Motorsports insiders think the Brickyard 400’s declining fortunes will hasten the Hulman-George family’s decision
on the future of the Indy Racing League, which the NASCAR race has helped subsidize.
The Lakeville-based company won a victory in the antitrust case brought by Pittsburgh-based Specialty Tires of America,
which objected to exclusive contracts for the supplying of racing tires.
Three days after witnessing the smallest Brickyard 400 crowd in the race's 17-year history, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
CEO Jeff Belskus said he intends to cut ticket prices for about 75 percent of fans at next year's race.
With Jamie McMurray's victory in the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, owner Chip Ganassi claimed the first
team triple crown
in American auto racing: winning the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.
The win was huge for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, which this time last year was struggling to prove the team was stable and capable
of competing for wins. On Sunday, Chip Ganassi became the first team owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard
400 in the same season.
Financial terms of the deal were not released, but motorsports business experts said it was a six-figure deal.
An agreement with the International Motorsports Industry Show will keep it in the city indefinitely. Attendance for the three-day
December convention is expected to top 20,000.
The racing company’s only operations outside of Italy could create more than 80 new jobs in the Indianapolis area.
Racing insiders say Dallara and Lola are frontrunners to become the new Indy Racing League chassis providers.
Avis will take an active role in promoting the series through e-mail campaigns, displays at select airports, and other large-scale
promotions, company officials said.
Ruling prevents industry-certification group from breaking contract with Brownsburg-based company founded by Bill Simpson.
Franchitti’s earnings were part of an overall purse of $13,592,815. The paychecks were announced at the annual victory dinner
Monday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Formula One, which hasn’t conducted a U.S. race since 2007 in Indianapolis, plans to return to the United States in 2012 with
an event at a new track in Austin, Texas.
Race organizers, trying to save money and pump new life into Indy’s old qualifying format, have shaken up the status quo.
Ratings for the first three races of the 2010 season have grown 67 percent over last year.
Bill Simpson’s Impact Racing LLC reached an agreement Thursday with an industry-certification group that will allow the company
to continue selling race car safety gear made this year and last.
A group that sets standards for motorsports equipment intends to yank its approval of gear produced by Impact Racing, the
Brownsburg company owned by industry pioneer Bill Simpson, amid allegations of counterfeiting.
Officials from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Formula One say they’re in discussions to bring a Formula One race back
to the
city. F1 left the city in 2007 after an eight-year run.
Terry Angstadt, who oversees the Indy Racing League’s commercial division, thinks the series could break even in 2011
and be profitable by 2012 despite myriad challenges facing open-wheel racing.
Plans call for a Motocross track, one-fifth-mile dirt track and ATV trails on
36 acres near Interstate 465 and Mann Road.
