INDYCAR Media Day (Update)
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| Jim Campbell (L) and Mark Berube from Chevy |
A few highlights so far from IndyCar Media Day.
Jim Campbell, Chevrolet vice president of motorsports
• Aero kits have 123 parts, none adjustable by the driver.
• Cost to the team is $75,000 for the first 2 kits. 90,000 after that per kit.
• Kits tested at Homestead (Castroneves and Montoya), COTA (Pagenaud and Power) and Phoenix (Dixon and Kanaan) for prototype parts
• They will definitely produce faster lap times on road courses
• Loves the engine specs for the IndyCar series. That is why we came back into the series in 2012.
• Wanted to bring IndyCar back to Detroit, and have done so successfully
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| Mark Miles (R) |
Mark Miles, Hulman & Co CEO
• 2014 was a fantastic year. 25% increase for TV viewers. Average audience over 1 million viewers
• Social media was much improved.
• Great May for us 360,000 tickets sold. 25% increase in aggregate viewership in the month of May.
• We are not trying to shorten the season. We hope to start racing in 2016 shortly after Super Bowl, concluding Labor Day. Miles once again reemphasized the series’ desire to conclude Labor Day Weekend
• Feb. could see domestic races and a limited number of international races
• Excited about New Orleans
• Actively engaged in best possible place to conclude championship on Labor Day Weekend, ideally in a “vibrant" urban market (read Boston
• Talked about Baltimore (Labor Day date from 2011-2013). Noted that city could not guarantee a fixed date over time.
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| Derrick Walker (L) |
Derrick Walker, INDYCAR President of competition and operations
We spoke to Derrick Walker after he met with the media this morning and he revealed a rather interesting bit of information regarding Race Control.
When asked who the other 2 people be working with re-appointed Race Director Brian Barnhart would be, Walker said they have a list of people that will rotate each race a la Formula 1. These people are not announced to teams until the end of the race.
Lucille Dust and Tim Wohlford reporting from IMS
02/17/15 Lucille Dust and Tim Wohlford of AutoRacing1 are at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today for 2015 IndyCar Media Day. Be sure to check in to AR1 throughout the day for updates from Indy.
One of the first bits of news at Media Day comes from Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, who endured a bout of food poisoning last evening. We hear the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner is doing better and is expected to take part in today's events.
We'll keep you updated throughout the day. Below, is a schedule of events, which is of course, subject to change.
9:30 a.m. Young Guns of INDYCAR
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
10:00 a.m. INDYCAR Executives
Mark Miles, CEO, Hulman & Company
Derrick Walker, INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations
10:30 a.m. Chevrolet Press Conference
11:15 a.m. The Veterans
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing
11:30 a.m. The Stars of Andretti Autosport
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport
Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport
Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport
12:00 p.m. The Next Generation
Josef Newgarden, CFH Racing
Gabby Chaves, Bryan Herta Autosport
Sage Karam, Chip Ganassi Racing development driver
12:30 p.m. A New Chapter for Team Penske
Will Power, 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion, Team Penske
Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske
Helio Castroneves, Team Penske
Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske