MOTORSPORTS

INDY"S CHAMP
Open-wheel racing ends its Hatfield-McCoy feud to save itself.
By Ryan McGee

After 12 years, nearly 400 races and a few million lost fans, the warring factions of American open-wheel racing finally merge this season when the Indy Racing League absorbs the remnants of the Champ Car World Series. But what exactly do we have here? "The people who claim they watch only one or the other have no excuse not to watch us," says IRL founder Tony George, the "winner" of the dispute. "This won't fix all the problems, but at least we're back together." Confused by open-wheel's latest turn? Here's a primer on the all-new 2008 IndyCar Series.

STUDS The IRL already had the bigger names—Helio, Marco, Danica—but the stinging losses of champs Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish to NASCAR are offset partially by the addition of Newman/Haas/Lanigan's two young stars, Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson, as well as 2003 CCWS champ and legendary bad boy Paul Tracy. Quips Tony Kanaan, who drives for Andretti Green Racing: "Michael Andretti might come out of retirement just to have another crack at Paul."

SLEDS Champ Car's turbocharged Ford package is out, replaced by the IRL's Honda-built, normally aspirated engine and slightly taller but smaller cars (right). To ease the transition for the expected six to eight CCWS refugees, George has offered free cars, engines and $1.2 million in startup money, moves not exactly well-received by some longtime IRL loyalists. "We won," says original IRL team owner A.J. Foyt. "So why do the people who treated us like s— all these years get free cars and money?"

SKEDS The most difficult twist of the merger talks is combining schedules that were built on different philosophies (CCWS: global road and street courses; IRL: American ovals) and overlapped nine times. Again George won, dropping all but three Champ Car events: Edmonton, Australia and Long Beach (right), though the California race will feature just former CCWS teams, while the IRL regulars are in Montegi, Japan. The schedule is expected to expand in 2009 with a few of the ditched North American venues.

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TICKETS TO RIDE
Ryan Newman avoided some costly mistakes to win the Daytona 500, unlike these four racers, who had faster cars but weren't so careful. Their errors cost them a shot at winning—and earned them moving violations from The Mag.
By Hampton Sides

KYLE BUSCH: Tailgaiting
Despite having the best car, Busch couldn't reach teammate and race leader Tony Stewart until late on the final lap, when Busch wound up on the wrong end of a weak draft. Subject remained unusually calm, saying afterward: "You take 'em when you can. That's why it's called racing"

TONY STEWART: Changing Lanes
After Mile 499 of the 500-mile chase, subject was overtaken by two blue Dodge Chargers. "I don't know if I could have stopped them even if I had changed lanes again," says Stewart, who dove inside and in front of teammate Kyle Busch on the bell lap. "Most likely we would have ended up like a lot of other guys: wrecked"

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Failure to Yield
Subject, who goes by alias "Junior" employed a risky strategy of staying out during pits. But an 11th-hour communication breakdown with chief Tony Eury Jr. resulted in a crucial pit's being missed, leaving Earnhardt on worn tires—and plain worn out from Speedweeks: "I'm taking some days off to chill out."

JEFF BURTON: Driving in Median
Leading with three to go, subject veered his Chevy left to block a Toyota. But the driver of the Toyota, Kyle Busch, dropped even lower, stranding Burton in the middle with nowhere to go but backward. "At the end of the day, you are judged only by the result," he says. "And I didn't get it done."

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