MVN - Most Valuable Network

Report: IndyCar qualifying changes?; Coke along for the ride?

Besides the Indianapolis 500 itself, there is nothing in motor sports that’s as exciting as the four laps it takes to qualify for the race.

Now it appears that the IndyCar Series will try to get that patented excitement to rub off beyond the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. ESPN.com’s John Oreovicz is reporting that the series will adopt the 500’s qualifying format — which sets the grid based on a driver’s average speed over those four laps — for all 11 of its oval track races. The Firestone Fast Six format for road/street course qualifying remains intact.

There’s also a couple of other changes supposedly coming: things we’ve already seen (paddle shifters) and one that I haven’t heard yet (fuel mixture control back to the drivers). But in what could be the biggest news, Oreovicz says that Coca-Cola and Mac Tools appear ready to join the IRL as sponsors.

I approach this piece of news with true skepticism. If true, will this be an actual major effort from these companies or another “Official (Insert Product Here)” with little to no marketing involved besides title rights? Lord knows the series needs more sponsors that will fail to increase awareness beyond the converted.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.