IndyCar Gets First Title Sponsor in Nearly a Decade
By Bruce Martin
November 3, 2009
It has been nearly a month since Dario Franchitti wrapped up the 2009 IndyCar Series championship with a victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway but that doesn’t mean the sport has gone into hibernation.
There has been plenty of news since the season ended and there will be a major announcement Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when IZOD will become the first title sponsor of the series since Northern Light – an internet search engine – left following the 2001 season.
That leads this week’s notes along with some other important developments.
IZOD WILL BE UNVEILED AS INDYCAR’S TITLE SPONSOR ON THURSDAY
As VERSUS.com has reported all season, IZOD’s involvement with the IndyCar Series as a partner was so successful the clothing company decided to step up to the next level and become the first title sponsor the IndyCar Series has had in nearly 10 years. It is also the culmination of a long search that nearly came to fruition in 2008 with financial services company Capital One and Subway. Both companies were deep in discussions with IndyCar and Capital One actually had a contract in place awaiting the final signature to the document, according to IndyCar Series sources. But that deal fell apart after the Wall Street collapse in September 2008 when credit card companies and lenders dealt with the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression.
That wasn’t the only opportunity for IndyCar, however, and Terry Angstadt, the president of IndyCar’s commercial division, began the foster the burgeoning relationship with IZOD. The apparel company had a successful relationship with Macy’s department stores that featured IndyCar Series displays in markets where IndyCar raced. The annual photo op in New York featuring all 33 starters for the 93rd Indianapolis 500 was held in front of Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square in Manhattan. Both sides obviously saw value in this relationship and IZOD becomes the title sponsor for IndyCar in a deal believed to be $10 million a year for five years. And because it’s an apparel company, it can reach out to a new audience for the sport.
“It’s something we have said is paramount for the series to have success because it gives them an identity beyond themselves,” said Tim Cindric, president at Team Penske. “It’s something from our perspective has been a long time coming but because it’s a brand that is known – not a brand that is trying to build itself in the public eye but is already in the public eye – gives them a great amount of credibility. It’s outside of the automotive industry which gives it a lot of legs, puts it a bit more mainstream than any sponsor they have had in the past. It’s exciting to know that it is a long-term program as well. The IndyCar Series has a lot of character in terms of driving the people that are there. One of the things NASCAR has done a good job is bringing those personalities out in the limelight. Now, IndyCar can do this with IZOD because it’s a sponsor that has a broader perspective than just a singular automotive sector.”
NEWMAN/HAAS LANIGAN OPTIMISTIC ABOUT RAHAL’S RETURN
IndyCar Series team owner Michael Lanigan is very optimistic that Graham Rahal will return as the featured driver for the two-car team in 2010. Rahal became the “face of unification” when the then-19-year-old driver drove to victory in his first IndyCar Series race in the 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg becoming the youngest driver in major auto racing history to win a race. Although Rahal was winless in 2009, he showed tremendous improvement, especially on the ovals, and finished seventh in the IndyCar standings.
“We’re very optimistic about putting together and finalizing our two-car team for next year with Graham Rahal as one of the drivers,” Lanigan said. “We don’t have a deal signed yet but I’m very optimistic with the progress we are making and hope to have it finalized soon.”
Rahal has it all – the pedigree as the son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time CART championship Bobby Rahal, blazing speed on the race track and the dashing good looks that makes him ideal for sponsors. He has all the ingredients to become the next great American driver in IndyCar.
POWER’S PENSKE PLANS
Although he continues to recover from broken vertebra suffered in his lower back from a crash at Infineon Raceway on August 22, Will Power’s plans continue to move forward with Team Penske. Power will be added to a full-time effort giving Team Penske three full-time drivers in 2010 including three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and championship challenger Ryan Briscoe.
“It is certainly moving forward,” said Team Penske president Tim Cindric. “We are hoping we can put something together where he runs all year next year and hopefully in the next few weeks, we will have all of that in place and we can put this behind us.”
The addition of Power to a full-time ride gives Team Penske three legitimate contenders for the title and another star driver to the lineup of every race.
HENDRICK: NO DANICA AT PHOENIX
NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick revealed to VERSUS.com before last Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega, Alabama that IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick will not make her first NASCAR Nationwide Series start in the No. 5 JR Motorsports car at Phoenix International Raceway in two weeks.
“No,” Hendrick said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Patrick has signed to stay in the IndyCar Series with team owner Michael Andretti but remains interested in a part-time schedule for NASCAR’s lower divisions. According to sources within the NASCAR garage area, Patrick’s asking price to compete in Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races is $300,000 per race. If she were to run a truck race and Nationwide race on the same weekend, the price is $600,000. Even with the sheer amount of publicity the IndyCar female driver would bring to NASCAR, team owners don’t appear interested in paying that price. Other teams that Patrick’s agents at IMG have approached for a limited Nationwide and NCWTS effort including Michael Waltrip Racing and Kevin Harvick, Inc (KHI) according to sources. The growing sentiment in the garage area at Talladega is Patrick’s asking price is too high for a driver that has never competed in a stock car. Harvick doesn’t even get paid by his wife, DeLana, when he drives in Nationwide and Trucks so don’t expect the checkbook to be opened for Patrick.
The good news is she will be back in IndyCar where she commands plenty of attention and has become the face of that series. She has shown steady improvement every season in the series and her third-place finish in this year’s Indianapolis 500 moves her one step closer to her goal of winning the world’s biggest and most historic race.
HVM PREPARES FOR “LIFE AFTER VISO”
E.J. Viso was one of IndyCar’s most interesting personalities and likeable drivers because he proved to be fast and fearless. Unfortunately, that speed and attitude never got him to victory lane and often got the driver from Venezuela into the wall. So after finishing 18th in points, Viso has left HVM Racing and plans on competing in Europe in 2010. For now, HVM has driver Robert Doornbos in one of its cars and team owner Keith Wiggins hopes to sign another driver to take over Viso’s car.
“To be quite honest, the way our business runs at the moment, everything is year to year with sponsors and year to year with drivers,” Wiggins said. “In Champ Car, we rarely kept drivers for more to one year and with E.J. we had a pretty good two-year run with him. After that first baptism by fire last year we decided to try a second year and that was that. This year we haven’t had as good a year we wanted from all fronts. We’re all disappointed and with timing we decided not to renew. We want to improve and the teams are always looking for the best drivers. I’ve made no secret we aren’t very impressed with our performance this year. Unfortunately, it became getting to the next race rather than improving the performance. I guess we got what we paid for. We had some expensive crashes which hurt the cash flow so it was one of those years we just tried to get to the end. Having one car is a negative in this series – it makes no sense. It helps having a second car from a technical point of view and from the economy point of view.
“Everybody is sniffing around the `Honey Pots.’ If there are drivers out there with budget there are plenty of options out there and we have slipped down the list. But come the first race of next year, it all changes. I have no doubt we can put a winning team together and what drivers we can put into place. That depends on talent and money. I think I can safely say our performance can improve easily. We have to find some drivers and budget.”
