(Anthony Schoettle ibj.com 5-1-10)
The month of May, once an Indianapolis institution culminating with The Race on Memorial Day weekends, has come to this: empty hotel rooms and corporate hospitality suites.
Unfathomable just a decade ago, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is trimming demands on hospitality packages in a scramble to fill vacancies and preserve what IMS officials call “a major profit center.”
Carburetion Day, May 28, is sold out, but hospitality vacancies are available every other day despite the fact that track activities have been compressed from a full month to two weeks.
Speedway officials for the first time are selling smaller, one-day hospitality packages, said George Hobbs, IMS’ hospitality client services manager.
Gasoline Alley Club has been launched to allow individual, one-day suite sales. Brickyard Club is designed for parties as small as six people, including a table in the hospitality area, catering services and grandstand tickets.
“Traditionally, suites have only been rented by the month, and we haven’t offered anything specifically for smaller parties,” said Bob Guptill, Speedway sales account executive. “We’re reacting to the market.”
Corporate hospitality at IMS is up 30 percent this year. But that isn’t saying much, motorsports business experts caution, considering that 2009 was dismally eroded by the recession on top of the ongoing decline in open-wheel racing.
This year’s increase is on par with what Los Angeles-based RazorGator, one of the nation’s largest corporate hospitality providers, has seen at other events.
RazorGator’s corporate hospitality business at this year’s Final Four in Indianapolis was up 60 percent over last year, according to John Wallace, RazorGator general manager and vice president. Hospitality was up 40 percent at the Super Bowl and 20 percent at The Master’s, Wallace said.
“Even with those increases, it’s going to be another 24 months before we get back to 2008 levels,” Wallace said. “And I suspect the same is true for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
Much at stake
Given the track’s overall impact on local tourism, much rides on the Speedway’s attempt to overhaul its corporate hospitality arm.
“Historically, the events at the track have been a huge driver for the entire region’s hospitality and tourism business,” said Don Welsh, Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association CEO.
Welsh added that hotel room nights have declined more than 20 percent in the past five years for the Indianapolis 500 and other events at the fabled Brickyard.
Speedway officials are optimistic the new offerings will increase hospitality business at the track long term.
One-day packages falling on non-race days are available for as little as $1,750 and a race-day table for six is available for $2,400. One-day packages go up to $60,000 for parties of 600.
The IMS has launched some traditional advertising to publicize the offerings, but is relying primarily on word-of-mouth and referrals.
The sunny outlook assumes the economy, not the fading popularity of open-wheel racing, is hurting hospitality, said Richard Sheehan, a University of Notre Dame economist and author of several books on professional sports operations.
Despite the open-wheel split fathered by former IMS Chairman Tony George in 1996, corporate hospitality remained a vital part of the Speedway’s overall revenue. Sports business experts credit hospitality with about 15 percent of the track’s overall revenue in May—$5 million to $10 million.
In 2000, Speedway officials smartly used infrastructure built to host the Formula One race later in the year to increase the facility’s hospitality inventory during May.
“You can’t overemphasize the impact that one event, the Indianapolis 500, has had,” said Mark Rosentraub, a former IUPUI dean and sports economist who studied the Speedway’s economic impact in 2000.
That impact spread well beyond the gates at 16th Street and Georgetown Road.
“The entire region—from hotels to restaurants and more—became fat off the activities at the track,” said Tim Frost, president of Frost Motorsports, a Chicago-based motorsports business consultancy. “There are very few venues like that anywhere in the nation that can rival the Speedway’s economic impact in the region where it resides.”
The tens of millions of dollars that flowed from 300,000 race fans filling IMS each May obscured the impact of corporate entertainment.
“Corporate hospitality is what brings in many of the high rollers,” Frost said. “It’s what fills up the most expensive hotels and restaurants. When you can get that much money coming from a concentrated area, it’s definitely a revenue stream you want to hang on to.”
In his 2000 study, Rosentraub concluded the Indianapolis 500 generated $336.6 million for the region; the Brickyard 400, $219.5 million; and the U.S. Grand Prix Formula One race, $170.8 million.
For comparison’s sake, this year’s Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium had a $50 million impact.
Multiple hits
Corporate hospitality at IMS remained relatively strong through the early years of the Indy Racing League’s split with Champ Car.
But sponsors began slipping away due to the split and the rise of NASCAR.
The Speedway has taken two other big hits. After 2007, the F1 race departed and was replaced by the MotoGP motorcycle race, which has a much smaller corporate fan base. A year later, the bottom fell out of the economy.
Although Speedway officials would not detail the decline in their business, sports business experts said overall corporate hospitality at sporting events nationwide fell 30 percent to 45 percent between 2006 and 2009.
Glenn Brooks, vice president of General Hotels Corp., which owns and operates Crown Plaza locations downtown and at the airport as well as five other hotels in the area, said his firm has seen a dip in hotel demand from the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400.
“Those events are still major, major business generators, but at the same time, we’ve seen continual year-over-year declines for the last five or 10 years,” Brooks said.
Nights before the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 are always booked, Brooks said. However, he added, gone are the days when local hotels could command three nights or more. And the impact from the MotoGP race on hotels is lagging far behind what the F1 race generated.
When it comes to the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400, Brooks said downtown hotels fill first, followed by those at the airport. As a result, suburban hotels have taken the biggest hit.
“Our downtown hotels are the only ones we’re able to get three-night minimums for the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400,” Brooks said. “And there just isn’t the demand for corporate entertaining that there used to be. We feel it on a number of different levels, from meetings and parties hosted to rooms booked and our hotel restaurants and catering business.”
In the 1990s and early 2000s, he said, the Indianapolis 500 was unrivaled in its impact to area hotels and restaurants.
“Now we see a similar economic impact from an event like the Final Four or even some city-wide multi-day conventions,” Brooks said.
Speedway still a driver
Despite the swoon, Indianapolis remains a relatively vital hotel market.
Nationally, hotel occupancy rates have dropped below 58 percent, according to Smith Travel Research. While hotels in Marion and the surrounding counties have had occupancy rates in the 55 percent range the last two years, according to Smith Travel Research, downtown hotels have been near 70-percent occupancy in 2008 and 2009.
“A lot of that has to do with the events at the Speedway,” said ICVA’s Welsh.
John Livengood, president of the Indiana Restaurant & Hospitality Association, thinks central Indiana’s hotel occupancy and restaurant business has “stood up a lot better” than other similar-size cities during the recession due to activities at the track.
And, he added, there’s another intangible.
“Without the year-in, year-out activities at the Speedway, we wouldn’t have all these hotel rooms and restaurants that this city boasts,” Livengood said. “We wouldn’t be in a position to bid for events like the FFA Convention, the [NCAA] Final Four and Super Bowl.
“Without the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, we simply wouldn’t have a hospitality industry that is big enough or strong enough to compete for these other events.”
Corner5
Good thing TG fixed things. The good old days ,when you had to book your rooms and buy your tickets a year ahead.
It's pretty much a local's race now,the family drives in on sunday from Muncie.
Showing posts with label indycar 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indycar 2010. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, November 22, 2010
Lotus gives IndyCar teams third option
(by John Oreovicz espn.go.com 11-20-10)
Izod IndyCar Series teams will have a choice between three engine manufacturers in 2012 when the Lotus brand expands its involvement in American open-wheel competition.
Lotus, which is owned by the Proton Group of Malaysia, made the announcement Thursday at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. It is expected to partner with Cosworth Racing to create a turbocharged V-6 engine built to the IndyCar Series' new 2012 technical regulations.
Lotus joins Honda and Chevrolet as IndyCar's official engine suppliers for 2012 and beyond.
"Last March we learned really quick that the fans wanted the spec series to go away -- that was the number-one thing," IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard remarked. "Lotus is a renowned name in racing, with long associations with some of the greatest names in motorsports.
"I think the most exciting part for me is that Lotus has never run their own engine at [the] Indy 500."
Team Lotus was an official entrant in the Indianapolis 500 from 1963 to 1968, when its Formula 1-inspired cars pushed technical boundaries in the famous race. Jim Clark's victory in a Ford-powered Lotus in the 1965 Indy 500 was the first for a car using a rear-mounted engine. Clark also finished second at Indianapolis in 1964 and '66.
The last Lotus-built car to race at Indianapolis featured an aircraft-style turbine engine. Lotus unsuccessfully attempted to break into the CART-sanctioned Indy car series in the mid-1980s, and last year the iconic green and yellow Lotus colors appeared on Takuma Sato's IndyCar Series entry fielded by KV Racing Technology.
"This year we teamed up with KV Racing for IndyCar ,and we will significantly expand our participation in 2011," Lotus Group CEO Dany Bahar said. "In 2012, IndyCar competitors will have the opportunity to choose an Indy car with a Lotus engine and a Lotus body kit, immediately becoming part of the legacy that is Lotus."
Group Lotus has revealed ambitious plans to expand its production car lineup from three to five models, prototypes of which were on display at the Los Angeles show. Lotus hopes to expand its annual production from 2,400 cars to 8,000 by 2015.
Bahar, 38, is a former senior vice president of Ferrari, and he is the man Proton has installed to lead its $1.25 billion makeover of Lotus. While its future lineup won't go head-to-head with cars built by the legendary Italian firm, the image Behar is trying to build for Lotus -- including motorsports participation -- is clearly modeled on Ferrari.
"It's been quite a busy time, and hopefully we have more busy times ahead of us," Bahar said. "Our heritage is all about motor racing. Our road cars have significant connections with our motorsports programs.
"We take racing seriously, and we don't want to just put a sticker on a car. We want to fight with the big guys. We made the decision that this is where we want to be. We believe in the IndyCar Series and think it ties in with our strategy in the USA."
KVRT will serve as Lotus' lead team in the 2012 IndyCar Series. KVRT and Cosworth are co-owned by Kevin Kalkhoven.
Lotus revealed its intention to participate as a future IndyCar engine manufacturer right at the Nov. 16 deadline.
"We are excited about the future of Indy car racing with the addition of Chevrolet and Lotus, as well as the continued involvement of our longtime engine supplier Honda," Bernard said. "The Izod IndyCar Series has the fastest, most versatile cars and drivers in the world, and now we have engine competition to provide even more excitement to our fans."
In addition to having a choice of three competing engines for 2012, IndyCar teams could have as many as five alternative aerodynamic kits to select from. The deadline for announcing intention to build bodywork (which must be made available to all teams for $70,000) has not been established, but Chevrolet and Lotus already have committed.
IndyCar's Tony Cotman has been tasked with writing the 2012 rulebook.
"Obviously, regulating two engine manufacturers is more difficult than one and three is more difficult than two, but it doesn't keep multiplying," Cotman said. "Three is a healthy number to deal with in the first year. We have a good structure and plan in place, and we can handle it.
"Three manufacturers is probably more than anyone expected. I thought we would have two, and we added a third very late in the game."
Although Lotus will not deliver IndyCar the kind of marketing clout associated with mainstream brands like Honda and Chervrolet, the legendary sports car manufacturer brings its own cache.
