IndyCar officials are discussing “potential opportunities to race at the famous Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wis., and on the streets of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- and even China, among other places,” according to AUTOWEEK. The “strong interest in the new venues" comes after the crowd at Sunday's Milwaukee 225 at the Milwaukee Mile “was estimated at just 15,000.” IndyCar Commercial Division President Terry Angstadt said that series officials will meet with Indianapolis-based AB Promotions, the promoter for the Milwaukee race, to “gauge the viability of returning to the Mile.” Meanwhile, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard visited Road America last week and “came away impressed.” But he has also “stressed the importance of the series having a balanced number of oval tracks and road/street circuits.” Angstadt said that “plans are under way” for a potential street race in Ft. Lauderdale in ’13. The local effort “is led by Dale Dillon, who has been involved with other IndyCar street races.” But Angstadt said that “nothing will happen” in South Florida “until the organizers get local approval to move forward.” Angstadt said that a possible event in China “remains in play,” but he confirmed that “no contract has been signed” (AUTOWEEK.com, 6/21). In Ft. Lauderdale, Scott Wyman noted Dillon and driver Ryan Hunter-Reay have “received permission” from IndyCar to explore a Ft. Lauderdale race and “will pursue detailed engineering plans for a race route if the city gives the go-ahead.” The pair “propose a three-day event with about 120 professional and amateur teams competing in a variety of races over a two-mile route” (SUN-SENTINEL.com, 6/18).
EXPLORING HIS OPTIONS: Bernard said of the Milwaukee 225, “Obviously, the crowd was pretty disappointing and I don’t want to give up on it yet but I’m also not willing to say we’re going to bring it back. We made some mistakes and learned some lessons and now we need to do some evaluating.” SPEEDTV.com’s Robin Miller wrote Bernard’s “biggest mistake may have been going with AB Promotions,” as AB “couldn’t secure a title sponsor, which is pretty much death for any race nowadays.” Although AB reportedly secured a “sweetheart deal on rent from the State Fair Board,” the promotion “showed it really doesn’t understand race fans or what it takes to get them back” (SPEEDTV.com, 6/20).
