More Thoughts on Dan Wheldon

I spent most of my day today thinking about the tragedy that befell us yesterday. Try as I might to keep myself busy at work, my mind kept drifting to thoughts about Dan. "Why am I so sad?" I kept asking myself. "He was an athlete, you never knew him. Why is this affecting you so much?" At home tonight, it finally hit me why I felt the way I did, and I started bawling like a baby.

I lost a friend.

Typing those words, I began to lose it again. I never knew Dan personally, but here I am, crying at my computer, thinking about what Dan has meant to me, meant to the sport I love so dearly, and the legacy he leaves behind.

Dan is a driver whose career I watched unfold in front of me. I actually attended his first IndyCar start, at Chicagoland Speedway in 2002. I was in attendance for both his Indianapolis 500 victories in 2005 and this year in 2011. In 2005, I saw this snobby British kid who thought he was God's gift to racing. In 2011, after a few bad years, and when I was ready to write off his IndyCar career, he proved me wrong by showing the rawest emotion I have ever seen in Victory Circle at Indy. He held his son, Sebastian, and made him as much a part of the celebration as the wreath and the jug of milk. He was truly happy and appreciative of what he had just accomplished.

I saw his infectious smile and absolute love for the sport when we worked on the broadcast crew for a few races over the summer. I had fallen in (strictly platonic) love with Dan Wheldon, as did the entire IndyCar community. Everyone was so happy for Dan being the test driver for the new car. There are even rumors that he had already signed the contract to run full-time in next season in the GoDaddy car that Danica is leaving behind for NASCAR.

And I know that I am not the only IndyCar fan that feels this way. I can assure you that almost everyone affiliated with IndyCar, fan or otherwise, has shed tears for Dan Wheldon. Marshall Pruett, IndyCar journalist and former IndyCar mechanic, has had drivers perish in cars that he prepared, had cleaned his driver's blood from the car, but never once cried.

Until yesterday in Las Vegas at McCarran International waiting for his flight to arrive, in front of complete strangers.

The fact that the IndyCar world is so shaken to its core is a true testament to Dan's character. No one is mourning the champion that was lost, but rather, from the outstanding human being that was taken from this Earth far too early.

I will probably miss Dan Wheldon for the rest of my life, so long as I am a racing fan. Though times like these are difficult, it's more important than ever to stick together and continue doing and supporting what we love. Dan would not want the world to stop on his account. And it is for this reason we must continue forward.

I think it would be fantastic if IndyCar instituted a "Dan Wheldon Competitor of the Year" award to the driver exhibiting the humility, friendliness, and selflessness that Dan portrayed. Dan's memory needs to be upheld in as many ways as possible. As James Hinchcliffe suggested on Twitter, every Dallara chassis that Dan worked so hard to develop should all have "DW" as part of its serial number. IndyCar is assembling a trust fund for the wife and two boys that Dan leaves behind. IndyCar drivers are assembling items to auction off and donate all proceeds to the Wheldons.

Despite all the turmoil, I have never been more proud to be an IndyCar fan based on the paddock's actions alone. Dan's memory will live on in everyone.

I can't seem to draw this together to a logical conclusion, so I will leave you with Marty Reid's closing comments as the broadcast came to an end yesterday, words that will stick with me forever.

"Many people ask me why I sign off 'until we meet again.' Because goodbye is always so final. Goodbye, Dan Wheldon."

Remembering Dan Wheldon

IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon was killed today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a 15-car pileup on lap 12 of 200. The race was immediately red-flagged to clean up the carnage. The drivers who were not involved in the wreck who came around and saw what was left on the next lap described the scene as "something from a Terminator movie", "something from Hollywood that looks way more over the top than would happen in real life." After two hours, what we had all feared was confirmed, that Dan had been killed from "unsurvivable injuries." I was at my dad's house watching with him, and we both immediately broke into tears. The race was not finished. The remaining 19 cars drove five parade laps in Dan's honor.

First and foremost, this has to be one of the worst fatalities IndyCar has ever suffered. I believe you have to go back to Mark Donahue's death in the 80s to find someone that was both a series and Indianapolis 500 champion. Dan was one of the greatest people in the IndyCar paddock. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone that didn't like Dan.

He started the season without a ride. He decided to make calculated moves to put him in strong cars for a few races rather than a so-so car for the year. He shocked the world at Indy this year when he won on the last lap after rookie JR Hildebrand hit the wall on the last lap coming out of turn four. Saddled without a ride for the rest of the season, he was pegged by IndyCar, Dallara, and Honda to be the test driver for the new car coming next season. It's unfortunate that he won't be able to drive the car he developed at full-song.

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard had put together the IndyCar World Championships as the season finale at Las Vegas. The GoDaddy Challenge was put forth that if an outside driver could come in and win the race, they would take home a $5million paycheck. When no drivers surfaced (Travis Pastrana was interested, then he broke his ankle), a new path was forged. Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon would start from the back of the field (which ended up being 34 cars), and if he could win the race, he'd split the $5million with a lucky fan. By the time the wreck occurred, he had already made up ten spots, and was unfortunately collected.

They say things happen for a reason, and I believe this will end up serving some good to the IndyCar drivers. Drivers seemed to become complacent with the safety of the cars, and had begun to drive each other over-aggressively. The new car coming next season is going to be far superior as far as safety goes. This over-aggressiveness is what spawned this massive pile-up. Two cars were battling too hard (especially for lap 12), the two cars behind them had to slow suddenly, which allowed a car to catch up quickly. There wasn't much space for this car, and he banged wheels with another competitor, and ultimately ended up spinning in front of the back third of the field.

