Penske buys Indianapolis and immediately suggests future F1 return

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Could Formula 1 return to Indianapolis? Well, new owner Roger Penske is talking up the possibility.

This week, his Penske Corporation purchased Hulman & Co. the company previously in charge of the Brickyard along with the IndyCar Series.

And in his first press conference, immediately spoke of the potential to expand racing activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I think we look at the speedway itself, the investment with the $100m that was put in a few years ago before the 100th [Indy 500], I think you’ve seen a tremendous change," he said.

"We want to add capability as there are more fan zones, what can we use this for, can we run a 24-hour race here, can we run a Formula 1 race here? What are the things we can do?

“This is a great asset. Once the tradition had been broken in adding the NASCAR race, which obviously we’re going to get behind that in a big way because for 27 years they’ve run here. So I look at all of these across the board to see what can we do.”

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Of course, F1 and Indianapolis have a controversial past with the first US Grand Prix there in 2000 initially a great success, but the six-car farce of 2005 did irreparable damage and the partnership ended after 2007.

F1 also has its focus very much elsewhere with the event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin proving a big hit since 2012 and attempts to host a race in Miami are ongoing.

Given Penske are no strangers to race promotion, running IndyCar's current race in Detroit, would the idea of taking F1 back to the USA's most famous motorsport venue appeal to Liberty Media?

It's hard to say no.

 

         

 

 

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