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INDYCAR: Walker, George Ready to Run Tracy at Edmonton
Only salary negotiations stand in way of P.T.’s open-wheel return.
Robin Miller  |  Posted July 11, 2008   Indianapolis, Ind.

PT still needs to come to an agreement with George regarding his salary. (LAT Photo)

The table is being set for Paul Tracy to join the IndyCar series at Edmonton later this month, but Tony George and Derrick Walker now have to wait and see if the 2003 CART champ is still hungry.

"I think it's going to happen – at least we're all under the assumption it's a go – but the only thing we still don't know is if Paul is going to drive," said Walker, whose crew is preparing a third Vision Racing entry for P.T. in the July 26th race. "Tony and I came to an agreement and the car came out of the paint shop yesterday and we're going to put a lot of effort into it."

Before he left for Goodwood, England and the Festival of Speed earlier this week, Tracy said he was not going to drive for only a percentage of the prize money. It's known that George made him a per-race offer for four races but the 39-year-old veteran claimed that it wouldn't pay his insurance, so they were still negotiating.

All George said Thursday was that it was a "work in progress," yet it appears that the deal all rides on Tracy's decision when he returns home.

"I told Paul this would be a good opportunity to get out and show that he's still interested in driving Indy cars and he's still competitive," said Walker, whose team ran the Champ Car finale at Long Beach and is campaigning three Atlantic cars but didn't have the funding for the IRL season.

"Obviously, it's also a chance for us to show people this team is still viable and still interested in competing in 2009."

George also wanted to run Tracy at Sonoma and possibly one or two other races before '08 comes to a close.

Originally, Walker approached George with the intent to lease a car and engine for Tracy to drive, pending sponsorship. But when nothing materialized, George stepped in and supposedly has a couple of sponsors interested in backing Tracy in Canada's lone date this year (Toronto will be added in 2009).

Walker's team will operate the car under Vision's money and banner – providing, of course, that Tracy agrees to drive.

It's also possible Alex Tagliani could be driving for Eric Bachelart's Conquest Racing at Edmonton. Tags is already set to compete in the stock car portion of that weekend and it's believed Bachelart is dissatisfied with rookie Enrique Bernoldi's performance and attitude.

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