INDIANAPOLIS — There are still many hurdles that have to be cleared for the Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League Indy Car Series (see separate story) to come together and form a single open-wheel series.
For this to happen, Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven believes the media needs to stay out of the negotiations.
“If people really want to see unification, the best thing to do is to leave it alone,” he said. “It frustrates me because the parties are operating in good faith, and external influences prevent the transaction from taking place.
“You cannot do a business transaction in the public eye,” Kalkhoven added. “When you do a normal business merger, the principals agree to the transaction, then you make an announcement, and then you take it to the stakeholders for comment. When there is a leak like this, everyone and their opinions get involved and it becomes a complete stalemate. This has happened several times before; it’s not helping the process.”
Despite issuing a statement Friday that the negotiations were at a standstill, Kalkhoven expressed optimism to NSSN that the 13-year battle for American open-wheel supremacy may be close to an end.
“We’ve been working on this for some time and everything was going pretty well behind the scenes,” Kalkhoven said. “There is no such thing as the right time; there is only the time of opportunity, which you have to take when it comes.”