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Monday, March 12 IRL report card By Jack Arute ESPN.com The Indy Racing League kicks off its sixth season this weekend with the running of its 44th race -- The Pennzoil Copper World Classic at Pheonix International Raceway -- and a report card is in order. Schedule: B+ Nine races last year was a liability. Especially when you consider they were stretched from January through September. This season there are 13 events and the schedule window is March through early September. New markets for the series in 2001 include Miami, Richmond, Va., Kansas City, Kan., Nashville, Tenn., St. Louis and Chicago. The hub of this year's schedule is the Midwest -- where open cockpit Indy Car racing is the strongest. Attendance: C Attendance has been on the upswing. Races at Texas and Kentucky were well received. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. The IRL has been airing a 30 minute infomercial in race event markets to bolster attendance and it has resulted in increased advanced ticket sales. The IRL intends to expand upon several of their fan friendly promotions this season which they hope will draw additional families to their events. TV: B- There is a continued commitment from ABC (the United States TV rights-holder) for the IRL. A revamped announce team includes Larry Rice and former Beverly Hills 90210 star Jason Priestley. Qualifying will again be aired on ESPN/ESPN2 as well as IndyRacing2Day. Fifty additional countries throughout Europe and Africa will receive live telecasts of all 13 events in 2001, including the Indianapolis 500, as part of an expansion of the IRL's existing international television distribution. Media coverage: C Much work needs to be done with mainstream media outlets to expand their attention beyond their once a year Indy 500 coverage. Take a page from the success manual of NASCAR. They expended tons of cash and took their stars to non-racing markets selling their story. Too much effort is directed towards "buff" journalists. Competition: A+ Just show someone the first Texas race of last season. Show them the championship chase that went down to the last race of the year. Look at a full entry list for the season-opener. The addition of CART teams like Penske, Ganassi and Team Green for the Indy 500 show that this is an area the IRL has gotten right. It may be "spec racing" when compared to Formula One, but you have to go pretty deep into an IRL starting field when listing potential winners. Sponsorship: D+ It is the best kept secret in motorsports. While CART and Winston Cup command $8-10 million from sponsors, IRL teams shop for $1-2 million. The IRL needs to work harder in this area. Driver development: B The IRL needs to look beyond their USAC connection. They need to put some muscle behind their "Road to Indy" program. This takes a financial deal that covers some of the hefty driver development costs. Giving USAC's champions a test with the Pennzoil Panther Team each year has gotten old. Reward owners who take a chance on a short-tracker. There is no Busch Series in the IRL, so the gap is a big one for aspiring drivers. Unification or non-unification: D Stop talking about it. The IRL needs to come out definitively and show no tolerance for anyone that wishes to bring up the subject. As long as people (inside the IRL, by the way) continue to fuel unification talks, the IRL will suffer. It got better last season, but there are still far too many leaks from IRL people who enjoy playing the inflated role of "sources within the IRL." Cumulative grade: C+ It is not a bad report card for a relatively new series. When comparisons are made, the best head-to-head one is the IRL vs. the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Both were formed around the same time. In that tale of the tape, the IRL comes out on top. The bottom line is that the IRL is an enjoyable discipline of American racing. There is plenty of room for improvement. There is no dean's list yet for Tony George's operation, but 2001 could put them on the honor roll.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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