"This is exciting news," said Erik Berkman, president of Honda Performance Development. "Lotus Cars has a long and distinguished record in motorsports and will add to the worldwide appeal of Indy car racing. Randy Bernard and the entire IndyCar Series staff returned multiple-manufacturer competition to Indy car racing following a lengthy absence, and we appreciate the efforts and dedication that helped make this possible.
"Along with last week's announcement that Chevrolet will join the series in 2012, the addition of Lotus is yet another indication of IndyCar's growing popularity."
Lost for the moment in the giddy euphoria of having manufacturer competition for the first time in many years is that IndyCar still has to get through one final season of competition with the same basic Dallara-Honda that has been in use since 2003.
"This is a good jump-start and a good, positive message that IndyCar is getting back on track," Cotman observed. "But in [Bernard]'s vision, multiple manufacturers are just part of a much bigger equation. He's still looking for more sponsors and a better impact on TV. It would be nice if it all came together at the same time."
Izod IndyCar Series teams will have a choice between three engine manufacturers in 2012 when the Lotus brand expands its involvement in American open-wheel competition.
Lotus, which is owned by the Proton Group of Malaysia, made the announcement Thursday at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. It is expected to partner with Cosworth Racing to create a turbocharged V-6 engine built to the IndyCar Series' new 2012 technical regulations.
Lotus joins Honda and Chevrolet as IndyCar's official engine suppliers for 2012 and beyond.
"Last March we learned really quick that the fans wanted the spec series to go away -- that was the number-one thing," IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard remarked. "Lotus is a renowned name in racing, with long associations with some of the greatest names in motorsports.
"I think the most exciting part for me is that Lotus has never run their own engine at [the] Indy 500."
Team Lotus was an official entrant in the Indianapolis 500 from 1963 to 1968, when its Formula 1-inspired cars pushed technical boundaries in the famous race. Jim Clark's victory in a Ford-powered Lotus in the 1965 Indy 500 was the first for a car using a rear-mounted engine. Clark also finished second at Indianapolis in 1964 and '66.
The last Lotus-built car to race at Indianapolis featured an aircraft-style turbine engine. Lotus unsuccessfully attempted to break into the CART-sanctioned Indy car series in the mid-1980s, and last year the iconic green and yellow Lotus colors appeared on Takuma Sato's IndyCar Series entry fielded by KV Racing Technology.
"This year we teamed up with KV Racing for IndyCar ,and we will significantly expand our participation in 2011," Lotus Group CEO Dany Bahar said. "In 2012, IndyCar competitors will have the opportunity to choose an Indy car with a Lotus engine and a Lotus body kit, immediately becoming part of the legacy that is Lotus."
Group Lotus has revealed ambitious plans to expand its production car lineup from three to five models, prototypes of which were on display at the Los Angeles show. Lotus hopes to expand its annual production from 2,400 cars to 8,000 by 2015.
Bahar, 38, is a former senior vice president of Ferrari, and he is the man Proton has installed to lead its $1.25 billion makeover of Lotus. While its future lineup won't go head-to-head with cars built by the legendary Italian firm, the image Behar is trying to build for Lotus -- including motorsports participation -- is clearly modeled on Ferrari.
"It's been quite a busy time, and hopefully we have more busy times ahead of us," Bahar said. "Our heritage is all about motor racing. Our road cars have significant connections with our motorsports programs.
"We take racing seriously, and we don't want to just put a sticker on a car. We want to fight with the big guys. We made the decision that this is where we want to be. We believe in the IndyCar Series and think it ties in with our strategy in the USA."
KVRT will serve as Lotus' lead team in the 2012 IndyCar Series. KVRT and Cosworth are co-owned by Kevin Kalkhoven.
Lotus revealed its intention to participate as a future IndyCar engine manufacturer right at the Nov. 16 deadline.
"We are excited about the future of Indy car racing with the addition of Chevrolet and Lotus, as well as the continued involvement of our longtime engine supplier Honda," Bernard said. "The Izod IndyCar Series has the fastest, most versatile cars and drivers in the world, and now we have engine competition to provide even more excitement to our fans."
In addition to having a choice of three competing engines for 2012, IndyCar teams could have as many as five alternative aerodynamic kits to select from. The deadline for announcing intention to build bodywork (which must be made available to all teams for $70,000) has not been established, but Chevrolet and Lotus already have committed.
IndyCar's Tony Cotman has been tasked with writing the 2012 rulebook.
"Obviously, regulating two engine manufacturers is more difficult than one and three is more difficult than two, but it doesn't keep multiplying," Cotman said. "Three is a healthy number to deal with in the first year. We have a good structure and plan in place, and we can handle it.
"Three manufacturers is probably more than anyone expected. I thought we would have two, and we added a third very late in the game."
Although Lotus will not deliver IndyCar the kind of marketing clout associated with mainstream brands like Honda and Chervrolet, the legendary sports car manufacturer brings its own cache.
"This is exciting news," said Erik Berkman, president of Honda Performance Development. "Lotus Cars has a long and distinguished record in motorsports and will add to the worldwide appeal of Indy car racing. Randy Bernard and the entire IndyCar Series staff returned multiple-manufacturer competition to Indy car racing following a lengthy absence, and we appreciate the efforts and dedication that helped make this possible.
"Along with last week's announcement that Chevrolet will join the series in 2012, the addition of Lotus is yet another indication of IndyCar's growing popularity."
Lost for the moment in the giddy euphoria of having manufacturer competition for the first time in many years is that IndyCar still has to get through one final season of competition with the same basic Dallara-Honda that has been in use since 2003.
"This is a good jump-start and a good, positive message that IndyCar is getting back on track," Cotman observed. "But in [Bernard]'s vision, multiple manufacturers are just part of a much bigger equation. He's still looking for more sponsors and a better impact on TV. It would be nice if it all came together at the same time."
Chevy back with IndyCar a big deal
(by John Oreovicz espn.go.com 11-14-10)
The sun was shining over Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, both literally and figuratively.
On an unusually warm and pleasant mid-November morning, Roger Penske and a group of General Motors executives posed for pictures on the main straight with a handful of Indy car drivers from past and present. Their host was Izod IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard, sporting an ear-to-ear grin.
Bernard had plenty to smile about. With more than a little bit of help from Penske, Bernard had presided over one of the most important business developments in recent American open-wheel racing history: the return of GM and its Chevrolet brand as engine suppliers to the IndyCar Series.
"I hope this weather is a sign of how good this contract is going to be," Bernard quipped.
There are many open-wheel fans who are hoping the same thing. But after almost 15 years of stormy weather, the skies over IndyCar really do seem to be clearing. In Bernard's first year on the job, the Indianapolis 500 was blessed with perfect weather for qualifying and the race, and a series of historic photo shoots promoting the 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500 (set for May 29, 2011) throughout the autumn went off without a cloud in the sky.
The importance of the Chevrolet-to-IndyCar deal cannot be overstated.
When the IndyCar Series introduces its new chassis and turbo engine formula in 2012, it will feature technical competition for the first time since 2005, ending a widely lampooned period of spec-car racing that went wholly against the grain of the Indy 500's tradition of open innovation.
More importantly, the new competition for IndyCar stalwart Honda is a U.S. company, and an iconic one at that. The turbocharged "Heartbeat of America" could propel as much as half of the 2012 Indianapolis 500 field.
"This reinforces our legacy as an authentic American brand and reinforces our heritage of performance," said Chevrolet marketing vice president Chris Perry. "Auto racing produces some of the highest return on investment in any activity we conduct.
"Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been a proving ground for manufacturers since Louis Chevrolet, our co-founder, raced here in 1909," Perry added. "This is a natural fit for Chevrolet … this is where it all began."
Two of the targets of the ICONIC committee that laid the groundwork for IndyCar's 2012 formula were greater efficiency and increased relevance to road car technology. Those points were keys in attracting Chevrolet's participation.
Chevy's turbo V-6 will feature direct injection and be fueled by the same E-85 ethanol/gasoline mixture widely available across the country. IndyCar's Honda engines have run on 100 percent ethanol for the past three years.
Chevrolet's role in its first official era of Indy car participation from 1986 to 1993 was badging an engine designed and produced by Ilmor Engineering, a company co-owned by Penske. This time around, while Ilmor is again GM's partner, Chevy officials pledge to make a greater contribution.
"GM has become a recognized leader in implementing direct-injection technology in both four-cylinder and V-6 engines by leveraging knowledge already gained from racing," commented Tom Stephens, GM's vice chairman of Global Product Operations. "Building on this foundation, our new partnership with Ilmor will give us even more opportunities to accelerate our engine technology and expand and improve the DI technology for street cars."
The news of Chevrolet's return was welcomed by Honda -- which ironically, has contracted with Ilmor for the past five years to assist in rebuilding its engines that supply the full IndyCar field.
"We look forward to renewing our relationship with Chevrolet as competitors on the race track and giving the fans of open-wheel racing a spirited and challenging rivalry," stated Honda Performance Development president Erik Berkman.
The Chevy tie-up was sweet vindication for Bernard, the former leader of Pro Bull Riders who was greeted by skepticism when he was announced as IndyCar's CEO earlier this year.
"This is what we dreamed about back in March, when we started this process," Bernard said. "It's been so gratifying watching this all unfold through the ICONIC committee, and Mr. Penske has been such an important part of making this happen.
"I'm a new-timer to this sport, but if you look at history and what everyone involved in Indy car racing has said, they all wanted competition. This is the first step, and the fact that it's American, with a history here since 1909, we couldn't ask for anything better.
"If this hadn't happened, it would have been a very nerve-racking year next year. The fact that GM is stepping up to the plate is huge for this sport."
Though he maintained his usual stoic demeanor at the news conference, crafting Chevrolet's return to Indianapolis had to be deeply satisfying for Penske, who despite all his success in the industry, made his name as an Indy 500 winning car owner.
Penske has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 15 times.
"I live in Detroit -- I was just trying to do my job," Penske quipped.
"It's wonderful to see the sport on the up-rise, as we saw in 2010 with the Izod sponsorship and the increased car count," he added. "Our ability to bring in one of the Big Three manufacturers to compete at Indianapolis with Honda is terrific. Honda has been a terrific partner but has wanted competition, so to me, this is a win-win situation.
"This is a day that shows the 'New GM' is back in business."
And it was a day that showed that the new IndyCar is back in business. Indy Racing League founder Tony George, the man Bernard replaced after a revolt within the Hulman-George family over the past two years, was present at the Chevrolet announcement, but he stood stone-faced at the side, quietly watching the proceedings.
IndyCar still has much work to do to get back to the level of popularity it enjoyed in the 1990s, before George's formation of the IRL as an alternative to the existing CART-sanctioned Indy car series split the sport and caused so much long-term damage. Sponsorship is still lacking, there appears to be no American driver ready to become a regular race winner and championship contender, and television ratings remain dismal.
But under Randy Bernard's leadership, the future finally looks bright for Indy car racing. Sunny days like Friday at the Brickyard are clear evidence that IndyCar is on the comeback trail, and the 2012 season can't get here soon enough.
The sun was shining over Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, both literally and figuratively.
