Roger Penske has hinted that the notion of Formula 1 returning to Indianapolis will be evaluated as part of a possible expansion of events at the venue.
It was announced on Monday that Penske Entertainment – a subsidiary of the Penske Company – has purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with the IndyCar Series.
The United States Grand Prix ran at Indianapolis from 2000 through 2007 but was forever associated with the Michelin tyre saga in 2005, which resulted in just six cars starting the race.
Formula 1 currently races at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, while plans are underway to add a second event in the country in Miami, Florida, from 2021.
"I think we look at the speedway itself, the investment with the 100 million dollars that was put in a few years ago before the 100th [running of the Indy 500]," said Penske.
"I think you've seen a tremendous change, and we want to add capability as there are more fan zones, what can we use this for?
"Can we run a 24-hour race here? Can we run a Formula 1 race here? What are the things we can do?
"This is a great asset. Once the tradition had been broken in adding the NASCAR race, which obviously we're going to get behind that in a big way because for 27 years they've run here. So I look at all of these across the board to see what can we do."
Penske even hinted at the possibility of bringing an endurance race to Indianapolis and adding lighting facilities to run night events.
He added: "I think we have to look as is the investment in lights or is the investment in something else we can do here to make the speedway and (INDYCAR) a going entity which gives us the results we expect."
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