Tag: Indycar

A Spine Chilling Roar

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Cadillac

0106171430    It was the same weather that fans endured for the 1992 Indianapolis 500  and last year’s Angie’s List Grand Prix.  Fans arrived to a cold, windy, rainy track. But it is January, What else can you expect in India- oh, wait. This is Florida. The Roar before the 24 it’s called. I’m not sure if the name refers to the cars or the wind.

.  I have begun to rekindle my interest in sportscar racing.  Before the  Indycar season gets started it’s a nice way to see some racing early in the year. Since it is the off- season, several Indycar drivers drive in both the Rolex24 in Daytona and the Sebring 12 hour race.

The IMSA Weather Tech Sportscar Series holds this annual test the first weekend in January, three weeks before the Rolex 24. It is a chance to test new cars and see what improvements have been made to returning machines. The three day test consists of seven practice sessions.

Fans who have purchased tickets to the Rolex24 receive free admission which includes paddock access. The garages at Daytona are very open, providing easy viewing for spectators. Some garages have windows in the rear outside the paddock for viewing. This is more than a test; it’s an event. Driver and officials make scheduled appearances at the plaza for question and answer sessions and to talk about technical aspects of the series.

Yes, there are race cars. Lots of them.  All four classes participate in the test.  The prototype class has changed to a new formula this season. The cars are now known as DPi, Daytona prototype international. There are three engine manufacturers in DPi- Cadillac, Mazda, and Nissan. Oreca, Dallara, and Cadillac supply the chassis. The cars have distinct body styles, mainly in the front. All of them in my opinion are quite beautiful. They have brought back some of the shape of  cars of the past.  The other classes are basically the same as before.

I was impressed by the size of the crowd. The infield parking lots were quite full. Some people were brave enough to camp.  The greatest part of the weekend, though, was the fact it was the first week of January and I was watching race cars on a track. That went a long way toward taking my mind off the weather.

Below are some prototypes. Notice the differences in design.

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Oreca
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Oreca

The Race Fans’ Christmas Gift Guide

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Race fans are always happy to receive gifts, especially gifts related to racing.  Here are some suggestions for the race fan on your list, including many gifts that I have enjoyed over the years.

One of the best things I’ve received is tickets to a race. Many fans say they would be happy to go to more races if they had the budget. Race tickets  as a gift are a big help in making races more affordable. If you have never been to an Indycar race, get one for yourself as well. It’s silly to let your friend go alone.

A ride in an Indycar 2-seater will delight any Indycar fan.  It was one of the best I ever got. The ride is good at any track offering them.  There are sometimes discounts on Groupon.  It’s the best way to see what driving an Indycar is all about.

My friend George Phillips, in his Oilpressure.com column yesterday,talks about the Indy Racing Experience. You get to drive an Indycar on your own at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.This is something I want to try in the next couple of years.  If you haven’t read this column before, check it out.  It is always a good read.

Have friends who collect things?  We fans are eager to get our hands on anything related to racing. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum has lots of things for the collector. They are currently having daily sales on selected items. They also have a clearance sale in mid-November with incredible deals. Also, check eBay for items like old programs and ticket stubs.

Books about racing, especially racing history, are one thing I can’t get enough of.  I highly recommend Black Noon by Art Garner. It tells the story of the 1964 Indianapolis 500 and talks about how the events of that day came to be and their lasting effects on racing  The author does a great job profiling Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald. This is one of the best books on the history of the 500 I have read.

Beast by Jade Gurss details Roger Penske and Imor engineering developing the Mercedes badged engine that dominated the 1994 500.  It was not as easy as it appeared. Gurss also discusses the brewing storm that led to the split in 1996. Even though you know the outcome, the narrative creates a suspenseful conclusion.

I have not read Lionheart by Andy Hallberry and Jeff Olson. I anticipate receiving it in a few days.  I have heard great things about it, and I will share my thoughts in January. The IMS Museum shop has it online for purchase.

