Kalkhoven Proposed Champ Car Foray at Indy
Written by: Robin Miller Indianapolis, Ind. - 4/23/2007

Kalkhoven: "I told Tony that if he gives us free Honda engines, we'd
buy the chassis and bring four or five drivers to Indianapolis."

Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George aren't discussing unification but
there was an idea floated about getting together for next month's 91st
Indianapolis 500.

Kalkhoven, who co-owns Champ Car with Gerald Forsythe, says he made a
proposal to the Indy Racing League founder, while George maintains it
never got that far.

"I told Tony that if he gives us free Honda engines, we'd buy the
chassis and bring four or five drivers to Indianapolis," related
Kalkhoven, whose series has no races during May. "I never heard back
from him, so I guess it's too late now.

"But I was serious."

George said it was more of a suggestion than an offer.

"On or about February 10th, I spoke with Kevin on the phone when he
suggested that perhaps he could exercise some flexibility with China
to free up the month of May," said George. "He offered, hypothetically
and potentially, that it might be interesting to run 6-8 of the CC
teams and drivers in the 500, which of course it would be, and stir
some rivalries such as; Sam and Sebastian; Danica and Katherine; Marco
and Graham, etc.

George: "The reality is that there are too many moving parts to make
that happen."

"He then pointed out that they had no engines, chassis, or sponsors to
help make that happen and we would have to figure that out. He made no
specific suggestion or offer, but the inference was the 500 would be
the beneficiary of that scenario, therefore, I should be left to
ponder. Which I did, but the reality is that there are too many moving
parts to make that happen."

Asked if he would consider competing at this year's Indianapolis 500
during Champ Car's seven weeks off, Forsythe replied: "Sure, if Tony
George gives us the engines, chassis and Penske's setup sheets."

Several Champ Car drivers said they would like to run Indy, but only
with a chance to be competitive.

"Sure, I'd like to do it again but only under the right
circumstances," said three-time CC champ Sebastien Bourdais, who
competed with his then Newman/Haas teammate Bruno Junquiera in 2004
and 2005. "I mean, those IRL teams have had those cars for three or
four years now and they've gained a lot since we were last there.

"You're not gong to be able to just get a car and engine and think you
can compete with Penske, Ganassi and Andretti's team. Without testing
and the proper setup, we'd get our ass kicked."

Junqueira, who captured the Indy pole in 2002 and has always run well
there, was also interested.

"I like that race very much and I'd like to win it some day but I
don't want to do it unless we've got a chance to be competitive," said
Junky, who suffered serious injuries in 2005 at Indy. "That takes
testing and we wouldn't have time this year."

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/36896/

"Lenny" <haysooce (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Wrong yet again you tedious, johnny come lately,
anonymous, nym shifting, pusillanimous, nincompoop.
As with their desperate desire to merge, he told the
chumps that they could put it where the sun don't shine.
news:3JgXh.53412$NK5.45149 (AT) newsfe23 (DOT) lga

.. wrote:

what is there possible to gain by excluding ANYONE from the race, except
for if one of them were to win the race, again, I suppose they could
just throw a yellow and hand it to one of their drivers, again...


opening day, 12 days and counting, has been reduced to rookie
orientation the first two days from where it used to be held the week
before the track opened, I long for the old days that ALL the teams
couldn't wait for the track to open and we had 1000 miles logged in the
first couple hours...Dick Simon getting all five of his cars in line so
he could be first on the track, something he took great pride in, hell
half the teams now don't even bring a car out until the second week for
fear of crashing or breaking something because they don't have the
resources and have to be careful so they insure themselves getting in
the show, knowing they're pretty much guaranteed a spot as long as they
make it through the month unscathed......


pole day, 18 days and counting, used to draw 100-150 thousand plus fans
has been downgraded to "positioning day" because for the last decade
they don't even know if they are going to be able to fill the field
until the final qualification day and more than likely TG has funded
those field fillers, 33 is just a number, hafuckingha, he can't stand
the prospect of what the media and public backlash would be if there
wasn't a full 33 car field...


