Disagreeing with $150K IndyCar incentive
… "Dallara will build the car in Speedway, Indiana, rather than Italy where the existing one was made, which is good news for the local economy – it will bring a minimum of 75 new jobs to Indianapolis. At least half the suppliers will come from Indiana. Dallara has offered a $150K discount to the first 28 cars sold to teams located in Indiana" …
Comment:
It's great Dallara is building a factory in Speedway, Indiana, this is fantastic news for many people and especially for those who will benefit from this most, the 75 (or more) who will get a (new) job because of this initiative! I was really impressed by this announcement.
But, what surprised me more, in a much more negative way, is why only Indiana based race-teams receive a $150K discount … this is insane, this makes no sense at all!
This you might even call discrimination of race-teams outside the state of Indiana … I can't imagine this to be true and it doesn't represent at all the American dream, you might call it the Indiana dream only, as it doesn't include the other 49 states of the USA …
Don't they (IndyCar) want race-teams from other states … what's going on? In actual fact they (again IndyCar) should subsidize race-teams from other states or even countries (Canada, maybe even Mexico …?) to join the IndyCar Series. After all they have to travel to Indianapolis back and forth all the time to collect their stuff or pay the bill to freight forwarders to do this for them …
This is a big mistake from the IndyCar management to let this happen (I believe the governor of Indiana is responsible for this stupid idea … (probably well meant, but very egocentric indeed!).
If I was to be an IndyCar team-owner based in another state then Indiana, I would be very, very upset, no doubt about that! $150K is a lot of money … It also doesn't represent their (IndyCar) everything should be cheaper from 2012 onwards … Either all teams a discount (for the first 28 cars) or no teams a discount, but not this … Peter S.
Dear Peter, We believe the tax incentives given to Dallara from the state of Indiana stated that the discount of $150K would only go to Indiana teams because the state wants the teams to relocate to Indiana. Of course they are free to dictate how their free money is to be used. For a 2-car team they will get $300K. Those out of state teams can open a 1-person office in Indiana and make that the teams official mailing address and headquarters. In fact they can even incorporate in the state of Indiana using that address while the 'shop' remains where it is today. For $300K it may be worth their trouble to play Indiana's game. Mark C.