Montoya: It’s too late for merger

Former Champ Car and Indy 500 champion Juan Montoya, talks about the rumors of Champ Car and the IRL getting back together and says he doesn't see how it is going to make a big difference. Of course AutoRacing1.com readers know that we have said for years that the split killed open wheel racing in the USA, and that is pretty much the case. The two sides are going to have to come up with some pretty big ideas for the merged series in order to even make a blip on the NASCAR radar screen.

HOW BIG WOULD IT BE FOR BOTH OPEN-WHEEL SERIES TO UNIFY? “I don’t know. Is it too late? Don’t know, don’t care. I raced there many years ago, but when I raced they were split and it was good at the time."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ONE SERIES? “Yes and no. Yes because it’s good for the general sport and maybe for teams to find sponsors for that series. People in America are a lot more interested in NASCAR than they are with open-wheel. Is it going to bring open-wheel back to greatness in America? I really doubt it. I really, really doubt it. All the good teams right now are in IndyCar, apart from Newman/Haas, so is it going to change that much? It’s just they are going to go to places that they were not going. They are going to go to Australia. They are going to go to, I don’t know, Japan. They are going to go to a few places that the traditional open-wheel fan goes to. You know a guy that goes to Long Beach, whether his car is an Indy car is still going to go there."