California-based DB Schenker is the official freight logistics sponsor of the IRL, and South Carolina-based Kymco USA is the
official scooter and off-road utility vehicle of the IRL and Firestone Indy Lights.
Indy Racing League founder Tony George dropped a bombshell in December when he told an industry group that he would shut down
the open-wheel series if it didn’t break into the black soon.
The Grand Prix at Long Beach April 19 scored a 0.5 TV rating for the Indy Racing League, according to New York-based Nielsen
Media Research. That’s the same rating the race earned last year on ESPN 2 when it was the swan song for CART.
In the last week of March, IRL officials put the finishing touches on four sponsorship deals.
New York-based Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. will roll out its Izod/Indy race-inspired clothing collection in Macy’s stores nationwide in April.
The Indy Racing League is considering delaying adoption of its new engine formula by a year—to 2012—so teams
can afford to make the switch.
The Ball State University victory over Central Michigan University Nov. 19, televised live on ESPN2 and seen in more than
1.6 million homes, ranks as the most-viewed and highest-rated college football game ever for a Tuesday or Wednesday night
on the network.
Indy Racing League driver Danica Patrick topped golfer Tiger Woods, quarterback Tom Brady and Super Bowl champion Eli Manning
as the most searched-for athlete in 2008, according to America Online’s annual list of top Web, mobile and video searches.
A group of motorsports journalists stood open-mouthed along the wall of the Texas Motor Speedway in 1999 as they watched 19-year-old
Sarah Fisher, fresh from the sprint car and dirt track circuits, zip past veteran open-wheel racers Buddy Lazier and Billy
Boat. What happened to Fisher over the next nine years is equally amazing–and mystifying–to those same motorsports experts
who watched her in Texas.
In the end, the catastrophic sponsorship shift from open-wheel racing to NASCAR became too much to ignore, driving the long-divided
sides of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League back into a unified series.
Shows provided by IMS Productions, the video production arm of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, are among the top draws for Joost, a high-profile Internet provider of television content launched last October.
The Indy Racing League will roll out category sponsorship deals with soft drink, energy drink and motor oil brands in the
next two months. IRL officials declined to divulge which companies the deals are with, but said each are multiyear, multimillion-dollar
deals.
Smoke coming from the Indy Racing League’s business model indicates it’s leaking oil. Two IRL teams recently folded and at least two more are in serious financial distress. Television ratings and race attendance is either flat or trailing last season.
