An Oval Debate: Should IndyCar go to 1.5 mile Ovals Anymore or go to Short Ovals

After the Las Vegas Indy Car race two weeks ago there has been a ton of questions asking “should IndyCar ban the 1.5 mile ovals and just go to the short ovals?’ On IndyCarGarage Gary Lee Cox debated this. I am going to give you my answer to this. Yes we don’t want to turn IndyCar into CART of 1995 with no ovals hardly. Now I am going to list the projected IndyCar Schedule by ICG and the resolution of this problem.  The ovals are in bold.

March 25: St. Pete
April 1: Barber
April 15: Long Beach
April 29: Sao Paulo
May 27: Indy
June 3: Belle Isle
June 9: Texas doubleheader
June 24: Iowa
July 8: Toronto
July 22: Edmonton
Aug. 5: Mid-Ohio
Aug. 26: Infineon
Sept. 2: Baltimore
Sept. 15: Fontana
Sept. 23: China – tentative
Oct. 14: Las Vegas

What IndyCar should do is obviously keep Indianapolis, keep Texas, keep Iowa, keep Fontana, and add Chicagoland, but dump Vegas. IndyCar needs more than five ovals. Now I am going to list some short ovals and long ovals that should be in consideration.

 

Autodromo Miguel E Abed- Mexico- 1.25 mile oval: This race track has no history of Indycar racing but it does have history of the NASCAR Corona Series which is NASCAR’s Mexico division. I think this track would be a great fit for early in the season for 2013 perhaps in February or early March.

Burke Lakefront Airport- Ohio- 1.0 mile oval: Yes Champ Car and CART have raced at Burke Lakefront’s airport street course but IndyCar is exploring a street course/oval doubleheader for 2012. I would love to see this in favor of Mid Ohio for next year. Cleveland already has sponsorship in place with Mi-Jack. So its a win.

Milwaukee Mile- Wisconsin- 1.0 mile oval: IndyCar has tried this event over and over again but its a fail every time. Only 10,000 people this year. Its dumped for 2012 but they need to find a sponsor and I could see more people going in 2013. No doubt about it, a great track with tons passing.

Loudon- New Hampshire- 1.0 mile oval: IndyCar revived the Loudon IndyCar race this year. The race was controversal because of the finish but the attendance was down, and it always provides good racing but its a major question mark.

Phoenix International Raceway- Arizona-1.0 mile oval: IndyCar has tried going back to Phoenix for years ever since it left the calendar in 2005. The track president of Phoenix hates the CEO of IndyCar Randy Bernard but the track president needs to wake up and look at the big picture. IndyCar needs to go to Phoenix.

Pikes Peak- Colorado- 1.0 mile oval: IndyCar last visited Pikes Peak in 2005. The track is great and it is designed for IndyCar racing. Pikes Peak is a question mark because it would attract tons of TV but not the attendance factor.

Pocono Raceway- Pennsylvania- 2.5 mile oval: Say it with me everybody F*** This!!

Richmond International Raceway- Virginia- 0.75 mile oval: This was a very successful event for IndyCar from 2001-2009. I don’t really know why IndyCar decided to dump the track. The attendance was up and so was the TV Ratings. IndyCar needs to return to Richmond.

Walt Disney World Speedway- Florida- 1.0 mile oval: The first ever race of IndyCar nneds to returns the track is triangular but it needs to return. The races were bad because of the equipment they ran it in. Plus, everybody loves Disney. Bring it back please.

The Schedule with the new events for 2013.

1. St. Pete
2. Fort Lauderdale
3. Miguel E Abed
4. Barber
5. Long Beach
6. Sao Paulo
7. Chicagoland
8. Indy
9. Belle Isle
10. Texas
11. Iowa
12. Toronto
13. Cleveland
14. Edmonton
15. Pikes Peak
16. Phoenix
17. Fontana
18. Richmond
19. Baltimore
20. Milwaukee
21. Loudon (with NASCAR)
22. Walt Disney
23. Road America

This is a very hard topic to dissect but I think this is what the fans would want to have happen.

