2006 Grand Prix

CEO bullish on area race

By BRANT JAMES
Published March 26, 2006

HOMESTEAD - Indy Racing League chief executive officer Tony George said Saturday that he thinks St. Petersburg would deserve a place on the schedule of a reunified open-wheel racing series, if his talks with Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven prove successful.

"You need warm-weather markets," he said. "There's some challenges with the preseason (baseball) and all that stuff to deal with, but every person I've talked to thinks that St. Pete is a great event that's worth being on the calendar."

George said he was impressed with the 1.8-mile course through downtown streets, watching on television when the city hosted a CART race in 2003.

"I thought it was one of the nicest temporary circuits I'd ever seen, and that was confirmed when I saw it in person last year," he said.

George acknowledged Friday that he and Kalkhoven have had informal, but increasingly serious, talks about mending an 11-year divide created when George formed the IRL and took with it racing's most storied event: the Indianapolis 500.

As George continued to express optimism, long-time owner Roger Penske was pessimistic, saying there was not enough "economic benefit" in meshing different engine programs, schedules and venues. Penske called the idea "all talk."

"I've sat back for the last three years trying to make it happen and it never has," Penske said. " "Mario Andretti , he went to the wall to try to get it together (last year). I did it the year before. What's changed?

"They were not interested to do anything unless they had control. They wanted Tony George out of the way and to me that is not realistic. He has the No.1 race today. You can call it anything you want, (but) the Indianapolis 500 is still the most prestigious race in the world."

George has not divulged details of his discussions to Penske, whose teams won eight championships in CART (now Champ Car). He said he understood Penske's reaction, however, after his attempt to mend the series.

"He met a lot of resistance, so I think he is basing that on first-hand experience, and he should," George said. "Maybe circumstances are different. Things can change, people change. Time will tell."

SWEEP: Apparently Team Penske is enjoying its new Honda engines. After two years of dealing with a horsepower shortfall with Toyota, teammates Sam Hornish and Helio Castroneves swept the front row for today's season-opening Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Both shattered Buddy Rice 's 2-year-old qualifying record of 217.388 mph. Hornish, a two-time pole-sitter and winner of three of five IRL races at Homestead, covered the 1.5 miles at 218.539 mph.

"We were trying to be a little bit conservative and make sure that we had a good race setup," Hornish said. "When it came time for qualifying, we put as little downforce as we could on it and went out there and tried to hold on to it."

Danica Patrick was third, followed by Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan .

Defending series and race champion Dan Wheldon qualified eighth. He won from the 11th spot last year.

[Last modified March 27, 2006, 13:24:25]