MAVTV announces two-year IndyCar extension at Fontana; date TBD - MotorSportsTalk

MAVTV issued a release during the Verizon IndyCar Series’ weekend at Auto Club Speedway confirming a two-year title sponsorship extension of the race through 2016.

Owned and operated by Forrest Lucas’ Lucas Oil Products, MAVTV has served as the Fontana, Calif. race’s title sponsor (MAVTV 500) since the track returned to the schedule in 2012.

“MAVTV anchors its entertainment in motorsports, and we do a lot throughout the year to bolster support for many forms of racing around this great country,” said MAVTV president Bob Patison in the release. “MAVTV is headquartered in Corona, Calif., only a few miles from the magnificent Auto Club Speedway. We feel it’s almost a responsibility for us to support a premier track and event in our own backyard that features one of the top professional racing series in America.”

While this release was issued, INDYCAR has not issued a release of its own confirming the return to ACS.

A date for the IndyCar race weekend in 2015 has not been determined; selected races have been announced for the 2015 schedule, but Auto Club Speedway is not yet one of them.

Although Auto Club has hosted the last race of the season each of the last three years, it’s had a different date each year. It ran September 15, 2012, October 19, 2013 and just now, August 30, 2014.

Here’s a picture of the release as distributed from the track.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”