Takuma Sato's win in the Indianapolis 500 paid off for Indiana-based lender Ruoff Home Mortgage, which only last week "decided to put financial support behind Sato's Andretti Racing Team" and serve as the car's primary sponsor, according to Pete Evans of CBC. The lender got an "unexpected bang for their buck -- especially since they likely paid less than other sponsors did, for much less exposure." Motorsports reporter Mark Smyth in an email wrote, "I'm guessing since it was a last minute thing, that team owner Michael Andretti probably gave Ruoff a lowball figure of only $750,000 to $1 million to be the major sponsor of the Sato car." Evans noted sponsors of other top drivers "likely paid" at least $2M for "pole position on the cars of some of the circuit's top drivers." While the Indy 500 is a "major event in the U.S., the IndyCar series is trying to expand internationally, so having a non-U.S. driver win on its biggest stage is good for the driver, and good for the series." Indiana-based Ruoff likely "doesn't have any use for a sudden surge in exposure in Japan, but other sponsors may well be interested if he can keep it up" (CBC.ca, 5/29).
TALKING 'BOUT MY GENERATION: RACER.com's Marshall Pruett noted Sato would "love to see his victory serve as an inspiration for more of his countrymen to choose" to join IndyCar. Sato said, "I want to see the new generation. I think that there is a lot of potential young Japanese drivers out there, and there is a few of them in Europe." Pruett noted using the financial support of Honda or Toyota, it was "commonplace to have a few Japanese drivers racing in CART, Champ Car or the IndyCar Series" in the '00s, but "that practice has come to an end in its widescale form." Although Honda "plays a key role in Sato's ongoing place within IndyCar, the Tokyo native hopes a renewed effort to groom Japanese talent ... will come from his Indy 500 achievement" (RACER.com, 5/29).