On an unusually warm and pleasant mid-November morning, Roger Penske and a group of General Motors executives posed for pictures on the main straight with a handful of Indy car drivers from past and present. Their host was Izod IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard, sporting an ear-to-ear grin.
Bernard had plenty to smile about. With more than a little bit of help from Penske, Bernard had presided over one of the most important business developments in recent American open-wheel racing history: the return of GM and its Chevrolet brand as engine suppliers to the IndyCar Series.
"I hope this weather is a sign of how good this contract is going to be," Bernard quipped.
There are many open-wheel fans who are hoping the same thing. But after almost 15 years of stormy weather, the skies over IndyCar really do seem to be clearing. In Bernard's first year on the job, the Indianapolis 500 was blessed with perfect weather for qualifying and the race, and a series of historic photo shoots promoting the 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500 (set for May 29, 2011) throughout the autumn went off without a cloud in the sky.
The importance of the Chevrolet-to-IndyCar deal cannot be overstated.
When the IndyCar Series introduces its new chassis and turbo engine formula in 2012, it will feature technical competition for the first time since 2005, ending a widely lampooned period of spec-car racing that went wholly against the grain of the Indy 500's tradition of open innovation.
More importantly, the new competition for IndyCar stalwart Honda is a U.S. company, and an iconic one at that. The turbocharged "Heartbeat of America" could propel as much as half of the 2012 Indianapolis 500 field.
"This reinforces our legacy as an authentic American brand and reinforces our heritage of performance," said Chevrolet marketing vice president Chris Perry. "Auto racing produces some of the highest return on investment in any activity we conduct.
"Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been a proving ground for manufacturers since Louis Chevrolet, our co-founder, raced here in 1909," Perry added. "This is a natural fit for Chevrolet … this is where it all began."
Two of the targets of the ICONIC committee that laid the groundwork for IndyCar's 2012 formula were greater efficiency and increased relevance to road car technology. Those points were keys in attracting Chevrolet's participation.
Chevy's turbo V-6 will feature direct injection and be fueled by the same E-85 ethanol/gasoline mixture widely available across the country. IndyCar's Honda engines have run on 100 percent ethanol for the past three years.
Chevrolet's role in its first official era of Indy car participation from 1986 to 1993 was badging an engine designed and produced by Ilmor Engineering, a company co-owned by Penske. This time around, while Ilmor is again GM's partner, Chevy officials pledge to make a greater contribution.
"GM has become a recognized leader in implementing direct-injection technology in both four-cylinder and V-6 engines by leveraging knowledge already gained from racing," commented Tom Stephens, GM's vice chairman of Global Product Operations. "Building on this foundation, our new partnership with Ilmor will give us even more opportunities to accelerate our engine technology and expand and improve the DI technology for street cars."
The news of Chevrolet's return was welcomed by Honda -- which ironically, has contracted with Ilmor for the past five years to assist in rebuilding its engines that supply the full IndyCar field.
"We look forward to renewing our relationship with Chevrolet as competitors on the race track and giving the fans of open-wheel racing a spirited and challenging rivalry," stated Honda Performance Development president Erik Berkman.
The Chevy tie-up was sweet vindication for Bernard, the former leader of Pro Bull Riders who was greeted by skepticism when he was announced as IndyCar's CEO earlier this year.
"This is what we dreamed about back in March, when we started this process," Bernard said. "It's been so gratifying watching this all unfold through the ICONIC committee, and Mr. Penske has been such an important part of making this happen.
"I'm a new-timer to this sport, but if you look at history and what everyone involved in Indy car racing has said, they all wanted competition. This is the first step, and the fact that it's American, with a history here since 1909, we couldn't ask for anything better.
"If this hadn't happened, it would have been a very nerve-racking year next year. The fact that GM is stepping up to the plate is huge for this sport."
Though he maintained his usual stoic demeanor at the news conference, crafting Chevrolet's return to Indianapolis had to be deeply satisfying for Penske, who despite all his success in the industry, made his name as an Indy 500 winning car owner.
Penske has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 15 times.
"I live in Detroit -- I was just trying to do my job," Penske quipped.
"It's wonderful to see the sport on the up-rise, as we saw in 2010 with the Izod sponsorship and the increased car count," he added. "Our ability to bring in one of the Big Three manufacturers to compete at Indianapolis with Honda is terrific. Honda has been a terrific partner but has wanted competition, so to me, this is a win-win situation.
"This is a day that shows the 'New GM' is back in business."
And it was a day that showed that the new IndyCar is back in business. Indy Racing League founder Tony George, the man Bernard replaced after a revolt within the Hulman-George family over the past two years, was present at the Chevrolet announcement, but he stood stone-faced at the side, quietly watching the proceedings.
IndyCar still has much work to do to get back to the level of popularity it enjoyed in the 1990s, before George's formation of the IRL as an alternative to the existing CART-sanctioned Indy car series split the sport and caused so much long-term damage. Sponsorship is still lacking, there appears to be no American driver ready to become a regular race winner and championship contender, and television ratings remain dismal.
But under Randy Bernard's leadership, the future finally looks bright for Indy car racing. Sunny days like Friday at the Brickyard are clear evidence that IndyCar is on the comeback trail, and the 2012 season can't get here soon enough.
Penske key to Chevrolet return
(by Matt Beer autosport.com 11-12-10)
Roger Penske has revealed that he made the first approach to entice Chevrolet back to the IndyCar Series.
Penske was announced as the first team to commit to Chevrolet power in today's press conference to confirm that General Motors would be back in top-level American single-seater racing from 2012, after a six-year absence.
The engines will be constructed in collaboration with Ilmor Engineering, a company which Penske is a shareholder in. The legendary IndyCar team boss said his initial consideration had been to find a new opportunity for Ilmor after its most recent IndyCar partner Honda chose not to use the company for its 2012 engine.
"Ilmor was the team to partner with Honda to build the current racing engine," Penske explained. "Honda made the decision going into 2012 that if there was going to be a new engine they wanted to do that on their own and not utilise Ilmor, so at that point, being a shareholder of Ilmor, I said let's go out and look for a world-class manufacturer that might be interested in partnering with Ilmor from a technical standpoint and a support standpoint.
"We went around to various manufacturers, and Chevrolet showed some interest. They were interested in understanding the rules, and the committee got together with them.
"My role was to introduce Ilmor to General Motors once again, and we've had success with them, and, obviously, committing to running the engine again in our cars over the next several years."
Penske emphasised that despite his role in putting the Chevrolet deal together, his team would not be considered a 'works' outfit.
"That doesn't mean that other teams won't have the same opportunity," he said.
"Ilmor and Chevrolet will design the engine. I'll get an engine just like everyone else does. It's the same as it's been with Honda. [Ilmor] rebuilt this year at least 20 engines that were in the field every weekend. It will be the same transparency that it has been.
"We just decided that we could help the series, and we had a couple [of] hundred people that needed the jobs. So there was real incentive for us to see Ilmor survive and be in the business, and what a great partner we've found."
Roger Penske has revealed that he made the first approach to entice Chevrolet back to the IndyCar Series.
Penske was announced as the first team to commit to Chevrolet power in today's press conference to confirm that General Motors would be back in top-level American single-seater racing from 2012, after a six-year absence.
The engines will be constructed in collaboration with Ilmor Engineering, a company which Penske is a shareholder in. The legendary IndyCar team boss said his initial consideration had been to find a new opportunity for Ilmor after its most recent IndyCar partner Honda chose not to use the company for its 2012 engine.
"Ilmor was the team to partner with Honda to build the current racing engine," Penske explained. "Honda made the decision going into 2012 that if there was going to be a new engine they wanted to do that on their own and not utilise Ilmor, so at that point, being a shareholder of Ilmor, I said let's go out and look for a world-class manufacturer that might be interested in partnering with Ilmor from a technical standpoint and a support standpoint.
"We went around to various manufacturers, and Chevrolet showed some interest. They were interested in understanding the rules, and the committee got together with them.
"My role was to introduce Ilmor to General Motors once again, and we've had success with them, and, obviously, committing to running the engine again in our cars over the next several years."
Penske emphasised that despite his role in putting the Chevrolet deal together, his team would not be considered a 'works' outfit.
"That doesn't mean that other teams won't have the same opportunity," he said.
"Ilmor and Chevrolet will design the engine. I'll get an engine just like everyone else does. It's the same as it's been with Honda. [Ilmor] rebuilt this year at least 20 engines that were in the field every weekend. It will be the same transparency that it has been.
"We just decided that we could help the series, and we had a couple [of] hundred people that needed the jobs. So there was real incentive for us to see Ilmor survive and be in the business, and what a great partner we've found."
City has been spinning its wheels on Indy too long
(by Paula Simons edmontonjournal.com 11-4-10)
Goodbye, Edmonton Indy. Goodbye, Indy Racing League. Forgive me if I don't shed too many tears as you race off into the sunset.
Forgive me if I don't condemn the city for blowing a deal with Octane Management to run the Indy here next year.
The city wanted to move the race from the west side of the City Centre Airport lands to the east side, because it has closed the eastern runway and it needs the western runway to keep the airport operational during the race. Lorna Rosen, Edmonton's chief financial officer, says the city thought the move would be better and cheaper for Octane.
Octane says it was blindsided by the decision to move the track. It wanted the city to pay for the $3.2 million extra it says it would cost to create a premium track on the new site. That's on top of the $7 million in "sponsorship" and services the city had already promised to provide Octane over the next three years.
Rosen says that without city council authorization to spend the extra $3.2 million, she had no choice but to walk away from negotiations.
Now, it's certainly arguable that city council set up the deal to fail by giving Rosen such limited bargaining power. Certainly, if councillors had been hell-bent on saving the race at all costs, they would have handled things differently. And there undoubtedly are some people who'll argue that the loss of the Indy proves that shutting the airport is a bad idea.
But let's be clear. This isn't about the airport. It's about the cash.
The "privilege" of hosting this race has cost taxpayers dearly.
In its first two years, the Indy lost a total of $9.2 million. Every penny of that was backstopped by the city purse. Northlands and the city haven't finished calculating this year's losses, but Rosen says the city will likely be on the hook for at least $3 million more.
On top of that, the city provided the race with approximately $1.5 million in "services in kind" over the last three years, to pay for things like police and fire and transit.
Total bill? About $13.7 million. It doesn't end there.
Over the last three years, the Alberta government provided $1.2 million in Indy support -- $800,000 in 2010 alone. Ottawa also got into the act. The Harper government provided Indy with a grant of $810,000.
That's some $16 million in public funds to date -- to subsidize an international pro sports event -- with Octane holding out its hand for $10.2 million more from the city.
And what exactly did we, the public, get for our money?
The Indy Racing League won't allow the release of attendance figures, so it's impossible to know how many people actually bought tickets to this year's event. But Coun. Kim Krushell says attendance was down, and few were tourists.
"Ticket sales have been declining and they were down again, obviously, this year.
"Our citizens weren't buying tickets, and tourists weren't buying tickets either," says Krushell.
"From what I could see, the tickets were from the region and from Edmonton, not international."
