Target will end its deal in IndyCar
Ganassi Racing loses sponsor after 27 years
Target will leave IndyCar at the end of this season after 27 years with Chip Ganassi Racing that included 11 championships and four Indianapolis 500 victories.
The exit comes as Target is examining all of its marketing platforms under new chairman Brian Cornell. Target also is the primary sponsor of Kyle Larson in NASCAR’s top Sprint Cup Series and will return to his car in 2017.
Target’s relationship with Fox Chapel’s Chip Ganassi is one of the longest in any racing series, and the retail giant was a key player in helping Ganassi build his organization. Target not only sponsored Ganassi’s first car as a team owner, it eventually became a partner as the Ganassi team grew to one of the top two players in open wheel racing.
In discussing the decision to leave IndyCar, senior vice president Scott Nygaard rattled off a list of highlights from Target’s run: Jimmy Vasser winning Ganassi’s first championship, Alex Zanardi adding another two, Juan Pablo Montoya winning Ganassi’s first Indianapolis 500 and domination over the past decade by Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.
“It was a really difficult decision that we made — we’ve been with Chip Ganassi Racing for 27 years and we are ridiculously proud of the success,” Nygaard said in a telephone interview. “But the Target brand is about being fresh and new, so we felt like this was the time to make the difficult decision and expand our sports marketing platform.”
About the NASCAR sponsorship, Nygaard said only that Target is excited for the 2017 season with Larson. Target’s contract with Ganassi runs through next year. Ganassi raved about his partnership with Target while noting he understood the company made a business decision after nearly three full decades together in IndyCar.
“It’s the greatest sponsor in racing, ever,” Ganassi said. “They’ve been nothing but good to me. They developed me personally and professionally. I’ve developed lifelong friends and relationships. But it’s one of the longest running sponsors in racing and they delivered for me and the team, and the team delivered for them.”
Target walks away from an enormous investment it made in IndyCar and aligning itself with Ganassi drivers as its brand ambassadors. That includes Dixon, who has been sponsored by Target for 15 years and is one of the greatest open wheel drivers in history. Ganassi said Dixon is “not a tough sell at all” to sponsors, and he expected to announce a replacement on the Target car within the next two months.
Dixon is a four-time IndyCar champion and his 39 career victories include the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
Chief suspended
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Kidnapping?
Brazilian police said they are investigating the apparent disappearance of the mother-in-law of Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone. A police official reportedly said that authorities are trying to find Aparecida Schunck, 67, The official has knowledge of the investigation but is not allowed to speak publicly, as is the norm for Brazilian law enforcement officials during ongoing cases. Several Brazilian news outlets have reported that Schunck was kidnapped in Sao Paulo Friday and that abductors are demanding a ransom. But, the police official said that investigators are looking into other possibilities as well as kidnapping, though he would not specify.
Ferrari makes change
Ferrari’s technical director James Allison left the team in what was described as a joint decision after a disappointing first half of the F1 season in which Ferrari failed to win a race.