When fans think of the leadership of the IndyCar Series, the high profile of founder Tony George comes to mind. To them he is the face of the series’ management.
Yet those working for the series behind the scenes such as Terry Angstadt, the IndyCar Series president of its commercial division, play a vital role in helping shape what the IndyCar Series is and what it hopes to become in regard to growth and survival for this major open-wheel series.
Angstadt has a wealth of business and sports marketing experience. Many years ago he was president and CEO of Fila, which features sporting apparel. That company had a strong tie to tennis.
His resume also includes working for the Easton Company. While he was there the company introduced the Mizuno glove to Major League Baseball. He later ran his own hybrid marketing group, CYRK, and in recent years worked for Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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One year ago at the Glen, Angstadt spoke about the fact that the IndyCar Series needed a major title sponsor in order to get to the next level and a year later, no such sponsor has surfaced.
“We were able to develop a strong partnership this season with APEX-Brazil, who has supported us with brand awareness, exposure and sponsorship to a very high level. They are almost like a title sponsor but they are not a title sponsor.”
The gamble is that Versus can give the fans more of the IndyCar Series programming they desire and Versus will expand into more households during the life of the contract to help both parties grow.
“We are placing a bet that this arrangement will work and Versus has placed their bet as well,” said Angstadt. “We knew that in this first year the ratings would be lower. Versus has about 75 to 80 million homes presently and the major networks have 100 million or better.”
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