Certainly, the Indy didn't seem to jazz the city the way an event like the Canadian Finals Rodeo does. When the CFR kicks off, the downtown, Whyte Avenue and West Edmonton Mall will bustle with tourists filling hotel rooms and restaurants and bars and stores. Grey Cup, later this month, will work the same magic. Indy never seemed to bring Edmonton the same kind of business, or party spirit.
Did the race raise our international profile? Did it convince more people to travel, invest or move here? That's also hard to say.
In its first year, the race was carried on both ESPN, a premium sports cable channel, and ESPN International. The second year, it was dropped by ESPN proper, and run instead on an obscure cable channel, VERSUS, as well as on ESPN International. This year, it was carried only by VERSUS.
How many people watched the race? And how many of those people noticed or cared that it took place in Edmonton? And how many, if any, changed their holiday or business plans as a result? The city says the international publicity was worth $80 million. Let's say I'm skeptical.
Now maybe Octane, with its racing industry experience, would have done a better job of marketing and promoting the event than Northlands has. Maybe Octane would have brought in the crowds, brought back TV coverage, made a profit.
But given the continued malaise of the U.S. economy, the impact of the strong Canadian dollar on American travellers, the continued fracturing of the TV audience, I'm not sure Octane could have made the race into a money-maker either. Certainly, the fact that negotiations broke down over a difference of roughly $3 million suggests that Octane knew it was working with a very slim margin, that it had to squeeze every penny to make its event viable.
And if the 2011 race had failed to make a profit? Krushell, for one, believes the requests for cash would have been never-ending.
"When does the buck stop for taxpayers? I didn't see the gravy train stopping any time soon," she says. "I think we would have been on the hook forever.
"This thing is a dog. If it smells like a dog, it's a dog. And this smells like a wet dog."
The way the city handled its dealings with Octane may not have been pretty. Breakups rarely are. But it's time to cut our losses. Time to put the dog out
Goodbye, Edmonton Indy. Goodbye, Indy Racing League. Forgive me if I don't shed too many tears as you race off into the sunset.
Forgive me if I don't condemn the city for blowing a deal with Octane Management to run the Indy here next year.
The city wanted to move the race from the west side of the City Centre Airport lands to the east side, because it has closed the eastern runway and it needs the western runway to keep the airport operational during the race. Lorna Rosen, Edmonton's chief financial officer, says the city thought the move would be better and cheaper for Octane.
Octane says it was blindsided by the decision to move the track. It wanted the city to pay for the $3.2 million extra it says it would cost to create a premium track on the new site. That's on top of the $7 million in "sponsorship" and services the city had already promised to provide Octane over the next three years.
Rosen says that without city council authorization to spend the extra $3.2 million, she had no choice but to walk away from negotiations.
Now, it's certainly arguable that city council set up the deal to fail by giving Rosen such limited bargaining power. Certainly, if councillors had been hell-bent on saving the race at all costs, they would have handled things differently. And there undoubtedly are some people who'll argue that the loss of the Indy proves that shutting the airport is a bad idea.
But let's be clear. This isn't about the airport. It's about the cash.
The "privilege" of hosting this race has cost taxpayers dearly.
In its first two years, the Indy lost a total of $9.2 million. Every penny of that was backstopped by the city purse. Northlands and the city haven't finished calculating this year's losses, but Rosen says the city will likely be on the hook for at least $3 million more.
On top of that, the city provided the race with approximately $1.5 million in "services in kind" over the last three years, to pay for things like police and fire and transit.
Total bill? About $13.7 million. It doesn't end there.
Over the last three years, the Alberta government provided $1.2 million in Indy support -- $800,000 in 2010 alone. Ottawa also got into the act. The Harper government provided Indy with a grant of $810,000.
That's some $16 million in public funds to date -- to subsidize an international pro sports event -- with Octane holding out its hand for $10.2 million more from the city.
And what exactly did we, the public, get for our money?
The Indy Racing League won't allow the release of attendance figures, so it's impossible to know how many people actually bought tickets to this year's event. But Coun. Kim Krushell says attendance was down, and few were tourists.
"Ticket sales have been declining and they were down again, obviously, this year.
"Our citizens weren't buying tickets, and tourists weren't buying tickets either," says Krushell.
"From what I could see, the tickets were from the region and from Edmonton, not international."
Certainly, the Indy didn't seem to jazz the city the way an event like the Canadian Finals Rodeo does. When the CFR kicks off, the downtown, Whyte Avenue and West Edmonton Mall will bustle with tourists filling hotel rooms and restaurants and bars and stores. Grey Cup, later this month, will work the same magic. Indy never seemed to bring Edmonton the same kind of business, or party spirit.
Did the race raise our international profile? Did it convince more people to travel, invest or move here? That's also hard to say.
In its first year, the race was carried on both ESPN, a premium sports cable channel, and ESPN International. The second year, it was dropped by ESPN proper, and run instead on an obscure cable channel, VERSUS, as well as on ESPN International. This year, it was carried only by VERSUS.
How many people watched the race? And how many of those people noticed or cared that it took place in Edmonton? And how many, if any, changed their holiday or business plans as a result? The city says the international publicity was worth $80 million. Let's say I'm skeptical.
Now maybe Octane, with its racing industry experience, would have done a better job of marketing and promoting the event than Northlands has. Maybe Octane would have brought in the crowds, brought back TV coverage, made a profit.
But given the continued malaise of the U.S. economy, the impact of the strong Canadian dollar on American travellers, the continued fracturing of the TV audience, I'm not sure Octane could have made the race into a money-maker either. Certainly, the fact that negotiations broke down over a difference of roughly $3 million suggests that Octane knew it was working with a very slim margin, that it had to squeeze every penny to make its event viable.
And if the 2011 race had failed to make a profit? Krushell, for one, believes the requests for cash would have been never-ending.
"When does the buck stop for taxpayers? I didn't see the gravy train stopping any time soon," she says. "I think we would have been on the hook forever.
"This thing is a dog. If it smells like a dog, it's a dog. And this smells like a wet dog."
The way the city handled its dealings with Octane may not have been pretty. Breakups rarely are. But it's time to cut our losses. Time to put the dog out
Saturday, November 6, 2010
IndyCar Series loses Edmonton race
(by John Oreovicz espn.go.com 11-3-10)
A prime block of real estate on the Izod IndyCar Series schedule has opened with the demise of the Grand Prix of Edmonton.
A dispute over who would pay for modifications to the unique track, laid out on the runways of Edmonton's City Centre Airport, is being blamed for the cancellation of the popular event, which was scheduled for the weekend of July 23-24.
It is unknown whether the IndyCar Series will try to stage a race somewhere other than Edmonton that weekend. If a replacement venue can't be found, there will be a four-week gap from July 10 to Aug. 7 during the heart of the IndyCar season.
"We are disappointed that the city and the promoter were unable to reach an agreement on the venue changes," IndyCar said in a prepared statement. "It's unfortunate that in a time when IndyCar is experiencing momentum and growth, the city would want to miss out on the opportunity to be part of it.
"We currently are examining options for our schedule to see if there are opportunities to replace the event."
The Edmonton race lost money in its first four years, triggering an outcry about government spending on the event. But the race's future seemed assured last year when a new promoter, Montreal-based Octane Motorsports Events, Inc., stepped in.
One of the airport's two main runways was closed as scheduled in August, clearing the way for the track to be reconfigured. But the city balked at contributing to the cost of paving the new configuration -- one that would allow the remaining runway to stay open during the Grand Prix weekend.
Octane's three-year contract called for the City of Edmonton to pitch in $5.5 million Canadian ($5.45 million in U.S. dollars) as a major sponsor of the event.
"I was told our promoters, who I have tremendous respect for, had the new track laid out and estimated the improvements required," IndyCar commercial division president Terry Angstadt said, according to the Edmonton Times. "I think it was maybe in the $2 million to $3 million range, and for the size and scope of an event like this one, nobody expected any pushback. But our promoter got a call and was told it was voted out."
Angstadt said the most frustrating part of the situation is that the IndyCar Series was never invited to participate in any of the discussions about the future of the event.
The Edmonton race started as a Champ Car World Series event in 2005 and was one of four Champ Car races merged into the IndyCar schedule.
"It is tremendously disappointing, particularly after the fanfare of welcoming Octane to the fold and having the press conference with the mayor," Angstadt said, according to the report. "Just in terms of the way it has happened, it doesn't make you feel terribly welcome. To have this come down and not receive a call is a little shocking."
Octane president Francois Dumontier also expressed disdain about how his company was treated in the negotiation process. He said Octane had set an Oct. 29 deadline for an answer from the city about the status of the track project.
"Until the last minute, we hoped that the city would agree with our legitimate request to provide us a site equivalent to the one the previous promoters have worked with, without having our group investing in groundworks," he said.
An anonymous source from Octane said the city was not interested in spending on new pavement at the airport, according to the Edmonton Sun.
"We worked out a track design and setup that we thought would work. It was obvious there would have to be some pavement put down on some areas of the track and more pavement on the lawn to set up a new paddock," the source said, according to the report. "They eventually told us they were only interested in using existing pavement and not spending any money to make the switch.
"We think we got caught in the stupid fight about the airport," the source said, according to the report.
One possible replacement for Edmonton is Watkins Glen International, which was left off the IndyCar calendar when the series was unable to come to financial terms for an extension. But the proximity of The Glen's annual NASCAR Sprint Cup race on the weekend of August 13-14 could be an issue complicating a return to the upstate New York track.
Another popular option would be Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., an historic CART/Champ Car venue. However, the track's biggest event of the year -- the Kohler International Challenge vintage race -- is set for July 14-17. IndyCar could conceivably piggyback on Road America's American Le Mans Series event scheduled for August 18-20, but that would create a stretch of four races on consecutive weekends, including a cross-country jaunt to Infineon Raceway
A prime block of real estate on the Izod IndyCar Series schedule has opened with the demise of the Grand Prix of Edmonton.
A dispute over who would pay for modifications to the unique track, laid out on the runways of Edmonton's City Centre Airport, is being blamed for the cancellation of the popular event, which was scheduled for the weekend of July 23-24.
It is unknown whether the IndyCar Series will try to stage a race somewhere other than Edmonton that weekend. If a replacement venue can't be found, there will be a four-week gap from July 10 to Aug. 7 during the heart of the IndyCar season.
"We are disappointed that the city and the promoter were unable to reach an agreement on the venue changes," IndyCar said in a prepared statement. "It's unfortunate that in a time when IndyCar is experiencing momentum and growth, the city would want to miss out on the opportunity to be part of it.
"We currently are examining options for our schedule to see if there are opportunities to replace the event."
The Edmonton race lost money in its first four years, triggering an outcry about government spending on the event. But the race's future seemed assured last year when a new promoter, Montreal-based Octane Motorsports Events, Inc., stepped in.
One of the airport's two main runways was closed as scheduled in August, clearing the way for the track to be reconfigured. But the city balked at contributing to the cost of paving the new configuration -- one that would allow the remaining runway to stay open during the Grand Prix weekend.
Octane's three-year contract called for the City of Edmonton to pitch in $5.5 million Canadian ($5.45 million in U.S. dollars) as a major sponsor of the event.
