A delegation of business and community leaders led by Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard departed for Europe Nov. 14 on a nine-day
economic
development mission to help grow the city’s motorsports industry.
Izod IndyCar Series driver Sarah Fisher recently renewed her contract with AAA Hoosier Insurance. AAA will continue to
be a personal sponsor of Fisher and will remain an associate sponsor on Fisher’s No. 67 car for the 2010 and 2011 Indianapolis
500s.
A source at Indianapolis Motor Speedway said IMS laid off 40 employees Wednesday, mostly from its human resources department,
in a cost-saving move.
Jeff Belskus, CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, called the sponsorship deal “one of the most significant announcements
in the history
of the IndyCar series.”
IndyCar officials are expected to announce Thursday that clothing maker Izod will become the series’ title sponsor next season.
Carmel-based Telamon Corp. rose to become one of the largest minority-owned businesses in the area largely by serving telecommunications giants. Now it is veering off its traditional course to supply racing teams with an ethanol-based fuel made from Indiana corn.
John Force is pleased to be growing his Brownsburg facility. He said central Indiana has everything a National Hot Rod Association
team could want. But nothing makes him happier than the new Dunkin Donuts there.
A meeting between high-level National Hot Rod Association executives—including NHRA President Tom Compton—and
Gov. Mitch Daniels and members of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has fueled speculation that the drag racing group
might be looking to significantly expand its presence here.
The Promotion Co Inc., an Indianapolis-based event promoter, said today that it has acquired the Monster Nationals series
of monster-truck shows from Image Promotions Inc. in Chardon, Ohio.
New Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Jeff Belskus has long been a behind-the-scenes figure at IMS. As the new leader of the
Brickyard and the Indy Racing League, he faces several challenging issues, including gaining the confidence of the racing
community.
New Speedway leader Jeff Belskus speaks with IBJ about his new job and the near-term challenges and long-term future of the
operations he oversees.
Reports of a Hulman-George family feud proved dead-on accurate when matriarch Mari Hulman-George issued a statement June
30 confirming the ouster of her son, Tony, as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the family business empire. Shortly
thereafter, Tony George also resigned as CEO of the Indy Racing League.
A management shake-up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has some in the motorsports industry thinking major changes could
be on the horizon at the fabled race venue—maybe as soon as next year.
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.
A decision by a startup Formula One team to set up shop in Charlotte, N.C., is fueling debate over whether Indianapolis still
is the self-proclaimed "motorsports capital of the world."
Still stinging from the city’s loss of the giant Performance Racing Industry trade show in 2004, a group of local motorsports
business advocates is racing to put on a competing event.
Fans walking into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the First MotoGP race there Sept. 14 likely won’t recognize the place. Sponsor ads will hang on the inside walls of the track. There will be a host of companies in the hospitality area–including Yamaha, Kawasaki, Ducati and Repsol–that have never set foot inside the Speedway’s grounds. The motorcycle-specific nature of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP will permeate every facet of the event and affects all elements of the host city’s planning.
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.
Bringing MotoGP–the world’s highest level of motorcycle racing–to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway could easily draw more
than 150,000 spectators and net an eight-figure windfall for track owner Tony George.
City and state officials are igniting a souped-up effort to draw motorsports-related companies here, and they’re enlisting
Hoosier-born NASCAR champ Tony Stewart to help drive their message home.
