IndyCar: Three Races In, What Have We Learned?

The 2012 IndyCar and Formula One seasons have been very interesting so far. They are both three races in. So what have we learned?

Competitiveness of the DW12: Everybody knew the DW12 was going to be a question mark going into the 2012 season. We have seen more passing at every single race this season. Remember when I was a Barber hater? Now I’m not really a hater because that race was a great race to see. Lots of passing and entertainment. Even at the season opener in St. Petersburg, that race was way better then any Honda GP of St. Petersburg I’ve ever seen. And finally and Long Beach, the Chevrolet drivers get grid penalties and they can still pass a lot on one of the tightest circuits of the series. Hopefully this trend will carry on throughout the season.

Chevy Did Their Homework: When Chevrolet announced their return to IndyCar racing I was very surprised. I thought they will land some good teams but they will never get to a championship winning form. Well, I was totally wrong. When they signed Penske Racing, Andretti, KV, ECR and Panther, I knew this would be a great competition vs. Honda (Ganassi, SHM, Foyt, RLLR, SFHR and Coyne). Well Chevrolet has out ran everybody. Chevy has taken the first three races of the season. Helio and Power with 2. Andretti has been the normal. In my opinion, I believe that Honda should be kicking everybody so bad because they were the sole engine supplier of the series for many years. The only consistent driver for Honda is Simon Pagenaud (a non- Ganassi driver). And he is a rookie! Other than Dixon pulling for the Ganassi team. Honda is been a disaster just like Lotus (except for Bourdais).

Randy Wants to Expand: After St. Petersburg in March, Randy Bernard announced the return to Reliant Park and the Houston parking lot course, while I’m not a huge fan of the race, it is good to see that Randy is putting some ChampCar races on the schedule. Randy is in discussions with Michigan, Road America, Portland, Phoenix, Cleveland and Watkins Glen to name a few. Randy, we need ovals so please bring back Richmond, Phoenix, Loudon, Michigan and Pocono.

Indy 500 watch and the new oval car: Jean Alesi, Wade Cunningham, Ana Beatriz, Bryan Clauson, Sebastien Saavedra and Luca Filippi have all been confirmed for the Indy 500. Hopefully Townsend Bell, Tomas Scheckter and Bruno Junquiera could get rides. Speaking of Indy, teams tested after Barber with the new oval car. The top speed was posted by Marco Andretti at 218.6 miles per hour. This kind of concerns me because we are all used to seeing speeds over 220 miles per hour. Technical Director Will Phillips has said “220 is the goal.” Hopefully!

Beaux Barfield: AMAZING! This is what I have to say on Beaux Barfield’s race directing skills. He has faced scrutiny from tons of drivers on the blocking rule (Rahal). His rules have made the races better. Especially because we saw some passing in no passing zones under the old rules (Long Beach Turn 11). Good call on putting Graham Rahal on probation for six races because it looked like he purposely drove into Marco Andretti. The engine change rules need to be changed. If it’s in testing, who cares it IS NOT the race. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that mileage should be put on during races only. If you have to change an engine make it a three to five place grid penalty, depending on how much mileage you have on the engine. Other than that it is been great.

TV: ABC still hasn’t improved at all. NBC Sports Network on the other hand have. Adding Townsend Bell was a great move by the NBCSN. He gives great analysis in the pit-lane. Other than some of the Bob Jenkins flubs though also it’s improved. The new show “IndyCar 36″ has impressed me a ton. Great show. The ratings just need to improve for the NBCSN.

 

IndyCar All-Access: Recap of Barber Plus Long Beach Preview

Photo Credit: More Front Wing

First off, we are very sorry that we couldn’t recap St. Petersburg and preview Barber.  We will not have Matt Hickey with us this weekend due to other commitments.

Participants:

• John Oreovicz  @indyoreo
• Matt Bauer @bauerracing
• Jerry Cruz @jerrycruz1077
• John Hetrick @hetrick32
• Tony Tellez @tonytellez
• Kent Mueller @Kent_RM

*Note: All Chevrolet drivers will face a ten position grid penalty after they changed all of there engines. This was written before this news broke so please keep that in mind.

This week marks the 38th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Very historic.

Track Layout: 1.96 mile temporary street circuit.

Photo Credit: Etracks

Now to the questions for this week.

Photo Credit: RACER

Q: Thoughts on Barber?

