DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Eddie Gossage has been one of the most loyal supporters of the Verizon IndyCar Series dating all the way back to the CART days when he worked for the Miller Brewing Company in the 1980s. As president and general manager of Texas Motor Speedway he wanted to bring IndyCar racing back to Texas and joined forces with the old Indy Racing League in 1997 staging the first night IndyCar race on a high-banked superspeedway.

Since that time, only Texas Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been on schedule every year and that serves as a testament to Gossage’s loyalty to IndyCar.

In 2010 he was also on the ICONIC Committee that ushered in the current Dallara IndyCar in 2012 and the Aero Kit project that will be on both Chevrolet and Honda entries during the 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

As one of the leading track promoters in the United States Gossage is able to offer unique perspective into the implementation of Aero Kits and how it will impact ticket sales to his race.

“It enhances the show because fans can see a difference from car to car,” Gossage said before last week’s Daytona 500 preliminaries. “It also enhances for the benefit of Chevy and Honda and any other manufacturer that comes along.”

During the ICONIC Committee meetings in 2010 Gossage recalled traveling with 2003 Indianapolis 500 champion and two-time CART champion Gil de Ferran. Every night they would right back and forth to the meetings and the hotel in an old van that de Ferran owned.

That is where the idea of manufacturer-branded Aero Kits was developed.

“A Chevy needed to have a feature on it that connected you somehow to a street car and the same with Honda,” Gossage said. “It would help you connect the dots. I don’t know if that will happen in IndyCar but the fans want to see it. I held several fan meetings to gather input – something INDYCAR wanted me to do as part of that committee. The fans wanted to see a difference from car to car. They did not like that all the cars looked the same.

“The Aero Kits had its roots there and I have to give Gil a lot of the credit. I think it’s going to be fantastic. INDYCAR needs to keep the makes fairly even but you have to reward good work and if one gets ahead of the other because they are working harder then the other has to work harder.”

Texas Motor Speedway ushered in the era of “Pack Racing” in the IndyCar Series. TMS has had some of the most exciting races in IndyCar history. But with the Aero Kits the pack is expected to break up and how will that affect the show that many of Gossage’s fans are used to seeing?

“We don’t know,” Gossage said. “It could be that you are going to see six Hondas in a pack or eight Chevys in a pack. I understand the drivers not wanting to race so closely – I’ve never known a racer that did – we’re looking for the combination of safety, entertainment and sporting competition.

“Just because a make gets a leg up doesn’t mean it is going to run away from the field. All those makes are still even.”

Gossage hasn’t been satisfied with the level of competition at TMS the past two IndyCar Series races where aero rules created a strung out field.

“Derrick Walker (INDYCAR President of Competition) apologized publicly for that event last year,” Gossage said. “They didn’t go a little overboard; they went obscenely too far overboard. We’re made it clear we expect them to give us one of the most competitive races we’ve ever had at that track.

“Our fans were spoiled. People knew what they were going to see when they tuned on the Texas race and didn’t see that the last few years. I suspect we will have a much more competitive race this year than we have in a while.”

Gossage remains optimistic about the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I thought last year we had the worst race of the season but it was a great season all year long. It was fascinating with lots of things to keep you interested. I don’t know why 2015 won’t be better. I love the Aero Kit concept.

“Standing here at the first of the year – why won’t it be fabulous?

“I love IndyCars. I think this season is going to be spectacular.”