Tag: Texas Motor Speedway

Indycar Season Preview- Racing in Place While Waiting for 2018

thepitwindow4 Comments

Some news updates this morning:

Jay Howard will be in the No. 77 car, the one Tony Stewart’s Foundation is running under Sam Schmidt’s team, for the Indianapolis 500. This will be Howard’s second 500. His first was in 2011, where he started 20th and finished 30th.

Scott Dixon’s car will be sponsored by GE LED light bulbs at St. Pete this weekend. The team is still looking for a season long sponsor and hopes to have something in place by Long Beach..

 

This will be a year of waiting. We are waiting for the new look car in 2018; waiting to see if a third engine manufacturer is on the horizon. Meanwhile, we should see a year similar to last year. Aerokit development was frozen for this year, meaning Chevy cars will win most of the races, and a Honda will win Indy and likely Pocono and Texas. A Penske driver will win the championship after a tough battle with a teammate.

No season is entirely predictable.  There are some wild cards out there. First, there were  some significant driver moves. The largest move is Josef Newgarden  going to Penske.  Carlos Munoz moves to Foyt, joining Conor Daly. Sebastien Bourdais moves into what was  Dal y’s ride at Coyne last year.  Takuma Sato goes to Andretti replacing Munoz.

The second wild card is teams that switched engines. Chip Ganassi Racing returns to Honda power, and Foyt now is a Chevy team.  At the Phoenix test both teams seemed to be still learning their new aero kits and engines. Will Ganassi be the team that makes Honda more competitive the entire season?

J. R. Hildebrand returns to the Verizon Indy Car Series full time with Ed Carpenter Racing, replacing Newgarden.  Spencer Pigot will drive the No. 20 on road and street courses.

Will Andretti Autosport have a better year?  Marco Andretti seems more focused. Having Bryan Herta call strategy for him is a good move. Herta is a great race strategist. Exhibit A- last year’s Indy 500. Will Alexander Rossi be hurt by having a new strategist? Time will tell. I think there won’t be much of an effect.  Ryan Hunter-Reay was in position to win both 500 mile races last year, but some strange things happened. His pit road collision at Indianapolis took him out of contention, and a brief power hiccup late in the race at Pocono cost him the victory there. I think he will win a race this year.

Schmidt Peterson retains James Hinchcliffe and Mikhail Aleshin. Both drivers were on the verge of winning last year. I look for Aleshin to get his first victory this season. Hinchcliffe should also have a good chance as well. This is one of my sleeper teams.

My other sleeper team is Dale Coyne Racing.  They have upgraded the team off the track and Bourdais is a big addition on the track.  Coyne is tactical. he knows what his cars need to do to qualify well, and he knows how to get them to the front on race day. If pit strategy falls their way, there could be some good results this year for them. Rookie Ed Jones joins the team. He had two great years in Indy Lights, winning last year’s title.  He will need to have patience as he learns to race in IndyCar.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has been the top finishing Honda the last two years. They could very well keep that distinction with a strong start to the year. Graham Rahal will keep his streak of winning races in consecutive years alive.

Ganassi may have a slow start as they figure out the Honda package, but Scott Dixon will likely have a better year than he had last year, when early issues pushed him down the standings. Ganassi will finish the year strong.  It will be another solid year for Tony Kanaan. Max Chilton should show some improvement in his second year. Charlie Kimball will continue to be steady.

Team Penske will again lead the pack most if not all the way.  It will be another battle between Will Power and defending champ Simon Pagenaud all season, with Power prevailing this time.  Helio Castroneves will have another consistent year with several podiums.  Josef Newgarden appears to be adjusting well to his new team. Moving Tim Cindric to his car from Power’s car shows that Penske is putting Josef on an accelerated path to success. He may not win a race, but he should have a better season than Pagenaud did his first year at Penske.

It should be an interesting season. There are enough X-factors to provide some intrigue. Enjoy the first race next Sunday from beautiful St. Pete.

Here are my pre-season predictions, with apologies to all my picks. You don’t have a prayer now. These picks   are subject to change as the year goes on.