 

 

 

 

 

F1: Indian Grand Prix Preview

Surprisingly there is a history behind the inagural Indian Grand Prix.  The race was orginally planned in 1997 at Calcutta. 2003 it was planned also. Then 2007, then 2009. But we sit here today with a Indian Grand Prix.  The race is sponsored by Airtel but Mercedes Benz has some help in the sponsoring and promoting side of this grand prix. The weather for this weekend’s race looks great no rain is expected.

Now we dig into the statistics for this grand prix on Sunday morning.

Lap Length: 3.192 miles

Laps: 60

Race Distance: 191.519 miles

Estimated lap time: 1 min 25 secs

Gear Changes Per Lap: 54 (estimated)

This weekend Formula One heads to India for the first time.  To be honest I’m kind of excited for this race. I like that Formula One is growing its Asian population. There are going to be a ton of unknowns this weekend. Will Pirelli provide a good tire? Will Mark Webber finally win a race? Will Michael Schumacher win? That is just a few of the unknowns that will be taking place this weekend.

There are 2 DRS Zones!!

The circuit is Budduh International Circuit, which is located in New Dehli, India. The circuit has 16 turns and has two DRS zones.  I have played F1 2011 on this track. From the video game world it seems like a real challenge but I’m sure that all of the drivers have hit the simulators to try to figure out this challenging track.

Here is a picture of the circuit.

A Challenging Circuit at best

What to Watch For:

 

Pit Strategy:  Pit Strategy is going to be key for Sunday’s race. I believe this because Pirelli doesn’t have that much info with the circuit.  I expect a driver like Pastor Maldanado or a Sergio Perez qualify on prime tires and go 50 some laps then switch to the option tires. As for the back teams such as: HRT, Lotus, and Virgin. Expect them to run a very lazy race like normal but I think this could be a turning point for the Lotus Team if they play their strategies right for both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalinen. As for the front running teams. Red Bull and McLaren are the fastest teams for pit stops wise.  I think whoever has the best strategy will win the race.

 

Qualifying amd the Start: Saturday’s qualifying session will be key. I say this because no one knows how many positions you can make up during the start of the race.  Speaking of the start it should be a messy one even though it is a very wide track.  I’m predicting an accident like Monza this year.  Going back to qualifying expect the front runners to be there unless a freakish thing happens.  Will Red Bull get another pole for the 2011 season? Or will Mercedes or Ferrari steal one from the bag.  As for the middle teams. Mercedes has been underachieving in qualifying and they are relying on the tire strategy a ton. No one knows what to expect out of Renault because Vitaly Petrov has had an up and down year. As for Petrov’s teammate Bruno Senna he is my sleeper pick for the pole. Since he arrived at Renault, he has a 8th place qualifying effort at Spa and in some ways the Budduh International Circuit is like Spa. Next up is Sauber. Sergio Perez should get a top ten effort because he has been the speedy rookie this year, Kamui Kobayshi will continue to struggle. Force India has shown a massive improvement in qualifying this year, this is partially to the fantastic efforts of rookie Paul di Resta, Adrain Sutil is still a stick in mud in my opinion. As for Toro Rosso they will be strong in qualifying. Williams is up next. Williams has been terrible this year they are ninth team wise in qualifying for 2011. Lastly expect the bottom three teams to qualify badly again.

 

DRS:  This weekend the Drag Reduction System can be used twice! This is great for Formula One. So what is the DRS, for fans who don’t understand it? The DRS opens up the top element on the rear wing to add more speed down the straights. DRS can only be activated in a certain spot and if you are less than 1 second behind the car in front of you. As for this week’s DRS zones. The first one is on the front straightaway the detection zone is just off of turn 15 a right hander. The last DRS zone is on the backstretch the detection zone is just before the right hander of turn 3. So what can the DRS provide for the race? I say there can be a ton of passing if the race doesn’t get to strung out.  The DRS map is listed above.

