Dario does his part at New Hampshire

That Dario Franchitti is an outstanding IndyCar driver is obvious. He is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and the defending series champion. His accomplishments speak for themselves.

Therefore, it would seem to follow that Franchitti should be a huge racing star in the United States. However, attendance and television ratings appear to indicate that he is not.


Like most IndyCar drivers, Franchitti is not from the United States. He must therefore work that much harder to establish himself as a competitive product in the U.S. motorsports marketplace.


In that regard, Franchitti has had a very good summer. He seems to have made appearances just about everywhere since May, when he won his second Indy 500.


Franchitti's latest promotional effort was Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he drove three laps in his Target Ganassi Indy car to promote the series' return to NHMS in 2011. Witnessing a fast race car on the New Hampshire oval no doubt shocked many of the NASCAR Cup partisans.


Personally, I look forward to seeing IndyCar's return to NHMS. I am rooting for Jerry Gappens and Randy Bernard to pull off a highly successful event.


They will need lots of help from IndyCar's "stars". Dario Franchitti appears to be working hard to become exactly that.


Let's hope that Dario becomes the most widely known Scot in the United States since Adam Smith.


Kudos to you, Dario. Don't stop now. Come down here and mingle with the Citizens. Get to a county fair or two this summer. Try the pork tenderloin.

You've only just begun!

Roggespierre
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Oh, no! Boring Belle Isle might be coming Back!

Detroit's Belle Isle is IndyCar racing's Rasputin. There are many reasons to hate it. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to kill it.




According to Paddock Talk, the annual parade through Belle Isle could return to the IndyCar schedule in 2011. Roger Penske would be the promoter once again.




Meanwhile, Indy 500 Champion Dario Franchitti is lobbying to have an IndyCar race through New York's Central Park. That might actually be pretty cool.




Nevertheless, for better or worse, the parade toward a primarily road and street racing series remains unabated.




Roggespierre
Source URL: https://free-wallpapers-2.blogspot.com/search/label/Scheduling
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Who wants to Promote Edmonton IndyCar?

Having absorbed $9.2 million in financial losses in exchange for the privilege of hosting two IndyCar races at an airport, promoter Northlands apparently wants out and the City of Edmonton is seeking to cap its future losses.

Such is the glory of temporary circuits! Congratulations, Baltimore!

Props to Honest Edmonton

That said, I do want to give credit to the City of Edmonton for its candor and transparency. I doubt that any government takes great pleasure in disclosing that it will have incurred losses of more than $10 million in public funds over three years so that it could host an IndyCar race.

If Long Beach, St. Pete, Sao Paolo, Birmingham, Toronto and Baltimore were more like Edmonton, then we would have a much better grasp of the gap that exists between the cost of IndyCar racing and demand for the product in the marketplace. Yes, city streets and Barber's permanent road course are likely more cost-effective than airports. However, in each case virtually all of the costs are variable, meaning that they must be incurred every time an event is staged.

What in fact is the difference? We'll probably never know.

Credit also goes out to Pressdog for being the first to point IndyCar fans toward this article from the Edmonton Sun.

The article strongly suggests that Northlands, the public-private partnership that promotes special events in Edmonton, wants out. Given the losses, who can blame it?

The author further suggests that the City of Edmonton is willing to continue to subsidize the event at a price point of $1 million per year. The City would like to see an "independent" promoter take over the event.

What does this mean?

It means that the Edmonton Indy will survive beyond 2010 only if a promoter agrees to accept all associated financial risk beyond $1 million per year. It also means that Northlands, the existing promoter, does not believe that it can break even despite the offer of a $1 million annual government subsidy.

That Northlands does not want to continue to promote the event speaks volumes. This is particularly disturbing when one considers that Honda will transfer to the Edmonton promoter some of the economic rent that it collects by over-charging IndyCar teams for old, spec engines. The article refers to this transfer as event "sponsorship".

This does not seem to bode well for the future of the Edmonton Indy unless a greater fool can be found.

I ask that you please keep the Edmonton equation in mind when you are tempted to blame International Speedway Corporation - a for-profit, publicly traded firm that receives no direct government subsidies, when it inevitably drops additional IndyCar races.

Roggespierre
Source URL: https://free-wallpapers-2.blogspot.com/search/label/Scheduling
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