IRL says it’s doing well

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Four days after Tony George was ousted as president and chief executive officer of the IndyCar Series, the president of the commercial division said the series was on sound ground.

“We’re pretty pleased with the direction and management of the company,” Terry Angstadt said Saturday after a meeting with team owners at Watkins Glen International. “We see monthly financial statements. We know if we’re achieving and we are. We are exceeding sponsorship by sixfold and net income by fivefold. That’s a pretty solid performance.

“That’s important for everyone to hear. We’re exceeding the plan and our job is to make it stable in the future.”

The board of directors overseeing Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Company announced Tuesday that a new management team was taking over both entities beginning Wednesday. Longtime IMS executives W. Curtis Brighton and Jeffrey G. Belskus assumed the leadership roles, leaving George out as president and CEO of the speedway and his family’s business. He remains on the board and also owns Vision Racing.

“I was just wishing what was the best for Tony,” said Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations. “He seemed very comfortable with the decisions. Tony has been in this position for nearly 20 years. He’s done a great job.”

“This is kind of a lifelong thing Tony signed on for,” Angstadt said. “He’s going to be very involved in our day-to-day business.”

Angstadt said the 2010 schedule would be announced by the end of the month and would include 17 or 18 races, including a foray into Brazil. He also said the league had not had talks with Australian officials about a race there and keeping the Milwaukee Mile on the schedule remained iffy at best.

Milwaukee track promoters have paid prize money to teams but have not fully paid sanctioning fees owed to both NASCAR and the IRL. Earlier in the week, IRL spokesman John Griffin acknowledged the league’s issue with the Milwaukee promoter and said league officials were trying to set up a meeting to work things out. Until they do, the track’s date on next year’s schedule is in limbo.

“We hope to include Milwaukee, but it continues to be a challenge and has probably gotten worse,” Angstadt said. “We felt we could develop a plan. It remains to be seen. It does look like pretty tough operating conditions up there.”

Barnhart said five manufacturers have expressed interest in the future: current engine supplier Honda, Audi, Fiat, Porche, and Volkswagen. He said two chassis also are being considered with a focus on reducing costs.

Barnhart also said the IRL was not ruling out 2011 for the debut of a new car, but because the league is considering two designs that are signifcantly different from each other and what it currently has, the target date remains 2012.

“The challenge is a little bit of the unknown and doing due diligience,” he said. “You have to build a prototype, learn how to race those cars. Equally, and more important, we’re going to have to learn how to crash those cars. If it can be done quicker, it will be, but in 18 months? I’m not sure that’s a comfortable time frame.”

Charlie Morgan, president and CEO of IMS Productions, said the series was happy with its television packages with cable channel Versus and ABC. This season, ABC is broadcasting five races, including the Indy 500; Versus has a 10-year deal to televise at least 13 races annually.

“We have to have more time on the air to tell our story,” Morgan said. “We have work to do, Versus has work to do. That’s why it’s a 10-year package. Our job is to give them compelling content.”