Slim chance of IRL/Champ Car doubleheaders

Speedtv.com reports that Kevin Kalkhoven made in impromptu appearance at Infineon Raceway on Sunday morning to talk with Tony George about the possibility of staging doubleheaders in 2007.

"Mario (Andretti) invited me to come to talk with Tony but it wasn't about unification," said Kalkhoven, the co-owner of Champ Car who lives 30 minutes away outside of San Jose.

"We discussed the possibility of running a couple events together but I'm not real optimistic at this point."

Speedtv said that Indy Racing League founder George had no comment on the meeting, which also included Honda's Robert Clarke, who refused to talk about it.

[Editor's Note: We doubt this will happen. The Champ Car schedule is too full now with 16 or 17 races. Ditto for the IRL schedule. Noise is also an issue. The non-turbocharged Honda engine is far too loud for Champ Car's street circuits and the cars would need a muffler. We simply do not see this one happening, even though a merger is desperately needed by both sides they always find a way of not working together. Rumor has it that Tony George is beholden to the France family and they don't want a merger.]