Face It, Tony's Won

The death of mutli-facet open wheel racing in the United States is just about here. Now that Tony George has put in a competing bid for some of the assets of the late CART series. Some of this makes sense from an IRL business stand point - purchasing the CART contract for the Grand Prix of Long Beach, for instance. It's sponsored by IRL engine supplier Toyota and is the second most successful open wheel race in the country, behind the Indy 500.

But why, Tony, the bid on CART's leased engines? The 2.65 litre turbo Cosworth powerplants are radically different from the IRL's normally aspirated 4.0 litre motors. It's not as if he's bidding on a backup in case of a massive string of engine failures. The only reason I can see is that without their engines, CART's successor OWRS will have no choice but to cancel the 2004 season and fold. Game set match Tony George. He is now in a place to throw his considerable funds around to kill off his competition.

For some other perspectives on this, Speed has Tony George's statement online as well as commentary from Robin Miller.