Notion on organizational name

[Firefox]

IAA
Indianapolis Automotive Association

With the litany of the sanctioning bodies of the 500 before IRL having more "encompassing" names than the Indy Racing League, why not adopt such a one themselves? It would have specific focus on Indy in the name itself, but also would pay homage, of sorts, to the different forms of motor racing that exist, as opposed to be a league for one series alone.

Am I any crazier than normal?

[Heath Hamilton]

ICS

Indycar Championship Series

[SJFast]

How about this ?

[FenderFree]

ICS

Indycar Championship Series

Again, good as a series name, but Chris is onto something. Bodies like AAA, USAC, SCCA, FIA are (or were in the case of AAA) more than just sanctioning bodies for 1 or 2 series. They encompassed many levels of racing and some even reached into non-racing jurisdictions.

A catchy name for sanctioning body could be Automobile Club of Indianapolis, or ACI. It would sanction Indy-car racing, open-wheel feeder series and perhaps even some fendered racing. As far as non-racing activities go, it could certify Indiana garages and include them in a BBB-type book/map/website for motorists in Indiana. Sell a yearly membership that includes discounts at participating garages and gas stations, and to top it off, FREE practice and qual for the 500 for members.

EDIT: ^^As for the post above, I think that "United States Auto Club" is already taken.

[Grinder-Tank]

I think it's going to be called whatever Simmons is pounding the pavement with if it ever does happen.

[Firefox]

Aside: Gene Simmons has at least brazenly said to the whole world that as a racing product (even though I don't like "product" on the grounds that that implies commercialism and paying-customer-is-what-matters-most mentality), IndyCar is superior to anything. Simmons does attract attention, does he not?

Club vs. Association...which = superior.

[SJFast]

"EDIT: ^^As for the post above, I think that "United States Auto Club" is already taken."

I wasn't suggesting a name change.....

[indyracefan]

ICS

Indycar Championship Series

...I like that!

[STAND E]

Ideas so far:

Indianapolis Automotive Association
USAC (give it to them)
Indycar Championship Series

More ideas:

Indianapolis Racing Club
Indianapolis Racing Association
Indianapolis Open Wheel Racing Association
World Open Wheel
Open Wheel League
American Open Wheel
Speed League
Road and Oval American Racing
Indycar Champions Association
Indy

[jandj]

How about this ?

Sounds like a good way for somebody to end up on their ass in a flowerpot!

[LorenzoBandini]

The Name Isn't The Problem.

[Firefox]

I say it is and it isn't. It isn't, if you're fine with the notion of an organization sounding like it runs a specific brand of sport, rather than the possibility of multiple forms. "Formula One" as a name doesn't stand for a brand, it stands for "international class one of open-wheel." If you focus enormously on a BRAND, you get to have the kind of sporting idiocy NAS has (i.e., selling out for money LearJets, which is tantamount in my mind to the prostitution of one's soul).

Shouldn't Indycars be.....whatever works best to go faster, being more fuel-efficient, etc? Over in F-1, for that matter, there've been arguments about this, about how the rulebooks state in horrific detail EXACTLY the qualities that one of the cars can have, look like, etc., to the point of crushing individuality (and if you don't believe you can have cars that are just as fast but look radically different, you never saw the Popular Science article that I did on the subject). NAS is (expletive deleted) worse...they are now near the point of issuing the cars to teams. Meanwhile some car designers have left F-1, and gone on, say, to sports car racing, to allow them such freedom once more.

Is this The Dream of Indy? To have the authorities regimentize everything, due to being money-grubbing and not wanting their drivers toeing the line of death, and turn matters into an entertainment extraveganza alone? (...and to those out there at this forum whom I still remember who tell me that the first ticket sold made it entertainment, period, I'd like to watch with them as NFL football games are extended at random, let's say when the Colts happen to be leading, "for excitement purposes.")

To sum up this issue: International Federation of the Automobile vs. Indy Racing League; which sounds more universally inclusive.