Who Wants to Start a Race Team?

The thought definitely crossed my mind a time or two as a walked through the International Motorsports Industry Show, being held at the Indianapolis Convention Center.  Somewhere between 8-10,000 people will attend the two-day convention, bringing together just about every part of the auto-racing community.

If I had a clean credit history and a checkbook at my disposal, starting a race team would have been relatively easy from there.  Suppliers of everything from rack and pinion steering systems to screen-printed t-shirts made up the 572 booths at the convention.

Alright, let's start building a team: you want a racecar body?  Easy enough to find a builder here.  Tires, brakes and suspensions?  Done.  A loan from Wells Fargo?  Take care of.  Helmets and safety equipment?  Plenty to choose from.  Air filters? K&N, the official sponsor of the IZOD IndyCar Series can set you up with those.  Brakes?  You'll need some, and there are plenty of suppliers.  T-shirts and merchandise to sell? Just name the quantity, including specifically designed merchandise for women.

Robin Miller?  You'll need him around, just so you feel like a real IndyCar team.  He's there, too (though not in a booth, conducting interviews for SpeedTV).

The only thing missing from the "Build Your Own Race Team" experience was a booth to obtain victory cigars and/or models for each arm while gleefully celebrating a championship, Ganassi-style.

And with the convention center expanding through 2010 and the IMIS contracted to be in Indianapolis through 2015, I have a feeling that booth may be around next year.