"I was told our promoters, who I have tremendous respect for, had the new track laid out and estimated the improvements required," IndyCar commercial division president Terry Angstadt said, according to the Edmonton Times. "I think it was maybe in the $2 million to $3 million range, and for the size and scope of an event like this one, nobody expected any pushback. But our promoter got a call and was told it was voted out."
Angstadt said the most frustrating part of the situation is that the IndyCar Series was never invited to participate in any of the discussions about the future of the event.
The Edmonton race started as a Champ Car World Series event in 2005 and was one of four Champ Car races merged into the IndyCar schedule.
"It is tremendously disappointing, particularly after the fanfare of welcoming Octane to the fold and having the press conference with the mayor," Angstadt said, according to the report. "Just in terms of the way it has happened, it doesn't make you feel terribly welcome. To have this come down and not receive a call is a little shocking."
Octane president Francois Dumontier also expressed disdain about how his company was treated in the negotiation process. He said Octane had set an Oct. 29 deadline for an answer from the city about the status of the track project.
"Until the last minute, we hoped that the city would agree with our legitimate request to provide us a site equivalent to the one the previous promoters have worked with, without having our group investing in groundworks," he said.
An anonymous source from Octane said the city was not interested in spending on new pavement at the airport, according to the Edmonton Sun.
"We worked out a track design and setup that we thought would work. It was obvious there would have to be some pavement put down on some areas of the track and more pavement on the lawn to set up a new paddock," the source said, according to the report. "They eventually told us they were only interested in using existing pavement and not spending any money to make the switch.
"We think we got caught in the stupid fight about the airport," the source said, according to the report.
One possible replacement for Edmonton is Watkins Glen International, which was left off the IndyCar calendar when the series was unable to come to financial terms for an extension. But the proximity of The Glen's annual NASCAR Sprint Cup race on the weekend of August 13-14 could be an issue complicating a return to the upstate New York track.
Another popular option would be Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., an historic CART/Champ Car venue. However, the track's biggest event of the year -- the Kohler International Challenge vintage race -- is set for July 14-17. IndyCar could conceivably piggyback on Road America's American Le Mans Series event scheduled for August 18-20, but that would create a stretch of four races on consecutive weekends, including a cross-country jaunt to Infineon Raceway
Grand Prix organizers miss deadline for stadium payment
(by Julie Scharper baltimoresun.com 10-27-10)
The organizers of the Baltimore Grand Prix race failed to make an $800,000 bond payment this month for a $1.9 million project to convert Camden Yards parking lots into a pit lane for race cars because, in part, of the group's limited cash flow.
The Maryland Stadium Authority has agreed to a new payment plan under which the racing group will pay $150,000 next week, with an additional $750,000 coming in two installments before the end of the year.
Mike Frenz, the authority's executive director, said the racing group asked for more time because it has "a variety of cash-flow needs."
"If they had attended only to ours, that's a lot of cash to tie up in an inefficient way," he said. The authority was amenable to the new payment plan because construction was delayed due to a change in the design for the pit area, he said.
Austin Crossley, a spokesman for the Baltimore Racing Development group, said the staggered payments free up cash for other costs.
"We are a startup business, and it is beneficial to put off these expenses as long as we reasonably can," he said.
The performance bond funds were to be deposited in an escrow account to guarantee payment for the extensive project — which includes uprooting trees and removing fences, curbs and light fixtures to clear an area for refueling, tire changes and repairs during the three-day racing festival scheduled for next Labor Day weekend.
The racing group has not secured a title sponsor for the inaugural festival and has not begun to sell tickets.
Event promoter Jay Davidson has said that tickets are to go on sale next month and that the group is close to completing negotiations with a corporate sponsor that would pay "in the low seven figures."
On Wednesday, Davidson announced that the group had completed sponsorship deals with five hotels near the race route.
Crossley said that the lack of a title sponsor and ticket revenue did not cause the group to miss the Oct. 1 deadline for the bond payment.
"The fact that we haven't announced a sponsor yet is not why we didn't make that payment," Crossley said. The racing group had not expected to receive a cash infusion from a title sponsor until November, he said.
Kaliope Parthemos, deputy mayor for economic development and a member of the stadium authority's board of directors, said that she was "confident it's going to be a successful race."
"It's the first time for them and the first time for the city to have an event like this," said Parthemos. "We anticipated a learning curve."
The city has pledged $7.75 million for roadwork in preparation for the race, including moving curbs and medians, and laying new concrete and asphalt. P. Flanigan & Sons was awarded a $4.2 million contract to work on the two-mile course.
The city's public works department has embarked on $750,000 project to replace and strengthen pipes under the course in an effort to prevent a water main break.
Work on the stadium, which is slated to begin early next month, will involve converting two parking lots along Conway Street into a pit area. The project involves installing stretches of concrete that the cars need for servicing; if tire changes were made on asphalt, jacks and other equipment could sink into the surface.
Many permanent structures — including a metal fence encircling the lot and a traffic circle — will be removed and replaced with objects that can be wheeled away when the race is under way, according Eric Johnson, project manager for the stadium authority.
Initial plans called for the pit area to be located on the west side of the stadium, near Russell Street, but a revised race route moved the pit to the east side, in front of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Sports Legends Museums.
Race organizers have agreed to pay back the construction costs, and 12 percent interest, over five years, said Frenz, the stadium authority's executive director.
If the racing group is unable to pay the $900,000 by the end of the year, the stadium authority would "have to reconsider, up to and including stopping construction," he said. But he said authority officials had thoroughly reviewed the group's financial statements and were assured that the payments would be made.
"We're the ones putting up this money for the state, and it's our intention to get that money back," Frenz said.
The organizers of the Baltimore Grand Prix race failed to make an $800,000 bond payment this month for a $1.9 million project to convert Camden Yards parking lots into a pit lane for race cars because, in part, of the group's limited cash flow.
The Maryland Stadium Authority has agreed to a new payment plan under which the racing group will pay $150,000 next week, with an additional $750,000 coming in two installments before the end of the year.
Mike Frenz, the authority's executive director, said the racing group asked for more time because it has "a variety of cash-flow needs."
"If they had attended only to ours, that's a lot of cash to tie up in an inefficient way," he said. The authority was amenable to the new payment plan because construction was delayed due to a change in the design for the pit area, he said.
Austin Crossley, a spokesman for the Baltimore Racing Development group, said the staggered payments free up cash for other costs.
"We are a startup business, and it is beneficial to put off these expenses as long as we reasonably can," he said.
The performance bond funds were to be deposited in an escrow account to guarantee payment for the extensive project — which includes uprooting trees and removing fences, curbs and light fixtures to clear an area for refueling, tire changes and repairs during the three-day racing festival scheduled for next Labor Day weekend.
The racing group has not secured a title sponsor for the inaugural festival and has not begun to sell tickets.
Event promoter Jay Davidson has said that tickets are to go on sale next month and that the group is close to completing negotiations with a corporate sponsor that would pay "in the low seven figures."
On Wednesday, Davidson announced that the group had completed sponsorship deals with five hotels near the race route.
Crossley said that the lack of a title sponsor and ticket revenue did not cause the group to miss the Oct. 1 deadline for the bond payment.
"The fact that we haven't announced a sponsor yet is not why we didn't make that payment," Crossley said. The racing group had not expected to receive a cash infusion from a title sponsor until November, he said.
Kaliope Parthemos, deputy mayor for economic development and a member of the stadium authority's board of directors, said that she was "confident it's going to be a successful race."
"It's the first time for them and the first time for the city to have an event like this," said Parthemos. "We anticipated a learning curve."
The city has pledged $7.75 million for roadwork in preparation for the race, including moving curbs and medians, and laying new concrete and asphalt. P. Flanigan & Sons was awarded a $4.2 million contract to work on the two-mile course.
The city's public works department has embarked on $750,000 project to replace and strengthen pipes under the course in an effort to prevent a water main break.
Work on the stadium, which is slated to begin early next month, will involve converting two parking lots along Conway Street into a pit area. The project involves installing stretches of concrete that the cars need for servicing; if tire changes were made on asphalt, jacks and other equipment could sink into the surface.
Many permanent structures — including a metal fence encircling the lot and a traffic circle — will be removed and replaced with objects that can be wheeled away when the race is under way, according Eric Johnson, project manager for the stadium authority.
Initial plans called for the pit area to be located on the west side of the stadium, near Russell Street, but a revised race route moved the pit to the east side, in front of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Sports Legends Museums.
Race organizers have agreed to pay back the construction costs, and 12 percent interest, over five years, said Frenz, the stadium authority's executive director.
If the racing group is unable to pay the $900,000 by the end of the year, the stadium authority would "have to reconsider, up to and including stopping construction," he said. But he said authority officials had thoroughly reviewed the group's financial statements and were assured that the payments would be made.
"We're the ones putting up this money for the state, and it's our intention to get that money back," Frenz said.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
IndyCar Series drops IRL brand
(by John Oreovicz espn.go.com 9-10-10)
WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- IndyCar's 2011 schedule announcement was as much about the past as it was about the future.
At an event staged at the Milwaukee Mile on the eve of the 107th anniversary of the first-ever race at the historic venue, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard unveiled a 17-event schedule that welcomes Milwaukee back to the open-wheel ranks after a year's absence.
He also used the occasion to officially confirm that the name "Indy Racing League" is being put to rest.
"'IRL' has a negative connotation since the [CART-IRL] divorce, whereas 'IndyCar' is known around the world," Bernard said. "I just got back from a trip to Europe talking to manufacturers, and everyone I had meetings with knew what IndyCar was, whereas some didn't know about IRL. Same thing with Brazil.
"We want to create perception and we want to welcome back those 15-20 million fans that we lost in the mid-'90s. Let's go back to our roots. Let's go back to what made IndyCar. And the first thing we need to do is make sure that our brand image is positive."
Also being cast aside -- for now, at least -- is IndyCar's relationship with International Speedway Corp., the France family-owned track operator that provided the Izod IndyCar Series with many of its race venues over the past 15 years.
There's a common perception that ISC did a less-than-stellar job in promoting its IndyCar races, thereby ensuring that the France family's other key business -- a little endeavor called NASCAR -- remained America's undisputed No. 1 form of motorsport.
And there's plenty of circumstantial evidence to support that theory. From Homestead to Fontana and everywhere in between, empty seats have been the norm at ISC's IndyCar races.
That fact wasn't lost on Bernard, who quickly determined that running IndyCar races in front of sparse crowds at ISC tracks was hurting IndyCar's image more than it was helping it.
"We don't want to shut doors with ISC, but we have to go with places that we believe are best for the series," Bernard remarked. "We want to work with promoters that are aggressive at marketing and activating IndyCar. Fortunately this brings opportunities with new venues and promoters that are fully aligned with our strategy moving forward.
"We want to be in a position next year where we have 25 or 26 hungry promoters coming to us trying to secure one of our 17 or 18 races."
The four remaining ISC tracks on the 2010 IndyCar Series schedule -- Kansas Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Chicagoland Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway -- have been summarily dropped from the future calendar. They followed other ISC-owned venues into open-wheel oblivion including Michigan Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway, Richmond International Raceway and California Speedway.
