Citing the need to find new ways to communicate its message, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations announced today that their Firestone brand will leave INDYCAR following the conclusion of this year’s championship.
The decision ends a 21-year run for Firestone in North American open-wheel racing, which has seen the company back the IRL/IZOD IndyCar Series since its first race in 1996 — through the wave of former CART teams transforming the IRL in the early-to-mid 2000s to open-wheel unification in 2008 and beyond. But now, as the IZOD IndyCar Series prepares to effectively launch its fourth “era” with new cars and engines in 2012, it will have to pull it off without a company that has meant so much.
“It’s unfortunate to lose a great partner and ambassador for the sport like Firestone,” said INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard in a statement. “We are actively engaged in discussions with other tire manufacturers on opportunities to get involved in our sport as we prepare to debut our new car in 2012.”
“It has truly been a pleasure to have Firestone as a tire manufacturer since the inception of the IZOD IndyCar Series and we greatly appreciate what they have contributed over the last 15 years and more,” said INDYCAR president of competition Brian Barnhart. “Firestone has been a great partner and has brought incredible performance and reliability to our sport with their product and for that, we are very grateful. We look forward to a great season with them in 2011 and want to wish everyone associated with the Firestone brand all the best in the future.”
In the tire maker’s statement, Al Speyer of Firestone Racing said that the company remains “committed to maintaining the highest standards of performance and support through the 2011 season.” As for a reason why Firestone is leaving, Speyer touched on setting new goals and finding other platforms to increase the presence of its brand.
“Companies that strive to achieve the highest levels of brand loyalty and recognition must continue to find ever more effective ways to communicate their brand messages,” he said. “This is part of our process to ensure that we are doing the best we can to support and further strengthen our brands. The Firestone brand has been, is now and will be an extremely important part of our business. We’re very excited about our future prospects to grow the Firestone brand.”
Meanwhile, INDYCAR is now without a tire supplier for its all-important 2012 campaign — at least at the moment. Bernard’s been on the case, talking with multiple tire manufacturers including Goodyear and Michelin according to SPEED Channel’s Robin Miller, who broke the story earlier today. Now that negotiations have failed and Firestone will not stick around to shod the new IndyCars for their inaugural season, the focus is on Bernard and his efforts to fill the void.
Unfortunately, that void may be nearly impossible to completely fill. Even as open-wheel racing has gone through all sorts of trouble in recent years, Firestone’s amazing record of performance and safety, along with its promotional power, was something for the sport to hang its hat on. Whoever steps up to replace them is going to have a hell of an act to follow.
Tony Johns over at Pop Off Valve breaks down the contenders for Firestone’s tire throne and based on what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t mind seeing Cooper get the nod. While Goodyear certainly has more marketing resources, they’re in too deep with NASCAR these days. Michelin = IndyGate — enough said about them. And Hoosier, despite its success in other racing arenas, may still just be too small. As for Cooper, it’s already in INDYCAR with the Road to Indy as Mr. Johns points out. While producing tires for INDYCAR would be a major jump from the various open-wheel feeder series they work with, I think Cooper would still be a natural fit at this point.
But regardless of whichever tire company he chooses, Bernard is going into 2012 without a major ally. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds to this setback.
