Roger agrees

Roger Penske agrees with AutoRacing1.com's latest article – i.e. he is pessimistic that a merger can happen in the near future, and Roger usually knows what is going on, and may be calling some shots.

"It [merger] just has to happen because the sum of the two parts are so much stronger than one alone," said Dario Franchitti, who was a CART driver from 1997-2002 and is in his fifth season with the IRL. "If and when we combine the two, and hopefully it's when, it will make open-wheel racing here so much stronger. It would put the strengths of the two together instead of comparing one to the other."

IRL and Champ Car have taken important steps toward unifying the two open-wheel series, but there are many issues to resolve. Roger Penske is pessimistic they can be settled soon.

"I think it's very difficult," said Penske. TSN.ca