There's no shortage of road course venues vying to be in IndyCar, so finding a replacement won't be a problem. I'm sure a Cleveland round would be at least as popular if it's going to be an airport race. But, IRL: Where is Road America????

It may not be so simple, if the blogger writing "The Indy Idea" referenced above is correct. IndyCar evidently seeks some pretty stiff sanctioning fees, which is why RA has not been interested, IIRC. It will be difficult to find new venues going forward if subsidies are required to cover losses on the scale of Edmonton's, which I had thought was a relatively popular race.



As an aside, the same blogger links to other blogs, several of which I was unaware of. Is anyone here a reader of these?

http://www.mynameisirl.com/

http://www.drivehardturnleft.com/

http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/

http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/

http://16thandgeorgetown.blogspot.com/

Surely IRL is not in position to charge big sanction fees!

Do they actually distribute the money to the teams (to cover 30-50% of the budget) the way they do in F1 or V8 Supercars?

Mark,
I read Bill Zahren
(Pressdog)
Jp

That's brilliant. It's essentially money laundering!

hmm? elucidate.

The demand to promote an Indycar race is virtually non existent. RA isn't on the schedule because the last few times open wheel ran out there the attendance was poor. The ICS is lucky to have the venues they do. Hopefully this will change when the economy turns around and they improve the marketability of the series.

That's a classic. I think the drivers had to race on wet tyres because the track offered so little grip it was absurd. I have read about it in Autosport in 2008, but I have no idea in which issue it was included

Well, it is. I know about the difficulty sustaining an IndyCar race out in the middle of nowhere of Wisconsin, even though it's sad. Hopefully Edmonton will find a solution to its problems, but I guess they'd need a new sponsor that pays more than what Rexall does, plus they arguably need to raise the ticket prices a few dollars. I have no idea whether Edmonton is among the cheapest races to visit, but it certainly looks that way, when the event shows red numbers, despite the significant spectator influx.

If Edmonton doesn't work, how about going to Montréal? The track recorded good spectator numbers in Champ Car, and Montréal is a bigger city, with a larger potential fanbase. Therefore ticket prices could be a bit higher than at Edmonton, making an Indy Grand Prix of Montréal sustainable. Add up with the fact that the F1 event has been granted government investments, which I hope could lead to some money being left for other events at the track. With the Notre Dame track's future secured, and IndyCar race alongside the F1 and Nationwide events would further boost motor racing in Canada.

Youtube. The description claims that 'the race was a test for hosting in 1986 a F1 GP'. It sounds mad, but we'll probably look back 20 years from now and think hosting an F1 race in Abu Dhabi was mental.

It was most likely a desperate attempt by Bernie to move the Dutch Grand Prix into a place where it would be held in prime-time for live TV

When it didn't work, he turned to Hungaroring

F1 has raced on far more mental circuits than the one in the video

If you can run a race up one end of the beach at La Baule and then back again, a street circuit in Willemstad is nothing. But in the even vaguely modern era? (Dallas in mid-June aside)

I'd love to see Montreal and Edmonton on the calendar. IIRC there was a limitation of the amount of races able to be run at Vilenueve in a given year. I can't recall if that was a government stipulation or a requirement of the former promoters contract.

When Champ Car was pitching Las Vegas officials on the merits of a race, they indicated a 3-5 year break even point where it would take that long for a promoter to be able to make a profit. I'd bet there are quite a few street races that don't or didn't make a profit. The economic impact to the surrounding area seems to be pretty good though. I've always spent more than I'd planned when I go.

He seems interesting, but I haven't dug deeply enough into his archives to see if he ever does any original reporting, or just riffs off Curt Cavin and Robin Miller, as so many seem to do. It would be nice to have a few more sources of IndyCar news . . .

Danica.

Andretti.

Go Daddy.

Probably 3 years.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091130/S...retti-Autosport

She has been getting incrementally better each season.

I expect big things from Danica next season.

Hope she has the car to do it.

Danica's new livery

"Danica is the quintessential Go Daddy Girl," Parsons said. "Danica is a beautiful woman competing in a male-dominated sport. She's passionate. She's focused. She's all about doing what it takes to win and we love that about her. Not to mention she's edgy, smokin' hot and as tough as any competitor anywhere. We are very good together."

She has the will and the focus. Now she just needs the car. Andretti Autosport will bring it.

Go Danica!

Except there are two more road courses next season

I hope they redesign it before the season starts... it just looks bad, imho. The Motorola and Boost Mobile liveries were very good and one would think that the same design department designed this, so maybe they'll give it some more thought. Methinks the cars are already ugly enough, the least they could do is paint some attractive liveries on them.

Television note in the Indy Star today:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091201/S...ast-5-IRL-races

B²

i like her better in this fire suit.....

From today's Indy Star, an update that Danica's contract is two years with a joint option for a third, and this:



http://www.indystar.com/article/20091202/S...-IndyCar-season

Nice little article on Sam Schmidt:

http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/

yeah I just found that vid myself! It was ... weird.

