IndyCar boss agrees with AR1.com – Indy Road Course on Labor Day weekend
Yes, if reports coming out of IMS are accurate, Mark Miles seems to be reading AR1. Heck, we only charge 30 bucks a year, and rumors suggest Miles wants to…..
1. Start and end the season earlier (great idea, which AR1 has long suggested years ago)
2. Save teams money and take back the Indy market by ending the season on the IMS road course (yes, it’s not Spa, but it is an FIA standard facility that the series owns).
3. Exploring a strategy to grow the sport beyond the American market. Yes, there are many people who live in the world. Billions, in fact! IndyCar has never implemented a coherent strategy to capitalize on the ever globalizing world economy.
Below, are a few articles by Brian Carroccio in the last few months exploring such ideas. There are many more if you search our archives. We look forward to seeing whether IMS takes the final step to restoring IndyCar's prominence by removing the Brickyard 400 from Indy when the contract ends after the 2016 race.
All I want for Christmas IndyCar, is for…….
IndyCar needs to revamp its schedule
It's time that IMS give NASCAR the old heave-ho
IndyCar can succeed overseas. Really.
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| Mark Miles gets it |
04/19/13 AR1.com has recommended this for many years as our readers know – a season ending IndyCar race on the Indy Speedway road course on Labor Day weekend. Indianapolis Motor Speedway might host a season-ending IndyCar Series race in 2014, but it won’t be an oval-track race, insisted Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co.
“We won’t do that," he said.
Rather, Miles told The Star he is in favor of a road course race at the Speedway in either late August or early September if details can be worked out.
Miles likes the idea of an Indianapolis finale because it best centralizes the fan base and the promotional opportunities. Previous IndyCar seasons have ended at Homestead-Miami Speedway in South Florida, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, among other facilities. None have drawn large crowds.
Like 2012, this season will end with a race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
All of the aforementioned season-ending sites are oval tracks. IndyCar has never ended on a road course or street circuit, although Champ Car did in its final season in 2007.
Finishing the season at IMS has its challenges, not the least of which is timing. The road course has hosted MotoGP in that time slot in recent years and will do so again this year, Aug. 16-18. Then there’s drag racing’s NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway, held annually over the Labor Day weekend since 1961.
The NFL season, which saps audiences from so many fall sports, typically opens the week after the U.S. Nationals, so that’s also a concern.
Miles said he is convinced an IMS road course race can be profitable, and there will be significantly lower costs to most of the teams given that they are locally based.
The season’s final race is only part of the schedule reshaping Miles is considering. He’d also like to have a package of international races, possibly grouped together at the start of the season.
Miles did not share many details, although he noted his experience negotiating international events for tennis’ ATP World Tour will be beneficial.
“The question is, how to align (the schedule)," he said. “And then it’s the execution of it." IndyStar