 

This race was almost not ready for completion. The track was still under construction a month ago, it barely met the FIA’s deadline for being ready. Many teams and drivers didn’t want to go to India.  This situation was just like Korea last year.  Korea just barely met the FIA’s deadline but the track wasn’t fully paved and had no grandstands. This is very similar to this year’s India situation but the India problem seems to be resolved.

 

As for this week’s team previews.

 

Red Bull Renault Racing: Red Bull has already won the Drivers Championship and the Constructors Championship. For Red Bull there main focus should be getting Mark Webber a win and get him to finish second in the championship behind his teammate Sebastian Vettel who won the drivers championship already. For this team no reserve drivers will run the free practices this weekend.  According to Adam Cooper F1 blog Sebastian Vettel is enjoying his time in India and thinks the track can provide a ton of passing.  As for Webber he hasn’t said anything for this weekend yet or not that I know of.

 

McLaren Mercedes: Most likely McLaren will finish second in the constructors championship. There drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are racing with a heavy heart this weekend after there friend Dan Wheldon died two weeks ago. Lewis Hamilton said “he is keen on winning this weekends Indian Grand Prix.’  Both Hamilton and Button are in a major battle for second place in the points with Mark Webber of Red Bull and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Every point they can get is key.

 

Scuderia Ferrari: As I just mentioned Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is in a heated battle for the runner up spot in the championship. For Alonso, every point he can get is key. As for his teammate Felipe Massa. Massa was mathematically eliminated from the championship in September. Since then it has been downhill from there. Hopefully Massa can regain his mojo and have a strong showing and maybe save his ride for next year.

 

Mercedes GP: Mercedes GP has been meiocre this year. There strong suit is the fast tracks such as Monaco, Italy, and Spa. India is nothing like that so I expect them to struggle this weekend. If they are going to have a strong showing they need everything to go there way, this is virtually impossible. Although there 7 time champion driver, Michael Schumacher has done good at these tracks before they might be worse I think.

 

 Renault Racing: I expect Renault to be a little stronger this weekend. Vitaly Petrov is kind of on a upswing of late, hopefully he can keep the confidence up, even though he had a wreck with Michael Schumacher in Korea. Bruno Senna should be better this weekend he has shown speed at the Tilke tracks but doesn’t have the finishes to show it.

 

Force India Mercedes: The lastest news in the paddock is Nico Hulkenburg replacing Adrain Sutil in 2012.  So can Adrian prove his case with Force India? Or will the bosses decide to put Hulkenburg in the car for the last race and all next season. As for the rookie sensation Paul di Resta.  di Resta is kind of the same boat because what if the bosses decide to kick out di Resta and bring in Hulkenburg to Force India and be teammates with Adrain Sutil? di Resta and Sutil both need a points paying finish this weekend in India. Hulkenburg will be in Sutil’s car for Free Practice 1 and 2.

 

Sauber: There are no worries contract wise for the Sauber team, they are retaining the same drivers from this year.  Yet, a points paying finish be both Perez and Kamui Kobayshi would be a benefit for next seasons confidence. Expect Sauber’s drivers to be a underdog this weekend.

 

Scuderia Toro Rosso: Both drivers: Jaime Alguesari and Sebastien Buemi are under some pressure this weekend in India. Whoever has the lowest points by Abu Dhabi in two weeks will sit out in favor of Jean Eric Vergne. Vergne will drive Buemi’s car in Free Practice 1. Both drivers had points paying finishes two weeks ago in Korea, hopefully for there sake they can keep the momentum up.

 

AT&T Williams:  Both drivers are under some pressure this weekend. The lastest rumor is that Kimi Raikonnen will return in a Williams seat for next year. It is likely that it will be Rubens Barrichello that will be replaced. Barrichello needs to score some points this weekend to try to save his ride for next year. Pastor Maldanado needs to do the same because he is a rookie that has done terrible this year.