Season Championship-  Will Power

Indianapolis 500- Scott Dixon

First time winner- Mikhail Aleshin

Different race winners- 8

 

 

Indycar News ; The Greatest 33 Non-Winners, A Reader Particicpation Event

thepitwindow

The long offseason enters its final fortnight in just two days.  I thought this was a much more tolerable one than most because of what seemed like nearly constant news.

The big news this week is Juncos racing, a pillar of the Mazda Road to Indy,  purchased cars and equipment from KV Racing, and will enter at least one car,  likely two, in the Indianapolis 500.  Juncos’s   long range plan was to move up to Indycar in a couple of years. The sad demise of KV allowed them to move up their plans. Additional races this year don’t look likely, but eventually, possibly by 2019, they will be full time.

Other announcements- Lear Corp, which had sponsored the outstanding volunteer staff at the Detroit GP, is now the presenting sponsor of the race… Andretti Autosport. confirmed they will run a fifth car at Indianapolis. The driver has not been named. Last year Townsend Bell drove their fifth car.

 

In 2011, The Indianapolis Star and IMS invited fans to participate in finding the Greatest 33 drivers of the 500.  The majority of the drivers who made the final list were race winners, of course.  I would like to do another Greatest 33 for the non-winners.  These are the guys who consistently came close but never got their face on the Borg-Warner Trophy. I invite those of you who read this blog (both of you) to submit your suggestions and how you would grid them, Indy style. I would like to find fifty, then have you vote on gridding them.  You do not have to name 33, just as many as you feel like. Criteria is up to you.

Drivers that come to mind for me are Rex Mays, Ted Horn, Harry Hartz, Michael Andretti, Lloyd Ruby.  I look at laps led, top five finishes, and qualifying results.  Who else can you add to this list?  Let me know.

 

Next week will be my long awaited (dreaded?) season preview.  Hope to hear from you soon.

A New Look for Indycar Weekends; P2P Revised; Reds GetMore Track Time

thepitwindow

Yesterday Indycar announced format changes for race weekends. Most of the new procedures affect road and street course events.  The oval  races at Phoenix and Gateway will have a new prerace look also. Some of the changes affect certain tracks only. Here are the changes, followed by my thoughts. Thanks to Eric Smith of Race Review Online for providing the list.

• Phoenix and Gateway qualifications: Qualifying at two oval tracks – Phoenix Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park – will be held on the same day as those Saturday night races. The first day of those two-day event weekends will focus on a pair of practice sessions, the latter falling within the same evening time slot as the race.

• Firestone alternate tires: At road and street courses, each car will receive an additional set of Firestone’s red-sidewall alternate tires, bringing the total to four sets of the softer-compound Firehawks available for the weekend and allowing teams to better gauge performance characteristics of the alternate tires in comparison to Firestone’s more-durable, black-sidewall, primary-compound tires prior to qualifications. Each entry must return one set of tires – either primary or alternate – following the first practice session of a weekend and another set – the opposite compound from the first returned set – following the second practice session.

• Overtake assist time allotment: Push-to-pass overtake assist in road and street races will be based on a maximum time allotment for each car instead of the number of uses. The events at the streets of St. Petersburg, Raceway at Belle Isle Park and Sonoma Raceway will have a total overtake time allotment of 150 seconds for each race, with the other road/street races set for 200 seconds. When a driver engages the overtake via a button on the steering wheel, it increases engine turbocharger boost pressure by 15 kilopascals (kPa) to 165 kPa – good for about 60 added horsepower. Once engaged, push-to-pass will run for a pre-established duration equivalent to approximately the time needed to drive the length of the track’s main straightaway (15-20 seconds). Drivers will now have the ability to disengage an overtake activation midway through its use to save time for a later use. In addition, push-to-pass will not be available at the start of a race or for any restarts, with the exception of a restart commencing with two laps remaining in the race.

• INDYCAR Grand Prix schedule: Verizon IndyCar Series on-track action at the INDYCAR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will consist of two days, Friday and Saturday, May 12-13, to create a more action-packed event. All three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy development ladder will still have track activity on Thursday, May 11.

• Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix qualifications: For the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix doubleheader in June, qualifying sessions for each race will see the field divided into two groups based on practice times, with 12 minutes of track time allotted for each qualifying group (with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time). Previously, qualifying for the first race followed the advancement round format used at other road/street events. Qualifying groups for Belle Isle will be based on best lap times from the practice session immediately preceding Race 1 qualifications. If a car causes a red-flag situation during a qualifying session, its best two timed laps will be disallowed and it will not be permitted to continue in the session. One driver and entrant championship point will be awarded to the fastest car in each qualifying group on both days.

• Standardized road/street practice times: Practice sessions on the first day of most road/street course event weekends will have standardized start times of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. local. Each session will be 45 minutes in duration.

 My thoughts:

I love same day qualifying. It is hectic for the teams, but it really provides value for the fans. I have been to many races where the race starts in late afternoon and there are no support events.  A night practice for a night race makes sense, especially in the same time slot as the race. Indycars under the lights are an amazing sight. Unless there is a drastic change in weather in 24 hours, this will help teams know what to expect.

About time drivers are allowed to practice on the alternate reds during practice. I’ve always thought it was silly to not be able to practice on what you would use in qualifying. Another step helping the teams put on a better qualifying show. Thanks to Firestone for the extra work this involves making the extra sets available.

The push to pass change will make starts and restarts fairer and possibly safer.  I really like that a driver can decide not to use a full burst and save time for later. This is essentially is the same amount of time as before, but a driver could get more uses from it.  I wonder if all teams and the fans will be made aware of how much time other drivers have left. Indycar attempted to keep that information hidden for awhile last year, but that policy seemed to fade away.

Compressing the Indycar Grand Prix of Indianapolis schedule is a good idea. Thursday was mainly just let’s get the dust off the track day.  I like the idea of the three Mazda Road to Indy series getting the entire Thursday to themselves.  Anytime the future stars can get a showcase can only help Indycar in the long run.

The Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix qualifying format makes sense for a couple reasons. The schedule at Belle Isle is really packed. It will free up 30-45 minutes of track time.  This is the procedure used for race 2 qualifying, so it standardizes the weekend’s qualifying procedure. One thing I would change is have the groups on Sunday based on Saturday’s starting positions rather than have the same groups both days.

I will like going to a track on the first event day knowing when the practice sessions are. I always take a copy of the schedule with me, but it will be nice to know the first session is at 11 and the second one is at 3.   Shortening the practice sessions to 45 minutes and allowing practice on the reds should make for more on track action during the sessions.

These are great changes for the Verizon Indycar Series. I like that they are trying to have practice sessions simulate qualifying and race conditions while providing more on track running.  Adapting procedures to the situations of different tracks is helpful as well.

Notes:

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced Copper Moon Coffee will be the team’s official coffee supplier through 2018. Will the steering wheels have an espresso button?

Zachary Claman DeMelo signed with Carlin for his second Indy Lights season.  I thought he showed steady improvement during the year. It appears there will be 12-14 cars on the Indy Lights grid. Considering that Schmidt is not entering the series this year, that is a nice number.

We are just 32 days away from the first practice day at St. Pete. I’m ready.

I’m working on my season preview, which I plan to publish March 1. I will be back before then.  You can’t get rid of me that easily.

 

 

Indycar Season Review- A Penske Walk in the Park

thepitwindow

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.

 

Rocketships, Redemption, Retention-Texas 2016

thepitwindow

What a great race at Texas!  The last lap became a battle of the rocketships. A driver who lost a late lead here four years ago won. The points leader stayed on top and also extended his lead. It was a wild night at Texas Motor Speedway.  The second great oval race in as many weeks produced the fifth closest finish in Indycar history.  Here are some musings from this semi-authoritative source:

Rocketships-

During his ten minute practice, Graham Rahal referred to his car as a “(Not safe for TV) rocketship.”  After the race, James Hinchcliffe called his car a rocketship.  The two rocketships crossed the line virutally together.  Rahal may have had a bigger margin if he hadn’t raised his arm in celebration before the stripe. He made a great over/under move to get to the bottom of the track to get ahead of Hinchcliffe.

