Time To Get Montreal

I might sound biased as I say this, but I guarentee you, if I was an American, an Australian, or a Brazilian, I would still be saying this.

With rumours swirling that A1GP wants to grab a race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal next year (if they last that long), now is the time the IRL needs to get on the phone and work out a deal to get into Montreal for 2010.

This track brings in plenty of fans every year and even during the CC years, the track was well attended and these fans love their open wheel racing. I guarentee that if the IRL gets to Montreal, they will fill that place up with the lack of F1. And if we let A1Gp get into that track before we do, chances are we lose Montreal for a long time, which we can't let happen.

Before you all go saying, "Canada doesn't need another IRL race", who cares about how many races Canada has. This is a North-American series. You look at Watkins Glen and you see the crowd filled with Canadians. You have to understand that a large percentage of IRL fans are Canadians. On top of that, a race at CGV is a good race. The race would be on TV, and what a race it would be. That track always produces great sightlines and good racing. It would translate to television very well and viewers everywhere would enjoy watching this race.

In this time, we need to put races on TV that people want to watch as well as races that bring in the fans, and I know, and the IRL would be stupid if they didn't know Montreal can do that.

And once A1Gp gets in there, that fills up the CGV schedule as they are only allowed so many weekends per year. With A1GP there, they would fill the place up with the similarity to F1 in cars. But the thing that would really fill the place up would be the French A1Gp car for the French supporters and the Canadian A1GP for the Canadian supporters. If they get into CGV, we won't see that place until A1GP dies.

So please, TG or BB, make it happen. Be smart and show some balls and pick up the phone and find a promoter. Ask Tony Cotman, he knows how important that race would be.

New Equipment Thoughts

After hearing that there are still 5 (or 3) major car companies still considering joining, or atleast attending the meetings, some things that were said really got me going.

First of all, with or without an economic downturn, we need to get a new equipment package out in 2011. That was the target set up by the ICS and it needs to be attained. Personally, I'm tired of watching speed boats circle IMS, and one of the main things when I decided to follow CCWS drivers and teams over to the ICS was that they had announced they would be introducing a new equipment package in 2010. Well, when bi-mergification occured, they pushed it back to 2011, which was understandable, otherwise you get CCWS teams using cars for two years, then buying a new chassis. So, I could handle that one, but now pushing it back to 2012 would be hurtful to the league. I think we need the new car and new engine package to turn a corner with fans and sponsorship.

And this whole economic mess we are in should not deter the ICS. First of all, all signs point to the economy rebounding late 2009 which gives us plenty of time to get back on track. Second of all, the new engine package and chassis package (along with a new rules package hopefully put together by Tony Cotman) will lower the costs in their series to a point where buying the chassis and running a full season in 2011 (or 2012 as it appears will happen) should actually cost less then running a full season now-a-days.

Ganassi says that it is about $10 Million per car to be up front consistently. So lets say a mid-pack is $6-$7 Million and a third tier operation is about $4-$6 Million. I think NHL Racing was winning the 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 Champ Car World Series Drivers Titles with an approximate $6-$7 Million budget (no source on that, just something I remember reading). The goal of the ICS, especially with the new chassis package unfortunately being spec (this is a story for another day) should be to dramatically lower costs. One thing all the team owners will agree upon from CCWS and the IRL is that the CCWS budgets were lower, and that is one of the things that should be brought into the ICS.

People keep saying that the IRL is such good "bang-for-your-marketing-buck" with these inflated budgets, imagine if the budget were slashed by 30-40%? Add to that better racing and multiple engine suppliers, and you've got yourself people chomping at the bit to enter the series as team owners. Forget about ever having to worry about filling 33 at Indy.

The IRL is simply procrastinating on this one in my opinion. Sure the engine summits are a good idea, but they are taking so long to finalize which is pushing the date of new engine/chassis packages being unveiled. The car package is one area the ICS needs improvement in, so they need to get on it, and they need to dramatically lower operating costs for the teams involved, and that is why this new car is so important.