Trivia buffs will enjoy Pat Kennedy’s compilations of trivia questions. He has two volumes of How Much Do You really know about the Indianapolis 500?, The Official Indy 500 Trivia Book, and Indy 500 Recaps, the Short Chute Edition.  The recaps book has a summary of every race and a results table for each race.

Other books I have enjoyed are Vukovich by Bob Gates and Umbrella Mike by Brock Yates. Umbrella Mike tells the story of Mike Boyle, whose cars won three Indianapolis 500s, including the famous Maserati car driven by Wilbur Shaw in 1939 and 1940.

Hard Luck Llloyd by John Lingle is a biography of Llloyd Ruby, a great racer who almost won the 500 several times, but bad luck always seemed to thwart his trip to Victory Lane.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season. I will be back after the first of the year when I settle in following my southern migration.

 

 

Silly Season Semi-Final Update- Filling Up Fast

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It’s great to be back. Many things have intruded on my writing time- health issues, home repair issues, yard work.  I think things have settled down and I can get back to this fun project. I have missed this greatly.

We now have a nearly complete Indycar lineup for the entire season. There are a scattered few left including one unconfirmed seat.

The biggest and best news was Conor Daly and Carlos Munoz  signing with A. J. Foyt Racing. Munoz will drive the 14 and Daly the 4.  Foyt has used the number 4 occasionally. I am glad the 41 is gone. It is such a strange number. Will the team be better?  They should. Daly usually makes a team better. Munoz will get more attention on a smaller team.  I think Munoz has a great chance to win a race next season. Daly might steal one. Last year Conor got to the front on strategy and was able to have the pace to stay there.  Chevrolet power should help both start closer to the front.

The other good news item is J. R. Hildebrand returning full time for Ed Carpenter Racing in the 21 car. Hildebrand puts another former Indy lights champion in the field. J. R. has run well in the 500 the last couple of years. It’s great to have him back full time. Still no word on who will drive the 20 car on road and street courses. Not sure if Spencer Pigot is still under consideration.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in this fall full of surprises is Dale Coyne having both of his cars assigned before the end of the year.  Ed Jones, this year’s Indy Lights champ, joins Sebastian Bourdais. in the Coyne stable. This will be an interesting team to watch.

Our scorecard of open seats now looks like this:

0.5- Car 20, Ed Carpenter Racing

1 – Car 8 at Ganassi. I understand Max Chilton is negotiating a contract to keep the ride.

1- Car 26 at Andretti. Takuma Sato, though likely, not confirmed yet.

1- Car 11 at KV or KV/Carlin? This is still questionable whether they will field a team other than for the 500.

There are a lot of drivers looking to get these open seats. Some possibilities:  R. C. Enerson, Spencer Pigot, Zach Veach, Oriol Servia likely part time with Schmidt in a third car); Jack Harvey, and Kyle Kaiser. Enerson did an impressive job For Dale Coyne in the last three races of the season. I think he will get one of the openings.

Next week, I’ll reveal my 2017  tentative race schedule. Anyone guessing what races I’m attending in May gets a free grandstand seat any practice day during the month. You just pay track admission and the seat is on me.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

 

Silly Season Update- A Trade in the Works; It’s Almost Done

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Yesterday was a busy news day in Indycar Silly Season.  News that Takuma Sato will be in the #26 car at Andretti Autosport really should not be a surprise.  Andretti needs funding for that car. Honda funds Sato as they did when he was with Foyt. This solves two problems.  It appears likely that Carlos Munoz will be going to Foyt. In effect, they traded drivers.

The other big story yesterday was Juan Pablo Montoya accepting Penske’s offer to drive the Indianapolis 500 only  with the promise of a sportscar ride when Penske puts a program together.  Again, this proves a part-time gig with Penske is better than a full time ride elsewhere. This arrangement also gives Team Penske a built-in substitute driver should a situation arise as when Will Power couldn’t race at St. Pete this season.

The biggest beneficiary of yesterday’s moves is Conor Daly.  Taking Montoya away opens the remaining seats up more for him. What seats remain?  There are just a few:

1 at Foyt

1.5 at Carpenter

1 at KV/Carlin?