 

HRT:  HRT has replaced driver Viantonio Luizzi with Indian test driver Narian Kartheykian for this weekend only. If Narian wants to keep his ride for the rest of the season he needs to have at least a top 20 finish. As for Narian’s replacement from earlier this year, Daniel Riccardio has done more than expected at HRT. He came over from being a test driver at Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso. Daniel has said he doesn’t have a contract in place for next year, so maybe he will be back at HRT.

 

Lotus: The biggest news out of the Lotus camp this week is test driver Karun Chandhok not being able to race in his home country this weekend. Karun was scheduled to run but Lotus decided to pull him because Lotus is fighting with HRT and Virgin for the tenth spot in the constructors points. Chandhok will run Heikki Kovalinen’s car in FP1.  It looks like both drivers will return for next season.

 

Virgin:  Both Jerome D’Ambrosio and Timo Glock will come back to the team next season. They both need great runs to try to break Lotus’ momentum. Virgin will still be bad this year but maybe next year.

 

Overall, I am very excited for the inagural Indian Grand Prix. I think it might be one of the best races of the year. As for my picks I’m going with a Lewis Hamilton Hat Trick.

 

Free Practice 1 will be streaming online at www.speedtv.com tonight at 12:30 am et, Free Practice 2 will be live on Speed at 3:00 am et and at speedtv.com. Free Practice 3 will be on speedtv.com also. Qualifying is live on Speed and so will be the race.

 

 

ChampCar’s 2009 Schedule, is Leaked WTF!!

Here is a question of what if’s. What if ChampCar lasted into 2009. Well I just found a mock 2009 schedule on
http://ccwsfantasyracing.blogspot.com/2008/07/champ-car-world-series-2009-schedule.html
 Now I am going to reveal it and what th

1. Orlando, Florida-  April

2. Long Beach, California- April

3.  Houston, Texas- April

4. Monterey, California- May

5.  Zolder, Belguim- May

6. Jerez, Spain- May

7.  Mont Tremblant, Canada- June

8.  Toronto, Canada- June

9. Edmonton, Canada- June

10. Portland, Oregon- July

11. Cleveland, Ohio- July

12. San Jose, California- July

13. Vancouver, Canada- July

14. Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin- August

15.  TT Circuit Assen- August

16. Brno, Czech Republic- August

17.  Dubai, United Emirates- September

18. Imola, Italy- September

19. Silverstone, England- October

20. Queensland, Australia- October

21. Mexico City, Mexico- November

22. Las Vegas Nevada- November

Overall the schedule sucks. I will have more on what CART/ChampCar tracks need to go on the IndyCar Schedule for the future tonight or tomorrow.

The New Jersey Grand Prix is Confirmed!

Yesterday, Formula One held a news conference. The announcement was that a second United States race will happen. The race will be a street circuit in New Jersey with the Hudson Bay and Manhattan as a backdrop. So will the track be designed be Hermann? If it is it won’t be that bad because it is a street circuit and it won’t take over a year to build like Budduh Circuit in India which just made the regulations deadline. So what will the track look like?

This looks like the probable track

Hopefully this will be the track. I like this track because it is like the track in Hungary which brings a ton of passing.

 

Overall I am happy that the US gets a second race!

RIP MARCO SIMONCELLI

Yes I do know I don’t follow MotoGP all that well but one of its star’s died today in Sepang. Marco Simoncelli died today afeter his bike got out of control and arched back into the oncoming bikes of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi. Simoncelli was 24.

