Is the IRL moving upward? Roger Penske seems to think so.
The owner of Team Penske followed up his call for new engines only in 2012 by telling the Associated Press that the IZOD IndyCar Series is ready to make some positive moves with the help of new title sponsor IZOD and new IRL CEO Randy Bernard. He then went on tell the AP’s Tim Reynolds that “nothing is wrong with the series right now.”
I’m a little conflicted with comments like these. While the league’s outlook is certainly better than it has been in recent years, there’s still myriad problems to overcome such as lack of attendance and TV ratings and the dearth of mainstream stars beyond Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves — not to mention deciding the 2012 engine/chassis combo and making sure that the racing product doesn’t fail again like it did for a time last year on the ovals.
So when Penske says the league is just fine — especially because he runs one of the two teams in the series that wins on a regular basis and employs the hottest driver in the series right now in Will Power — it’s not hard to figure that more than a few have muttered, “Easy for him to say.”
But beyond that, perhaps Penske is getting at the fact that the league has a partner in IZOD that is finally pushing the series to a bigger audience. The clothing company is doing something that track promoters and television partners have failed to do for the IRL in the past. IZOD parent company Phillips-Van Heusen has the money and the know-how to turn a brand into a household name, and that’s what they’re going to try and do through both their clothing (a new historical Indy 500 t-shirt line is hitting the racks this spring) and their advertising (i.e. the “Race to the Party” ads with Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, and Dan Wheldon).
Then you get to Randy Bernard, who has by all accounts been impressive in his early stages as the sport’s leader. While he does not possess a big amount of racing knowledge, his plan of reaching out to as many people as possible in order to get up to speed on things appears to be working out well. Not only that, the ICONIC committee has garnered some goodwill for him, as he has brought in a four-star general to chair it; he also got a good break when Gil de Ferran was elected to the board as the team owners’ representative.
I think the truth, again, lies somewhere in the middle. All team owners want to keep their edge once they attain it and while Roger Penske looks out for the health of the IRL, the top priority is his team. Can’t fault him for that. But Penske didn’t become a billionaire by accident. His business sense allows him to determine what potential elements can be good or bad for an entity he’s involved in. If he believes that IZOD and Randy Bernard are pluses for the sport of American open-wheel racing, then that’s enough for most people. While fans like to paint him and Chip Ganassi as the bad guys — familiarity breeds contempt, especially when familiarity dominates everyone else — their observations are still held in high regard by them.
With all of that said, I am both in disagreement and agreement. After the fan base has been completely lathered up over a new car/engine for 2012, what would happen if all we got was the same car with a new engine only? I’m not sure I want to think about it. But at the same time, Penske is correct in saying that the IRL has attained some important help.
The league’s not perfect, but for the first time in a while, it feels like progress is being made, slowly but surely.
