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Could race teams bridge divide without series’ blessing?: Ganassi pushing for IRL-Champ Car cross-pollination

The pull of some Champ Car markets is so strong, it has the owner of a prominent Indy Racing League team talking about launching a cooperative effort with a team from the rival open-wheel racing series. And he’s urging other IRL teams to do the same. Chip Ganassi last month proposed IRL and Champ Car teams partner so they can compete in both series’ biggest races and perhaps even square off for a cross-series championship. Ganassi told Speed TV that…

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Butler construction project targeted for fall ’06 finish: Student housing, rec center to join historic campus

The landscape around Butler University’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse is undergoing dramatic changes not seen on the private campus since the early 1960s. Construction began in May on a $50 million project to build a student recreation center west of the 77-year-old arena and student housing to the east. Both should be finished by the start of the fall semester in August. The construction projects are the largest since Irwin Library, Clowes Memorial Hall and Lilly Hall were built in 1961,…

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Ice Miller experiment turns financial corner: IMSS is only area sports agency licensed by NFL, NBA

At a time when many sports agents are getting squeezed out by mega-agencies with Shaquille O’Neal’s mass and New York Yankee-like resources, a small Indianapolis firm is becoming a real player. A curious experiment launched in August 2001 by local law firm Ice Miller has become a profitable venture despite long odds and a slow start. “It’s fair to say that launching this effort has been harder than we thought,” said IM Sports Services LLC Chairman John R. Thornburgh. “After…

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SPORTS Bill Benner: Peyton on paychecks and his final pass

Part II of my no X’s-and-O’s interview with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning: Benner: Conseco Fieldhouse could be called the House That Reggie Miller Built. Obviously, a great number of people have been involved in the new stadium. Yet it could be known as the House That Peyton Built. How do you feel about your role in elevating the franchise to the point where the stadium became a necessity? Manning: It gets me excited. That we can have a state-of-the-art…

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SPORTS: Q&A: Peyton Manning on priorities, life after Reggie

The Indianapolis Colts’ bye week has arrived, which means it’s time for a casual conversation-no X’s and O’s or New England Patriots talk allowed-with quarterback Peyton Manning. Not long ago, I sat down with No. 18 to talk about his place in the community, rather than his place behind center. Here is the first of a two-part interview. Benner: Your community service work through the PeyBack Foundation is wellknown. It’s now given more than $1 million to youth programs here,…

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Startups offered a fast track: Motorsports-themed incubator gets green light in Brownsburg

Hendricks County officials hope a new business incubator there revs the engines of local entrepreneurs. The motorsports-themed facility, to be known as Fast-Start, got the green light after a year-long feasibility study concluded the project was a logical fit for a community that already houses Prudhomme Racing, John Force Racing and Bill Simpson’s Impact Racing. “It would help achieve some of our goals in Brownsburg,” said Jeanette Baker, town council president and treasurer of the Hendricks County Economic Development Partnership,…

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SPORTS: My apologies to the commish; college football rules

In that span, I viewed Indiana-Iowa, Purdue-Northwestern, Ohio State-Michigan State, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Notre Dame-USC, Michigan-Penn State and UCLAWashington State. Sometimes simultaneously. That’s because I also have picture-in-picture, which I also believe to be one of the great inventions of all time. Anyway, by the time day turned into night, I again was reminded why college football-with all due respect to the Indianapolis Colts and the NFL-remains far and above the superior form of the game. Allow me to clarify. There is…

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BioStorage gets set for major expansion: Three-year-old local firm eyeing West Coast, Europe

The 60 industrial-size freezers standing in formation like soldiers at attention look unassuming from the outside, but their contents are invaluable. Stored at temperatures of minus-80 degrees Celsius, the millions of biological samples inside the far-west-side warehouse represent the future of disease research and drug development. The repository is operated by BioStorage Technologies, a 3-year-old venture created by a pair of researchers who met at the local office of Princeton, N.J.-based Covance Inc., a drug-development services firm. Oscar Moralez developed…

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Hot mod madness: Customizer Kenny Brown enjoys performance-car revival

In a dark corner of the Kenny Brown Performance garage is the 2005 Mustang Ford Motor Co. should have built. Supercharger. Disc brakes as big as the tires of some cars. All hung on a chassis that’s Prince Charles stiff. And shrouding its meaty tires are a protruding rear fender and a filled-in quarter window raked all the way back to the taillights, akin to the 1967 Mustang fastback. “It’s kind of like the marriage of heritage and technology,” said…

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Lee, Willis prosper outside limelight: Former WRTV co-anchors run growing public relations firm

News defined the careers of Clyde Lee and Diane Willis for a combined five decades. And it was the nation’s biggest news event of the last decade-9/11-that served as an ominous backdrop for the duo’s first entrepreneurial venture. “We incorporated in August 2001, and less than a month later, 9/11 hit, and we thought, ‘Oh my,'” Lee recalled. But more than four years later, Lee/Willis Communications is still standing-and prospering. The fiscal swoon that followed 9/11 caused many companies to…

