarding the expanded 2008 IndyCar Series schedule.
* In the agreement in principle, the IndyCar Series will purchase various non-tangible assets such as intellectual property and historical records from Champ Car. In addition, the IndyCar Series will purchase the Champ Car Medical transporter.

Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford. Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing No. 99 Dish Network Ford) blew by Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet) and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) with 13 laps to go win the rain-delayed Auto Club 500 last Monday at the Auto Club Speedway (formerly known as the California Speedway). It was Edwards' eighth Sprint Cup win.

(Autostock) 

(Mark Weber/SCCA)
Woodhouse Performance will return to the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship with driver Jeff Courtney in the No. 99 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe. “Jeff was a great addition to the team last year with his patient driving style and strong pushes in the fourth quarter of every race. He keeps us in contention and we are convinced the best is yet to come with Jeff,” said team owner Bob Woodhouse. “We are looking to announce Jeff’s teammate in the No. 13 Viper very soon,” added Woodhouse. Courtney was new to SPEED GT in 2007, but his seventh place points finish came on the heels of his 2006 SPEED Touring Car Rookie of the Year title. SPEED GT will get its first standing start of the year March 14-16 at Sebring International Raceway, with Round Two scheduled for the Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 18-20. 

NASCAR. Don't be surprised if the France family has to go shopping for a new title sponsor for their Sprint Cup series, and sooner rather than later. Sprint's prospects are more dire than anyone first imagined, with the company reporting a $29.45 billion quarterly loss on Thursday (2/28/08) due to a huge impairment charge and forecast that subscriber losses will deepen in the first quarter, pushing its shares down 10 percent, according to Reuters. The No. 3 U.S. mobile service also announced that it would stop paying dividends for the "foreseeable future," and Chief Executive Dan Hesse said it would take many quarters to accomplish a turnaround and rebuild Sprint's wireless brand. Sprint's business has basically been in free-fall, and it is now forecasting that it will lose 1.2 million customers who pay monthly bills in the first quarter, compared with 683,000 such losses in the fourth quarter. While most people in the industry knew that Sprint was in trouble, Reuters reported that Stanford Group analyst Michael Nelson said the subscriber outlook was "considerably worse than even most of the bearish estimates out there." "It takes hard work and time to regain a reputation," Hesse, who replaced Gary Forsee as CEO in December, told analysts on a conference call. "To be frank, the issues we face are more difficult than what I expected to find." It sounds like the France family better start shopping for a new title sponsor for their Cup series immediately. 

(Unitech Racing Inc., Drissi Motorsports)
Unitech Racing, Inc. and Drissi Motorsports will campaign a full season of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship in 2008 with Tomy Drissi piloting the No. 15 Chevrolet Corvette. 20th Century Fox, one of many long-time studio sponsors of Drissi Motorsports, will once again support Drissi for a number of races this year, with an upcoming movie release featured on the car at each race (“Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who,” opening March 14, will be prominently featured on the No. 15 Corvette at Sebring). Drissi, of Hollywood, Calif., has joined forces with Unitech Racing, of Rosamond, Calif., to run a Chevrolet Corvette with CRD Engines. The pairing of Drissi Motorsports and Unitech Racing reunites Drissi with the team he had great success with in 2000, earning him his first professional win in the SCCA Trans-Am Series at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Drissi was the 1999 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year and won the BBS Most Improved Driver Award the following year. Unitech Racing also earned Crew of the Year Award in 2000. Drissi is a veteran of 77 Trans-Am starts with 38 top 10s, 15 top fives and nine podiums, including a pole and win at Long Beach.