Most of those tracks enjoyed robust crowds in Indy car racing's glory days, only to go into decline as open-wheel racing lost traction to NASCAR during the bitter battle for control of open-wheel that was waged between CART and the IRL between 1996 and 2007.
Michigan, California and Homestead were among tracks owned by Penske Speedways Inc. before Roger Penske sold his group of tracks to ISC in 1999. Penske's business connections often helped fill the grandstands at those tracks by distributing tens of thousands of tickets to employees of Penske Corp. and his longtime sponsors, including Philip Morris Inc.
So it's out with the old and in with the new -- or not so new, in the case of Milwaukee, perhaps the most popular oval track among Indy car drivers and a venue that drew upward of 40,000 in days when open-wheel racing's popularity was at its peak in the 1980s and '90s under CART sanction.
Like many other tracks, Milwaukee's attendance slumped in the wake of the open-wheel war. But Bernard believes that the return of a unified series marketed as "IndyCar" as opposed to "IRL" can reverse the trend.
"This track has so much history, and I've heard from the purists and the traditionalists and the die-hard fans out there, and they wanted the Milwaukee Mile back on," he said. "We're happy that we were able to deliver."
The IndyCar drivers might be the constituency group that is happiest about the return to Milwaukee.
Scott Dixon, who won the last IndyCar race staged at Milwaukee in 2009, was on hand for the announcement of the series' return to The Mile.
"The history is the easiest thing to look at, but for drivers, they just want to have a shot at winning at this place because it's so tough," he said. "I've had some miserable days here -- I think I set a record by destroying two cars in four laps here in 2005. It's a real challenge and it feels like a definite accomplishment when you win here."
Other new venues on the 2011 schedule include another short oval -- New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- and a street race in downtown Baltimore's Inner Harbor district.
The other short oval on the calendar, Iowa Speedway, moves to a Saturday night format.
The venue for the season finale set for Oct. 16 has not been determined, but it is expected to be Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bernard revealed that ISC-owned California Speedway made a strong pitch to host the finale, including direct contact from California Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger.
The Vegas connection is indicative of IndyCar's strengthening relationship with ISC's chief competitor, Speedway Motorsports Inc. If Vegas is confirmed, five SMI tracks will be present on the 2011 slate, including Texas Motor Speedway (which will host twin 275-kilometer races on June 11), New Hampshire, Infineon Raceway and Kentucky Speedway.
WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- IndyCar's 2011 schedule announcement was as much about the past as it was about the future.
At an event staged at the Milwaukee Mile on the eve of the 107th anniversary of the first-ever race at the historic venue, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard unveiled a 17-event schedule that welcomes Milwaukee back to the open-wheel ranks after a year's absence.
He also used the occasion to officially confirm that the name "Indy Racing League" is being put to rest.
"'IRL' has a negative connotation since the [CART-IRL] divorce, whereas 'IndyCar' is known around the world," Bernard said. "I just got back from a trip to Europe talking to manufacturers, and everyone I had meetings with knew what IndyCar was, whereas some didn't know about IRL. Same thing with Brazil.
"We want to create perception and we want to welcome back those 15-20 million fans that we lost in the mid-'90s. Let's go back to our roots. Let's go back to what made IndyCar. And the first thing we need to do is make sure that our brand image is positive."
Also being cast aside -- for now, at least -- is IndyCar's relationship with International Speedway Corp., the France family-owned track operator that provided the Izod IndyCar Series with many of its race venues over the past 15 years.
There's a common perception that ISC did a less-than-stellar job in promoting its IndyCar races, thereby ensuring that the France family's other key business -- a little endeavor called NASCAR -- remained America's undisputed No. 1 form of motorsport.
And there's plenty of circumstantial evidence to support that theory. From Homestead to Fontana and everywhere in between, empty seats have been the norm at ISC's IndyCar races.
That fact wasn't lost on Bernard, who quickly determined that running IndyCar races in front of sparse crowds at ISC tracks was hurting IndyCar's image more than it was helping it.
"We don't want to shut doors with ISC, but we have to go with places that we believe are best for the series," Bernard remarked. "We want to work with promoters that are aggressive at marketing and activating IndyCar. Fortunately this brings opportunities with new venues and promoters that are fully aligned with our strategy moving forward.
"We want to be in a position next year where we have 25 or 26 hungry promoters coming to us trying to secure one of our 17 or 18 races."
The four remaining ISC tracks on the 2010 IndyCar Series schedule -- Kansas Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Chicagoland Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway -- have been summarily dropped from the future calendar. They followed other ISC-owned venues into open-wheel oblivion including Michigan Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway, Richmond International Raceway and California Speedway.
Most of those tracks enjoyed robust crowds in Indy car racing's glory days, only to go into decline as open-wheel racing lost traction to NASCAR during the bitter battle for control of open-wheel that was waged between CART and the IRL between 1996 and 2007.
Michigan, California and Homestead were among tracks owned by Penske Speedways Inc. before Roger Penske sold his group of tracks to ISC in 1999. Penske's business connections often helped fill the grandstands at those tracks by distributing tens of thousands of tickets to employees of Penske Corp. and his longtime sponsors, including Philip Morris Inc.
So it's out with the old and in with the new -- or not so new, in the case of Milwaukee, perhaps the most popular oval track among Indy car drivers and a venue that drew upward of 40,000 in days when open-wheel racing's popularity was at its peak in the 1980s and '90s under CART sanction.
Like many other tracks, Milwaukee's attendance slumped in the wake of the open-wheel war. But Bernard believes that the return of a unified series marketed as "IndyCar" as opposed to "IRL" can reverse the trend.
"This track has so much history, and I've heard from the purists and the traditionalists and the die-hard fans out there, and they wanted the Milwaukee Mile back on," he said. "We're happy that we were able to deliver."
The IndyCar drivers might be the constituency group that is happiest about the return to Milwaukee.
Scott Dixon, who won the last IndyCar race staged at Milwaukee in 2009, was on hand for the announcement of the series' return to The Mile.
"The history is the easiest thing to look at, but for drivers, they just want to have a shot at winning at this place because it's so tough," he said. "I've had some miserable days here -- I think I set a record by destroying two cars in four laps here in 2005. It's a real challenge and it feels like a definite accomplishment when you win here."
Other new venues on the 2011 schedule include another short oval -- New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- and a street race in downtown Baltimore's Inner Harbor district.
The other short oval on the calendar, Iowa Speedway, moves to a Saturday night format.
The venue for the season finale set for Oct. 16 has not been determined, but it is expected to be Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bernard revealed that ISC-owned California Speedway made a strong pitch to host the finale, including direct contact from California Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger.
The Vegas connection is indicative of IndyCar's strengthening relationship with ISC's chief competitor, Speedway Motorsports Inc. If Vegas is confirmed, five SMI tracks will be present on the 2011 slate, including Texas Motor Speedway (which will host twin 275-kilometer races on June 11), New Hampshire, Infineon Raceway and Kentucky Speedway.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Brickyard decline not good for IRL
(by Anthony Schoettle ibj.com 7-31-10)
Motorsports insiders think the Brickyard 400’s declining fortunes will hasten the Hulman-George family’s decision on the future of the Indy Racing League, which the NASCAR race has helped subsidize.
IMS CEO Jeff Belskus, who replaced Tony George in June 2009, said the Brickyard 400 remains “very profitable.”
“It’s a strong event for us,” he said.
Few dispute that, but racing analysts now think the IRL’s losses exceed the Brickyard 400’s profit, and that could be a major rub for the board that controls the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IRL.
Since the IRL’s inception in 1996, the board, which is four-fifths Hulman-George family members, has used Brickyard 400 profits to support the open-wheel series. But now the Brickyard’s raging revenue stream has slowed considerably.
A feud among board members over money following the 2009 Indianapolis 500 led to the departure of former IMS and IRL boss Tony George. Now there’s speculation the diminished financial firepower of the Brickyard 400 could lead to other changes.
“The balance sheet is what led to Tony George’s ouster, so you know the balance sheet has [the board's] attention,” said Zak Brown, president of Just Marketing International, a local firm that represents some of the biggest sponsors in motorsports.
“All the money goes in the same bank account, and they’re writing a lot of checks for IndyCar. You have to believe they’ve set a firm amount on what they’re willing to spend on the open-wheel series.”
Most with knowledge of Speedway finances think that amount is directly related to what the Brickyard 400 generates in profit.
Belskus said the Brickyard 400 and IRL are “evaluated separately,” but, he added, “a healthy Indianapolis Motor Speedway is good for the Indy Racing League.”
The Indianapolis 500’s hefty profit is a big component of the track’s health, but the Speedway’s flagship race doesn’t throw off enough money to underwrite the IRL.
It’s not clear how the Brickyard’s diminished profit could affect the league and, by extension, the Indy 500.
“The problem is, now that Champ Car is gone, what’s the prospect for the Indianapolis 500 without the Indy Racing League?” said Larry DeGaris, director of academic sports marketing programs at the University of Indianapolis, who has conducted several studies for motorsports business enterprises. “It’s difficult to imagine they could just abandon the [IRL]. But who knows?”
IRL CEO Randy Bernard, who took his post on March 1, is hopeful the open-wheel series can break even in 2011 and reach profitability in 2012.
“I’d like to believe that, but it sounds optimistic,” said Tim Frost, president of Frost Motorsports, a Chicago-based motorsports business consultancy. “I like what Randy is doing, but he has a steep hill to climb.”
George, before his ouster, said the series must be profitable by 2013 or there would be no 2013.
Though the tight-lipped Hulman-George clan has never divulged financial information, motorsports business experts have estimated the IRL has lost more than $400 million since its inception in 1996.
Sources close to the IRL said the series lost $22 million in 2009 and is headed for another eight-figure loss this year. IRL officials have cut $2 million in overhead in the last year, have raised $3 million in cash annually with a new title sponsorship deal with Izod, and tallied $2 million in profits from the series’ popular Brazil race, said motorsports business experts. That still leaves a $15 million hole to close.
Bernard is busy trying to find new markets and raise sanctioning fees to keep the series above water.
The Speedway board, meanwhile, is dedicated to continuing with all current enterprises, including the Brickyard 400 and IRL, Belskus said.
And Belskus is bent on reversing the Brickyard 400 decline that has seen attendance spiral from 270,000 in 2007 to 140,000 this year. While the Speedway won’t spend more on marketing, he said, most ticket prices will be dropped $10 to $20 and features will be added to next year’s race weekend in an attempt to draw more fans.
“We’re going to invest money into enhancing the experience at the track for people,” Belskus said, “and making this more of a destination.”
The local NASCAR race certainly isn’t the only one losing traction, but it’s leading the field in its rate of decline. Fourteen of NASCAR’s first 19 races have seen attendance declines, with an average drop near 20 percent.
Though Brickyard 400 attendance has been halved since its inception in 1994, it’s still one of the biggest races on the NASCAR circuit, with its 140,000 attendance far outpacing NASCAR’s 2010 average of 99,853.
