If the Indy Racing League’s compatibility test at Daytona International Speedway is successful, they will likely race there, according to the buzz in the garage area at Infineon Raceway this weekend.

One enthusiastic source close to the IRL schedule makers said an IndyCar Series race on a Daytona road course is the desired outcome of the test, which has yet to be officially scheduled but is expected to be in September.

“Assuming all sorts of things don’t go wrong between now and then, it’s a done deal,” the source told The News-Journal. However, Speedway and IRL officials aren’t yet ready to anoint it “a done deal.”

“I haven’t heard anything about a race,” Speedway spokesman David Talley said Sunday night. “We might want to wait until they test here before we jump at any conclusions they’re coming here to race.”

Talley did say if the testing was satisfactory, DIS would be open to discussing a race date with the IRL.

“We do own pavement and we want events with wheels and certainly the IRL does have that,” he said. “But I haven’t heard anything.”

The IRL announced it wants to hold a compatibility test at the Speedway to see if the track would be a suitable winter testing facility. At this point, the compatibility test has not been scheduled, but the IRL-Daytona discussions immediately ignited speculation about an IndyCar Series race date.

There is precedent: Earlier this month the League staged a test at the new Iowa Speedway and then awarded the track a 2007 race date. If the open-cockpit IndyCar Series racers have a successful test at Daytona, the IRL would return for a full-blown winter test in the days following the Jan. 27-28 Rolex 24 At Daytona, insiders said. Though next year’s IRL schedule is not complete, a 2008 race date would be more realistic if the test was successful.

John Griffin, IRL vice president of public relations, said the week between the Rolex 24 and stock car portion of Speed Weeks would be appealing.

“We think it’ll give the national and international motorsports press a reason for staying beyond the Rolex 24,” Griffin said.

But he tossed water on the notion of the IRL racing at Daytona, noting the Speedway has not yet agreed to a compatibility test date.

“We’re in the final stages of putting together the details with Daytona International Speedway officials only for the purpose of doing a compatibility test,” Griffin said. “Even though a race someday might be realized, right now we’re not talking about holding a race there. What we want to do is have a facility that offers us the opportunity to test during the winter.

“At the same time were not ignorant of the benefits of holding the test at a world-renowned facility like Daytona International Speedway. It will only serve to raise the profile of the series.”

Many of the IRL regulars participate in the 24-hour sportscar race, making the winter test date even more of a common-sense decision.

“I think it’ll be pretty cool to run our cars there,” 1999 IndyCar Series champion Scott Sharp said.

Sharp is a regular for the Rolex 24 and has wheeled a Daytona Prototype car since the class was introduced in 2003. He wondered only about the IndyCar’s transition from Daytona’s flat, infield track to the 31-degree banking in the west bank’s Turn 1.

“Some might say it couldn’t be done, but I’m not of that opinion,” Sharp said. “I think the cars can be set up to do it without much of a problem.”

The IRL cars would likely use the motorcycle road course, which opened in 2005 after the infield/garage renovation. Still, parts of the track are extremely bumpy and would have to be smoothed, said Buddy Rice, the 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner.

“The bumps in the banking are pretty severe and I don’t think our cars could be raised high enough to go over them at speed without still bottoming out a lot,” Rice said.

Daytona Beach News-Journal