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.

For $13.75 billion, I hope it helps IndyCar

It's done (in theory).  Comcast has agreed to purchase NBC Universal for the hefty price of $13.75 billion, meaning that Versus now joins NBC Sports and Universal Sports in the Comcast-NBC sports lineup (Golf Channel is also in the sports tier).

We've touched on this subject a few times before, but it is worth repeating: this deal has the potential to boost the IZOD IndyCar Series' popularity and brand recognition.  While it is unlikely that NBC Sports would take to airing every single IZOD IndyCar race, the cross-promotion and marketing opportunities this presents are boundless.

How Did This Happen?

Kudos to the International Motorsports Industry Show for credentialing bloggers.  How do I know they're doing this?  I have a media credential that I intend to put to full use tomorrow (though pictures cannot be taken on the floor of the show).

In any case, I'll try to file a dispatch or two from the Indianapolis Convention Center tomorrow.

Life on the Road

11 days since I've written on here.  That's probably too long in the blogging world, especially given the amount of IndyCar news that has come out in the last 10+ days.

The nice part about the IndyCar season is that it occurs in the summer, when my work load is far less; once Labor Day rolls around, I'm in the vast world of sports information, working with six of IUPUI's 14 sports as their media contact.  What makes it so busy, especially this time of year?  Well, here's a sample of what I've been doing:

The Car Count Goes Up (kind of)

According to the Indianapolis Star, Penske Racing will confirm today what most suspected: Will Power will drive a third car on a permanent basis for the team.  Power, who won in a cakewalk at Edmonton and was fifth at Indianapolis, drove on a part-time basis for Penske last year.

In theory, and if I'm doing my math right, the car count is at least sustained from where it was last year, and for some races (ones that Power missed in 2009), it goes up.  Which is good.

UPDATE: Here is the release from Penske Racing.  Power will be sponsored by Verizon Wireless and drive the No. 12, which he did last year at Indianapolis after Helio Castroneves returned to the track (In other races, he drove the splendid-looking yellow Penske Truck Rental car).

Winds of Change Continuing to Blow at IMS?

Already the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has made some major changes since the announcement of the IZOD IndyCar Series sponsorship agreement.  For many, it was the most public that IMS President Jeff Belskus has been since taking over control of IMS over the summer.

In the last couple weeks, Belskus has been trimming the fat from IMS, including IMS Director of Public Relations Ron Green (which, as a sports information director, saddens me to see him go).  Now, the Indianapolis Business Journal's Anthony Schoettle is speculating on Belskus' next round of cuts/adjustments not only for IMS, but for the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Among Schoettle's hypothesis as to what may be coming are:

• An end to the TEAM program (which IZOD already said it was contributing to, so I don't see it going away, unless IZOD solely funds the program).
• Adding more street/road courses near or in cities (Baltimore is a rumored destination for 2011) to bring in more money.  Schoettle theorizes that this could mean more ovals are cut from the schedule.
• A reduction in the amount of time spent at IMS during May.
  

Interesting stuff from Schoettle, as usual.  You can read the full article here.

Good Lord, That's How My Voice Sounds?

So if you were listening to Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee (and really, what else would you be doing from 7-9 p.m. ET on a Thursday?), you may have heard my voice around 8:30.

Thanks again to Trackside for hosting blogger night - their embrace of their listeners, bloggers and their opinions has really fueled the success of the show, in my opinion.  So thanks to those two.