Which racing league provides the most entertainment value?

The February poll question is "Which auto racing league provides the most entertainment value?"

From a purely entertainment point of view, which do you enjoy watching the most? Take the poll to the right, then tell us in your comments why you favor one league over the others.
If you enjoy a different form of racing even more than automobiles or motorcycles, tell us about that as well.

Ethanol and the Indy Racing, a rocky marriage

The Indy Racing League has been a champion of ethanol. They are still the only racing series to use biofuels. This has been a win for the Indy Racing League, because of the perception that ethanol is produced from corn grown in our heartland.

On another front we have Brazil, perhaps the most important market for auto racing. Auto racing is more popular in Brazil than any other country, and with a diverse population and growing economy, it's an ideal fit for companies who want to promote their wares to Brazil.

Indy would love to capture more Brazilian sponsorship and expand their brand outside of North America. A major Brazilian sponsor would increase the chances of having a race in South America as well as attracting the diehard Brazilian Formula One fans to IndyCar.

Ironically one of the major products of Brazil is ethanol, specifically ethanol created from sugar cane which yields far better results than corn grown ethanol.

Now the IRL is faced with the quandary of using American fuel suppliers or Brazilian fuel suppliers to provide them with racing fuel. In these economic times it's tempting to steer away from the American ethanol producer whom, let's face it, has been highly subsidized by the US government. Today corn grown ethanol is popular as we go green, but sugarcane ethanol shows much higher promise. In the long run there's a strong chance that the Brazilian and other South American suppliers of ethanol will be the dominant player in a global market.

I think it's great that the Indy Racing League has dedicated itself to providing tremendous entertainment for Americans, but in the long run it helps the league, the teams, and the technology to act more globally.

If you were faced with our current economy, and were president of the IRL, tell us how you would feel about allowing a Brazilian company to supply ethanol and become a featured sponsor.

KV could cut back to single car

KV Racing have become the latest IndyCar Series team to admit that they might have to scale back their programme in 2009 due to a lack of sponsorship, with co-owner Jimmy Vasser saying that they are currently set to run just one car this year.

Vasser said that unless funding was found soon, the recently-signed Mario Moraes would be their sole representative in the 2009 championship. The team ran Will Power (who is now deputising for Helio Castroneves at Penske) and Oriol Servia last year.

Read the full story at autosport.com.

McLaren, Penske principal Teddy Mayer dies at 73

Teddy Mayer, who helped build McLaren into a Formula One powerhouse, has died. He was 73.
McLaren team principal Ron Dennis said Mayer, an American who had lived in England for several years, died on Friday.

"Teddy was one of motor racing's few truly great men," Dennis said on Sunday. "As far as I and all at McLaren are concerned, he has particular importance, on account of the fact that in 1963 he was part of the very small team of talented enthusiasts who, alongside Bruce McLaren, founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd."

After winning two F1 championships at McLaren, Mayer moved into CART racing, joining the Penske team and, as vice chairman, oversaw the team's successes in the 1990s.

source: USA Today

Singapore's Formula One race to raise ticket prices

The organisers of Singapore's Formula One race plan to raise ticket prices for 2009's event, despite expectations of lower prices amid the economic downturn, according to details provided to corporate clients.

Formula One viewers topped 600 million

TV viewing figures in Formula 1 broke through the 600m barrier last, largely thanks to the extraordinary World Championship showdown between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. This was a gain over the dramatic 2007 season, although not by much.

According to the report issued by the Formula One group, China has now become the sport's biggest audience with a total of 119m watching the races during the season. This overtook previous leader Brazil, which claimed 110m in 2008. The European audiences remain the most significant for the sport, however, and the largest of these was the Italian market with Ferrari fans tuning in to watch Massa. Italy claimed 37.5m in total throughout the season, while Lewis Hamilton's charge helped ITV record a total of 29.1m, which was up seven percent on last season. The BBC, which takes over the rights next year, hopes to do considerably better.

German audiences were down once again, although the arrival of Sebastian Vettel offers some hope for the future, but France is making a recovery after years in the doldrums. This seems to be in response to Renault's success rather than the appearance of Sebastien Bourdais in a Toro Rosso.