JO: I thought it was an excellent race. Although he ultimately took the lead during a pit stop exchange, Power passed several cars to get in that position and there was plenty of passing through the field. The cars were generally reliable and raced well and Firestone got a lot of praise for supplying tires that dropped off in performance over the course of a full stint. That disparity, and the variable of tire management, made for a lot of movement up and down through the field. Beaux Barfield has done a good job of delaying full course yellows to allow drivers to make pit stops and the open pit rule being introduced at Long Beach should help even more.

MB: It’s just my luck that the one time I don’t go to Barber I miss seeing one of the best road races in 15-20 years. Firestone really brought some great tires the were predictable & helped make some great passing. Power was as great as ever I never thought he could have come from so far behind in that scenario. I’ve raced on that track & know how difficult passing can be.

JC: I think the best road course race I have seen in terms of entertainment and competition since Toronto 2011 and those awesome Cleveland GPs of the past.

JH: Could not have asked for a better race. Great action on the track with lots of passing.
Might have to attend this race next year since everybody says how beautiful the track is!

TT: Barber was some of the best racing and side by side action that I have seen in a while in the IICS.  Watching Marco, Graham, and Bourdais move their way through the field was a rush.  We need more racing like this.  I was a bit disappointed with some of the slower traffic (Lotus) holding up the leaders, and think it contributed to the outcome of the race in the long run.  Honda was really strong here, and in my opinion should have been atop the podium but for a minor mistake

KM: Great race. I’ve always been negative on this race but I shall no more. This was the best racing on a road or a street course since the hay day of CART. Yes, the track layout needs a lot of work but great race overall.

Q: Thoughts on Houston and the 2013 schedule news from Robin Miller?

JO: I’ve long believed that Mike Lanigan would have been better off reviving Cleveland instead of Houston, but clearly, sponsorship was more plentiful in the Houston market and Shell/Pennzoil is a prestigious sponsor. I’m sure Eddie Gossage is a bit miffed that IndyCar has scheduled another race in Texas, but if Houston is successful and they can get a good deal to run at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, the state of Texas could become a hotbed for Indy car racing. I’d certainly like to see another short oval or two back on the schedule and EVERYONE seems to want to be back at Road America, so it’s disappointing that it hasn’t happened yet.

MB:  I’m not sure about Houston, from what I remember the racing wasn’t spectacular but I don’t think TMS is coming back so I’m glad my state will still have an event & it’s a new event which is exciting. The schedule news from Miller sounds good but who knows how things will shake out.

JC: One of the few times I agree with Mr. Miller. We need history on our side and more ovals.

JH: Excited about Houston. Could be a great thing for the series especially since they have a great sponsor with Shell coming with it. But if I could ask for one track on the schedule for next year it would be Pocono.

TT: Exciting!  Houston has been ultra successful in the past, and I expect it to be a great market for the IICS in the future.  The possibility of up to 19-20 races being on the schedule is AWESOME.  A schedule longer than 6 months makes more sense

KM:  I am not a fan of the Houston race, I will say that this could be a good investment for IndyCar and Shell/Pennzoil. I personally thought that Mr. Mike Lanigan would want to bring back Cleveland before Houston because of the historic factor. Maybe Houston can have the Barber effect on it to make it a great race. As for Robin Miller’s news I’d love to see Pocono, Phoenix, Michigan, Road America and Richmond on the schedule. Not sure about Palm Springs because I haven’t seen that much on that track. As for Fort Lauderdale, questionable for me. And oh no to Circuit of the Americas. Terrible track. Heck yeah to Portland. This is what I’d like to see:
1. St. Petersburg (March) Returning
2. Barber (March) Returning
3. Long Beach (April) Returning
4. Sao Paulo (April) Returning
5. Phoenix (May) New Event
6. Indianapolis (May) Returning
7. Belle Isle (June) Returning
8. Texas (June) Returning
9. Milwaukee (June) Returning
10. Iowa (June) Returning
11.Chicagoland (June) New Event
12. Richmond (July) New Event
13. Toronto (July) Returning
14. Watkins Glen (July) New Event
15. Edmonton (July) Returning
16. Portland (August) New Event
17. China (August) Returning
18. Road America (August) New Event
19. Baltimore (September) Returning
20. Pocono (September) New Event
21. Houston (October) New Event
22. Fontana (October) Returning

Q: Darkhorse/s for the race?

JO: Mike Conway, who came out of nowhere to win last year. Hunter-Reay is always good at Long Beach. Pagenaud is likely to surprise a lot of people every race.

