Despite today’s announcement that Rahal Letterman Racing—the team that gave Danica Patrick her start—is leaving the Indy
Racing League, series officials are still “bullish” on next season.
“Bobby Rahal and Dave Letterman have been good team owners and good for the series, but this is just one of those things that happens when you experience the kind of economic downturn we’re experiencing,” said IRL spokesman John Griffin. “I still think Rahal Letterman have left the door open to come back.”
Rahal, a former Indianapolis 500 winner, said he simply couldn’t find adequate sponsorship for his team to continue in 2009. The team ran one car for American driver Ryan Hunter-Reay last season and won the race last July at Watkins Glen. With an American ethanol advocacy group as its primary sponsor, Hunter-Reay had 10 top 10 finishes last year and was named Rookie-of-the-Year at the Indianapolis 500. The ethanol group vanished from the series, and took one of the IRL's higher profile teams with it. Now, the IRL’s car count has become a concern.
“I still think the series will have 22 to 24 cars,” Griffin said. “Twenty-two may be more realistic at this point.”
Rahal Letterman’s announcement isn’t the only bad news. Griffin confirmed that the IRL also lost DirecTV as a presenting sponsor. Griffin said the series’ deal with DirecTV broke down when IRL signed a deal to air races on Comcast-owned Versus cable TV channel.
“One of DirecTV’s biggest competitors is Comcast,” Griffin said. “They felt it didn’t make sense to have their logo and support in a position where it supported a Comcast initiative in any way.”
Still, Griffin said, IRL ad executives along with Indianapolis-based sponsorship consultancy Just Marketing continue to make headway with new deals.
“We just had a meeting Monday with a very, very big corporate brand name,” Griffin said. “I can’t tell you more than that, but rest assured it’s a well-known name. Every time our sales staff comes back from a meeting, the word is the same. There are so many corporate interests that are interested in this series, but are being held up by the economy. Our sales guys like the momentum they see. We feel once this economic cloud lifts, we’ll be in a great position to take off and grow.”
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Thanks for saving open wheel Tony. Thanks for everything....
There you have it ladies and gentlemen, the understatement of the year!
I'm betting we're only seeing the tip of the pull-out iceberg with the Indy 500 lucky to get 33 cars in the show this year.
They are probably being more prudent with their money than smaller teams are. They have BMW backing for their sports car, so I am guessing that everyone on staff is pretty stable for the moment. Why risk that by over extending and running the Indy car without sponsorship.
1) I hope they come back soon
2) Their BMW is super cool looking - google Rahal Letterman BMW
Bobby Rahal said today that he is “reasonably sure” his race team will participate in this year’s Indianapolis 500, but it is doubtful it will be involved in the entire IndyCar Series season because of lacking sponsorship.
and the IBJ says they are gone.
Rahal Letterman’s announcement isn’t the only bad news. Griffin confirmed that the IRL also lost DirecTV as a presenting sponsor. Griffin said the series’ deal with DirecTV broke down when IRL signed a deal to air races on Comcast-owned Versus cable TV channel.
“One of DirecTV’s biggest competitors is Comcast,” Griffin said. “They felt it didn’t make sense to have their logo and support in a position where it supported a Comcast initiative in any way.”
DUH...
Last segment is hysterical though - a big company is always 'just around the corner' with these bums. :lol: Pathetic. But they will never acknowledge the real problem, the 'league' and the dismal atmosphere around it that FTG's inheritance hath wrought. It must suck to work there and have to pretend that things are grate. :)
The DirecTV 'deal' couldn't have been worth much, if anything, if they tossed it aside for the token $3 million from reVersus.
The only thing to look forward to is the next screw-up and failure from this sorry lot, it's the only thing they do that has entertainment value. :lol:
He is an opportunist turncoat. perfect for the EARL!
I agree it is a bad sign, however, Rahal is still seeking sponsorship. He's not giving up. He will likely run the 500 anyway. And, if and when things improve, he may be in a better position since he's still running ALMS and has a very professional operation in Columbus. Remember that some of the lesser teams seem to be doing ok with sponsorship requests.
The reason I brought up Danica was in response to Da Hooey's tasteless comment. We're just trying to clean up the hateful scorn that constantly appears whenever TG or the IRL is featured in an IBJ post. Da Hooey and others certainly are justified in their criticism but they go too far when they make it personal and hateful toward anyone involved in the IRL, don't you agree?
What Danica has done off track is between her and her husband and her parents. Perhaps some of it is tasteless. Nevertheless, most of us think she is a very beautiful woman. Perhaps the bad genes you refer to are in her competitive, sometimes compulsive, antagonistic behavior. That may well be true, but there are many that have come before her in the sporting world that have behaved as badly and many times worse. Maturity and experience usually has an effect in changing behavior. So, SSD, much of that is learned behavior, not a genetic issue. You may not like her and you are certainly are not alone, but she doesn't deserve to be called names. As I said before, she is someone else's daughter. You wouldn't like it either.