bump weekend, what a joke, it's just two more days of practice anymore
and even then if someone does attempt they wait until the last possible
hour...there hasn't been any bump day anticipation since Tony and AJ
thought it would be a funny joke or if they really were trying to just
stir up some excitement....


race day, 33 days and counting, hmmm, I like that number, I can't fathom
why TG would not accept the CC offers, barring the free engine thing,
the IRL package has been made very affordable, and their drivers are
good enough to get up to speed during the month, hell Danica did it, and
whether these talks are true or not, to have the competetion like the
article says, Sam vs. SB, Danica, vs. Legge, Marco vs. Graham, Tracy vs.
Helio (wink, wink), those prospective rivalries alone would stir up a
buzz like we haven't seen in a long time at 16th and Georgetown, it's
insane to not want that to happen, and don't get me started on changing
the start time to conflict even more with the NASCAR race so they could
get some of that talent back here for the race, Stewart, Mears, R.
Gordon, Montoya, even Kevin Harvick has said before that he would like
to give it a try.....the race day crowd still shows up and the place is
still packed, I have been in pretty much the same spot for twenty years
and I have to look long and hard to find any empty seats that everyone
says they see on TV during the race......


there is absolutely NO logical explanation to exclude anyone from the
greatest race in the world....


exclude is the wrong word, but TG hasn't done much of anything to entice
teams to participate and seems that he has done more to hinder it, he
should have and should do everything and anything he can to get the best
teams and drivers in the race and not seem to be protecting his
interests of the IRL, it might make sense to him and his, but to long
time fans and loyal and dedicated Indianapolis Motor Speedway fans in
particular, some of which in our group have been going since the 50's,
something stinks...and it hurts to see the month of May *drag* on
instead of *where did the month go already, can't wait until next year*
feeling we used to have (I still do up to a point, but it's not like it
used to be and it really could be and I guess is my point of this rant,
I've started going through and gathering my stuff to get ready for the
month but I'm not all giddy with anticipation like I used to get, hell
it may be an age thing too) ......and don't call me a chump, I'm a
motorsports fan, I enjoy all forms of racing and I'll watch an IRL race
any day before a CC one, but I want to see the best possible race at the
500, not that they're not all exciting in their own way, some of the
race in the last 10 years have been *some of* the best in my opinion,
but they could have been that much better with a few more of the other
series stars, and I want to see Penske go home if he can't get up to
speed, and I'm tired of being one of the handful of people there just
about every day during the month of May when it used to be packed EVERY
day, all month long, it does make the stroll through the garages and
pits a lot more pleasant though...

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:16:05 -0500, "." <. (AT) dot (DOT) com> wrote:

This much attention with no response on one poster makes you his pet.
How does it feel to be owned?

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Fred Nation" <fnat8743 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote



HILARIOUS!!! And I quote:

" > "Lenny" <haysooce (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
Yet another(?) anonymous, nym shifting,
pusillanimous nincompoop crawls out of his
hidey hole just long enough to scream for
mercy. Do continue your horrendous, yet
entertaining, self embarrassment, won't you.

.. wrote:
Looks like the dot's on the puppet strings. Dance, dance, dance little
dunce puppet.

"invisibrarian" <hiddenstaff (AT) deweydecimal (DOT) org> wrote

Coming from an anonymous, nym shifting,
pusillanimous, addlepated, mental defective
nincompoop like you, that risible assertion
carries such IMMENSE ersatz significance.

"Hump away, pissant, hump away!"
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...885b0cab59ad75

.. wrote:
Dance, dance, dance....

On Apr 24, 4:53 pm, "." <.... (AT) dot (DOT) com> wrote:
Apparently that new thesaurus never showed up, so it's back to the
good ol' Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V...

"Dave-E" <davegto67 (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

"Coming from an addlepated, mental defective like you,
that risible censure carries such IMMENSE significance."