IRL return could be local boon

The hope of Las Vegas Motor Speedway getting a second Sprint Cup race for next fall vanished last month when a race was shifted to Kentucky.

October 2011 still could be a big month for the speedway. The track is negotiating to get an IndyCar race and pair it with the NASCAR truck series' annual visit.

No one will argue an IndyCar race would come close to generating as many fans as a Cup race. But a fall Cup race won't be here next year, so we welcome Plan B.

The truck race -- which is Sept. 25 this year -- has attracted more than 40,000 each of the past few years because of low ticket prices, and nearly all spectators have been Southern Nevadans.

Adding IndyCars the day after next year's Oct. 15 truck race has potential to be successful and entertaining for fans from around the country and world.

The keys to the race happening are garnering enough sponsorship support and understanding how today's IndyCar series is not yesterday's Indy Racing League.

A big crowd attended the Las Vegas IRL event in 1996 as the first major race at the speedway. From 1997 through 2000, Las Vegas races were poorly attended, and it got worse each year. But that was when the IRL was running second to the more established CART (later Champ Car) series that had better teams and drivers, and many fans revolted against the IRL for splitting open-wheel racing into two factions.

Champ Car also failed to produce any semblance of crowds when it raced at the speedway in 2004 and 2005, but that was after top teams moved to the IRL and once-loyal fans still were shunning both series.

Champ Car folded in 2007, leaving IndyCar as the United States' only major open-wheel series.

Open-wheel racing was a mess and mismanaged in the past decade, but IndyCar is on the rise.

Twenty-eight cars are entered for Saturday night's race at Chicagoland Speedway, with marquee names such as Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti and Danica Patrick.

In the past two years, new sponsors have joined the series. TV ratings on Versus are up 22 percent this year, IndyCar chief executive Randy Bernard said.

Attendance, well, it seems to be improving at some tracks; it couldn't get much worse.

Races have been added for next year in Baltimore and Loudon, N.H. A unique doubleheader will be at Texas Motor Speedway.

And Bernard wants the season-ending race and banquet to be in Las Vegas.

Bernard knows how to carve a niche in the sports entertainment world. He is largely credited for taking a rodeo event -- bull riding -- and turning it into a mainstream sport. He was chief executive officer of Professional Bull Riders for its first 15 years before he went racing six months ago. The PBR has sold out events throughout the country.

If IndyCar growth and popularity continues to improve, a Las Vegas race could draw 40,000, maybe more.

Bernard would promote the finale and banquet from Indy and Iowa to Brazil, Canada and Japan with the same vigor he promoted Las Vegas when with the PBR.

Marketing Las Vegas to a worldwide audience should be appealing to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Bernard has taken the bull by the horns since taking over IndyCar. If he can make stars out of bucking bulls, then he certainly can push IndyCar racing further into the mainstream of motor sports.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247. Visit Wolf's motor sports blog at lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal/ throughout the week.