Penske, Cindric, Mears, Castroneves and deFerran were interviewed on the Friday before Pole Day. Interesting reading. They discuss their switch to the IRL, the new Toyota deal, technology, and the recent spinal injuries, among other things.
http://www.penskeracing.com/index.as...=57611&split=4
Some quotes from Roger Penske...
"I think my goal here is to see both organizations end up in some way together with an opportunity to have one open-wheel series. Obviously, they're going down two different paths. We have one oval- and we have one road-racing series. At some point, someone will have to make a decision. But our team is committed this year to IRL, it's committed next year and the following year. We have no plans to run CART next year. Anything that people might say, the drivers are committed, we extended the drivers' contracts."
"Going forward, Helio, there has been conversation or speculation in the press about Formula One. When he started driving for us, we talked about that. I said if he had the opportunity to get a Formula One ride, as Montoya did, as other people had, I would be the first one to be supportive. Obviously, I've had some different conversations with people in Formula One, I can't really comment today who they are."
"On the CART side, I think that, you know, Pook is a terrific guy and, quite honestly, I had hoped that he would have been in that slot earlier."
About a possible CART/IRL merger...
"I think the real issue they're dealing with is that they (CART) really have two organizations... the public ownership... and then they have... drivers, car owners and sponsors. They have a much different interest. So I think that's one of the things that makes it very difficult to see the organizations come together today because you've got capital that has been invested by the public in one series and you have another series where we have team owners who have invested... I think the public entity makes it very tough to see a merger... I don't think you're going to see a merger. I think you're going to see people deciding over the next maybe 12 to 18 months, they'll have to make a choice."
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