The IndyCar Series announced this week that the longstanding relationship of North American Open Wheel racing in Australia is over. The race, formerly part of the Champ Car World Series before the unification, has been well attended and a widely anticipated annual event for the area. The biggest problems with the race came down to two key areas. Timing and Cost.
The Australian race, the only one in the Southern Hemisphere on the ICS schedule, causes a logistical issue with a series that doesn’t want to compete with the National Football League for Sunday viewership. Given Australia’s geographic location, the North American fall season, is the Aussie Spring. The chance of a race “Down Under” in the middle of our Summer just isn’t feasible. Given the fact that IndyCar officials have carved a niche of Spring and Summer races, the fall race didn’t really fit into the plans.
The other glaring issue is the cost of loading up 22 plus race teams, cars, crews, equipment, and personnel. Though the race was well attended, the event did little in order for the series to work towards its main goal of increasing their share of viewers and fans. As a result, with the combination of the costs involved and the logistical natures given the location of the event, it no longer made sense.
The bright spot here is that although the series does lose a long time race venue in 2009, this will open the window for a few North American tracks that want to be a part of the series. Portland and Cleveland come to mind. Those events will draw US race fans…and bring US dollars to the economies in those areas. That, in this economic environment, is a very good thing for the series.
[tags]auto racing, indycar[/tags]
