[Mud Packer]

First of all I am glad to see some open wheel presence on the panel. Congratulations Tom & Tim. Your background in open wheel racing will help others understand the needs of the auto racers of Indiana & the midwest. And Tim, I am sure that you will be an asset to providing a voice for the short track racing folks.

But with that being said, I don't think that the primary objective for this panel is to negotiate with TV networks to get short track racing on the tube. I believe that their biggest responsibility is to further promote the state of Indiana to get more motorsports companies to invest in moving here or broadening their footprint that they might already have. I am sure that someone will correct me if that isn't the case.

I also believe that it will be solely up to IndyCar and USAC to find the TV time that would prove very helpful in getting this form of racing out to the general public. Both of these series have much work to do in order for the mainstream of America to not only find them on TV but to embrace them with the numbers needed to be successful in keeping them on the network. Most of the sports networks aren't willing to gamble on racing as they have found other offerings that sponsors are willing to pay top bucks for.