Last weekend's vote by the IZOD IndyCar Series team owners in Brazil that they want to delay the introduction of multiple aero kits for the new Dallara chassis until 2013, a year after the introduction of the new car, came in for strong criticism from Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage on his blog for ESPN.com. Gossage, who served on the ICONIC Committee that developed the 2012 plan, and is widely regarded as one of the top race promoters in the country, said the vote was a clear case of a business ignoring what its customers want.
"During last weekend's race in Sao Paulo, Brazil, team owners held a meeting and voted unanimously (with A.J. Foyt abstaining) to delay the planned aero kit packages for the new 2012 spec Dallara chassis until 2013," Gossage wrote. "Only thing is, two problems exist: One, team owners don't make the rules. Two, the fans have loudly, vociferously, clearly stated that they do not want a spec series. They want to see variety from car to car. And they want it yesterday.
"So once again, IndyCar team owners refuse to hear the fans. They continue to tell fans that the sport is for the team owners exclusively and the fans are not to be let in unless they share the team owners' point of view.
"I can tell you this: I do not know how to tune an IndyCar engine…I'll leave that to the experts. But as the guy who has year-in and year-out sold more IndyCar tickets than anyone in the sport outside of the venerable Indy 500, this expert will tell you that he cannot continue to sell this to the fans. So don't complain about the lack of sponsors, poor TV ratings and certainly don't complain about a lack of fans. You did it to yourself. Enjoy your elite little country club."