California Autos Examiner

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Rahal Letterman Racing Out of IndyCar For 2009?


I don't consider myself a big racing fan, but I do have a lot of Indy memories from when I was a kid. We'd watch the Indianapolis 500 on TV and when the series came around to Portland, we'd head up to Portland International Raceway to check it out. The names that I remember are Mears, Unser, Fittipaldi, Foyt and Rahal.

News is now developing that the Rahal/Letterman team may not take part in the 2009 IndyCar season because of a lack of sponsorship. That's a pretty big development since Bobby Rahal has been involved with Indy-car racing every year since 1981.

With sponsorship dollars drying up, lots of teams are feeling the pinch all across the globe. I've often wondered exactly what the bang for the buck is on such sponsorship. I don't buy Tide detergent because it is slathered on a NASCAR hood, heck I buy the cheap Costco stuff. It's my belief that involvement with racing teams is more about ego and image of a company's executives than actual advertising dollar value.

Rahal says that he'd still like to have a program for in Indianapolis 500 race. How Rahal would manage to do that, I don't know, but then again I'm not that into racing.

source: autoweek

No comments: