INDIANAPOLIS 500 / UPDATE : Diversification Could Give Indy Added Prestige

Now that Indianapolis Motor Speedway owners have broken with tradition and booked a Winston Cup stock car race next year for what was once an Indy 500-only track, a Formula One race can’t be far behind.

Daytona Beach calls itself “The World Center of Racing,” but it is apparent that Tony George, president of IMS, is after that distinction for Indianapolis.

The Brickyard 400, on Aug. 8, 1994, will bring 3,800-pound sedans to the track. A Formula One race would give Indy racing’s triple crown.

A ride over the track in the Goodyear blimp, courtesy of Spirit of Akron pilot Aaron Jenkins, reveals a well laid out road course of approximately 2.5 miles. A map of the facility indicates golf cart paths, service roads and the main track itself, but from 2,000 feet up it is easy to define them matched up as a road racing circuit.

Formula One champion Nigel Mansell is at Indianapolis for the 500 today, but in, say 1995 or perhaps 1996, look for a Formula One race.

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There will be more than 400,000 people at the track for the 500, making it the world’s largest single-day sporting event.

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Dominic Dobson is far from having the most sponsorship money on his Galmer car, but he will have the most sponsors.

Jim Cackler formed Dream Share Racing, Inc., to sell $10 memberships to help finance the under-financed Burns Racing team.

“We have no illusions about going out and winning the race, but if we stay in it to the end, I think we could finish in the top 10,” said Dobson, a veteran of five 500s.

The car, which Al Unser Jr. drove last year at Nazareth, Pa., and Laguna Seca, did not arrive at the Speedway until the week of final time trials. Dobson spun it out with a couple of 360s in practice, but on the next day he put it in the show.