Bro in law to The Garage, Scott Simmons received a pretty sweet B-Day gift from my Sis this year. Tickets to the Indy 500! This shot was taken halfway through lap one.

Keep the shots coming dude!

It is finally official, the IRL & CCWS are one. The way it should have always been. Sour grapes of the past aside though, as Karl Kalkhoven said: “Now is not the time to look back”

Greg MacPherson from Inside Track live blogged the press conference yesterday and has some great insight.

Full length (really long) press release after the break
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Ever since North America’s open wheel racing series was torn apart by Tony George and his American only plan, I, like many fans have dreamed of the day the two series would quit struggling and get back together. At its peak, CART offered some of the best racing in the world. What followed would be years of lackluster racing, sponsorship woes and odd business practices. Little did I dream that when the marriage between the two series, our Toronto race would be a victim of the battle.
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Ever since Tony George ripped open wheel racing in North America apart, there have been annual rumors that a reunification between Champ Car and the IRL was in the works. Every time, it has turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking.

SpeedTV is reporting that the powers that be may have an announcement as soon as tomorrow or Thursday. It would indeed be wonderful to see the Indy Racing League and Champ Car become one again. Let’s hope this all isn’t just another pipe dream.

My main concern falls in the last 2 paragraphs of the speed article:
The fast, challenging airport circuit at Edmonton, which drew a legitimate 175,000-200,000 people during its first three years, will likely find a place on the IRL schedule as well. And Surfer’s Paradise, Australia was also being heavily considered.

It would bring the combined schedule to 19 races for 2008 and George is likely to consider other Champ Car circuits like Toronto or Mexico City for 2009.

Where would this leave the 2008 Toronto Grand Prix, which is generally considered the favorite event on the Champ Car schedule?

Actors and racing. Names like Paul Newman, James Garner, Steve McQueen have been associated with racing. Today’s racing heart throb is Frankie Muniz. Back in the late Nineties and early part of this century, it was Jason Priestly. All of the guys mentioned have raced seriously on one level or another. For Priestly however, his racing career was cut short by a crash in practice that left him with long standing issues that have prevented him from getting back in the car.

Once the racing bug bites, it has a way of not letting go of some of us. Priestly has been so afflicted. It has been announced that the Canadian racer and friend Jim Freudenberg, former GM of Kelley Racing have teamed up to form the Rubicon Racing Team. A veteran driver will be announced shortly to pilot for the team at one event only, the Indy 500. The car will be built by Indianapolis-based Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

Priestly is looking forward to getting back into the racing scene and spending time with some old friends. Gene Simmons could not have planned a better feel good story for the Memorial Day classic.