By Andrew Cutler
October 17 2008

Terry Angstadt (pictured), the president of the IRL's commercial division, has released the final numbers on the 2008 IndyCar season from a "business" standpoint, and they paint a picture of markedly increased fan interest. There is little doubt that the IRL/CCWS merger played a big role in this.

Here are some of the figures that Terry has shared with the press:

Television viewership was up by an average of 11% per race over the 2007 season numbers.

2008 at-track attendance rose for 12 of the 16 venues that were also on the 2007 schedule. 

At-track merchandise sales rose 25% over 2007 figures.

IndyCar.com, the series website, saw a 33% jump in traffic over the 2007 figures.

All in all, these are impressive numbers: The issue now is working to maintain, & hopefully expand upon, them. “We entered 2008 with the remarkable momentum of unification and that benefited all of our key metrics all season long,” Angstadt remarked. “While we are very happy with the immediate results of unification, we will spend the off-season looking at ways to continue to build this momentum to grow the IndyCar Series.”

The next big step will hopefully be the announcement of a title sponsor for the series. While Terry remains confident that one will soon be brought on-board, he recently said that one top candidate, who's identity he declined to reveal, was forced to bow out for financial reasons. "It was in the financial sector, and that's absolutely not (going to happen) and we completely understand that".