Reigning Indy 500 champion enters reboot of INDYCAR’s $5 million challenge at season finale
After being unable to get any star racers from other disciplines to compete for $5 million in its season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the IZOD IndyCar Series is taking a new approach to the much-hyped challenge.
The $5 million kitty remains intact, but now the challenge will fall upon current Indianapolis 500 king Dan Wheldon, who will enter the Oct. 16 season finale in Vegas. The program is a collaboration between Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Bryan Herta Autosport (with whom Wheldon won his second ‘500’ back in May) and Wheldon’s No. 98 car will hold primary sponsorship from SSM’s main backer, Bowers and Wilkins at Magnolia.
Wheldon will have to start from the back of the field, but should he win the race, he’ll split the big prize 50-50 with a fan. Fans can register for the chance to win their $2.5 million starting tomorrow on IndyCarWorldChampionships.com and on Verizon Wireless’ IndyCar Mobile application (text INDY to 3406 or download on the Android Market).
INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard said that the series didn’t want to let their fans down after all the publicity that was created about the original version of the challenge.
“We had a lot of buzz and interest about this $5 million challenge, so we felt that we should try to go on and do a new challenge,” Bernard said. “…When the [original version] didn’t happen, we felt that there was too much good positive momentum to let it go.
“We thought that one way we could still do it is with a promotion that reached one of our drivers. How do you be fair to [the other] drivers? The best way is to go to the guy that got the most press this year and won the Indy 500, and give him the opportunity.”
Wheldon, who hasn’t been in a race since his victory at the Brickyard and has been splitting his time testing the 2012 IndyCar with BHA and working as a TV analyst for Versus, is looking forward to what he expects will be a “spectacle.”
“It’s going to be phenomenal to come back,” said Wheldon. “What you can’t forget is that there’s a championship going on, with Dario Franchitti and Will Power have been battling it out non-stop, so I think there’s going to be a lot of exciting elements to Vegas. I hope there will be a lot of rich people at the end of it, whether it’s the $5 million [winner] or the champion. But I do hope that this collaboration with Sam Schmidt and Bryan Herta Autosport will make us richer and make a fan richer.”
The lucky fan that is chosen will not only have the chance to win half of the $5 million prize should Wheldon take the checkered flag, but will also receive a trip package to the race that includes airfare/hotel accomodations, VIP “on and off track” access, and a Verizon 4G LTE phone and tablet.
