Pink Lloyd to Newman Haas Lanigan?

That's the story that Autoweek buried in this report. It looks like Her Energy will stick with the promising Englishman. Lloyd finished 13th at Indianapolis, driving with the leaders all day following an early pit stop that put him a lap down.

The pink suit proved to be a successful marketing prop. We have no reason to believe that it won't return, as well.

The Chicagoland entry list indicates that veteran Oriol Servia will get his third consecutive start in the #06 Newman Haas Lanigan Racing machine. But that, of course, is subject to change. With few exceptions, IndyCar seats are effectively put out to bid by the various teams. Drivers and their financiers are the bidders. Some seats are re-bid annually, some weekly, but the characteristics of the auction market are largely the same.

This is because the cost of fielding an IndyCar team is far greater than the collective enterprise value of the racing product that IndyCar teams produce. Team sponsors, therefore, are limited to those that are willing, for one reason or another, to incur expenses that are in excess of five times the fair market value of sponsorship.

This problem can be solved only by either:

1. a drastic price correction - meaning cars and engines that are at least 80% less costly to run than the current specs, or...
2. a simultaneous five-fold increase in race attendance and television viewership.

These facts are inconvenient. But the Republic shall continue to not only recognize and publicize them but also offer plausible solutions. We eagerly anticipate IRL management doing the same.

Roggespierre