5-year Surfers deal can be signed in two weeks?
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the Government had continued negotiations with the United States-based Indy Racing League bosses over the weekend.
Ms Bligh is expected to make an announcement in the coming days about whether the iconic event would go ahead after next year.
"I don't want to speculate on negotiations that are still occurring, obviously these involve negotiations with proponents in the United States," she said yesterday.
"There were discussions happening over the weekend. We will make an announcement as soon as we have confirmation."
Following the conclusion of this year's Indy on October 26, Gold Coast Indy chairman Terry Mackenroth was reported as saying there was a 'deadset, drop-dead, cut-off of 14 days from now to have the future of the event sorted out'.
Yesterday, Mr. Mackenroth was non-committal, refusing to confirm that an announcement on the event's future would be made today.
However, he did confirm he expected an announcement on the Gold Coast's biggest event to be made within the 14-day time line.
"We are still finalizing a number of things," he said.
Repeated calls to the Queensland Government yesterday to find out a date of the Indy announcement were not returned. Goldcoast.com
10/27/08 Below we suggested that the Surfers race be moved to the Spring. Apparently the IRL thinks the same. Sports Minister Judy Spence, who met Mr. George and IRL operatives several times over the past four days, said dates remained a hurdle.
"They would prefer to come in March and we have said March is not an acceptable time for us," she said. It takes 100 days to construct the track and we just cannot start that in January in the middle of a Gold Coast holiday season."
The Australian GP F1 race is March 29th so per FIA rules the IndyCar race would have to be March 1st or March 8th (i.e. 3 or more weeks before the F1 race) or April 19th or April 26th (i.e. 3 or more weeks after the F1 race).
The April dates are not possible because the Long Beach race cannot be moved. Early March would mean the IRL would open its season overseas in Australia (just like F1 does), then back to the USA for its domestic opener in St. Petersburg, Florida on April 5th. Because of the cold temperatures in March the Motegi race would likely stay in September and note be paired with Surfers, at least for 2009. Mark C.
10/23/08 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, The IRL and the Surfers race organizers appear to be at an impasse. The IRL needs to finish its season in the USA and Surfers cannot move the race earlier as it would go head-to-head with Australia's version of the Super Bowl and its playoffs. What would you do? Ken Carlson
Dear Ken, Indeed it is a difficult one to solve. Given the circumstances, we would move the race to the spring and move Motegi back to the spring so the two can be paired. Recall that the Surfers race used to be in the Spring. They just need to set a date at least 3 weeks either side if the Australia F1 race per the FIA rules. This solution allows Surfers to be a points paying race and it to be paired with Motegi. They should have never moved the Motegi date from the spring, where it has always been, until this was resolved. The IRL jumped the gun on this one thinking Surfers would agree to a September date alongside Motegi. Mark C.
10/23/08 The IRL and Surfers Paradise IndyCar race organizers are meeting this week to discuss the future of the race, and a decision is expected in about two weeks.
Scheduling in the regular late October race is the stumbling block — the mostly U.S.-based IRL wants its season finished before the start of the National Football League season, and Gold Coast organizers don't want the race moved up because it will clash with Australia's national football finals.
Organizers want a five-year contract to continue running the event and the Queensland state government, which backs the race with about $8 million of funding each year, would prefer that the date stay in late October.
"We will be holding a number of meetings over the weekend. If an agreement can be reached, a binding contract will be signed within 14 days of the event," Indy 300 chairman Terry Mackenroth said Thursday.
The IRL's commercial division president, Terry Angstadt, who arrived just several hours earlier from the IRL's head office in Indianapolis, said three scheduling options were being discussed in an effort to keep the race in Australia.
"We want to make something work," Angstadt said.