No peace yet in US single-seaters battle

NASCAR chief Bill France met with Indy Racing League founder Tony George last week, leading to talk that he is trying to bring together the IRL and the CART Series.

France is a business associate of CART team boss Roger Penske through the track-owning International Speedway Corporation.

However, George played down the meeting, saying it was a discussion over IRL race dates for tracks owned by ISC.

'It was a courtesy visit,' he said.

George has also met with CART boss Andrew Craig, but said no progress was made and that they 'are separated by deep philosophical issues.'

But Penske is still pushing for a solution to the conflict, and believes that George is the man who can find one.

'He's the guy that could close the deal,' said Penske. 'I think he can close it on terms where everyone is a winner, not just Andrew Craig or CART or IRL.

'It's the whole industry. We should try and get to a conclusion as quickly as we can. I know we'd be better off if we had a common open-wheel formula.'