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The pendulum may jsut have swung back in ChampCar's favour, with them having a secure in-house engine supply and the IRL faced with losing its Honda/Toyota backing for 2007 or sooner. Even then, while the IRl has the biggest race in US racing, it can only be ignored at your peril. Years of lacklustre fields didn't stop the race being the biggest thing in the US, even as NASCAR rose and CART staged their rival Michigan 500. The success of the USGP might come down purely to its location - certainly the fact that it was on a proper road course rather than a street circuti was crucial. TV companies won't lose interest simply because the engines don't have big-name brands on.
A merger is the best thing for US OW racing, and I guess everyone will have to make sacrifices. The IRL might have to give up its chassis, outside-produced engines and an ocal-dominated schedule, while ChampCars would give up its overseas vision and most of its street races (in favur of the voals it lost to the IRL in the first place).
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