Merger talk too little, too late

With power brokers from America's two major open-wheel racing series again talking reunification, the garage area at Daytona International Speedway responded with a resounding yawn. Lots of talk, no action. That's no surprise to Kyle Petty, who has watched NASCAR's popularity lap open-wheel racing since it split into two rival series in the mid-1990s.

“It's almost like watching things going in with diplomacy in foreign countries, where you think, 'OK, now we're going to have a break in this,' and you never have a break,'' Petty said. “It's getting to the point now where they've cried 'reunification' enough that no one really pays attention.'' Representatives from the Indy Racing League and Champ Car are taking another shot at reunifying the two series, which have been racing separately since 1996 and have been trying to reunite in recent years.

Both have steadily lost sponsorship and television ratings to NASCAR since the split. And now NASCAR is taking open-wheel's star drivers, including 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti and three-time IndyCar champion Sam Hornish Jr.

Patrick Carpentier, another former open-wheel racing standout trying to make the jump to NASCAR, says reunification is a good idea that's coming “a bit late'' for both series.

“Both of them are kind of dead right now, so hopefully they can bring it back together,'' Carpentier said. “But I'm happy about it. That's what they needed to do for a long time. They just wasted a lot of time, and ego got in the way and kind of destroyed it.''

Petty said losing drivers such as Franchitti, Hornish, Carpentier and Juan Pablo Montoya — who went to Formula One after racing open-wheel cars in the U.S., then came to NASCAR last year — hurts Champ Car and the IRL tremendously.

“Their position is still weak in the marketplace, and it gets weaker when you see guys like Montoya and Franchitti and Carpentier and those guys come here,'' Petty said.

Petty doesn't expect much out of this latest round of talks. And even if the two sides do get back together, Petty says they'll be starting from scratch.

“Now they've got to go head-to-head with (NASCAR), you've got to go head-to-head with drag racing, you've got to go head-to-head with a lot,'' Petty said. “It's like opening up a coffee shop next to Starbucks. I mean, how successful can you be?'' Yahoo! Sports