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SPORTS: We’ve arrived as a big-time football town-for now

Are you ready for some football? Of course you are. That the Indianapolis Colts are making the first of not one, not two, but three appearances on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” is once again recognition of the obvious, which is that Jim Irsay’s ownership, Bill Polian’s leadership and Tony Dungy’s coaching have made the Horseshoes as hot a commodity nationally as they are locally. Not that Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Dwight Freeney, Gary Brackett, Cato June et al…

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COLD PROSPECT?: New stadium may not overcome climate, lack of corporate clout as city vies for Super Bowl

Did NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue do a snow job on Indiana legislators? Tagliabue dangled visions of Indianapolis’ hosting a Super Bowl when he made the case for a $625 million stadium before Indiana lawmakers earlier this year. Now construction is under way, and local officials are watching 2006 host city Detroit to see if it can warm skeptics to the idea of playing the Super Bowl in a cold-weather city. But some observers of the big game doubt Indianapolis has…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Exec tries to rewrite baseball legacy, but boo-birds abound

Emmis Communications Corp. CEO Jeff Smulyan ended up black and blue the last time he owned a baseball team. This time around, he’s taking blows even before he finds out whether he gets the team. Smulyan wants both Emmis shareholders and residents of the Washington, D.C., region to be excited about his group’s bid to buy the Washington Nationals from Major League Baseball for at least $450 million. But already leading an anti-Smulyan charge is Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell,…

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Pathway to growth: Production firm’s storytelling attracts national attention

Despite a wall lined with Emmy Awards and a client list including ESPN and VH1, Pathway Productions founder Michael Husain is as eager to talk about corporate work and Web site development as his firm’s latest Peyton Manning documentary or his work showcased in this year’s Heartland Film Festival. “The new media side of our business, and that includes Web site development, grew 100 percent in each of the last two years,” Husain said. “So you can see why we’re…

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Coastal is in the name, central Indiana is its game: California-based firm cultivating its local operations

Despite its name, Coastal Partners LLC is firmly entrenched in the heartland. Most of its current projects are in central Indiana, as are about half its employees. In August, the Sacramento-based firm hired Tom Ott to oversee its central Indiana operations and new development. Ott, a respected 10-year veteran of the local office of Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis, plans to continue his relationships in the local brokerage community to further Coastal Partners’ presence in the area. Although the name…

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SPORTS: Hoop paths of Indiana and Lithuania finally cross

In the small republic by the Baltic Sea-population 3.4 million-many youngsters grow up dreaming the same kinds of hoop dreams young Hoosiers do. “Basketball in Lithuania is even crazier,” Jasikevicius, a 6-foot-4-inch guard, said recently at Conseco Fieldhouse, moments after finishing his first official practice as a Pacer. “We always call it our second religion.” During the 50 years Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union, players from the republic were the nucleus of the USSR national teams. It was…

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Pacers’ new game plan: polish team persona: NBA squads must comply with tough conduct rules

Almost a year removed from the infamous brawl in Detroit, the Indiana Pacers are ready to put their best foot forward. And they’re getting a hand-or more like a foot in the backside-from NBA Commissioner David Stern. Stern on Sept. 28 handed down new league dress code and conduct rules aimed at brightening the image of players and making them more accessible to fans, community groups and media outlets. The rules-which require players to wear sport coats, collared shirts and…

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SPORTS: Why big-league baseball has become bush league

The Great American Pastime is past my time. I’ve pretty much ceased to care about Major League Baseball. Note that I said “major league.” I remain very much a fan of the Indianapolis Indians and the experience to be had in the country’s very best minor-league ballpark, Victory Field. I do know, albeit casually, that going into the last week of the regular season, there was considerable sorting out to be done before playoff participants could be determined, that the…

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Speaking of health care: Local experts weigh in on rising costs, the uninsured and whether our current system needs an overhaul Public health priorities, executive salaries and the “gold rush” of health care construction were among the topics tackled Sept

Public health priorities, executive salaries and the “gold rush” of health care construction were among the topics tackled Sept. 21 in the latest installment of Indianapolis Business Journal’s Power Breakfast Series. IBJ reporter Tom Murphy moderated the panel discussion, attended by some of the area’s foremost health care experts. Following is an edited transcript of the often-spirited discussion, which included a brief interruption by protestors seeking medical insurance coverage for janitorial staff who clean Anthem Inc. buildings. IBJ: Can you…

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Texas group roaring for Indians stock: Lion Fund dangles 40-percent premium for ballclub’s shares

A San Antonio-based hedge fund’s public solicitation of Indianapolis Indians stock is akin to a hostile takeover attempt, industry observers said. It also brings into question the succession plan of the Indians’ 72-year-old chairman, Max Schumacher, who owns 39 percent of the company’s stock. While officials for The Lion Fund LP said they aren’t looking to take majority control of the city’s AAA baseball franchise, they’re willing to pay a substantial premium over the Indians’ last buyback offer of $9,200…

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