IRL & Champ Car Deal Pending

INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Kevin Kalkhoven, the main principal of Champ Car Racing, left Indianapolis on Friday morning after meeting with IndyCar Series founder Tony George without completing a deal that would have brought both series together.

Kalkhoven and George met late Thursday night at a downtown restaurant and made what both sides called "significant progress." The two met again Friday morning but were unable to complete a deal that would essentially have Champ Car close its doors, allowing its teams to join IndyCar.

Time is becoming a major consideration for both sides. The IndyCar Series is set to have its first open practice of the season next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and some of the Champ Car teams expected to join the series were hoping to attend. But without a firm agreement between the two sides, the open-wheel war which began when the Indy Racing League began completion on January 27, 1996 wages on for at least another day.

The IndyCar Series had hoped to call a press conference for noon on Friday, but that plan was scuttled after Thursday night's meeting. Among the issues that could keep this from happening is the fact Champ Car is scheduled to compete in the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 20 while IndyCar will be on the other side of the Earth when it competes at Twin Ring Motegi on April 19. I

ndyCar must compete in that race because the track is owned by Honda, which supplies the engines to that series. Long Beach is one of the biggest races of the season for open-wheel racing, and that race must be held on that date because of contractual obligations with the city of Long Beach. But as snow continues to fall in Indianapolis, the grim reality of another day to open-wheel racing's "Cold War" continues to be evident.