1 at Ganassi?

1 at Coyne

I think that’s it. I don’t see a completely new team next year, since the aerokits have just one season left. Economically, it doesn’t make sense.  The full time  field should be between 20-22 cars.

For the 500, it will likely still be a struggle to get to 33, even with a 5th Penske car.

It’s possible we could know the entire lineup by December.  The more time I have to learn who is which car the better.

 

 

 

Movie Review-Reengineering Sam

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Sam Schmidt has dreams. He dreams of being able to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.  He dreams of being able to drive a car on the street again. He wants as normal a life as he can. For the first time since the crash at Walt Disney World Speedway that rendered him a quadriplegic, one of his dreams is close to coming true.

The Heartland Film Festival premiered the movie Reengineering Sam yesterday. While it is mainly about building the car that Sam Schmidt drove around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the last two years, the film also tells Sam’s story from childhood to the present day. Ironically, his father was a racer who also had a crash that left him partially paralyzed on his right side.  We also get an intimate look at Sam’s daily routine away from the racetrack and how his family tries to have as normal a life as possible.

The movie contains quite a bit of racing footage, mainly showing some horrific crashes. The 2011 crash at Las Vegas is shown, though not in its entirety. It was difficult to watch.  Schmidt’s crash in 1998 where he broke his feet also appears. It was a foreshadowing of what was to come. His wife tells how he was in a wheelchair after that crash and all he wanted to do was get back in a racecar.

The majority of the film alternates between his family life as told by his wife, Sheila,his children, Savannah and Spencer, and his parents; and ongoing  research and technology  to help quadriplegics regain some mobility.  A neurosurgeon wondered if it would be possible for a quadriplegic to drive a car. He had never heard of Sam until a colleague suggested him.  Arrow Electronics was eager to build the car.

The movie ends triumphantly with Sam driving the modified Corvette around the Speedway in front of a cheering crowd.  The state of Nevada just issued Sam the first driver’s license for a semi-autonomous vehicle. He is the first quadriplegic to receive this license.

Several noteworthy things about the film:

  • Sheila Schmidt’s strength and dedication.
  • The hope for all quadriplegics for more quality of life.
  • Sam’s carry on attitude.
  • The dedicated researchers in the military and hospitals who are working hard on the technology to help improve the lives of paralyzed people.
  • The reminder to me to keep things in perspective.

Reengineering Sam has three more showings at the festival- tonight at 8 pm at Trader’s Point; Tuesday at 12:45 pm at Castleton; and Saturday at 10:45 am at Castleton.

 

 

October, 2011

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Note: I published this story last year. After the events of yesterday, I thought I would present it again. It is a time to be kind to each other.

I was calling Las Vegas the fire sale race. It was the final race for the old cars, and every team wanted to race every car they had. Thirty four were entered, more cars than Indianapolis 500 entries most years.  Indycars hadn’t raced there in a while. Several drivers questioned the track’s safety.

The race was the season finale.  As usual, the championship would be decided. That alone should have been enough. But Randy Bernard, who had done many great things, decided this wasn’t enough. He declared a $1 million prize for Dan Wheldon, winner of the 500, if he won the race starting from last place.  I never liked the idea.

First, it diminished the championship battle. Second, it was a NASCAR type gimmick. I was very disappointed that Indycar thought it necessary.  Third, instead of the usual twenty or so cars, there were going to be thirty-four racing on a one and a half mile track.

Everyone expected a big pileup. Only 15 laps in, it happened.  An airborne car went into the fence. It looked really bad.  I couldn’t tell who it was at first, but I knew that driver was seriously injured. The broadcast team said it was Wheldon.

The times I’ve been at a track when a driver is killed, awareness is instant. There is an eerie silence that descends over the venue. Things move in slow motion. Oddly, sitting in my living room watching on television, I had that same sensation. I had been tweeting about the race with my friends. That activity halted for several minutes.

Inside sources began hinting on Twitter what I had feared. Nothing was official, but I knew that the source was reliable. We could do nothing but wait. The image of the helicopter ascending was all the confirmation I needed.  It looked just the end of the movie Senna, which I had just seen a few weeks before.

