TSN: Edmonton going ahead with 2010 IndyCar / NASCAR event

TSN is reporting that the Edmonton City Council has voted to go ahead with the 2010 Rexall Edmonton Indy, despite higher than expected losses in 2009. There had been speculation that the race might be called off for 2010. Edmonton's mayor calls the event a "valuable tourist attraction" that will likely take place beyond 2010. In addition to the IndyCar Series, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series also has a race scheduled for the Edmonton event.

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SPEED: Tony George ousted from control of Indianapolis Motor Speedway

SPEED is reporting that Tony George was voted out of power (mostly by his own family members) during an Indianapolis Motor Speedway board meeting on Tuesday evening.

George was at IMS' helm for the past 20 years and was a key player in the IRL / ChampCar split/feud, as well as the introduction of NASCAR, F1 and motorcycles to IMS' annual schedule. George will reportedly continue as CEO of the IndyCar series.

Click here for Robin Miller's full story on SPEED.

INDYCAR SERIES LOOKS BACK AT ONE YEAR OF UNIFICATION

INDIANAPOLIS, Monday, Feb. 16, 2009 - “We are unified.”

Those three words were uttered on Feb. 22, 2008 and changed the landscape of open-wheel racing in the United States.

While positives would be far-reaching, a multitude of tasks were immediate and imperative. Between the signing of the agreement Feb. 22 and the official news conference five days later during an Open Test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, mobilization of materials and paperwork necessary for former Champ Car teams to compete in the 2008 IndyCar Series campaign began in earnest.

“Everyone recognized that unification was the single most important thing that needed to happen to lay the foundation for the future growth of open-wheel racing,” said Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations for the Indy Racing League.

The process wasn’t without logistical headaches but drivers, owners, manufacturers, sponsors and league officials put their heads down and worked non-stop with the season quickly approaching and 25 cars were on the starting grid for the highly-anticipated opening race.

“There was plenty of opportunity to have not lived up to anyone’s expectations,” said Tony George, the Indy Racing League’s founder and chief executive officer. “Given the late opportunity, there was a tremendous amount of challenge to be overcome. But everyone pulled together and made sure that the equipment was in the hands of the teams so they could go about their business.

“After we got through the first couple of races, it was always my feeling that by Indianapolis we would really start to come together, and I think we did. Getting to Indianapolis, you had a couple of weeks of practice and four days of qualifying and then a 500-mile race with the big stage and the spotlight on everybody. I think it kind of settled everyone and that’s when we started coming together as one.”

“One series, all the stars” was more than a moniker applied to the new face of the IndyCar Series. Certainly, the competition level increased with the infusion of numerous talented drivers, while personalities emerged to become instant fan favorites and capture attention.

That was driven home the second week of the season at St. Petersburg when 19-year-old Graham Rahal became the youngest race winner in IndyCar Series history. Two weeks later, Danica Patrick provided another historic moment by becoming the first female winner of a major closed-circuit auto racing event.

Overall, there were five first-time winners, two rookies posting their first victories and a series record-tying nine winners in the 17 races. Thirteen drivers earned a podium finish and 21 recorded a top-five finish.

Scott Dixon prevailed in the championship chase by a scant 17 points over Helio Castroneves punctuated by the second-closest finish in series history (Castroneves edging Dixon by 0.0033 of a second) in the final race after Dixon held a 78-point lead in the championship standings with three races remaining.

“When you look at the competitive nature on the racetrack, it just shows you the depth of the field and the quality of teams and drivers that are now in a unified open-wheel series,” Barnhart said.

That was no easy task as the series welcomed teams, got them up to speed on procedures and operations and familiarized them with the IndyCar Series equipment and the venues run at.

“A lot of those transition teams were very good teams anyway, and it didn’t take them too long to be competitive,” said Dan Wheldon, a two-time race winner in ’08 and the 2005 IndyCar Series champion. “I just expect another competitive season, which the IndyCar Series always seems to produce.”

