Sorry if this belongs in Press Box, but I figured it's relevant to the car world. Even if it was destined to happen eventually, I'm surprised it happened so soon especially given how much some fans of each hate each other.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=1&id=3253353

Officials from the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series struck a preliminary agreement Tuesday to fold elements of the Champ Car World Series into the IRL IndyCar Series.

An official announcement is expected Thursday. SPEEDtv.com first reported the agreement Tuesday afternoon.

The merger comes on the heels of almost two weeks of painstaking negotiations between the racing entities. Last week, after the sides were believed to be close to announcing a merger, Champ Car issued a statement claiming the talks had stalled.

At that time, sources at Champ Car and the IRL familiar with the negotiations revealed that the chief hang-up centered around the IndyCar Series race scheduled for April 19 at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. The preference of the merged series is to honor Champ Car's contract to run the 34th annual Long Beach Grand Prix that weekend.

Its about damm time :thumbup: I just hope all the under the table politics can be worked out.

It had to happen. Ever since the breakup of USAC, the two series split the US open-wheel racing market with a somewhat similar formula for the speedways, while USAC retained the dirt tracks and bull rings largely of the midwest. That's what happens when very large egos and a lot of money take over a rather sleepy little franchise. If you remember, very similar things were going on in NASCAR in the '60's and '70's and Bill France was taking the heat.

I hope all the bad blood that was shed in the original breakup is gone now, and the newly-merged body will move on with strength and confidence. Again, here's another case of the fans being the winners.

The dissolution of USAC produced a recollection of an old African proverb that remains true. "When elephants battle, the grass suffers." We wish the new organization the best of good fortune.

About freakin' time! :thumbup: