Once considered a major rival to Formula One, IndyCar is at a crossroads. With the introduction of the new DW12 chassis and a return to engine competition, last year marked a fresh dawn for the championship, and series organisers are ready to implement the next phase of their quest to recapture the series' past glories.
A couple of weeks ago, plans were unveiled to expand outside North America with a series of additional races outside of the main IndyCar championship that could form a winter series in early 2015.
While the move is primarily intended to give IndyCar teams some extra revenue during what is otherwise a very long off-season, it would also give the championship some welcome international exposure at a time when its popularity in the US appears to be diminishing.
Losing Danica Patrick to NASCAR at the end of the 2011 season undoubtedly took away a significant chunk of interest in IndyCar, with Dan Wheldon's death at that year's season finale in Las Vegas also casting a shadow over the series. Resultantly, TV viewing figures in the US dropped by a quarter in 2012 in comparison to a year earlier.
That's why plans to expand to new territories are to be applauded, particularly as there is something of a mismatch between the existing IndyCar calendar and the make-up of the grid.
The series currently features just one race outside of North America, on the streets of the Brazilian city Sao Paulo, but, of 21 regular drivers competing in the championship, just seven are North American. Europeans comprise another seven, with the remaining third made up of drivers from Japan, South America and Oceania. It's a truly international field, spanning as many nationalities as the current F1 grid.
It's therefore refreshing that the organisers intend to make a virtue of that fact by hosting some races outside of the confines of North America, which would allow IndyCar to tap into markets where the presence of local drivers would generate enough interest to make a race financially viable.
That's why its such a surprise that Asia is being cited as the main target market for IndyCar's proposed expansion, when you consider that there is only one Asian in the field in the form of Takuma Sato, and that a scheduled street race in the city of Qingdao was cancelled last year when the proposed date clashed with the city's beer festival.
Europe seems a far more logical market to target, given that interest in motorsport is generally higher there than in Asia and that a third of the field is European (including four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti and former Champ Car star/Toro Rosso F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais).
There could be more Europeans on the way, too. After funding issues stood in the way of Luca Filippi graduating from GP2 to F1, the Italian has made the transition stateside with Bryan Herta Autosport, for whom he is contesting four races this year.
Filippi stands a reasonable chance of getting a full-time drive next year, which can't have failed to cross the minds of similarly underfunded drivers currently in GP2 - Stefano Coletti, Sam Bird and Fabio Leimer all spring to mind as drivers easier to picture in IndyCar than in F1.
If the rumours are to believed, a certain Jaime Alguersauri could also be heading to IndyCar. The former Toro Rosso driver has been doing little since losing his seat at the end of 2011 besides testing for F1 tyre supplier Pirelli, but according to Spanish media could find himself testing a DW12 before the year is out.
If a race drive came Alguersauri's way as a result, he would join Bourdais, Sato and Justin Wilson among the ranks of F1 alumni competing in IndyCar. It's a shame the championship didn't make more effort to ensure another member of that elite group from last year, Rubens Barrichello, remained in the fold also.
The former Ferrari star was easily the series' most famous driver last year, and could have been used as an effective marketing tool, particularly in South America. Budget issues forced Barrichello to race in Brazilian Stock Cars instead this season, representing an enormous lost opportunity for IndyCar.
Luckily for the series organisers however, they may have another chance - NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya was informed last month his services are no longer required by his Earnhardt-Ganassi team for next year, which could prompt a return for the former Grand Prix winner and Indianapolis 500 champion to IndyCar.
Whilst Montoya's first preference is believed to be to remain in the Sprint Cup with a competitive team, his underwhelming record of just two wins in 242 starts means the Colombian is unlikely to be of much interest to any of the championship's top teams. It may be a different case in IndyCar, however.
Montoya's former championship rival Michael Andretti - whose Andretti Autosport team won the IndyCar drivers' title last year with Ryan Hunter-Reay - has expressed his eagerness to field Montoya next year if sufficient sponsor money can be found.
The series organisers should be doing everything they can to make this deal happen, and after that, ensure that Montoya doesn't slip through IndyCar's fingers after just one season. In the absence of Danica Patrick, the series needs a star, and, in the short term at least, Montoya fits the bill.
With Montoya, and perhaps even Felipe Massa (if he loses his Ferrari F1 seat at the end of the year), on board, IndyCar would surely be able to add a second date in South America - perhaps at Interlagos - without having to worry about lacklustre spectator attendances.
On a similar note, a possible plan to introduce a race on the Indianapolis road course, used by F1 from 2000-07, seems like a no-brainer. Having only one race a year at the hallowed Brickyard almost seems a waste, given the massive local enthusiasm for the Indianapolis 500.
Such a move would also help redress the balance between road, street and oval venues, with this year's calendar comprising only three road courses against six ovals and seven street tracks. The make-up the calendar in fact strongly resembles that of IndyCar in 1995, when the series' popularity was at its zenith prior to the infamous 'split' the following year.
There's a long, hard road ahead to even approach the heights of the early-to-mid nineties, but IndyCar's plans to expand beyond North American borders are a promising sign that the ambition to do so is there.
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