MB: My darkhorse is Simon Pagenaud.

JC: Any Lotus-powered driver is a darkhorse. Can we see Sebastien Bourdais in the podium? I’m becoming a fan.I have to say thought that Mike Conway could be a back-to-back winner.

JH: Marco Andretti. The way he was driving at Barber makes me believe that guy is out to prove something this year. I say he is the darkhorse for the weekend.

TT: Look for Mike Conway to stay strong here at LB, and I would also expect RHR to compete.  I don’t think Dario allows another bad week though.  I expect to see two Hondas and one Chevy on the podium.

KM: Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe

Q: Pole?

JO: Power

MB: My pick for pole is Dario Franchitti.

JC: Someone from the Penske Farm will have it.

JH: Will Power

TT: Power

KM: Dixon
Q: Winner?

JO: Dixon

MB: Scott Dixon for the win.

JC: Mike Conway or Ryan Briscoe.

JH: Scott Dixon

TT: I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say Graham Rahal.  I’d say Dixon in second (always the bridesmaid) and RHR third.

KM: Marco Andretti, he gets in with his grandfather and father at “The Beach.”

The poll question for the week is what track would you like to see be added to the 2013 IndyCar schedule.

How Do We Make IndyCar Better?

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

When Tony George created the “Indy Racing League” in 1994, his mission was to run an all oval series. That made a ton of people mad.  Nobody saw any point in the IRL, the first year they only ran three races. Then they ran a spilt season in 1996 and 1997. This series proved very unsuccessful for a long time. Other than Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti’s teams making the switch from CART to Indy Racing League in 2003.  The last American champion was Sam Hornish, Jr in 2006. Since then Penske, Ganassi and Andretti’s teams have dominated the IndyCar series.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Racer

When unification between ChampCar and IndyCar struck in 2008, the schedule was looking great and car count was too. At least Long Beach, Toronto, Edmonton and Australia are on the schedule. Since then Barber (a former test track) has been added so has street circuits in Baltimore, Brazil and China. The old ChampCar guys want a ton of street circuits. In defense of Brazil and Baltimore they have been good races but not Barber.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

After unification, Tony George dumped the TV deal with ESPN and ABC, he went with Versus and ABC as the series sole broadcasting companies. This turned out to be a great move.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

In June of 2009, Tony George resigned from the IndyCar board and as CEO as the series. I thought this was a great thing.

Photo Credit: Speed

Then in 2010, IndyCar announced that they have named a new CEO in Randy Bernard, Bernard had spent fifteen years with the Professional Bull Riders Association. He had zero racing background but he is a bold thinker. He believes it’s important to get to a 50-50 split between ovals and road courses. In 2010, he introduced the ICONIC project which started this year. This brings back the engine competition and new cars. Also he has re-branded the series and put a corporate office in California.

Photo Credit: Syracuse.com

I believe that Randy is a great CEO, not all of the things are his fault. Like Motegi being switched from the oval to the road course or Dan Wheldon’s fatal accident last year at Vegas. I don’t understand why he’d want China if they already got out of Japan.

Photo Credit: PochTimes

Randy did the smart move in getting rid of Brian Barnhart has Race Director and President of Competition. I believe that he made the right choice in choosing Beaux Barfield as Race Director and President of Competition. Barfield has done amazing so far.

Photo Credit: IndyCar

Now we just got to build the series. Randy listens to the fans. Now is the time for us fans to fix IndyCar. There are about six steps for us to have a perfect series.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Speed TV. Jacques Villenueve at Indy

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Autosport

Photo Credit: Speed TV

Get the International flare back: Remember when Mario Andretti won the Formula One World Championship? That’s right he is the last American to win a F1 title. He came back to IndyCar and won a championship with Newman-Haas. When Emerson Fittipaldi came over? He won a championship in 1989 and has won two Indianapolis 500′s. Then it was Nigel Mansell the 1992 F1 champion that came over in 1993 and kicked everybody away, he won the championship and rookie of the year in the same season. Next up was Jacques Villenueve to try that feat. He succeeded. Then it was Zanardi and then finally Montoya.

