IndyCar – Chevy is Back! Momentum Baby!

This past week has been a mounting crescendo of articles coming out from increasingly reliable sources making the claim that GM would be back in IndyCar for 2012. Autoextremist, Autoblog, Speed, Autosport and now Curt Cavin at the venerable Indianapolis Star have all weighed in. The rumor can be put to bed. There will be an announcement made at the IMS Hall of Fame Museum on Friday at 10am EST welcoming Chevy back into the fold for 2012.

Other parts of this rumor have indicated that Chip Ganassi will be the flagship GM effort, but Chip has outright denied this to multiple news outlets. Though, Chip has been known to be a bit cagey in the past.

Momentum seems to be growing as IndyCar has picked up several new sponsors, increased sanctioning fees, gathered at least three aero kit manufacturers and two engine manufacturers, laid a firm foundation for the technical package from 2012 onward, is making huge gains in the marketing arena and generally has shaken off much of the funk that surrounded the series during the split. Randy Bernard has definitely been the frontman this year on these changes and has proven himself an effective marketer, communicator and vision caster, all areas where the previous CEO of all things Hulman never established himself in.

Bernard has hinted that there will be several major announcements this offseason, and that those announcements will be staggered so as to keep IndyCar in the limelight. Future announcements will probably entail the 2011 season ending race, the groundbreaking for the Dallara factory in Speedway Indiana, Terry Angstadt’s “sponsor whose activation will rival IZOD’s”, maybe a few new teams, aero kit manufacturers and maybe another engine manufacturer. All this amidst the hoopla surrounding the Centennial Era at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It’s looking to be an interesting offseason.

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7 Thoughts to “IndyCar – Chevy is Back! Momentum Baby!

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BJ (Juice) Johnson, Openpaddock.net. Openpaddock.net said: New Content: IndyCar – Chevy is Back! Momentum Baby! – http://tinyurl.com/24ddt5b […]

  2. ATB73

    Awesome. Speed reports that Roger Penske was the driving force behind Chevrolets return to Indycar racing. Team Penske and Chevrolet will reunite. Ilmor Engineering will end its involvment with Honda. Chip Ganassi has yet to decide which manufacturer will power his cars. All speculation leading up to this is a fine example of smoke and mirrors. You can bet Roger and Chip are having a big laugh as they most likely were having fun at our expense in deflecting the truths behind this pivotal deal as secrecy is extremely important in the delicate negotiation process.

    It must be a tough decision for Chip, as he was quoted recently saying ” he didn’t want to do anything to change his winning formula”. That could also effect whether or not he expands to a 3 car effort with Graham Rahal. I think it would be fantastic to have a big American name like Rahal in a Chevrolet. But the fact the Rahals bleed Honda, leads me to believe he may wind up driving for his father.

    This is shaping up to be a great off season as tons of things are in “the works”. Things are getting bigger and bigger and the outlook is getting brighter and brighter. It’s great that Justin Wilson has finally secured a seat at Dreyer and Reinbold. Thats one worry that can be checked off the list. Next up, secure a ride for TK. That will make his loss of 7-11 dollars a minor loss to the series. Definately not the end of the world scenario it may have seemed at the time when that news broke. Its important for IICS to break that cycle of 1 step forward and 10 steps back. It’s looking more like 10 steps forward, 1 step back. A huge step forward would be Panther reuniting with Chevy and having the American, J.R. Hildebrand as the wheel man. I’m firm in the belief that having Americans drive American products is vital to renewing interest in the American fanbase. Thats something that can be rubbed into ISC’s face. Lets see how they like them apples.

  3. Indeed!

    Best case scenario is Andretti and Panther both getting Chevy engines to run in their all american teams….

  4. ATB73

    Andretti would be huge, as All-American as they are.

  5. and doesn’t Mario have a relationship with GM already? I know that AGR had a pretty tight relationship with Honda for a long time, but I can’t imagine that connection survived Honda’s dumping of the AGR ALMS LMP2 program in favour of De Ferran’s team.

  6. Not to pee on the Andretti parade, but living in their home market I can tell you Michael sells way too many two wheel Hondas to be elsewhere.

  7. Perhaps AA should be talking to Repsol for sponsorship? 😛 OR BETTER YET!!! We could start the Stoner-to-Andretti rumor now and give those Rossi-to-Ferrari punks a run for their money.

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