Not enough merchandise to buy at IRL races

A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1, As an East coast die-hard Champ Car fan, my buddy and I drove 4 hours to see the Richmond IRL race to try to support the "unified" series and, honestly, to root for the ex-Champ Car drivers. I went with the intention of buying lots of Graham Rahal merchandise, but alas there was none to be found at the trackside vendors. I did find two KV Racing shirts (both of which I bought) and a generic McDonald's hat that bore no mention of Justin Wilson. My question is why haven't the former CCWS teams gotten on the stick and made some more merchandise to sell at the races? What is future top tier team NHLR's excuse? I saw many "Danica's First Win" shirts – which occurred after the unification was announced. (By the way – I did look stunning in my Oriol Servia shirt!) Tim Howell, York, PA

Dear Tim, What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Do you offer merchandise at the risk of not selling any, or do you increase the driver's popularity first, which in turn helps to sell merchandise? Try our store page. Our partner, Speedgear, offers a decent amount of IndyCar merchandise. Mark C.