Now that the Champ Car World Series-Indy Racing League unification is official, attention turns to IRL founder and merger mogul Tony George who made it all happen. There’s wide wonderment as to what the cost of this effort to undo 12 years of divided loyalties has been for him. George, whose family owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, isn’t saying, so followers of the sport are guessing, with $30 million being the most-often heard number. But George’s work is not over, as one of his new tasks is to get American businesses and the American racing public collectively reinvigorated with — and enthused about — Indy car racing and the Indy Racing League. It’s nice to see that Coca-Cola couldn’t wait to sign on.  

This long-awaited move, which stamps California’s upcoming Long Beach street race as the finale for the Champ Car World Series, could create a pool of unemployed race folk. The shutting down of CCWS headquarters could mean many lost jobs and an untold number of team personnel could go as well, as the Champ Car gentry gets its new cars and help, courtesy of Tony George. The first move was the dropping of its principal racing effort by Forsythe Racing, which put driver Paul Tracy and his crew on the unemployment line. Forsythe, however, will continue as an entrant in Formula Atlantic. 

This winter’s frigid weather has become a public relations bonanza for Ohio’s Mansfield Motorsports Park. The weather made headlines when MMP furnished its Jet Dryers to the company reconstructing the Martin Luther King Bridge over the Maumee River near Toledo. This reconstruction job, plagued with delays over five years, got further behind when eight inches of snow melted and then froze over work areas on the bridge. That’s when MMP’s General Manager Bill Conn stepped in and furnished the track’s jet dryer to melt the ice allowing work to continue. MMP track officials are now prepping for the Mid-Ohio Heart Walk May 10 and the Ohio 250 Craftsman Truck Series race on May 24th.

A unique new way to speed up driver A.J. Allmendinger is being tried by his Red Bull Toyota team. Former Craftsman Truck series champion Mike Skinner replaced Allmendinger, who has had trouble performing well in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, in the Red Bull team No. 84 Camry for Sunday’s Atlanta race. This, says the Red Bull team manager, should help Allmendinger’s future performance in the No. 84. Someone please tell me how. Skinner, who finished 27th at Atlanta, is becoming known as the series’ leading substitute, having replaced Daytona 500 DNQ Jacques Villeneuve in the recent California race.

Tony Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, was asked about his designs on the Indy 500, open-wheel racing’s most prestigious race. Stewart, who started on the pole position for the Indy classic a few years back, said if he was to win the Daytona 500, it would make it more tempting for him to go back to Indy and try the Indy 500 one more time. Team owner Roger Penske, with 14 Indy 500 triumphs to his car-owning credit, said he would be happy to provide an Indy 500 car for Stewart to drive should he decide to try. Only two drivers, A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti, have won both of these famed 500s.

A recent study of NASCAR’s fan base reveals 40 percent of that base is now female!

The Eastern Museum of Motor Racing in York Springs, Pa., some 20-odd miles south of Harrisburg, reopens for the season on March 29th after a winter of Thursday-night work parties. The EMMR is on the Latimore Valley Fairgrounds and is an ever-growing institution that emphasizes open-wheel racing. It may get some competition from this country’s newest auto museum — the racing-flavored America on Wheels — in Allentown, Pa. — which has announced April 7 as its opening date. Allentown stands out in racing history as the site of one of the first — if not THE first — midget-vs. big car race, which was held in the 1940s at the Allentown fairgrounds half-mile dirt track.

The 10th annual Old Timers Reunion of Columbus Speedway, on the grounds of the Bartholomew County 4H Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ind., comes at 10 a.m. March 22. Particulars from Jerry Castor (812) 592-5010.

Cody Williams, a high-school senior and son of California sprint car superstar Rip Williams, has begun his racing career, wheeling a sprint car at California’s Perris Auto Speedway. Because Cody is only 18 years old, management has cut admission price to $5 for all those showing ID reflecting age in the teens to lure fellow teenagers to the track.  

Members of the Northern New Jersey Region and South Jersey Regions of the SCCA have combined in announcing The New Jersey Road Racing Series. An overall champion will be crowned based on events at Millville’s new Thunderbolt Raceway at N.J. Motorsports Park — scheduled to open Aug. 29-30 with a Grand Am event — and at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway. Driving Impressions will sponsor this new series. Details from www.NJRRS.com.

Saturday night’s 17th annual banquet of the Garden State Vintage Stock Car Club came off very well. The gathering of about 100 was at Branches, an ideal facility in West Long Branch, N.J., which served a dinner that put to shame the fare New York’s Waldorf-Astoria serves the NASCAR gentry at its big annual night there. Organization by President Ray Shea was thorough and efficient. Knowledgeable Earl Krause was emcee as honors went to drivers Butch Colosimo and Billy Osmun, to car owner Sonny Dornberger, and this writer for the media. Harold Rulon accepted the Jim Delaney Award, Ron Buck, Sr. received a Lifetime Achievement Award, and the late photographer Bill McGinley, earned the Pioneer Award. Notable was the busy presence of photographer Ace Lane whose picture-taking total must have exceeded 500. The dinner site, Branches, was ideal from every perspective, size, capability, quality and location. Here’s a loud round of applause for the GSVSCC.

Charity work. Last summer NSSN intern Nic Moncher took it upon himself to collect donations for CARA Charities during our Grass Roots Tour. As well, he had a helmet and other memorabilia autographed by multiple drivers. The items were put up for auction on gomotorbids.com, resulting in $3,464.81, which was passed on to CARA.