City CFO Says Edmonton Indy Unlikely To Be Picked Up By A New Promoter

City of Edmonton CFO Lorna Rosen yesterday said that it is "unlikely a new promoter will wheel up to revive the Edmonton Indy race,” according to Gordon Kent of the EDMONTON JOURNAL. Rosen added, “I think that we’re done.” Race promoter Octane Motorsports cited “poor attendance and lukewarm response from the corporate community as reasons for closing the door on Edmonton.” Octane said that it “couldn’t make the race profitable.” Rosen said that the deal with Octane included spending C$2.3M per year for three years on sponsorship and "providing services such as policing and transit, although the city didn’t cover the company’s losses." Kent writes while that money "now isn’t needed for 2013, the city is still dealing with the [C$3.2M] cost of paving and other work to build a track at the City Centre Airport” (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 9/25).

NEW SLATE: IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard yesterday wrote on his Twitter feed that the series will “announce its 2013 event schedule Sunday night on Speed’s Wind Tunnel program." In Indianapolis, Curt Cavin noted Bernard "wants 19 races and how he counts those will be one of the elements to the announcement." There likely “will be at least one and maybe two doubleheaders -- two points-paying races on the same weekend -- with the street circuit in Detroit and the road course in Sonoma, Calif., the prime contenders for such events.” No more than 14 of this year’s 15 venues "are expected to be retained" (INDYSTAR.com, 9/24).