After Edmonton was officially scratched from the Indy Racing League schedule, officials confirmed yesterday Calgary is on its list of potential replacement cities.
Terry Angstadt, president of the IRL’s commercial division, said Calgary has been in mind for some time now.
“Probably three or four or maybe even five years ago, a couple members of our team took a look at Calgary specifically, with a specific promoter at the time, and clearly a great, great market,” said Angstadt.
He said the goal would be to keep racing in Canada, adding Calgary, Vancouver or somewhere in Quebec, all of which are in the running.
Normand Prieur, spokesperson for race promoters Octane management, said a decision will have to be made quickly if they want to have a race in 2011.
“Time is running, there’s no doubt,” he said. “It’s already a bad situation. We didn’t want that situation to take place but we’ve been forced to do it.
“There’s no doubt that Calgary could be one of the interesting locations, but that’s all we can say for now.”
Edmonton’s CFO said yesterday that the cancellation was a “business decision.”
“We just couldn’t make the money work,” said Lorna Rosen.
With files from andreas morse