Edmonton confirmed for at least one more year: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/Indy...3113/story.html

Hopefully turning profit soon...

Anyone hear about this new car ?
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ind...e-the-2012-car/
Or am I late as hell with this.. and a silly boy for not reading previous posts?

Also,
There were two good articles on Autosport.com this week regarding the impression IRL makes on an F1 hack
and Matt Beer's State of the Nation

Jp

[ link ]

has anyone a provisional list of the entries for next season?

thanks
Luca

Team Penske/Penske Racing
3, Hélio Castroneves
6, Ryan Briscoe
12, Will Power

Target Chip Ganassi Racing
9, Scott Dixon
10, Dario Franchitti
?, TBA (Ernesto Viso reportedly working on a deal)

Andretti Autosport
7, Danica Patrick
11, Tony Kanaan
26, Marco Andretti
27, TBA (Ryan Hunter-Reay most likely)

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
02, TBA (Graham Rahal most likely)
06, TBA (Alex Lloyd likely)
?, TBA (Hideki Mutoh likely if Honda pays the bucks).

Panther Racing
4, Dan Wheldon

Luczo-Dragon Racing
2, Raphael Matos

A.J. Foyt Enterprises
14, Vitor Meira

TBA De Ferran Motorsports
?, TBA (one car likely according to Robin Miller)

HVM Racing
33, Robert Doornbos
78, TBA (Simona de Silvestro likely)

TBA Conquest Racing
?, TBA (start not certain)

Newman Wachs Racing
?, TBA (John Edwards to be the driver if it goes to plan)

Sarah Fisher Racing (partial schedule)
66, Jay Howard
67, Sarah Fisher (due to drive on a road course! Jesus!)

KV Racing Technology
5, TBA (Mário Moraes most likely)
15, TBA (Paul Tracy on a partial schedule)
?, TBA KV would like to have three cars if finance is found

FAZZT Racing Team
?, Alex Tagliani (four-year deal )

TBA Vision Racing
20, TBA (Ed Carpenter most likely)
21, TBA (maybe won't take part)

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (aka Hugo Chávez Internacional )
23, TBA (Milka Duno most likely)
24, TBA (maybe Ernesto Viso), Conway seems to be out of it.
?, TBA (additional car at some events)

Dale Coyne Racing
19, TBA (Justin Wilson most likely)
?, TBA (another car could be added)

Team 3G
?, TBA (Richard Antinucci looks set to end up there)
?, TBA (maybe Stanton 'The Stunt' Barrett, maybe not)

TBA Rahal-Letterman Racing
?, TBA (god knows, maybe Graham)
?, unlikely.

TBA Walker Racing
?, TBA (I seriously doubt it)

At the moment I expect 24-25 cars to turn up at Saint Pete, but it all has to do with the teams's finances.

Don't forget Justin Wilson driving for Dale Coyne.

Oh yes, I thought about it, then forgot it, thinking I'd already written it down

I can't wait till Ernesto Viso wins the Indy 500, and refuses to drink Indiana's milk, denouncing it as a Yanqui imperialist exploitation of dairy farmers' labour. It's not often that someone can overshadow the achievements of Emerson Fittipaldi.

The car will carry number 77.

One thing to say

Thanks.

Does anyone know how likely it is, that Simona De Silvestro will race next season?

sorry for the twisty syntax lol

I was really excited to read Robin Miller's report on 2012 IRL car. I hope it lives up to what they are talking about. The hint at it possibly being wingless gives me a " " oh can't say it.

It's okay. I came too.

It sounds like they're planning to turn the whole chassis into one giant wing, much like they did in aerospace with the flying wing designs such as the B2 stealth bomber or the Horten 229.

The thought of a wingless Indy car just hit a nerve and got me all excited. Are there any renderings of what it might look like?
Could it be like the 80s ground effect cars, but slimmer???

But that's only students' representations.

That's an old article, though. Since then, it's become likely that more than one chassis manufacturer will want to be involved (IRL are listening to Swift, and have already suggested Dallara will be a part of Indy 2012). And different engine manufacturers is sort of the whole point. So I think people are more optimistic about things than they were six months or a year ago. And that ultra-stylised student demo design is ugly in ways that I didn't even know were possible.

Those demo designs are too far fetched from reality.
By the way, this Acura's design seems more plausible.

Curt Cavin @ the Indy Star with the IMS schedule for May, 2010:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091215/S...nks-by-one-week

Hints of an additional race in early May, 2011 due to the shortened schedule:

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=15562

B²

Speed TV's Robin Miller on the shortened month of May:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/mil...nth-of-may-hem/

Curt Cavin of the Indy Star on the new car "dilemma":

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091217/S...ke-new-approach

B²

Interesting. I wonder what they mean by the "Spirit of America" references. Covered rear wheels? Single tail fin?

If the IRL is reading th e buzz behind the "Delta Wing" they would be foolish not to produce it. Penske and Ganassi should be building it NOW

The ability to do 400mph?