In The Fast Lane: Back to future for open-wheel

"BETTER LATE THAN never" is open-wheel racing's new mantra, and even if there is an unmistakable bit of "OK, now what?" maybe it's time to embrace this week's unification of America's two major open-wheel series -- Indy Racing League and Champ Car -- and look ahead with something other than cynicism.

It's time to talk of the potential for Indy car racing, the brand of sexy machines, high speed and danger that made us embrace and celebrate drivers like Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Al Unser and Bobby Rahal.

As the formal announcement was made this week, fans were asked to look forward and not dwell on the recent past and the fracture that has cost Indy car racing its stature, its stars and its corporate support.

But the past is exactly what makes people hopeful about the future -- remembering the sport's glory days, when Formula One champs like Jackie Stewart and Nigel Mansell came to America to test themselves in Indy cars, when the Indy 500 was the race on Memorial Day weekend, when its winner carried the same marketing weight as any of NASCAR's best.

Twelve years ago, Tony George was vilified for fracturing open-wheel racing and tarnishing the reputation of the Indianapolis 500 while establishing his version of a new Indy car world order.

This week the IRL founder and chairman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is being hailed for bringing the sport back together.

Makes you wonder what the past decade would have been like if the former CART board of directors had just acquiesced to George's ideas in the mid-1990s, presumably preventing him from taking his toys and playing in his own sandbox (the Indianapolis Motor Speedway).

All indications are the new IndyCar Series will look a whole lot like the old CART series, Champ Car's predecessor -- a mix of ovals, road courses and street circuits with competitors named Andretti, Vasser, Tracy and Rahal driving for teams named Penske, Ganassi, Walker and Newman-Haas.

Only now everyone is playing by George's rules.

The reality is something had to be done, and George and Kevin Kalkhoven, Champ Car's co-owner, deserve credit for recognizing the urgency of the situation. Open-wheel racing needed to be saved from itself.

And it's never too late to make amends -- even if open-wheel's champions and aspiring champions have darted off to the NASCAR ranks.

"From five years from now, I do feel we're going to see the same way it used to be in the past, those kids will be looking to go into the open-wheel series," two-time Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves said.

In other words, it may stop the trend of youngsters starting out in sprint cars and midgets hoping to switch to stock cars and race in the Daytona 500. Instead they'll use that open-wheel background to race Indy cars in the Indy 500.

Carl Skerlong, 19, of Mukilteo competes in the developmental Champ Car Atlantic Championship, considered a prime feeder to a seat in the Champ Car ranks. As a practical matter, the merger is a mixed bag for up-and-coming talents like Skerlong. It helps the credibility and sustainability of open-wheel racing, but it also means fewer jobs at the top.

"The merger needed to happen," Skerlong said. "It kind of came at a weird point in my career. I had planned to run for the Atlantic championship this year and run for a seat in Champ Car the next.

"Obviously, it's a little harder, but when one door closes another opens. If the merger does do what everyone expects it to do for the sport, it will make people my age want to get there (IRL)."

And in the short term, the sport is going to showcase some of the best racing in the world -- potentially more diverse than NASCAR, which has essentially become a show dominated by one or two teams.

Imagine the excitement of watching Paul Tracy go wheel-to-wheel with Danica Patrick, Castroneves against Justin Wilson and third-generation drivers Graham Rahal against Marco Andretti. The car counts will even make qualifying interesting again. When's the last time an Indy car driver had to worry about making a race?

The 2008 season is the sacrificial lamb while the kinks are worked out to merge the two series. And the Pacific Northwest is left to hope those kinks will eventually include a stop at Portland International Raceway. This summer PIR would have celebrated its 25th anniversary as host to an Indy car race under the banners of CART and Champ Car. Instead it is on the outside looking in.

Only two events on Champ Car's current schedule -- in Edmonton and in Australia -- are expected to be added to the Indy Racing League's slate for 2008. The famous stop in Long Beach, Calif., is a shoo-in to join the schedule in 2009.

Instead of sour grapes about losing his historic race this July, Portland promoter Mike Nealy applauded the merger as a boon for the sport.

"All we can do is look positively for 2009 and beyond," Nealy said. "The key is to focus on the future."

And for the first time in a long while, the future looks bright for open-wheel.