Team owner Chip Ganassi sat down with a few reporters at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to talk about pretty much anything related to motorsports.

One topic was his take on the 10th anniversary of the unification that saw the two open-wheel racing series in North America unite and move forward as one. The team owner for four Indianapolis 500 winners and 11 season champions was adamant that it’s ancient history that matters no more – particularly in the positive climate of the Verizon IndyCar Series.

“Come on, that was 10 years ago,” Ganassi said of the unification. “That was then and this is now. Nobody in any other business talks about what happened 10 or 15 years ago, it's about what happened maybe last year and let's worry about next year.

“In terms of business, it's not on the radar: We've been through two (economic) downturns since the merger and any sport and all sports felt those two downturns. I think the merger is old news in terms of blaming it or crediting it for anything.”

Ganassi is dead right.

Indy car racing might be in a different place today without the split and the subsequent merger, but it's a fool's game to presume where the sport would be now.

Instead, everyone involved in the series – drivers, owners, sponsors, media and fans – is looking at the current product on track and deciding if INDYCAR is heading in the right direction. Considering the action that the Verizon IndyCar Series delivers today, the answer is likely a resounding “yes.”

After six years of great racing and close competition since the introduction of the Dallara IR-12 chassis in 2012 – the lowest number of different race winners in a season in this period has been eight drivers – changes to the aerodynamic package were made to bring even better racing in 2018.

It worked in the season opener at St. Petersburg, where the action-packed race produced 366 on-track passes, surpassing the previous race record of 323 in 2008.

“It was really good racing and you could follow close,” said Will Power, the 2014 series champ and driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. “INDYCAR has done such a great job of designing this car to race well. You can be so close and feel no turbulence. I've never had a car that could follow so close.”

In addition to the on-track excitement, the television numbers continue to grow, with a new deal in the works for 2019 that promises to raise the Verizon IndyCar Series' profile and bring in new audiences. Some teams have been attracting new sponsors, such as Ganassi's No. 9 car driven by four-time champion Scott Dixon which brought PNC Bank into the Verizon IndyCar Series this year. Others have been taking existing partnerships to new levels, such as Arrow Electronics, sponsor for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports which debuted its deluxe, two-story hospitality center in St. Petersburg.

To top it off, all indications point to enough Indianapolis 500 entries this year to return “bumping” from the 33-car field. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been so overwhelmed by demand for suite space in May that it announced plans this week to build new ones on the outside of Turn 3 to accommodate the increased requests.

Finally, fans have been showing their appreciation at the turnstiles in growing numbers. The stands at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg were packed last weekend. The pre-race starting grid was so crowded, it was almost impossible to move as the throng navigated around 24 cars and two new full-time teams.

“It's great to be a part of this right now, attendance is up everywhere and the cars look cool,” said Power.

“The series is everything that it needs to be right now: There are fast American guys who can win championships, lots of great young talent, quality teams and continuity of drivers. Everything that you would look at to make a series better is what's happening here.”

Judging from the cracking season opener in St. Petersburg, the Verizon IndyCar Series, its teams, partners, drivers and fans have lots of exciting action to look forward to this year – and for years to come. As Ganassi said, that should be the focus.