……………………………….

That Sunday also marked the beginning of a severe decline in my wife’s condition. She had been home from rehab two weeks. Things were looking better, but in the following week, her energy slowly drained and by the following Friday, she was back in the hospital. Friends came to be with her the next Sunday so I could go to Dan’s memorial downtown.She knew it was important to me. Knowing what was coming, it was hard to sit through. She died Wednesday of that week.

I never met Dan Wheldon. I have no photos of him. I never got his autograph. But I always admired his skill, his passion, and his joy for life.  Vicki had many of the same qualities as Dan.

At the five year mark, which at times feels like five minutes and other times like fifty years, I strive to live up to their standards, to embrace the joys of life, and let the little stuff go.  Ten days from now I will go to a quiet place and at 11:22 say a quiet prayer of thanks, and have the strength to get through another year.

 

 

Off Season Thoughts- Driver Musical Chairs, Rules, and Points

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Today is the day. Josef Newgarden’s deadline to act on the offer from Ed Carpenter Racing is today.  What he decides determines many things. Where will Juan Pablo Montoya be next year?  Will he bump Tony Kanaan out of Ganssi? I have heard he has talked to Carpenter. I honestly don’t see that as a fit at all. I would think Fuzzy’s would want a more personable driver for their car.

Another factor is Carlin.Will they make the jump to IndyCar? Will they partner with KV/KVSH or just buy them outright? Will Max Chilton go there creating an opening at Ganassi?

A.J. Foyt Racing will have at least one opening. It could be Kanaan, if he leaves Ganassi.

Coyne apparently has signed Sebastian Bourdais. Conor Daly is rumored to be under contract for next year as well.

My suggestion- If you’re not going to the season opener at St. Pete, have a friend who is mail you a spotter’s guide. That will give you plenty of time to learn names and car numbers before the 101st Indianapolis 500.

Rules

The aerokit packages are frozen for next year and a new universal kit will be on the cars for 2018.  This means that unless Honda can develop a stronger engine package, Chevrolet will again dominate in 2017. I’m all for the new universal kit, but for next year I think the teams should be given leeway to work on the kits themselves.

I hope the 2018 aero package makes Indycars look more like Indy cars and less like single seat sportscars.

Points

Double points, like interleague play in baseball, is played out and needs to be eliminated.  Yes the 500 is the most important race, but it still counts as one race in the standings.  The final race of the season should not count as double points, especially on a road course. Let the championship be decided as it happens. if someone clinches the title with two races to go, so be it. Very few World series have ended with a game-winning home run. Not every series goes seven games.

Qualifying points at Indy- There are way too many points awarded for qualifying.  I can understand the need to award points in the current format, which I wrote about in May, but I don’t think the pole winner should get more than 25 points.  Then each position after that receives one less point. Positions 25-33 get one point each.

Race points- I still mainly like the point system, but I don’t believe every driver in a race should get points. I liked the old CART/USAC system of awarding points to the top twelve spots only. I also would like to do away with a bonus point for leading a lap. This would tighten up the points battle and eliminate the need for double points races.

I think I’ve fixed Indycar enough for one day.  I need to take the rest of the day off. I’m going to the Red Bull Air Races Sunday. I’ll have a report on that next week.  Have a great weekend.

 

 

Indycar Season Review- A Penske Walk in the Park

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Dominance returned to Indycar this season. Chevrolet dominated the engine battle. Drivers dominated races. Penske cars dominated the standings. Simon Pagenaud dominated the championship. Pagenaud had an early run of three straight wins and a couple second places. Will Power had a mid-season run of four wins and two second places. The difference? Power had to sit out the first race of the year due to medical issues.

While Chevrolet won more races and fourteen poles, Honda did show slight gains with two poles and more Fast Six qualifying rounds this year than last.Their two victories were well short of the six wins of 2015. With the aero-kit freeze in place for next year, Honda will focus on engine development to offset the aero disadvantage. It would be nice if the teams could work on the aerokits themselves next year.