Road and Street Courses: IndyCar and F1 Edition

Earlier today I wrote my feelings on oval safety, now I am going to write the second part of this article on road and street courses on IndyCar but I’m going to expand this topic to Formula One as well. Who likes road and street course racing? I do but it has to be exciting otherwise I will not watch it. Street Courses such as Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport, Long Beach Street Circuit and Toronto’s Street Circuit are great tracks. I can always watch races at those tracks because it is action packed. Contrary to that I can’t stand parades like St. Petersburg and Edmonton to name a couple. On the Formula One side they have like 5 street courses. I love the Valencia/European Grand Prix because the track is tight and provides good racing. Also who doesn’t love Monaco’s twisty streets on the water!! The other ones such as: Singapore and Korea are so boring. Oh my god Vettel wins off the start!!! Wins the race again! The only thing that keeps me watching those types of Formula One races is the Speed TV commentators: Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Steve Matchett and William Buxton. They are the best racing TV crew out there.  As for road courses on the Formula One side they need to get rid of the Hermann Tilke tracks. As replacements F1 should go back to Mexico, Austria, and France. And keep the good tracks RE: Canada, Japan, Brazil, and Monaco to name a few. On the IndyCar side of the spectrum they need to get rid of the Trinity of Boredom: Barber, Infineon and Mid Ohio. Out of those three tracks I just listed Mid Ohio is probably the best.  What should be the replacements? Well, Road America definitely, Road Atlanta and Sebring should be considered. 

How can we improve this type of racing though? Well, I like what Formula One is doing this year with the Drag Reduction System to implement passing. I believe IndyCar should adapt a formula similar to that.  Would Wicker Bills be necessary? Yes because it willmake the field into big packs and would help the passing ratios during a race. Think of would the Drag Reduction System and Wicker Bills would do on a street course like Sao Paulo, or Toronto or even Cleveland. Should standing starts be implemented in 2012 for IndyCar?  I say no because it would be very dangerous even though Champ Car did it in 2007. For F1 keep everything the same. Maybe IndyCar should implement F1′s tire rules???

I want to make this article short because I have done a ton of blogging today,

Good Night Readers! Keep Reading!!!

Ovals: IndyCar Edition

What should IndyCar do for the ovals?  Wind Tunnel on Speed with Dave Despain sat down Robin Miller and Mario Andretti tonight on Wind Tunnel to talk about it. Robin is in favor of going back to the short ovals and Fontana and Michigan, but, not to NASCAR ovals (Texas, Charlotte, Atlanta and Vegas too name a few). Mario is in favor of higher horsepower with less aerodynamics so the drivers have to lift going into the corners at superspeedways. I’m 50-50 on this one but I think I have to agree more with Mario on this. Mario said that the racing at Texas was great this year because it was hard to run two and three wide. Contrary to that I do agree with Robin for going to the short ovals. I like the short oval racing because it tests the driver’s skill a ton.  So what causes the high speeds at the NASCAR built ovals as Miller calls it.  Both Mario and I think that it is the high speeds and the very steep banking.  This is a formula for disaster. This is what caused Dan Wheldon to die.  I think if you can reduce the drag on the cars add more hp you can make the cars’ harder and harder to drive causing them to lift into the corner. For Miller’s point of view, what short ovals are left that IndyCar runs on or has ran on? Iowa Speedway is a track that the IndyCar Series goes to and puts on a beatiful show for the viewers at home and the fans. Back in the 90′s in CART; Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Loudon had good crowds and good racing. As for the safety reasons. Should a canopy be developed for ovals only? Well, Robin says yes the protect the driver. He says this because there has been only one fatalty since 1985 when it was invented. He added to the safety reasons by saying. That the deaths led to no more gasoline or guardrails as walls. Mario says no to this because he thinks it takes away the character of the sport. Yes, Mario I do agree with you on that but, I think Robin is right on this one. Miller also said that CEO Randy Bernard has contacted companies to make canopies for ovals only.  This move would be great for the drivers, and the fans. The next topic was catch fences on ovals. Both Miller and Mario think plexi glass should be put up around the track to try to stop ruining the car and have a save landing.

