Penske went to the IRL a couple of years ago..
As far as burying CART, give Pook a chance. He is still relatively new to the head chair, and the plans he recently unveiled seem like a solid step forward. It's amazing to me how the IRL has cloned itself to be just like CART was...TG's idea was all ovals, American driver's, etc.. and now most of the top drivers are foreign and there is talk of a few road course events in the near future. IMHO, TG just felt that there was too much bickering going on in CART, and the INDY 500's dominance of the series was beginning to wane...hence IRL! He really just took a page from Bernie's book on Benevolent Dictatorship's!
And yes, the IRL does put on a great show at Texas Motor Speedway! I wish I could have seen the CART cars there......