There were several dominating drives this year. Pagenaud was clearly the class of the field at Long Beach, the Indy Grand Prix, and Sonoma. Josef Newgarden beat up on the field at Iowa. It appeared James Hinchcliffe had everyone covered at Texas, but he was nosed out at the line by Graham Rahal.  Will Powqer led virtually the entire way at road America.

Team Penske won ten of the sixteen races.  Pagenaud won half of those. His late season wins at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma were something we hadn’t seen from a series champion in a while. The last few years, the points leader won races early then hung on desperately to either win the title in the last race or lose it there.

Three classic venues returned to the schedule this year- Phoenix, Road America, and Watkins Glen. Watkins Glen was a mid-season replacement for the cancelled Boston race. It was a great upgrade from a street race. I was fortunate to be at all three. It was very exciting to have these three tracks back.

Opinion section

The best races this year, always subjective were Barber, the Indianapolis 500, Pocono, and Texas.  There is also something beautiful in the way Newgarden crushed Iowa.

The worst races- Phoenix and Sonoma.

Worst luck driver- Helio Castroneves.  He “earns” this honor with the following resume:

Indianapolis- Hit exiting the pits by Townsend Bell, then rear-ended by JR Hildebrand while he had the strongest contending car. Detroit- leading  Race 2 but waited too long to pit and was caught by a yellow. Twice at Iowa a yellow came out while he was in the pits for his scheduled stop.  At Pocono he was an innocent bystander in the Rossi/Kimball pit incident.  In spite of all this, Castroneves still managed to finish third in the standings, but not without a fight from Newgarden.

Runner-up for this category- Scott Dixon.

What broken clavicle? Josef Newgarden somehow escaped a horrific crash at Texas in the first attempt to race, ending up with a hand and clavicle fracture. He was expected to miss at least one race. Amazingly, he was back int he car at the next event at Road America. Two weeks after that came his perfect game at Iowa. The points he lost by crashing at Texas probably cost him third place. He finished two points behind in fourth.

On Wednesday, I hope to have some silly season updates and more thoughts on next year. Overall, it was a great year for Indycar’s image.

 

Simonized-Simon Waxes the Field

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Simon Pagenaud cruised to another dominating victory Sunday afternoon in Sonoma to earn his first IndyCar series championship. The title had pretty much been a foregone conclusion for weeks despite a little closing of the gap by Will Power at Pocono. All doubt was erased after qualifying Saturday when Pagenaud took the pole on his last lap.

Will Power’s last hope ended on lap 36 with a clutch issue.  He stalled on the backstretch causing the day’s only yellow.  He finished eight laps behind.  Power did not  have a bad season. Four victories and two second place finishes will usually win a title. Missing the St. Pete race cost him this Astor Cup.

The interesting part of the race was the battle for third place in the standings between Helios Castroneves and Josef Newgarden.  Newgarden finished sixth Sunday and Castroneves was seventh. Helio ended the season third by two points.

Roger Penske celebrated his fiftieth year in motorsports capturing the top three spots in the championship.

Notes:

We now enter Silly Season. According to all sources every driver seems headed for a new seat next year.  A slight exaggeration perhaps, but there will be a lot of movement.   The number of Indy Lights drivers able to move up is another unknown.

Will there be fewer teams? Team consolidation is possible. Has Ed Jones winning the Lights title accelerated Carlin’s jump to IndyCar?

Josef Newgarden has eight days to respond to his offer from Ed Carpenter Racing.

The event. The staff at Sonoma Raceway did a great job this weekend. You could tell they had done their homework. Saturday and Sunday had the biggest crowds I’ve seen here in the three years I’ve gone.  It ok s also a fan friendly track. After parking, fans receive a card with the lot number and shuttle color to take when they leave. Sunday as we stood in line,  workers passed out water bottles.

Next  Monday I will have my season review and more about next season. I will also  have some Sonoma photos.

 

Update: It appears Newgarden and Rossi are now off the table. Josef moving on to Penske and Rossi staying with Andretti/Herta.