Indy Car returns to Las Vegas with a twist

Indy car announced today that the series will return to Las Vegas this year for the season finale. Also if a non regular Indy Car driver wins the race the driver will get 5 Million dollars!! I don't know how realistic this is for Robby but I think it would be awesome exposure for SPEED and I feel like Robby could run up front and contend. Also something to note is that this will be the last race for the current chassis and body style for the current Indy Car's so he could probably pick one up for a lot less then it would be normally. Plus with the new Nascar partnership with Penske this makes alot of sense to me but we all know it is up to the almighty $.

Here is a link with more info about it. http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-bernard-sets-5m-las-vegas-challenge

Plus Robby just tweeted "5 mil huh...."

I hope he can work something out!

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Permalink Reply by Josh Fisher on February 22, 2011 at 11:08pm

This is Piquet Jr's one shot to get anywhere close to getting back in an openwheel car then... lol

The more I think about this the more I have a feeling that 3 or 4 of the 5 spots will be filled by Indy Lights drivers (with the way they've been promoting the ladder system the past year). On some other forums I've seen people talking about drivers from Europe coming over but I just don't see any serious driver from the European openwheel ranks coming here to run an IRL race on the Vegas.oval (outside of anybody that had previously raced in IRL/Champcar/CART or the development systems.)

The more I think about this though I haven't seen anything mentioned about who is supplying the cars? Is the IRL going to be supplying/funding/crewing the cars, or have existing teams signed up to bring out an extra car for this (if so what are the chances of it being the same quality as the teams main cars) or is it up to these 5 drivers once selected to find/fund/crew their own rides?

I feel they're going about this the wrong way too, the proper way to do it (IMHO) would be to get as many cars as the track holds (at least 43 pitstalls) have them funded/crewed by the IRL and have them be identically setup (think IROC series) and then 2 of 3 weeks before the race at Vegas have a Qualifying race of 100 laps. Have it open to any non-current IRL driver from around the world on a first come/first serve basis. 2 days of practice then the 100 lap qualification race with the top 5 finishers of that race making it to the big race a few weeks later.

Heck with the partnership they have with Versus they could maybe film the entire thing for a reality show, from the driver selection process, to seat fitting & safety training in Indy, to the practices & qualifying race, and then have a crew follow each of the 5 drivers for the 2 or 3 weeks between the Qualifying race and the Vegas race.

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Permalink Reply by WJM on February 23, 2011 at 3:59am

I feel they're going about this the wrong way too, the proper way to do it (IMHO) would be to get as many cars as the track holds (at least 43 pitstalls) have them funded/crewed by the IRL and have them be identically setup (think IROC series) and then 2 of 3 weeks before the race at Vegas have a Qualifying race of 100 laps. Have it open to any non-current IRL driver from around the world on a first come/first serve basis. 2 days of practice then the 100 lap qualification race with the top 5 finishers of that race making it to the big race a few weeks later.

Ambitious idea. Are you a billionaire?

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Permalink Reply by Josh Fisher on February 23, 2011 at 12:10pm

No but if any Billionaires wanna hire me to think of ways to spend their money I'm willing to relocate... l0l

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Permalink Reply by geothermaljones on February 22, 2011 at 11:11pm

Todd Bodine in an Indy Car anyone?

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Permalink Reply by Hmsdude24 on February 22, 2011 at 11:46pm

Randy Bernard has asked the big teams like Gnassi, Andretti and Penske to help supply cars and to help make this work. With Robby's current relationship with Rodger Penske I am sure he would be able to work something out pretty easily especially that after the Vegas race all those car's will be almost useless because of the new Indy Car's in 2012.

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Permalink Reply by WJM on February 23, 2011 at 4:00am

One word: Carnage

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Permalink Reply by kurt kern on February 23, 2011 at 7:16am

At least he won't be a battering ram......ah, I mean bump drafting.

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Permalink Reply by JLG07 on February 22, 2011 at 11:06pm

Would be interesting if Scott Speed or Nelson PK were there.

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Permalink Reply by Ed Fifield on February 23, 2011 at 12:44am

Bernard seems to be at least making IndyCars talked about again. This is, if nothing else, a good media stunt. I gotta believe that for a guaranteed $5 mil it's got a lot more people talking than just here on the Planet.

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Permalink Reply by Ed Fifield on February 23, 2011 at 1:09am

I just also read that the Indy 500 will start at noon. That could be an interesting day in May. Though, the last word I heard is that the Specialized lawsuit put a damper on Robby's 500 plans this year, but one can dream.

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Permalink Reply by Beagle7 on February 23, 2011 at 9:07am

Well, if the Double could be back on the table, that would be AWESOME marketing exposure for Speed Energy...as ESPN and all the media woul dbe all over Robby on Memorial Day weekend...

Then if he runs for the $5 million....HUGE exposure, as that story will dominate the headlines that weekend.....$5 million on the line to 5 outsiders...that's a big story...plus if he wins it could fund like 20 races next year...lol

On a side note. I'm buddies with the cafeteria manager at my law school, had him try Speed Energy and he loved it...he told me to get him a few cases (which he'll pay me for) to sell to see how it goes. Beleive me, there is no better match made in heaven than law students and energy drinks! lol. Those kids guzzle the stuff...