Photo Credit: ESPN

This year we got Rubens Barrichello to come over but he hasn’t showed much yet.  We need to get this flare back. Maybe we can get Lewis Hamilton eventually or maybe a Felipe Massa or even Bruno Senna. We need a superstar to come over. We don’t really have one. Yeah, Will Power and Dario but Dario has just won his championships on luck. Power is more consistent then Dario. We have no Americans that are superstars really. Yeah, Hinchcliffe, Marco, Graham and Hunter-Reay are all in their prime but they haven’t showed anything yet. I’d love to see an American/s to challenge Dario and Will for the championship plus an international superstar.

Photo Credit: Crash.net

Race Control: We all love Beaux Barfield and his philosophy. He needs to be the IndyCar Race Director for a long time!!

Photo Credit: Racer

Cars and Engines: Even though the DW12 is better than the old car, we need more aero kits and chassis in the series. I’m a big fan of the Swift and Lola chassis. They need to replace the DW12 as soon as possible.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

On the engine side I’d like to see Ford come into the series to have some competition for Chevy and Honda. Ford is a great company and I believe that they can provide a way better engine than Lotus. With that said, drop Lotus.   Remember Ford powered many teams to championships in CART and ChampCar.

Photo Credit: Defender of the IRL. Wally Dallenbach the driver analyst from NBCSN that is great!

TV Deal: Please dump ABC as soon as you possibly can Randy. There coverage is terrible. Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear are terrible as announcers. On the other hand, NBC Sports Network is great. There coverage as great. They need to be the sole TV provider for the IndyCar Series. Then eventually run some races on USA, NBC, Universal and NBC Sports Network to help boost the ratings. The NBC group is a great company for IndyCar because they show all the action and the booth is killer. Plus the show “IndyCar 36″ and covering qualifying.

Cap the Field: Cap the field at 30 entries with only 26 to make the field. Makes it way more interesting in qualifying.

Photo Credit: USA Today

Points: Please the current points system is annoying. Drivers shouldn’t get points for crashing out, they should get points for racing hard. The top ten should only get points like Formula One. This should be the system.

• 1st: 20
• 2nd: 18
• 3rd: 16
• 4th: 14
• 5th: 12
• 6th: 10
• 7th: 8
• 8th: 6
• 9th: 4
• 10th: 2

Then added bonus’ would be fastest lap (1) and pole (1).

Photo Credit: Drive.com

Race Weekend: Make qualifying on the road and street circuits like Formula One qualifying, none of this Firestone Fast 6 stuff or group one or group two. That’s just plain dumb. Get the top ten go for the pole not six drivers. Indianapolis 500 qualifying stays the same, that system gets transferred to Pocono, Michigan and Fontana. As for the short ovals, have heat races decide the starting lineup. Just like the Gatorade Duel races for NASCAR at Daytona. Practices: There should be two practices only for an hour each. For rookies give them an extra 30 minutes of track time on Friday. The tire rules stay the same.

Photo Credit: USA Today

Schedule: When unification struck in 2008, people were confused. Why wouldn’t Road America, Cleveland, or Mexico be transferred over. Long Beach, Edmonton and Australia were transferred over and so was Toronto in 2009. Since then, street courses in Brazil, Baltimore and Detroit have been added. Houston was added for next season already. Barber has been added. And we are stepping away from the ovals again. This isn’t right. Ovals are the heritage of IndyCar racing. I believe that it should be a 50-50 split but other people believe it should be 65-35 like the old CART schedule. Yes, we do need some races from the old CART hay day but don’t go to there sketch.

Photo Credit: IndyCar

The first step of making this happen is getting sponsors/promoters. I believe that each engine manufacture should have to sponsor at least three races. So right there you have nine races sponsored.

Photo Credit: Autoweek

Second step is finding the balance and how many races there should be. I believe 20-25 races is the perfect amount. Now its just dividing it up between ovals, road courses and street courses. There are two types of ovals (short and long). Get five of each. Don’t go to Texas, Vegas or Chicago. You can go to Kentucky though, add Indy, Pocono, Michigan and Fontana. As for the short ovals, get Iowa, Milwaukee, Loudon, Phoenix and Richmond.

Photo Credit: American Grand Prix

Third step is dumping Mid-Ohio, Infineon and Barber because they don’t provide good racing. Add Laguna Seca in there also from being added. Replace it with Road America, Portland, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.

Photo Credit: Racing Wisconsin

Fourth step: Grow American LeMans Series with IndyCar at all North American road course/street course events. Along with the Mazda Road to Indy. Great bang for the buck for the fans.

