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Old 1 Oct 2010, 01:10 (Ref:2767556)   #13
JagtechOhio
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Join Date: Apr 2009
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Powell, Ohio USA
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JagtechOhio should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridJagtechOhio should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Well, at least I won't be the one accused of hijacking the thread.

Seems like 3.6 was the ratings number for Indy this year.

Lotus announced their intention of fielding two cars before the season began, one car was funded all season and there was also a Cosworth brand association on display with KV racing.

Now they have publicly confirmed a second car for next year. I don't care whose money that is, KKs or Proton's or Fernandez'. The fact is there is one car that is funded, and every verified expectation that there will be another.

Mountainstar reads crapwagon and motorsports forum posts, and puts the rumors here without accrediting them. Here's a case in point:

There is a guy called "EagleEye" who represents himself as a current member of an IndyCar team. That might well be the case, but one thing we have witnessed for sure is that Series operations and team operations are quite independent of one another.

So "EagleEye" posts that Izod freaked out after the ratings came in for the Indy 500. Like that's real insider dish, so Star reads it and posts it here.

Only problem is, that's exactly the opposite of what the CEO of Izod said in his own words less than three weeks ago. He verified that Izod's spend this year was an INCREASE of $10M, and that they were very satisfied with the demonstrated return on their investment.

So any speculation about how much Izod really invested, or whether they were having buyer's remorse, is a wagon of crap being pushed by people who don't know the facts.

Why does that matter? If you're selling sponsorship, on a Series or team level, you can point to the CEO of Izod as a sponsor who attributed double digit order increases to his company's participation in the IndyCar Series.

In the past year, Honda has added three races to their list of title sponsored events, extended their contract with IndyCar, and committed to funding a complete new engine program. But they are not satisfied with their ROI either?

I'm no gomer, and asking hard questions is the only way to figure out what's going on. When the answers come directly from the people spending the money, that's who I believe. Not rumor mongers or recyclers who claim to have inside information.

Back to the thread topic of engine suppliers, Cosworth doesn't have the backing to participate: they have publicly said so. Every auto manufacturer does, but none have bought in other than Honda. Fiat/ Chrysler would seem unlikely, as their reorganization efforts are massive.

Fact is, we're not talking about a lot of money here. When Nissan states that their U.S. marketing budget was over $600M in a down year, things come into perspective a little. Other major manufacturers must be spending similar amounts.

As close as I have been able to estimate from talking to insiders, $10M would be enough to badge and develop an existing racing engine for IndyCar. Pick a number for a complete new program, I'll use $20M as an educated guess on the high end. Does that look like a huge number to Nissan, or any other manufacturer?

Well, the $10M investment was worth the ticket for Izod, and a larger one is satisfying the requirements of Honda. That certainly doesn't mean another manufacturer will invest in IndyCar, but there is a case to base the sales pitch on.

You can't base one on rumors. So Star, I'll continue to dismiss whatever you are trying to sell, regardless of where you are getting your rumors from.
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