Redemption-

Toward the end of the 2012 race at Texas, Rahal had a 10 second lead over Justin Wilson when he brushed the wall in Turn 4.  He continued, but the car had lost its handling. Wilson swept by him to win the race.  Saturday night, he slipped by the leader on the last lap to win. Some tracks seem forgiving in that regard.

Retention-

Simon Pagenaud just might have sewn up the title in this race.  Even though he only added eight points to his lead, and the outcome is still very much in doubt, his decision to drop back from the four wide fight for the lead was a champion’s move.  It was a very different form of points racing.  Still, I admire his desire to fight for a win he didn’t really need until he decided it was best to settle for fourth.

More Thoughts on Texas-

Track president Eddie Gossage went all out in efforts to draw a crowd Saturday. He offered deeply discounted tickets and refreshments, free admission to first responders.  It was great to see a track president tell fans he was sorry about the rainout and the delay in restarting the race, and then do what he could to make it up to them.

Kevin Lee did an outstanding job filling in for Leigh Diffey as the broadcast booth anchor. I hope he gets more opportunities in the future.  It was another great broadcast by NBCSN. I really liked the camera on the wall that showed the cars flashing by. My only issue with the tv crew was talking about points as they run. That is by far my least favorite part of a race telecast. It is a totally irrelevant statistic that means nothing. The only points that matter are the points when they finish.

Was this Ed Carpenter’s last drive? After his accident he said he is excited to be back next year, but we will see.  I think Ed will be a great owner, and that is where his focus should be.

Four of the five ovals on this year’s schedule had great racing. Phoenix was the lone exception. No one could pass, not even to get by to lap a car. I’m glad the other ovals worked out so well.

Points-

Pagenaud leads Will Power by- twenty-eight points now with two natural terrain courses left.  Pagenaud and Power both excel on this type of track, so the battle for the title is still very much on.

Tony Kanaan is now third in the standings. Surprisingly,  Josef Newgarden is only ten points behind Kanaan in fifth despite his last place finish at Texas and top ten runs by both Kanaan and Helio Castroneves, now fourth in points.

 

 

 

Sunshine in the Storm

thepitwindow

Fans packed the stands at Kokomo Speedway and waited patiently as light rain fell.  The rain stopped, the sun appeared,  and the celebration of Bryan Clauson’s life began. The dry window lasted just long enough for the essential part of the program to get in. Bryan’s father, Tim, and his fiancee, Lauren, shared  moving stories. Levi Jones spoke about how much he enjoyed racing against Bryan. Robin Miller told the story he’s told before, how Randy Bernard found a way to get a sprint car driver to the Indianapolis 500. Then the rain began. It was not about to stop this time. The afternoon ended with tornadoes touching down south of the track. Although rain-shortened, the celebration was meaningful to those who were there. I talked to many out of state fans who had come to honor Bryan and stay for the Smackdown weekend.

There was irony in the celebration. It was the one year anniversary of Justin Wilson’s death. Like Justin, Bryan was an organ donor. His organs have saved or improved seven lives. The family has a goal to sign up 2,00 new organ donors. To register, go to RegisterMe.org/Campaign/BryanClauson.

I had planned to stay for the race last evening, but it was obvious that the program would be cancelled. I will make another trip there another time.  The track was a soggy mess when I arrived, and the weather didn’t help. I hope the rest of the weekend’s program can be run.

Bryan celebration 040

Bryan celebration 044
Tim Clauson talks about his son, Bryan
Bryan celebration 046
Lauren Stewart (L) speaks about Bryan’s fear of grasshoppers. Bryan’s mother, Diana, (R) waits to speak

 

Texas, Act II

Saturday night Indycar picks up on lap 72 of the rain delayed race at Texas Motor Speedway. James Hinchcliffe will lead the field back to green around 9:30 Eastern Time. The race is on NBCSN. 177 laps remain. The current running order contains some interesting things. The Pocono podium is in spots 2-4. Ryan. Hunter-Reay is second, Mikhail Aleshin third, and Will Power fourth. Points leader Simon Pagenaud is 15th at the moment.

