Driver to quit IRL

UPDATE #6 Al Unser III has been confirmed today as driver in the No. 10 Brooks Associates Toyota Atlantic car as a teammate with Andreas Wirth for the rest of the year. Bospoker.net was confirmed as the sponsor. Bospoker.com (a related company) will also sponsor four Toyota Atlantic races, again as we originally reported weeks ago. Unser said he hopes this deal will be for several years. 06/13/05 Look for Al Unser III to be officially announced Tuesday. This story, broke by AutoRacing1.com weeks ago, is significant because 1) It brings the great Unser name back to Champ Car and 2) It prevents the renewal of the great Unser vs. Andretti battles for many years (Marco Andretti is in the IRL ladder series) and is another reason why the silly split between Champ Car and the IRL must end. Open Wheel/Indy Car Racing needs all the great 'rivalries' it can get and loss of this rivalry only dilutes open wheel racing and enables the France family to toast Tony George for continuing the split while they and their NASCAR series laugh all the way to the bank. 06/09/05 This Saturday at 11am @ the Hayden Island GI Joe’s and 3pm @ the new Johnson Creek GI Joe’s (82nd Ave) will feature an open Mechanics Forum put on by Toyota Atlantic owner John Brooks (Brooks Racing), engineer Peter Jacobs, driver Al Unser III and Team Manager, Vince Cramer from HVM Racing. All interested should head out to one of the GI Joe’s – the forum is free to interested guests. 05/27/05 This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today. See announcement on our Home Page about Al Unser III. 05/25/05 We are hearing that this announcement will be made before the weekend. Stay tuned…but recall we told you it could be an IPS or and IndyCar driver. 05/20/05 This rumor is close to becoming 'fact' as we hear the deal is signed, sealed and delivered and Champ Car is just waiting for the right moment to make the announcement. Mark C. 05/13/05 We are hearing that one fairly popular driver in the Indy Racing League paddock is close to jumping ship to the Champ Car paddock, possibly as early as next week. What's not clear is whether it is an IndyCar driver or an IPS driver. We are also hearing that after the crashes at Motegi and again this week at Indy that many of the drivers look concerned. Also hearing that you probably won't see Michael Andretti risking his son Marco's well-being on any of the high banked tracks the IPS races on.