INDYCAR Voices: We belong racing at Phoenix

Via IndyCar.com
By Mike Hull, managing director, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams

We’re really excited as we look forward to the next race on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule because Phoenix International Raceway is a place where Indy cars belong.

The most important thing is that we’re going to race in Phoenix. With the history that Phoenix has for Indy car racing, it’s certainly one of the great iconic tracks of Indy car racing.

In thinking about Indy car racing, one of the first things that comes to my mind is A.J. Foyt. He’s quoted as saying that the Indy 500 made A.J. Foyt, and that A.J. Foyt didn’t make the Indy 500. You could say the same thing about the Phoenix Raceway.

It was originally designed to be an Indy car track. ISC, which owns the track now, plus NASCAR have certainly enhanced the image of the Phoenix Raceway, there’s no question about that. But INDYCAR deserves an opportunity to be there because of the history of the racetrack and the fact that a good portion of the community still embraces Indy car racing. We saw that when we went to the open test there a few weeks ago. The number of cars that lined up to park when the track was open to the public with impressive. Taillights define success for all of us.

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