Going back to what I said in the first few lines.  I am 50-50 on this topic of discussion. Yes, safety does need to be looked at for all forms of racing but most especially IndyCar racing. I am a fan of pack racing but I think it has gone to far with the risk vs reward.  That is why I liked the opening laps of the IndyCar World Championships but once it got to lap 10, I got scared because I thought the cars are too close to each other. Plus if somebody screws up the whole pack is done just like Sprint Cup racing at Daytona or Talladega. Once I heard Dan Wheldon died. I was thinking to myself, why go there? Yes it is Vegas but still, its not safe. If I was Randy Bernard, I would definitely re-consider the idea of returning there next season. If changes are made for next year I am all for it but right now I’m not. The same thing goes for Chicagoland if IndyCar returns to the track, which is looking likely. Same thing goes for Texas even though it doesn’t get that crazy. IndyCar do not touch anything for Iowa the racing there is perfect. If Fontana turns into this say no for 2013. I do not believe this will happen because Fontana has less banking. Michigan was just like Fontana in 2005 a great show for the fans. Last but not least is Indy.  I want no changes made for Indy at all, because it is hard to go two and three wide there.

Michigan’s IndyCar Racing

Going back to short ovals. This year at Iowa, we saw one of the best races of the year. Marco Andretti was duking it out with Tony Kanaan. That race showed a ton of spirit for short oval racing. They swapped the lead at least 15 times in the last 25 laps it was great.  I hope that IndyCar does return to Phoenix, Loudon or Milwaukee or even Richmond. Richmond has produced some of the best IndyCar racing we have ever seen. 

IndyCar at Iowa

The racing at long ovals can be fixed easily with some of the reasons that Mario Andretti gave in the rational conversation with Robin and Dave. He is a fan of Texas. Mario likes the aero package at Texas with that said I hope they do the same package at Atlanta, Charlotte and Vegas if IndyCar ever goes to these places again. Remember when IndyCar attempted to go to Charlotte? Fans died because of debris from the very high speeds and they ended up cancelling the race. As I said earlier the return to Vegas is a situation of risk vs reward. Bruton will promote good oval racing but has to be safe for the track, cars, drivers, crews and most especially the fans.

Triple Crowns for ovals do need to return. I would like to see two of them. What? Yes I said two triple crowns, one for the short ovals and the traditional one for the long ovals. What is the difference between the ovals though? Well short ovals are ovals that are 1 mile or less and high downforce. And long ovals are the low downforce are the ovals that are more than 1.5 miles in length. The short oval triple crown would be: Iowa, Richmond and Milwaukee. The long oval one would be: Indy, Fontana, and Texas maybe if Michigan returns then have Michigan instead of Texas. Do not go back to Pocono because of safety reasons and the difference in corners. That track is like a oval f****** up.  Its like a road course but only turning left. 

Going back to aerodynamics. Should IndyCar have a wicker bill on the top of the cars to add drag and make the cars go slower? That was a question asked to Mario Andretti tonight. He said it should be the driver prefence because the driver knows the car best. Also both RM and Andretti said canopies would be not useful on road and street courses. There is no point on road and street courses because the speeds are significantly slower than a high speed oval. The bad thing about wicker bills it might tighten up the packs more but more safer, that is still a question mark.

Overall, IndyCar should take the words of wisdom these two open wheel genius’ said tonight on Wind Tunnel and turn it into safer cars.

My answers to 25 Questions

The other day Zachary Houghton of IndyCarAdvocate wrote an article on the 25 biggest questions for over the offseason.  I am going to give the questions and then give my answers.

1) What sort of tweaks and considerations do we see as the 2012 car (hopefully with a DW-01/Lionheart tribute name) is delivered to the teams?
Answer: I say, another rollcage will be added.

2) Will the new car and expected performance variations therein be enough to stop the pack racing at places like Las Vegas? Speaking of Las Vegas, does the series return there in 2012?

Answer: Add restrictor plates to Texas, and Las Vegas. And Yes.

3) Who ends up in the sponsored GoDaddy seat at Andretti Autosport that would have been Wheldon’s? How do they cope with that situation and expectations?

Answer:  Ryan Briscoe will end up in the GoDaddy sponsored car and his expectations will be just as high as what Dan’s would have been.

4) Do the drivers step up their efforts to form an effective advisory body for 2012 and beyond?

Answer: Unknown

5) Will Penske Racing reduce their team from 3 to 2 cars as anticipated, and if so, what happens with Ryan Briscoe?

Answer: Keep 3 cars and get rid of Briscoe, RB goes to Andretti Autosport.