As for the street circuits keep it capped at 7. Five of them in North America, St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Toronto, Cleveland and Edmonton and two international street courses (Sao Paulo and Surfer’s Paradise) because they have the most driver population in the series other than the USA. Then run the European leg of the schedule at Rockingham (UK) and the Monza oval.

That gives us 24 races. Perfect. Now all we need is flow in the schedule. What I mean is that you can’t go to Europe at the end of the season and go from the east coast one week to the west coast and back east again. Run it in segments. Make it travel friendly. Lastly start the season just after NASCAR and end before NFL. This will help make money, save money and add more races in the future. We are going to use 2015 dates.  All dates are Saturday day races, a night race will be denoted with * and except Indy!!

1. Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, 1.8 mile street circuit

• Date: February, 21
• Race Name: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
• Laps: 100
• Miles: 180

2. Road Atlanta, 2.54 mile permanent road course

• Date: March, 7
• Race Name: Mazda Grand Prix of Road Atlanta
• Laps: 66
• Miles: 170

3. Sebring International Raceway, 3.7 mile permanent road course

• Date: March, 14
• Race Name: Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Sebring
• Laps: 54
• Miles: 200

4. Streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2.5 mile street circuit

• Date: March, 28
• Race Name: Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by TNT Energy Drink
• Laps: 74
• Miles: 186

5. Streets of Long Beach, California, 1.96 mile street circuit

• Date: April, 11
• Race Name: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
• Laps: 85
• Miles: 167

6. Phoenix International Raceway, 1 mile oval *

• Date: April 18
• Race Name: Chevrolet 225
• Laps: 225
• Miles: 225

7. Portland International Raceway, 1.96 mile permanent road course

• Date: April 25
• Race Name: G.I. Joe’s Grand Prix of Portland
• Laps: 90
• Miles: 176

8. Pocono Raceway, 2.5 mile oval

• Date: May 9
• Race Name: Ford 500
• Laps: 200
• Miles: 500

9. Indianapolis, 2.5 mile oval

• Date: May 24
• Race Name: Indianapolis 500 presented by GoDaddy
• Laps: 200
• Miles: 500

10. Milwaukee Mile, 1 mile oval *

• Date: May 30
• Race Name: Chevrolet 225
• Laps: 225
• Miles: 225

11. Iowa Speedway, 0.875 mile oval *

• Date: June 6
• Race Name: Iowa Indy 250
• Laps: 250
• Miles: 218

12. Autodromo Nazionale de Monza, 2.64 mile oval

• Date: June 20
• Race Name: Monza 400
• Laps: 151
• Miles: 400

13. Rockingham Motor Speedway, 1.47 mile oval

• Date: June 27
• Race Name: Ford 300
• Laps: 204
• Miles: 300

14. Burke Lakefront Airport (Cleveland), 2.10 mile airport circuit

• Date: July 4
• Race Name: Mi-Jack Independence Day Grand Prix
• Laps: 100
• Miles: 210

15. Watkins Glen International Raceway, 3.3 mile permanent road course

• Date: July 11
• Race Name: Camping World at the Glen
• Laps: 60
• Miles: 198

16. Streets of Toronto, Canada, 1.7 mile street circuit

• Date: July 18
• Race Name: Honda Indy Toronto
• Laps: 70
• Miles: 122

17. Edmonton City Centre Airport, 2.25 mile airport circuit

• Date: July 25
• Race Name: Honda Edmonton Indy
• Laps: 90
• Miles: 202.5

18. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, 1 mile oval

• Date: August 8
• Race Name: Lenox 225
• Laps: 225
• Miles: 225

19. Road America, 4 mile permanent road course

• Date: August 15
• Race Name: Generac Grand Prix
• Laps: 50
• Miles: 200

20. Kentucky Speedway, 1.5 mile oval *

• Date: August 22
• Race Name: Ford 300
• Laps: 200
• Miles: 300

21. Michigan International Speedway, 2 mile oval

• Date: August 29
• Race Name: Chevrolet 500
• Laps: 250
• Miles: 500

22. Richmond International Raceway, .75 mile oval *

• Date: September 5
• Race Name: Sun Trust Challenge
• Laps: 300
• Miles: 225

23. Streets of Surfer’s Paradise, Australia, 2.77 mile street circuit

• Date: September 19
• Race Name: Ford Indy 300
• Laps: 108
• Miles: 300

24. Auto Club Speedway, 2 mile oval *

• Date: September 26
• Race Name: AAA 500
• Laps: 250
• Miles: 500