"Clearly, whether it is ISC/IRL or ISC/NASCAR, there are common principles to those companies, and we tend to share a lot of views and most of them are long views of the sport and of the business," George says.
Before returning to NASCAR to take charge of the public relations efforts of the sanctioning body, Jim Hunter was in charge of ISC tracks at Richmond, Va., Darlington, S.C. and Rockingham, N.C. He was instrumental in helping the IRL get to Richmond, and he believes the reason for his enthusiasm for the IRL is quite simple.
"The reason I was hooked on the IRL is to have guys graduate from other forms of open-wheel racing in this country, to get to the Indianapolis 500 or get into the Indianapolis 500 has always made sense to me," Hunter says. "From a track standpoint, fans relate to people who have come up through the ranks. I think the IRL is on the right track. I think it's just a matter of getting together a solid IRL schedule, which I think it has now, and then build on it. That is the way NASCAR was built.
"We have to do everything we can to draw attention to the fact this is another form of competitive motorsports."
Although the initial efforts at the .75-mile Richmond oval were successful, George believes the IRL must sustain that momentum to keep it a viable entity in the future as well as build a fan base at Nazareth, Pa. Nazareth was once a hotbed for modifieds, sprint cars and stockers.
"At the end of the day, Nazareth will have to prove to be a viable market for the Indy Racing League to be involved in," George says. "I happen to believe it can be a viable market. I think having Richmond and Nazareth adds variety and intrigue to our schedule. I think with our technical package, the drivers can put on a good show for the fans. If we do that, then hopefully we will be able to build a fan base at Richmond and Nazareth.
"Certainly, only time will tell, but we won't continue at a venue we don't believe we can fill. Las Vegas was a challenge. There are a lot of reasons why we didn't go back to Las Vegas, but it was hard to get established there. At the end of the day, if we had been successful there, we would probably still be there. We will only remain at Nazareth and Richmond if it is justifiable for both the track and the league to continue that relationship."
California Too? California Speedway has always been coveted by the IRL because it is in the lucrative Southern California market-an area that is mad for motorsports. That two-mile oval may be on the IRL schedule very soon, according to George. "We would like to be there and certainly, in my view, sooner would be better than later," George says. "I think you might see us there sooner than everybody might think."
France has already given serious consideration to an IRL event at California in the future.
"At California, I would hope to someday have an IRL event there. But really, it's up to how quickly the IRL can grow and add events and not over-extend its teams," France says. "We will have to fit in where we fit in to help it grow, the same with CART. Whatever we can fit in that helps its strategy to make it grow is what we want to do. We hope to have a lot of fans turn out."
The question that remains for France, however, is how does ISC succeed in promoting the IRL where other track promoters have failed in the past because of the ongoing split between CART and the IRL?
"It's a slow process where you may not start out with a big crowd, but hopefully you can build it up," France says. "You have to have a schedule and a series and an event. There has been some great racing this year in the series. I think that is where it starts. If you can have great racing and get some awareness of the drivers built up, that will get some fans following it. Hopefully, we will see them at the racetrack.