Indy Racing League

The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the promoter of a predominantly oval based open-wheel racing series in the United States and, more recently, Japan. Its centerpiece is the Indianapolis 500. The IRL is owned by Hulman and Co., which also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex. The IRL was brought about in 1994 by Tony George and was created with a breakaway group of drivers from CART, which had coordinated Indy car racing since 1979. George designed IRL as a lower-cost open-wheel alternative to CART, which had come to be technology-driven and dominated by a few wealthy multi-car teams much like in Formula One. Since then, the IRL has developed a consistent engine package and chassis rules which have produced some of the closest finishes in any racing series. Ironically, the series is now dominated by many of the same wealthy multi-car teams that once dominated CART.

History of the IndyCar name

IndyCar is most often used as a generic term for open-wheel auto racing in the United States National Championship, and comes from the name of the Indianapolis 500, the best known and long most-popular open-wheel auto race in North America.

Related Topics:
IndyCar - Open-wheel - Auto racing - United States National Championship - Indianapolis 500 - North America

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Prior to 1979 the name IndyCar was a generic term usually referring to cars raced in USAC-sanctioned races including the Indy 500.

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1979 - USAC

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Beginning in the 1980's, IndyCar became the name that most people used in referring to CART which had become the dominant governing body for open-wheel racing in the United States.

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1980 - CART

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In 1992, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway trademarked the IndyCar name and licenced it to CART which in turn renamed their championship the IndyCar World Series.

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1992 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Trademark

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During the 1996 season, the IndyCar name was the subject of a fierce legal battle. Prior to the 1996 season, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George had created his own national championship racing series, the Indy Racing League. In March of 1996, CART filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an effort to protect their licence of the IndyCar name which the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had attempted to terminate. In April, the speedway filed a counter suit against CART to prevent them from further use of the name. Eventually a settlement was reached in which CART agreed to give up the use of IndyCar following the 1996 season and the IRL could not use the name before the end of the 2002 season. Following a six year hiatus, the IRL announced it would rename their premier series the IRL IndyCar Series for the 2003 racing season.

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1996 - Tony George - Lawsuit

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The Indy Racing League is the sole owner of the name Indycar and the use of the term for any other racing series is incorrect.

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In 2000, the series sold its naming rights to world wide web search engine Northern Light for five seasons, and the series was named the "Indy Racing League Northern Light Series." After only two seasons (2000 and 2001), the sponsorship agreement ended after Northern Light reevaluated its business plan and ended all sponsorships http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=83247.

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2000 - World wide web - Search engine - 2001

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