Racing keeps business on track

Our Opinion
Indianapolis Star

The Racing Capital of the World ought to be a hub of the racing business as well, and Speedway-Indianapolis-Central Indiana has taken another long stride in that direction.

Everybody’s in the winner’s circle with the announcement last week that the prestigious Italian firm Dallara will build the IndyCar chassis of the (near) future – and will build a factory for it close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complete with 80 new jobs.

While Dallara will construct the core of the racer, manufacturers large and small will be invited to do the exteriors.

Besides this dispersal of the wealth, ancillary businesses of various kinds are expected to sprout up in and around Speedway, a town with ambitious redevelopment plans worthy of the internationally preeminent track itself.

Dallara’s $7 million plant will anchor a $500 million makeover of hundreds of acres of industrial park dating to the founding of the town and track in the early 20th century.

As the Hulman family has cultivated the IMS over the past half-century-plus, investing an estimated $100 million since the mid-1990s along, all of Central Indiana has benefited, including racing-oriented enterprises throughout the region. More riches should come from the latest IndyCar move – and a safe, more efficient and cheaper road rocket in the bargain.

If the racing community buys in as expected, the friendly competition to complete the new racer will mark another step in the process of recovery from the Indy Racing League-Champ Car factional split that chased away fans and revenue before the truce of 2008.

A crowd of winners, to be sure. And again, no need to feel a loss on the part of the general populace. While it mabe be a fact of modern life that major sports franchises typically expect and obtain heavy subsidies from taxpayers, the speedway has brought billions in revenue and priceless global attention to Indiana while paying its own way.

Public investment in high-profile sports can be justified but must be debated. Private investment is sheer beauty. Despite dissension within the Hulman team, and struggles by IndyCar for audience, independent business has worked with flying colors at the home of the “500.” If the 21st-century successor to Ray Harroun’s Marmon Wasp is nurtured with the proper care and zeal, the best of the historic Westside may be yet to come.