When the unfortunate news that the local government in Brasilia canceled the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season-opening race scheduled for March 8 INDYCAR President of Competition Derrick Walker and Hulman & Company CEO Mark Miles began considering alternatives.

Should IndyCar put together a one-time-only makeup race at Circuit of the Americas with just five weeks lead time or would it be better served to move up the Aero Kit testing from beginning on March 13 at a place such as NOLA Motorsports Park in New Orleans?

A variety of ideas were considered before Walker decided it was best to stick to the current plan.

Walker gave his reasons why it was the right thing to do.

“We had planned to go to Brazil and as soon as we came back those Aero Kit parts the teams would have and testing was opened up for March 13,” Walker said. “Just because we didn’t go to Brazil didn’t mean those Aero Kit parts would be available any time sooner. The manufacturers are still making them and are working on the understanding the teams would be running March 13 and onward with those kits.

“We also made sure the manufacturers guaranteed to supply every team entry with their Aero Kit and not just some teams. That meant all those kits had to be done and the manufacturers were on a schedule for March 13. We had to stick to it but we did ask the manufacturers and consulted with certain tracks to see if we could open up and do a promoter test but it just didn’t work out for those reasons.”

Walker described how rapidly the news of the Brazil cancelation developed when he arrived for work at the INDYCAR offices on January 29.

“We got rumor of it very early in the morning and we talked to the promoter and the promoter was as shocked as we were that it came down,” Walker explained. “The promoter really had no option but to announce it and then we started our plan for what other options we had -- if we should have another race, where we could race or if we should open up testing.

“It was a complete shock. We had regular calls with our promoter down there. They had sold a lot of tickets and it looked like a full house. We had Tony Cotman who does the track inspection there and it was coming together. It was a complete surprise and a real disappointment.”

Despite the setback, Walker and INDYCAR believe Brazil is a valuable area for the series.

“We haven’t given up on Brazil; it’s an important market for us,” Walker said. “There is a real enthusiasm for the IndyCar product down there. We’ve been meeting with our promoter this week and keeping in mind the future of how we can get back down to Brazil and have an event. Whether it is in the same location or another location that’s for us to see. They have some issues to resolve, first.”

One idea that has been floated by a series partner was to have the final race weekend of the season at Sonoma Raceway a doubleheader. Currently, double-points will be awarded in the season’s final race but if it were turned into a doubleheader it would produce twice the impact to determine the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series champion.

“That may be a consideration for the future but right now our schedule is fixed as far as a doubleheader at Sonoma,” Walker explained. “When you run a doubleheader you want to see a double impact or a significant impact to that event. Some race tracks that have had doubleheaders have made good use of that and others less so.”

The idea of doubleheaders has to start with the promoter and if they are interested in two races on successive days.

“If they have a real interest in doing a doubleheader we weigh in all the factors that makes you think about the viability,” Walker said. “Are we tapped out with race events in certain area or total events? Does it make sense to do doubleheaders in one area where you can get a good event in another region of the United States? Do we even need to keep doing doubleheaders at a number of places?

“We prefer to go find more tracks to spread our series to key locations where people have a high interest in our activity or and area we can generate that interest because it’s something they don’t have in that location or a part of the country we aren’t penetrating at the moment.”