The Speedway reaps $7 million to $10 million in TV revenue from the race—second in NASCAR only to Daytona. That allows most revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, corporate hospitality and concession sales to fall to the bottom line.
Motorsports business experts estimate the profitability of the race for the IMS is still around $10 million to $13 million. But less than five years ago, it was more than double that.
Ticket revenue has declined more than $10 million and the loss of All-State as title sponsor cost the IMS another $2 million annually, motorsports business experts said. Factor in revenue declines in concessions, parking and other ancillary revenue and the drop is approaching $20 million.
Recent comments made by NASCAR CEO Brian France, who said Kentucky Speedway’s desire for a race could affect Indianapolis’ future, certainly haven’t soothed IMS officials’ nerves. For now, NASCAR is dedicated to having a race here in 2011, but since the contract is year-to-year, the long-term prospects are uncertain.
NASCAR officials could be using Kentucky as a threat to leverage a better deal in Indianapolis, but Brown said IMS officials should be concerned, nonetheless.
“Even if [NASCAR] decides to schedule Kentucky on another weekend, that would have a big impact on the Brickyard 400’s profits,” Brown said. “I’m sure the race here gets a big draw from Kentucky, and NASCAR is risking oversaturating the market."
Motorsports insiders think the Brickyard 400’s declining fortunes will hasten the Hulman-George family’s decision on the future of the Indy Racing League, which the NASCAR race has helped subsidize.
IMS CEO Jeff Belskus, who replaced Tony George in June 2009, said the Brickyard 400 remains “very profitable.”
“It’s a strong event for us,” he said.
Few dispute that, but racing analysts now think the IRL’s losses exceed the Brickyard 400’s profit, and that could be a major rub for the board that controls the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IRL.
Since the IRL’s inception in 1996, the board, which is four-fifths Hulman-George family members, has used Brickyard 400 profits to support the open-wheel series. But now the Brickyard’s raging revenue stream has slowed considerably.
A feud among board members over money following the 2009 Indianapolis 500 led to the departure of former IMS and IRL boss Tony George. Now there’s speculation the diminished financial firepower of the Brickyard 400 could lead to other changes.
“The balance sheet is what led to Tony George’s ouster, so you know the balance sheet has [the board's] attention,” said Zak Brown, president of Just Marketing International, a local firm that represents some of the biggest sponsors in motorsports.
“All the money goes in the same bank account, and they’re writing a lot of checks for IndyCar. You have to believe they’ve set a firm amount on what they’re willing to spend on the open-wheel series.”
Most with knowledge of Speedway finances think that amount is directly related to what the Brickyard 400 generates in profit.
Belskus said the Brickyard 400 and IRL are “evaluated separately,” but, he added, “a healthy Indianapolis Motor Speedway is good for the Indy Racing League.”
The Indianapolis 500’s hefty profit is a big component of the track’s health, but the Speedway’s flagship race doesn’t throw off enough money to underwrite the IRL.
It’s not clear how the Brickyard’s diminished profit could affect the league and, by extension, the Indy 500.
“The problem is, now that Champ Car is gone, what’s the prospect for the Indianapolis 500 without the Indy Racing League?” said Larry DeGaris, director of academic sports marketing programs at the University of Indianapolis, who has conducted several studies for motorsports business enterprises. “It’s difficult to imagine they could just abandon the [IRL]. But who knows?”
IRL CEO Randy Bernard, who took his post on March 1, is hopeful the open-wheel series can break even in 2011 and reach profitability in 2012.
“I’d like to believe that, but it sounds optimistic,” said Tim Frost, president of Frost Motorsports, a Chicago-based motorsports business consultancy. “I like what Randy is doing, but he has a steep hill to climb.”
George, before his ouster, said the series must be profitable by 2013 or there would be no 2013.
Though the tight-lipped Hulman-George clan has never divulged financial information, motorsports business experts have estimated the IRL has lost more than $400 million since its inception in 1996.
Sources close to the IRL said the series lost $22 million in 2009 and is headed for another eight-figure loss this year. IRL officials have cut $2 million in overhead in the last year, have raised $3 million in cash annually with a new title sponsorship deal with Izod, and tallied $2 million in profits from the series’ popular Brazil race, said motorsports business experts. That still leaves a $15 million hole to close.
Bernard is busy trying to find new markets and raise sanctioning fees to keep the series above water.
The Speedway board, meanwhile, is dedicated to continuing with all current enterprises, including the Brickyard 400 and IRL, Belskus said.
And Belskus is bent on reversing the Brickyard 400 decline that has seen attendance spiral from 270,000 in 2007 to 140,000 this year. While the Speedway won’t spend more on marketing, he said, most ticket prices will be dropped $10 to $20 and features will be added to next year’s race weekend in an attempt to draw more fans.
“We’re going to invest money into enhancing the experience at the track for people,” Belskus said, “and making this more of a destination.”
The local NASCAR race certainly isn’t the only one losing traction, but it’s leading the field in its rate of decline. Fourteen of NASCAR’s first 19 races have seen attendance declines, with an average drop near 20 percent.
Though Brickyard 400 attendance has been halved since its inception in 1994, it’s still one of the biggest races on the NASCAR circuit, with its 140,000 attendance far outpacing NASCAR’s 2010 average of 99,853.
The Speedway reaps $7 million to $10 million in TV revenue from the race—second in NASCAR only to Daytona. That allows most revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, corporate hospitality and concession sales to fall to the bottom line.
Motorsports business experts estimate the profitability of the race for the IMS is still around $10 million to $13 million. But less than five years ago, it was more than double that.
Ticket revenue has declined more than $10 million and the loss of All-State as title sponsor cost the IMS another $2 million annually, motorsports business experts said. Factor in revenue declines in concessions, parking and other ancillary revenue and the drop is approaching $20 million.
Recent comments made by NASCAR CEO Brian France, who said Kentucky Speedway’s desire for a race could affect Indianapolis’ future, certainly haven’t soothed IMS officials’ nerves. For now, NASCAR is dedicated to having a race here in 2011, but since the contract is year-to-year, the long-term prospects are uncertain.
NASCAR officials could be using Kentucky as a threat to leverage a better deal in Indianapolis, but Brown said IMS officials should be concerned, nonetheless.
“Even if [NASCAR] decides to schedule Kentucky on another weekend, that would have a big impact on the Brickyard 400’s profits,” Brown said. “I’m sure the race here gets a big draw from Kentucky, and NASCAR is risking oversaturating the market."
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Is IndyCar picking a NASCAR fight?
(by John Oreovicz espn.go.com 6-28-10)
LOUDON, N.H. -- Dario Franchitti never led a Sprint Cup race during his brief NASCAR career. But he did Sunday -- sort of.
Immediately before the start of NASCAR's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Franchitti turned a few demonstration laps in his Target Chip Ganassi Racing Indy car to promote the fact the IZOD IndyCar Series will return to the New England market with a race on July 31, 2011. The laps weren't especially fast (in the 26-second bracket, about three seconds quicker than a stock car but more than four seconds slower than Andre Ribeiro's track record of 21.466 seconds set in 1995 in a CART-spec Indy car) but they sent a powerful message to the American racing community.
Here's why: Whether they acknowledge it or not, IndyCar and NASCAR are competitors. Again, similarly unacknowledged, NHMS owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) is a direct competitor to International Speedway Corp. (ISC). ISC and NASCAR are essentially one entity, owned as they are by the France family.
Connecting the dots, Sunday's announcement and demonstration run could be perceived as SMI and IndyCar teaming up to take on the France family and their ISC/NASCAR juggernaut. And even though everyone involved said all the right things, there is no doubt that NASCAR fought the day's activities tooth and nail. When the IndyCar contingent was en route to New Hampshire early Sunday morning, league officials were still in doubt whether NASCAR would allow Franchitti's demonstration run.
On the flight, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard told a story to illustrate his concern.
"Davey Hamilton [veteran IRL driver and radio commentator] did an Indy car demonstration like this at Las Vegas Motor Speedway many years ago," Bernard said. "They told him to do a couple laps and stay below 175 mph. He didn't want to do that -- he really wanted to show the fans what the car could do, and he did.
"He knew they were going to be mad, but Davey lived in Las Vegas. So he parked his car in a place where he knew he could get out of there in a hurry if there was trouble."
Franchitti didn't have that luxury, because he was tabbed to make the "Start your engines" call for the NASCAR race after his Indy car laps.
All in all, the demonstration went off without a hitch -- and apparently with the blessing of NASCAR president Mike Helton.
"[Helton] said, 'Tell Dario not to crash or blow an engine and mess up our racetrack,'" said NHMS president Jerry Gappens, an Indiana native who was instrumental in luring Indy car racing back to New Hampshire for the first time since 1998.
Of course the ultimate decision rested with SMI CEO Bruton Smith, who was on hand for Sunday's announcement. SMI acquired NHMS for $340 million in 2007, and therefore was not party to Indy car racing's prior history at the "Magic Mile." Four CART-sanctioned races were run at NHMS from 1992 to '95, but attendance dropped from an average of about 50,000 to less than 10,000 when the track's then-owner, Bob Bahre, switched to an Indy Racing League-sanctioned event for 1996-98.
The New Hampshire Indy car race was one of many casualties in the American open-wheel racing war, along with events at several other SMI tracks, including Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Las Vegas.
But the open-wheel landscape has changed dramatically in the last two years, mainly thanks to the so-called unification of the sport. And one of the first things that Bernard -- who has been on the job as IRL CEO for only four months -- said he noticed was a consistent lack of success for IndyCar Series races at ISC tracks. Attendance and promotion at SMI tracks, especially Texas, has always much stronger.
Hence the rapidly growing partnership between the IRL and SMI.
"Mr. Smith is one of my heroes," Bernard said. "The way he promotes is so aggressive, and that's what the IZOD IndyCar Series wants and needs. We have to think in the best interests of the IndyCar Series, and that's why we want to be involved with Mr. Smith."
You can see why Bernard has taken a shine to "Mr. Smith" and vice versa. They're both born promoters who aren't afraid to take chances.
Bernard frequently used the word "aggressive" when talking about Smith and SMI, but there is no doubt that Bernard has been aggressive in his first 100 days on the IRL job. He's already pushed the stagnant future engine formula selection process forward, and he hopes to make an announcement about chassis by July 14.
Bernard has also indicated that major changes could be coming to the IndyCar schedule, which he promised to reveal by "late summer." In addition to the New Hampshire event, IndyCar has already announced a new street race in Baltimore set for the week after NHMS in 2011.
With the schedule to be capped at 17 or 18 races, several existing events are apparently going to be dropped. And the obvious ones are the poorly attended races at ISC tracks -- Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and Watkins Glen International.
On Sunday, Bernard said that IndyCar has a positive relationship with ISC, "But they need to tell us what they can bring to the table that they're not bringing right now."
He didn't rule out one-year contracts to keep some ISC tracks in the fold. "I like one-year contracts, because it keeps everyone hungry," Bernard said. New Hampshire is a one-year deal.
From a business standpoint, a stronger IndyCar Series can only benefit SMI, and ISC for that matter. That's where those France family ties get complicated and conflicted for ISC, because the Frances most certainly do not want to see Indy car racing grow at the expense of NASCAR, but they do want successful events at their tracks.