6) Who will drive for Michael Shank Racing?

Answer: Justin Wilson or Rafa Matos

7) Will Sam Schmidt Motorsports continue in the Series next year?

Answer: Yes because Sam is a fighter and his whole team is great, as for drivers: Simon Paguenuad replacing Tags and FIL champion Josef Newgarden in a second car or possibly Wade Cunningham.

8) What will the final schedule look like?

Answer:

1. St. Petersburg
2. Barber
3. Long Beach
4. Sao Paulo
5. Indy
6. Belle Isle
7. Texas Twins
8. Iowa
9. Toronto
10. Edmonton
11. Mid Ohio
12. Chicagoland
13. Infineon
14. Baltimore
15. Fontana
16. China
17. Phoenix
18. Las Vegas

9) Where will the engine carousel stop for the teams not already with an engine deal in place? Will Lotus be an also-ran or a David amongst Goliaths?

Answer: David vs Goliath (Honda and Chevy)

10) What efforts will be taken towards changing some of the perceived issues in Race Control this year?

Answer: I think that the blocking and contact rules will be changed.

11) How will the situation at Dreyer and Reinbold play out? Is Ana Beatriz one-and-done? Where does Justin Wilson land??

Answer: Both Bia and Justin are out, replaced by Townsend Bell and Giorgio Pantano.

12) What sort of deal does Alex Tagliani have in place for 2012?

Answer: Tagliani to Bryan Herta Autosport.

13) Who becomes the next driver at Foyt Racing, and where does Vitor Meira go from here?

Answer:  Hideki Mutoh and Vitor goes to a second car for HVM Racing.

14) Does Davey Hamilton return for one more Indy 500?

Answer:  Nope

15) What sort of sponsorship will Sarah Fisher Racing be able to put together for next year? Will Ed Carpenter return with the team?

Answer: Both Yes’

16) Will Firestone Indy Lights Champion Josef Newgarden get a full-time ride on a decent team?

Answer: Yes with Sam Schmidt

17) Can Newman/Haas Racing bring back both drivers and be as competitive as they were this year?

Answer: Yes both drivers are extremely good.

18) Will Sèbastien Bourdais return to the Series and Dale Coyne Racing?

Answer:  Yes and No. He goes to the fourth car at Andretti replacing Mike Conway. Conway goes to Conquest Racing.

19) Will veterans such as Alex Lloyd and Tomas Scheckter get full-time rides?

Answer: Tomas will retire and Alex Lloyd goes to AFS Racing.

20) Does Paul Tracy return for one more year behind the wheel, or retire to perhaps a position in the booth or something otherwise involved in the Series?

Answer: No and he goes to Versus as a driver analyst.

21) Did part-time drivers such as Simon Pagenaud, Martin Plowman, Bertrand Baguette, Jay Howard, and Wade Cunningham do enough (and/or get enough funding) to get another shot in 2012?

Answer: Definitely

22) How often will commentators still discuss Danica Patrick, even though she’s changed racing series? How will the Series market their 2012 drivers?

Answer: Only at Indy.

23) How does Simona de Silvestro bounce back from an emotionally and physically draining year?

Answer: Winning a race

24) Will the same coverage teams return for VERSUS (NBC Sports) and ABC next year?

Answer: For NBC/Versus Yes with an addition of PT plus ABC gets rid of Marty Reid for Paul Page maybe???

25) How does the Indianapolis Motor Speedway handle the transition out of its Centennial Celebration Era and onto the next 100 years?

Answer: Its unpredictable

All of these questions are from IndyCarAdvocate (copyright).
 

 

1. China

Things to Improve Open Wheel Racing

After we all have mourned for the loss of our great IndyCar friend Dan Wheldon, I think this is the most appropriate time to talk about this subject: How Can Open Wheel Racing Improve?  This is a very good question to be very persuasive about. Some reasons are: Chassis and its safety, engine regulations, and tracks to name a few.

