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Derrick Walker. Photo by Bob Heathcote. The possible merger now appears to be on hold while new rumors of CCWS moving toward bankruptcy protection have surfaced. We ve been hearing those rumors since Friday and as we ve continued to say our doors are open and people are working CCWS Executive Vice President Communications David Higdon told the Associated Press. We re proceeding with our plans and will keep operating as Champ Car. The two top American based open wheel series have had discussions in the past that led nowhere. Will they again Or this time will they come to some sort of agreement for the future The future does not need to be tomorrow or even this year but it could happen in once details are worked out and a firm schedule combining race venues. If the merger does happen for the season others from track owners to promoters to the chassis and engine manufacturers could lose out financially. In the current economy that is never a good sign. For one man planning for ! the future no matter what happens is foremost in his mind. With over years of experience in auto racing from Formula One to the former Championship Auto Racing Teams CART and to the IRL Derrick Walker has been there and seen it all. In his statement to the fans of open wheel racing on his website www.walkerracing.com Walker stated Over the last couple of days there has been a lot of speculation as to what is happening with Champ Car and Walker Racing Team Australia. We are sure that the fans have heard and read a lot of the rumors that are circulating about Champ Car and we thought it was important to give them a little perspective on Walker Racing s point of view about the issue of the potential merger and our current status. Currently Walker is a team owner in the Atlantic series and co team owner with Craig Gore and John Fish in Champ Car Team Australia . Last year the Aussie Vineyards team driver Will Power finished fourth in the Champ Car final standings. On Feb. th Go! re announced that he was closing the doors of his WPS WOW Racing team in the Australia V Supercar Series but made it clear that the Champ Car team was still on the books for . Will Power leads at the start. Photo by Troy Hart. Per the press release Gore also remains committed to his Team Australia motorsport program and driver Will Power in the Champ Car World Series in the United States where Team Australia is backed by Gore s Australian wine export company Aussie Vineyards and its Au brand. Recently Walker Racing took part in the Atlantic open test at Sebring with drivers Kevin Lacroix and the two Mansell brothers Greg and Leo. Yet his Champ Car team was a no show only a few days before for the Champ Car portion of the test. The rookie driver for Team Australia Simon Pagenaud was in Sebring testing for Conquest Racing. It makes all the sense to pull both series together and that s obviously been tried many times before and now there has been a lot of discussion about the possibility of it happening again. However there is great difficulty in! being able to pull those series together at this time of the year for IRL or Champ Car said Walker in his open letter to the fans. Due to his business acumen and life long commitment to have an active role in motor sports it is no surprise that he would consider making a return appearance to the IRL fielding at least one car in the IndyCar Series. Walker alluded to the team s possible plans From a Walker Racing standpoint Craig Gore my partner in Team Australia has expressed many times to continue his involvement in the Team Australia program with Will Power whether it is in Champ Car or in a merged series. As of yet those plans are on hold until we know what is happening with the potential merger. Our interest in the IRL was formulated sometime ago. We looked at the possibility to run two open wheel series cars in our facility again . So the idea of running in the IRL is not a new concept for us and is not a concept that was born out of that fact that there would be a mer! ger or that Champ Car could disappear he resolved. Sarah Fisher. Photo by indyracing.com Ron McQueeney. Walker has moved his way up the ladder from mechanic to team owner. He has seen the best of times and the worst of times. Through it all the Scotsman kept forging ahead always looking at what the future might hold. Many forget that Walker already has ties with the IRL including with his former boss Roger Penske. During his tenure with Penske including a vice president role when the team was with CART Walker helped lead the team along with the Captain to five championships and five Indianapolis wins. In Walker Racing fielded a car in the IRL for rookie Sarah Fisher. She became the third woman to qualify for the Indy that year. Fisher also led nine laps at Kentucky before finishing third her best finish in her debut season. The following year Walker and Fisher earned their best career finish at Homestead Miami. The second place finish went into the record books as the best result by a woman in either the IRL or Champ Car. The record has been t! ied but not yet broken. During those same two years Walker Racing also continued to compete in Champ Car. If he does both again this year it truly is not too much of a challenge for Walker. He obviously is disappointed with the continuation of the open wheel racing split but at the same time he looks toward the future. In his release to the fans on his website Walker commented The future for open wheel racing is somewhat uncertain but the encouraging sign is that all parties are talking. There is nothing that seems to be off of the table at the moment. It s just an awkward time where everyone is on hold and the media is trying to get the story out there to the fans but it s too premature to be able to tell the story because the discussions really have to be finished before everyone in the IRL and Champ Car know what potentially could happen. If Champ Car continues on and we have the funding it s very likely that Team Australia would continue and it s also quite possible tha! t we could successfully secure sponsorship for the IRL and have an IRL program as well. Derrick Walker and Simon Pagenaud. Photo by Bob Heathcote. Will Walker Racing be putting too many eggs in the basket if he does all three series Only time will tell but due to his making his thoughts public he obviously felt that the fans of open wheel racing are important to the team. Walker was very clear on not wanting to appear in the middle of the two series and their discussions in his online statement My last comment from a Walker Racing perspective we are a small specialized company running in open wheel racing. We are non political. We see open wheel racing as open wheel racing and we go where our business leads us. If it s in two series or if it s better for the business to be in one series then we will be where we can get the corporate support to be able to keep racing. Thank you for your support as fans and we will do our best to keep you all posted. Discuss this article in the Motorsport.com Forums channel IRL CHAMPCAR . News Magazine Photos St! atistics Directory Compete Forums Contact Ad info Corporate Join us Newsletters Copyright Motorsport.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please read our Disclaimer Trademark and Privacy policy .

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