IndyCar fodder
10/25/10 According to AutoRacing1.com sources, work is nearly complete that will firm up the Star Mazda series position on the IndyCar development ladder. In a recent radio interview IndyCar President Randy Bernard said they are working on improving ladder system and we should be hearing something in the near future. Don't be surprised if it is not similar to the tie-up between USAC and IndyCar whereby the winner of the Star Mazda Championship will get a partially funded Indy Lights ride. See related AutoRacing1.com article – Salem Speedway – When the High Banks were on the Road to Indy, as well as this article, Labor Day weekend 1952. A weekend I'll never forget.
Las Vegas looks more an more likely by the day to become the 2011 IndyCar finale. On that same radio interview Bernard said he is working very hard with Las Vegas, and because Las Vegas knows him well from when he ran PBR, "the city trusts me when I say I will get something done." And if anyone thinks IndyCar should finish their season at Fontana in 2011 – perhaps you had better read this AutoRacing1.com article of their previous try.
Look for a change in the name of the series to the IZOD IndyCar World Series. CART had much success when it called itself the CART IndyCar World Series. And since it races in the USA, Canada, Japan, and Brazil, it truly is more than just a domestic series. Ever since Tony George and the IRL listened to people like Tim Cindric and Roger Penske that the series should be a domestic series because that is where the sponsorship money was from, it's been all downhill for the sport. As we have written on numerous occasions (See related article from 2000 when we wrote about this, or how about this article from 2001 where we talked about how destructive the IRL's domestic only stance was.), the world is a big place, too big for just F1. We truly live in a global marketplace today and if the sport is only going to think of itself as a domestic series it will whither and die, which is exactly what it has been doing.
And speaking of 'World Series" we hear IndyCar is looking at several options for a return to Australia. The Gold Coast is one option, but there are several more. V8 Supercar boss Tony Cochrane made it clear over the weekend that IndyCar will not return to Surfers Paradise for 100 years after burning their bridges there, and that's really too bad after CART had such success there. However, we think there are plenty of other options in Australia for IndyCar, including Adelaide, which lost the Australia GP to Melbourne years ago.
We hear Randy Bernard's goal is for an 18-race schedule by 2012 and a 19-race schedule by 2013.
Back in 2004 AutoRacing1.com published this article on the need for consolidation in the sport of racing, and it still holds true today, especially in the open wheel ladder system.