Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, who spent 21 seasons driving for Team Penske, was sporting new team colors at Thursday’s IndyCar test session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A typical PRI Show brings upwards of 67,000 people to Indianapolis and generates an economic impact of $65 million, making it one of the city’s largest annual events.
The former CART rivals see an opportunity to attract young Mexican talent to racing and put IndyCar back in Mexico.
Driver James Hinchcliffe on Tuesday announced a 10-race partnership with Genesys that gets him back into a full-time ride. Sponsorship of the No. 29 Honda for the remaining seven races on the IndyCar schedule will be announced at a later date.
The facility, set to open in 2022, will consolidate Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s IndyCar operations in Brownsburg and the Ohio operations for the other series the team competes in.
Helio Castroneves has said he wants to return to IndyCar, where he raced full-time from 1998 through 2017.
The 28th annual running of the race will be part of a doubleheader in which IndyCar will race on the road course on Aug. 14, followed by the NASCAR race on Aug. 15.
The determination to allow spectators at the 300,000-seat venue came from the Marion County Public Health Department.
The trade show in a typical year brings upwards of 67,000 people to the Indiana Convention Center and generates an economic impact of $65 million. Last year’s event had 1,100 exhibitors and 3,300 booths.
The network is hoping to deliver a broadcast that educates what could be one of the largest audiences in race history while also turning some casual fans into avid ones.
The race had been postponed from its usual Memorial Day weekend date to Aug. 23, before announcements that the track would limit seating to 50% and then later 25%—with masks required—and now with no fans at all.
The decision to allow local fans to watch the race live comes one day after Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials announced plans to reduce attendance capacity for this year’s race to 25%.
IBJ talked with IMS President Doug Boles about plans for the Indy 500, which is scheduled for Aug. 23. That’s about seven weeks after the state’s reopening plan calls for sporting events to resume.
The ban was announced before Wednesday night’s race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, where the series’ only black drive, Bubba Wallace, drove Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 43 Chevrolet with a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme.
Former IndyCar driver and longtime television racing analyst Derek Daly said he’s not looking to settle a lawsuit he filed last week against Emmis Communications Corp., the Indianapolis Colts, former announcer Bob Lamey and Emmis on-air sports personality Joe Staysniak.
Two claims survived, and U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II gave Dixon time to amend three others that had been dismissed.
In a wide-ranging interview, Roger Penske insisted his commitment remains steadfast to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series as the world waits for the pandemic to end.
The race—rescheduled for Aug. 23—is on an otherwise open weekend in the city’s summer event calendar, which could fill hotel rooms at a time they would otherwise have been empty.
The IndyCar Series—and the city of Indianapolis—would take a devastating hit if the Indianapolis 500 was canceled this year. Officials are looking at contingency plans for holding the race this summer or fall if the fallout from the pandemic extends beyond May.
Jimmie Johnson said he’s going to do an IndyCar team test with McLaren Racing on April 6.