First off, Indy Car is introducing a new car for next year which Wheldon tested. The car is supposed to be safer but in my mind it isn’t.  I don’t mean to sound like a Robin Miller fan boy but something has to be said about the safety of the cars. IndyCar should switch to a car that has a canopy over the top because the old chassis that Wheldon and other drivers have died in, is totally unsafe and I feel that the new car will mainly be a common copy of the Dallara IR03 chassis. Instead the IndyCar Series should switch to the Red Bull X1.  What is the X1? It is the car that Adrian Newey designed for Gran Turismo 5. The car has a canopy and can go very fast.  This car would be great because the canopy over the cockpit could save lives.  Think if IndyCar would have this in 2011, how many injuries would be saved? Well, definitely Wheldon because it would protect the head by over 50%.  Also, if F1 had a canopy car it would’ve saved Felipe Massa’s injuries in 2008 @ Budapest.  The same rules for 2013 should still apply but: have Adrian Newey and crew build all the chassis in partnership with Dallara, GM, and Lotus.  The engine rules should still be in place for the near future, it is just safety I am majorly concerned about.

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Next thing is adding Safer Barriers to all tracks. Did you notice that Formula One uses just guardrails and concrete as there walls? Well, they do.  What Formula One should do is install SAFER Barriers into all tracks, it would improve the rate of injuries with these walls. Look at what NASCAR did in 2001 after Dale Earnhardt, Senior died, they installed these walls. For example if there weren’t any SAFER Barriers; Jimmie Johnson could have been seriously hurt last weekend in Charlotte. IndyCar installed these at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2003. All ovals that IndyCar runs has SAFER Barriers, but, not all road courses do. What IndyCar should do is install them into street courses especially because they are fast normally and the hits are hard. Even if the are temporary.  A track like Edmonton or Toronto needs them especially because of the speeds at the tracks. 

 

Other things may include adding DRS to IndyCar for Road and Street courses. The passing at Road and Street Courses this year is terrible. This would be a rapid improvement for 2012 or 2013.  Also run restrictor plates at Las Vegas, Indy, and Texas. These tracks are the fastest on the IndyCar circuit and I don’t ever want to see something happen that happened on October 16th again. Plus, this would get rid of the 1.5 mile oval curse to say.

If you have any comments please leave one or email us @ racingmania101@yahoo.com

On a side note: After the Formula One Season is over we will still be blogging over the off season but not as much. I plan to have a feature called Thursday Thoughts for every week, still going to talk to some other bloggers on that.

Remembering Dan Wheldon

WE WILL NEVER 4GET U DAN! RIP DAN!

Yes I do know that I am very late on posting something on Dan Wheldon, but, I just had to collect my thoughts and see what I was going to say.  When the accident intially happened I was shocked and I was worried about Will Power. But why Power? I wanted him to win the championship but after Jamie Little said Dan Wheldon was in the Infield Medical Center with 25 doctors around him I got worried.  Once ABC showed replays I got sick to my stomach. When they announced he was airlifted to University Medical Center I knew there was something seriously wrong with him.  After Marty Reid said “J.R. Hildebrand and Pippa Mann were taken by car to the hospital it made me wonder what really happened?  When ABC and Randy Bernard confirmed Wheldon died of blunt head injuries I started crying my eyes out. I did this because I had the luxury of meeting Mr. Wheldon at an autograph session in 2006 when he was at Target Chip Ganassi Racing. I hung out with him for the whole day and it was probably the most fun I have ever had in my life. 

Wheldon was on a rebirth of his career and looked to have a ride for next year with Andretti Autosport replacing Danica.  He and Bryan Herta did a fenomonale job at this years Indy 500. I was very happy for him and I thought he was going to get a full time ride again, I was that confident. Sadly it ended terribly. Wheldon was the 2005 Champion and a 2 time Indy500 Champ.

Now its time for some pictures of his memorial via Eric Hall of anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com

Lastly, I want to say my thoughts and prayers are with Wheldon’s family.

WE WILL NEVER 4GET U DAN! RIP DAN!