MVN: Most Valuable Network

After a waiting period following last month's Nikon Indy 300 at Surfer's Paradise, Australia, the Indy Racing League and Queensland government officials have failed to reach a new deal that would bring the IndyCar Series back to the Gold Coast in 2009.

A1 Grand Prix will take over as the open-wheel element of the Australian racing weekend, which also features the homegrown V8 Supercars series. According to TSN, the hurdle that tripped everyone up was Queensland's refusal to move the race from October to March.

In addition to clashes with the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and another V8 Supercar event, Queensland Sports Minister Judy Spence also had her constituents in mind, saying:

"(It) would have involved track construction right in the middle of January school holidays and we would not tolerate Gold Coast residents being inconvenienced in that way."

While I'm a little bummed at this turn of events, I can't say I'm not surprised. In the grand scheme of things, the IRL could either take Surfer's or leave it in regards to economic sense and whether all the teams would truly benefit, not just some (*cough*KV Racing Technology*cough*).

Hopefully, circumstances will change one day and American open-wheel racing will be back in the Gold Coast. Until then, let's just hope the league gets its ducks in a row where it truly counts: at home.