IndyCar to announce new sponsors

Randy Bernard

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard hinted this weekend that some new sponsors could join the series.

"We will have a new sponsor in the next couple of weeks," he said. "We will continue to move forward with a marketing strategy and long-term and short-term business plan in place by Sept. 15. That and the schedule will be the next two top priorities."

Iowa Speedway has been a tremendous facility for the IndyCar Series because it is located in a state with little sporting competition. The "big fish in a small pond" theory works well for IndyCar at Iowa but Bernard said it takes a variety of venues to hit the target audience.

"Our overall strategy that we need to play on is IndyCar is much more," Bernard said. "You reach a significant amount of NASCAR fans with the ovals but look at what you can do with St. Pete and Long Beach and the road courses. You are reaching a more lifestyle, youthful, social audience and that is very important. Look at how many people came to Iowa Speedway. These are passionate, devoted fans and it lets me see that this sport has never left the Midwest and that should be an important part of our long-term strategy.

"There are a lot of devoted fans here and that is what I love. These fans know who every driver is when we come to Iowa."

And that is a tremendous boost for a racing series that once ruled America as the No. 1 form of auto racing but has since yielded that status to NASCAR.

But with some fresh, forward-thinking, IndyCar is ready to race into the future. SI.com