NOTEBOOK \ Indianapolis 500

Another washout: With Pole Day rained out for the third time in four years and more rain possible today, track officials were scrambling to devise contingency plans for qualifying. One option is keeping the track open later than its traditional 6 p.m. closing time on Sunday, something made possible by Indiana's switch to daylight savings time for the first time. Another option is weekday qualifying, which last occurred in 1968. It would mark the second straight year significant changes were made to the monthlong schedule. In 2005, officials changed the qualifying format, starting time of the race and moved Carb Day -- the traditional final practice -- to Friday from its usual Thursday spot on the schedule. Now, Mother Nature is wreaking havoc on that schedule. Today's forecast calls for cool temperatures and a 60 percent chance of scattered showers, meaning the first weekend of qualifying could be washed out for the first time since 1983. Normally, the 33-car field would be filled during the final two days of qualifying next weekend. But organizers who have closed the track on Monday and Tuesday of the second week in recent years are now considering holding four-lap qualifying runs on at least one of those days.
Unity: With on-track action limited, the chatter in Gasoline Alley has heated up. The hot topic this week: The possible unification between North America's two biggest open-wheel series, the IRL and Champ Car. Talks are ongoing between top officials of both series, but a merger appears to be a long way from reality. "We all just want to race. We all just want to get back to racing and racing all the good teams, all the good drivers and all the good venues with all the people that we know and respect in the industry," IRL team owner Chip Ganassi said. "They're all split up now. We want to get back to talking about racing and not living this. We're all tired of this schism." IRL founder Tony George and Kevin Kalkhoven, co-owner of the Champ Car World Series -- formerly CART -- have formed a fast friendship and are spearheading the unification talks. Kalkhoven was George's guest at the speedway Thursday, but it was not known if they discussed business. George, who also owns the IRL's Vision Racing team, has had discussions with Champ Car officials several times over the past two years without coming to any agreement. "I'm an optimist, I'm hopeful and if there's anything I can do to make it happen, I'm there," Ganassi said. He isn't the only one rooting for a resolution. "I've not heard anything," Michael Andretti said. "All we can do is hope and pray that it happens." Ganassi and Andretti were regulars on the CART circuit before and after the split in 1996, then later joined George's IRL when CART fell into financial difficulty.
Associated Press
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