Off the race trackunification contributed to impressive numbers as well withstronger at-track attendance (12 of 16 events on the 2008 schedule where the IndyCar Series raced in 2007 were up according to media estimates), increased television ratings (an 11% increase in average viewership from the previous season across ABC/ESPN/ESPN2), a dramatic increase in merchandise sales (at-track merchandise sales were up 25%), a surge in IndyCar.com visitors (a 33% increase to more than nine million) and several new corporate partnerships( PEAK Motor Oli, Coca-Cola and IZOD).

Each event on the 2008 IndyCar Series schedule featured an event entitlement, minus the Indy 500, and teams saw an increase in sponsorship interest and participation. Unification was the galvanizing factor in many of the increases and opportunities, which will continue to unfold.

“I think unification was a long time coming, but it’s now behind us and we have a very deep and competitive field of cars,” George said. “We’re all looking forward to this next season. There will be some challenges pulling things together, but we’ve been through the biggest challenge and I think that was pulling it together at all.”

When you consider that the series was six weeks away from its first race when unification was announced one could say that the 2009 IndyCar Series campaign – with everyone on a more equal field of competition from the start—will be the true first season of unification.

The 2009 IndyCar Series season opens April 5 with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The race will be telecast live at 2 p.m. (EDT) by VERSUS. The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season begins with a doubleheader race weekend April 4-5 at St. Petersburg.

From John Griffin, Indy Racing League // www.indycar.com

INDYCAR: Jay Howard joins Roth Racing

2006 Indy Pro Series champion Jay Howard will join veteran owner/driver Marty Roth to form a two-car IndyCar Series team for the 16-race schedule. Roth Racing is the first to capitalize on the TEAM (Team Enhancement and Allocation Matrix) program instituted for IndyCar Series teams. Each full-time participant is guaranteed $1.2 million, and major sponsorship for Roth Racing will be announced soon.

"To say I'm happy is an understatement," said Howard, who had two victories and 13 top-10 finishes in 14 Indy Pro Series starts in 2006-07. "Since the age of 7 when I got in a go-kart all I ever wanted to do was be a professional race car driver. It's come true, so it's pretty special for me."

Howard, 26, will join reigning Indy Pro Series champion Alex Lloyd (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) and '07 runner-up Hideki Mutoh (Andretti Green Racing) in moving up for '08. He competed in three races for first-year entrant SpeedWorks ­ the season opener on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval and on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. -- but otherwise was seeking an IndyCar Series ride.

"I thought I had a deal in IndyCar for just the road courses, but that fell apart," Howard said. "I sat there thinking, 'What am I going to do?' It was too late to get an IPS drive. After that, I said I've got to use my time the best I can. I have to benefit by not being in the car. I wanted to show I'm still hungry for it and will never give up."

Roth, another Indy Pro Series graduate, has nine IndyCar Series starts. He advanced seven positions to finish 14th in the '07 finale at Chicagoland Speedway in his last race. The team recently moved its Indianapolis operation to the former Tony Stewart Racing facility and hired veteran race engineer David Cripps to lead that department.

"These partial seasons are very difficult and we focused our efforts this year on marketing and building the team from that standpoint rather than running around the track," Roth said. "Since Indy, we've been developing a plan to expand and go with a two-car program because they are just so much stronger as far as team performance. Jay Howard was just a natural fit; I love his driving style.

"When you have two cars running, you gather a lot of information but the cars have to be set up right. When you're in the IndyCar Series, you have to have a good engineer. With David Cripps and a few others we hope to (hire), I think we will have a strong package for next year."

Howard said any negotiations were dispensed with during one brief phone conversation.

"Marty called me and asked me if I was interested. I said yes and he said, 'OK, if anyone asks, tell them you're driving with Marty Roth from now on.' OK, it's as simple as that," Howard said. "Everyone is just pushing forward. I couldn't have asked to walk into a better situation. Marty definitely is a man of his word and he definitely is 110 percent into this.

"It might take a year for everyone to sort of settle in and me get more experience with things like pit stops, but I've been training unbelievably hard. I'm really fired up.

I'm really going to be pushing hard. I'll be pretty disappointed if I'm not in the top five at St. Pete."