SMI officials are convinced that despite its checkered past in New England, the New Hampshire Indy car race will be a winner this time around.
"I like Indy car racing," Smith said. "I'm looking forward to bringing Indy cars back to New Hampshire, and I hope y'all are, too. We're going to promote the dickens out of it and make it a national event."
"The difference [from 1998] is that Bruton wasn't the promoter, and it has changed a lot since then," Gappens added. "IndyCar has better drivers, better cars and good momentum. A lot of it is due to Randy."
If anything, Bernard is a man not afraid to make a decision and put it into action. That's what makes his growing relationship with Smith so intriguing. Both of them are willing to take chances and do whatever it takes to make IndyCar events successful.
The Indy car war of 1996-2008 may be over, yet open-wheel racing still has its share of problems and conflicts. But with Bernard acting aggressively as the new sheriff in town, the streets are being cleaned up.
The question to be determined in the next few weeks is whether those streets will continue to include International Speedway Corp. properties.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
IRL urged to act over Conway crash
(by Simon Strang autosport.com 6-3-10)
Double Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk and former Marlboro 500 winner Mark Blundell have called on the IndyCar Series to act to curb teams employing fuel-saving strategies on ovals in the aftermath of Mike Conway's accident.
The Briton sustained broken vertebrae and compound fractures to his left leg when his Dreyer & Reinbold car vaulted over the back of Ryan Hunter-Reay's Andretti Autosport Dallara during this year's Indianapolis event.
The accident happened when the American's car began to run out of fuel while trying to make it to the finish in eighth place.
Blundell, Conway's manager, believes that the IRL should consider introducing regulations to prevent a similar accident in the future, adding that the 26-year-old - who will require a further operation following the five-hour one he had on Monday - could not have avoided hitting Hunter-Reay.
"What happened on Sunday could have been avoided," Blundell told AUTOSPORT. "There could have been a fatality, not just on track, but also in the crowd.
"They need to do something about it so that it doesn't happen again. If you haven't driven an IndyCar at those speeds, you could never understand, but there is nothing a driver can do in those situations. If a driver has run out of fuel and is coasting on the racing line, you simply have no time to react at all."
Blundell wants to see rules introduced to ensure that drivers have to finish the race on a minimum amount of fuel - to avoid running out altogether - or be forced to run on the low line of the track if they are in fuel-saving mode, so that faster runners know to avoid them.
Several drivers were lapping off their optimum pace in a bid to make their fuel go the distance on Sunday.
"The Indy Racing League needs to look at it," he said. "There should be one that forces drivers to run on the low line if they are in fuel-saving mode, or stay up high out of the way, but either way never take the racing line with the speed differences involved because it can be as much as 80mph.
"They were black-flagging drivers for blocking during the race, which is fair enough, because that is dangerous, but the speed differential was only between two and five mph. There were cars at the end of the race going at 150mph while others were doing 220.
"Mike had a strategy that saw him running flat out for 500 miles and that's the name of the game - 500 miles. Plus race control had several laps to assess the difference in speed between the leaders low on fuel and the guys coming back through the pack at full racing speed. There should be a mechanism in place to avoid this happening again.
"The bottom line," he added, "is that they need to introduce a rule to ensure drivers finish with fuel in the tank. That would take some of this kind of thing away."
In a statement, the Indy Racing League's CEO Brian Barnhart explained that the event's organisers always tell competitors to head for the apron if their car hits trouble and that this was the case on Sunday.
"Like every other race, when a car is running out of fuel or having a mechanical problem, we implore the driver to move as quickly as possible to the apron of the track and out of the way of traffic," said Barnhart. "With the timing of the incident at Indy, Ryan's car just began to sputter and there was no time for him to pull out of the line of traffic before impact was made."
Luyendyk - who won two Indy 500s, in 1990 and '97, and coached Conway in this year's event – said that while it was understandable that drivers were allowed to try and save fuel at the end of the race, it was unacceptable for cars to run out altogether on fast ovals.
"The IRL needs to change the rules because normally if you're running way off the pace on an oval they black flag you to prevent accidents because of the huge speed difference – the closing rates are so great," he said. "In this case they let everybody out, which is understandable because all the front-runners were off the pace saving fuel with a few laps left, but to actually run out of fuel cannot happen on an oval especially with the speeds and speed differential.
"Mike had nowhere to go, he was running 220mph laps and most others [were running] around 200. I believe there is a rule in F1 to have 1.5 gallons of fuel left in the car at the conclusion of a race. It would be a good rule to have that here."
Double Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk and former Marlboro 500 winner Mark Blundell have called on the IndyCar Series to act to curb teams employing fuel-saving strategies on ovals in the aftermath of Mike Conway's accident.
The Briton sustained broken vertebrae and compound fractures to his left leg when his Dreyer & Reinbold car vaulted over the back of Ryan Hunter-Reay's Andretti Autosport Dallara during this year's Indianapolis event.
The accident happened when the American's car began to run out of fuel while trying to make it to the finish in eighth place.
Blundell, Conway's manager, believes that the IRL should consider introducing regulations to prevent a similar accident in the future, adding that the 26-year-old - who will require a further operation following the five-hour one he had on Monday - could not have avoided hitting Hunter-Reay.
"What happened on Sunday could have been avoided," Blundell told AUTOSPORT. "There could have been a fatality, not just on track, but also in the crowd.
"They need to do something about it so that it doesn't happen again. If you haven't driven an IndyCar at those speeds, you could never understand, but there is nothing a driver can do in those situations. If a driver has run out of fuel and is coasting on the racing line, you simply have no time to react at all."
Blundell wants to see rules introduced to ensure that drivers have to finish the race on a minimum amount of fuel - to avoid running out altogether - or be forced to run on the low line of the track if they are in fuel-saving mode, so that faster runners know to avoid them.
Several drivers were lapping off their optimum pace in a bid to make their fuel go the distance on Sunday.
"The Indy Racing League needs to look at it," he said. "There should be one that forces drivers to run on the low line if they are in fuel-saving mode, or stay up high out of the way, but either way never take the racing line with the speed differences involved because it can be as much as 80mph.
"They were black-flagging drivers for blocking during the race, which is fair enough, because that is dangerous, but the speed differential was only between two and five mph. There were cars at the end of the race going at 150mph while others were doing 220.
"Mike had a strategy that saw him running flat out for 500 miles and that's the name of the game - 500 miles. Plus race control had several laps to assess the difference in speed between the leaders low on fuel and the guys coming back through the pack at full racing speed. There should be a mechanism in place to avoid this happening again.
"The bottom line," he added, "is that they need to introduce a rule to ensure drivers finish with fuel in the tank. That would take some of this kind of thing away."
In a statement, the Indy Racing League's CEO Brian Barnhart explained that the event's organisers always tell competitors to head for the apron if their car hits trouble and that this was the case on Sunday.
"Like every other race, when a car is running out of fuel or having a mechanical problem, we implore the driver to move as quickly as possible to the apron of the track and out of the way of traffic," said Barnhart. "With the timing of the incident at Indy, Ryan's car just began to sputter and there was no time for him to pull out of the line of traffic before impact was made."
Luyendyk - who won two Indy 500s, in 1990 and '97, and coached Conway in this year's event – said that while it was understandable that drivers were allowed to try and save fuel at the end of the race, it was unacceptable for cars to run out altogether on fast ovals.
"The IRL needs to change the rules because normally if you're running way off the pace on an oval they black flag you to prevent accidents because of the huge speed difference – the closing rates are so great," he said. "In this case they let everybody out, which is understandable because all the front-runners were off the pace saving fuel with a few laps left, but to actually run out of fuel cannot happen on an oval especially with the speeds and speed differential.
"Mike had nowhere to go, he was running 220mph laps and most others [were running] around 200. I believe there is a rule in F1 to have 1.5 gallons of fuel left in the car at the conclusion of a race. It would be a good rule to have that here."
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Cool helmet for the Luczo Dragon pit crew
Let's face it, if IndyCar wants to move forward and grow they need to start looking like a modern racing series.
To do that the first step is going to be start racing a car that isn't as old as my grandma's Buick. That's a big step and hopefuly one that is in the works, but one thing that could be done right now (albeit a little step) would be to update the pit crew guys with modern looking uniforms. Luzco Dragon is doing just that with some futuristic looking helmets that are right out of F1.
KV Racing however hasn't taken a step into the future and their guys are still wearing last century's headgear. It looks like those NFL fieldgoal kickers that wear the one-bar facemask with the bar moved down around their chin. "KV Racing lines up for the extra point attempt. Hike!"
Tagliani's team is about halfway there, old helmets but a cool looking shiney gold finish.
On a side note, NASCAR is worse than IndyCar. These guys don't even tuck in their shirts!
F1's McLaren Mercedes team has everyone beat though for the futuristic look.
To do that the first step is going to be start racing a car that isn't as old as my grandma's Buick. That's a big step and hopefuly one that is in the works, but one thing that could be done right now (albeit a little step) would be to update the pit crew guys with modern looking uniforms. Luzco Dragon is doing just that with some futuristic looking helmets that are right out of F1.
KV Racing however hasn't taken a step into the future and their guys are still wearing last century's headgear. It looks like those NFL fieldgoal kickers that wear the one-bar facemask with the bar moved down around their chin. "KV Racing lines up for the extra point attempt. Hike!"
Tagliani's team is about halfway there, old helmets but a cool looking shiney gold finish.
On a side note, NASCAR is worse than IndyCar. These guys don't even tuck in their shirts!
F1's McLaren Mercedes team has everyone beat though for the futuristic look.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Indy Car paint jobs, St Pete Grandprix
From above these cars actually don't look half bad. But.....
(Hideki Mutoh)
(Alex Tagliani)
(Takuma Sato)
look at them from street level and you'll remember why you hate them so much.
(Hideki Mutoh)
(Alex Tagliani)
(Takuma Sato)
look at them from street level and you'll remember why you hate them so much.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Andretti uninjured after IRL wreck
(si.com 3-14-10)
SAO PAULO (AP) -- Marco Andretti escaped injury after being involved in a scary accident at the start of the Sao Paulo Indy 300 on Sunday.
The car of Brazil's Mario Moraes spun and crashed on the back of Andretti's slowing car as they approached the first chicane after the start.
Moraes' car finished on top of Andretti's and they slid tangled for several yards. The bottom of Moraes' car appeared to be touching Andretti's helmet.
It took more than five minutes for officials to remove Moraes' car so the medical team could attend to Andretti, who eventually was able to walk away from the scene.
Andretti was briefly taken to the medical center and then released.
The American driver said he slowed because he could not see in front of him as other drivers made contact approaching the first turn and threw a lot of dust into the air.
"It's obviously dusty,'' he said. "I think if you have any common sense, you're not going to stay flat out if you can't see the car ahead of you.''
There was extra dust at the Sambadrome straight because officials had to add grooves to the concrete surface overnight after drivers complained that the track was slippery and unsafe.
The track was washed several times, but not all of the dust was removed ahead of the race.
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