Power could possibly leave Texas as the points leader, but I think he will need to wait until Watkins Glen for that to happen. Other things to watch for:

This is likely Honda’s last chance to get to victory lane this year. They missed a great opportunity at Pocono.

Will pit lane be kind to Helio Castroneves? The accident at Pocono was just one of the many pit woes that have befallen him this year. He has been caught by yellow flags three times and was hit exiting the pits  by Townsend Bell at Indianapolis.

The 2017 Schedule

Four things are significant about the schedule release yesterday. First, it was released in August.  This is great for team planning and approaching sponsors, who are just now planning next year’s advertising budgets. Second, the consistency of the same tracks as this year. Third, the consistency of dates. This is the first schedule in a long time with these consistencies.Fourth, adding the oval at Gateway. The 2018 schedule should be similar with one or two additions.

I hope after this year, Phoenix can move to right after Long Beach. that would be a great expense saving for the teams. There is still a late summer gap between Mid-Ohio and Pocono, suitable for adding a race in the west. Mark Miles continues to talk of an early season race overseas.  I’ll believe it when the first car rolls out of the pits for practice wherever it may be.

With Gateway, the schedule has six oval, six natural terrain, and five street circuit races. This is  a perfect mix, one third of the schedule of each type of track. When new tracks are added, I hope Indycar keeps the proportions of track types in mind.  This schedule is the best in a long time.

Tales of the Texas Raingers

thepitwindow

Not much you can do when the weather doesn’t want you to race. A long night Saturday followed by a long day Sunday with a little bit of racing thrown in. Without the caution, it is possible the race would gotten to the 125 laps needed to make it official.  More on the caution in a bit. We had two days of positives and concerns.

The positives:

NBC demonstrated once again their superior IndyCar coverage.  Saturday they had a lot of time to fill and did it brilliantly.  Their crew was ready for this possibility,  and the show moved smoothly.

I don’t know whose idea it was for the drivers to go into the stands during the delay Saturday, but it was a great PR move. I can’t think of another major series where that would happen. I have sat through rain delays at races, and having drivers do something like this would have helped my mood tremendously.

The Dallara safety cell did what it was designed to do: minimize injuries and save lives. The Daly/Newgarden crash was one of the scariest I have ever seen. My first concern was that Newgarden’s head had hit the wall. Replays showed it did not. The roll bar prevented that from happening. The car did not get airborne or roll. The domed skid may have had something to do with that. For a driver to escape with just a broken collarbone and hand, amazing. I feared much worse injuries.

The SAFER barrier also helped soften the effect of the crash. A car on its side hitting a concrete wall is not a good thing. Any Gs lessened by the barrier I’m sure helped diminish injuries as well.

The negatives:

I am not an expert in surfaces, but I have never seen a track that would not get dry. Would repaving help? Is there some water source underneath the track that needs to be dealt with? Did all the rain Dallas has had the last few weeks cause some of the problem?

I’m still not sure how James Hinchcliffe is leading the race.  It appeared Ryan Hunter-Reay was first off pit road.  He also stayed out the longest before his first stop. It appears the order given is official and is how the race will restart in August. I will rewatch the DVR to see if I can find the answer.

Pit issues continue to plague Indycar. The incident in Hawksworth’s pit was the latest problem in a series of mishaps that started at the Indianapolis 500.  This was a scary one, with an injury to a crewman. Fortunately, it was not serious. Pit problems seem to be cyclical. I hope some protocols can be revisited to prevent some of these incidents.

Notes:

Delaying the resumption of this race until August 27 could have an impact on the championship dynamics. There are now two ovals back to back. When is the last time that happened?

On to Road America now for Indycar. I will be there and plan to do some live blogs.  It is my first trip there and I am very excited about it.

Good luck to Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais, and Mikhail Aleshin at Le Mans. I wish Fox didn’t make it so difficult to watch this race.

A special feature will be up on Friday.  Have a great week.