Three cars went airborne, including Dan's. Once someone spins in front of you, you really just become a passenger. Dan hit someone from behind. The tire-to-tire contact from front to rear launched his car toward the catch fence. In one replay angle (which I won't look up, it makes me sick to watch), you see Dan's car hit the catch fence topside first. As soon as he hit the fence, it's plain to see how quickly his car decelerated. This impact also sheared the rollbar off of Dan's car. It is unknown yet what exactly killed him, but if he landed upside-down without a rollbar, that certainly would have done it. I believe it will take the death of a person like Dan Wheldon to really make the drivers think twice about just how hard they are racing another person.

Unfortunately for Dan, this probably wouldn't have happened in the new car. There is a "bumper" on the rear of the car to prevent tire-to-tire contact in incidents like this. Many IndyCar fans have been maligned to this, as well as how far forward the sidepod comes to the front tire, also in an effort to eradicate tire-to-tire contact. Hopefully this crash proves to them why these safety features are being implemented.

IndyCar helped to develop the SAFER barrier over ten years ago to help reduce impact with the retaining wall. These are the steel walls you see with foam behind them. I think it is time to redevelop the fences. If hockey-style plexiglass walls were implemented, I believe that this, too, could have saved Dan's life.

Ultimately, I think IndyCar needs to abandon these 1.5 mile tri-ovals. The cars stay packed together and wrecks like this will continue to happen. They should be running on ovals one mile in length or shorter (Milwaukee, New Hampshire, Iowa, Richmond) and two miles or longer (Indy, California, Michigan). They can even run the 1.5 milers that aren't of tri-oval configuration, which is where the front straight is curved and the back-straight is actually straight. Non-tri-oval tracks like this include Homestead-Miami (which is the only one I can think of right now).

I still can't believe this has happened. Dan was such a great guy on an upswing of his career. Everything was looking up for him. He and his wife had just had a boy, with another on the way. He was interviewed in his car just ten minutes before he was killed. Likely the last words he ever said. Hopefully the death of a person like Dan puts the other drivers in check and will start to run each other with more respect. It is a testament to IndyCar safety, however, that of the 15 drivers involved, 11 walked away injury-free, and three with minor injuries.

At the very least, Dan died doing what he loved. This is the Dan Wheldon I will always remember:

Rest in Peace Dan Wheldon, 1978-2011.

The Science of Racing: Suspension

Yes, yes, I know this is LONG overdue. A month ago I said I would do this in a week. It's been a pretty eventful month, but now I have some downtime to get into this.

The main components of the suspension in a race car aren't all that different than the suspension on your road car. The springs and shock absorbers aren't kept near the wheel. They would generate too much drag. They are instead sheathed inside the bodywork of the car. This makes the arms of the suspension much longer. To compensate for the extra material, the linkage arms are made out carbon fiber, a lightweight high-strength material. The arms are also very streamlined to reduce drag as much as possible. (Unfortunately, in the real world, EVERYTHING generates drag. No matter how streamlined it is.)

There are a few more linkage arms than are needed to keep the car from bouncing around, however. On the photo below, which is the concept of the new oval configuration IndyCar, the pieces that are running diagonally that enter the bodywork at the top of the nose go to the spring and damper located at the top of the nose. The other linkages affect the camber of the wheel, the toe-in and out of the tires, as well as another adjustment called the weight jacker.

First, I will explain camber. As I mentioned the post about the tires, you want the entire surface of the tire to be in contact with the track. The wheels can be adjusted angularly. This would appear as the top of the tire leaning toward the car or away from the car. This adjustment is called camber. Each of the wheels can be individually adjusted so that the angle of the tire with the track ensures an even contact patch.

Another adjustment you can make, usually to the front wheels only, is known as toe, or sometimes tracking. This can be best explained by the following diagram.

Imagine you are looking down on the car from above, and that the car is travelling in the direction of the arrow. If the front of the tire is closer to the middle of the car than the back of the tire, the car is "toed-in," and vice-versa. This is essentially a change in the steering sensitivity. If the car is toed-in, it responds quicker to turning, as no matter which way you turn, one of the tires is already at least partially turned in that direction. The opposite can be said for a car that is toed-out.

As you can imagine, camber and toe affect one another quite a lot. This is one of the primary reasons there is so much practice before races is for the team to get the set up of the car down pat to maximize both speed and tire longevity.

Inside the car, the driver can change the handling of the car with a tool called the weight jacker. This is a hydraulic cylinder which affects the stiffness of the springs to change the effective weight distribution of the car. There are two weight jackers: one that controls the distribution from front to back, and one that controls the distribution from right to left. For instance, if the car is prone to oversteer (also known as "being loose" in NASCAR country), which means the rear of the car wants to snap around, you cam adjust the weight jacker toward the rear of the car, effectively putting more weight in the rear wheels. If the car is understeering (also known as "being tight" or "push" in NASCAR country), which means it isn't fully reacting to steering input as the front tires of the car have less grip than the rear, the weight jacker can be adjusted toward the front of the car to give the front of the car more grip. During qualifying especially when the car is trimmed out and is running as little downforce (and thus, less drag) as possible, you can see the driver adjusting the weight jacker before nearly every corner. If you watch the in car camera during an IndyCar race, and you see the driver put their left hand down below the steering wheel, they are adjusting the weight jacker. That was years past, however, as now, the control may have been put on the steering wheel.

So, that was suspension. I talked a little bit about carbon fiber, so I may get into that the next time I write about the Science of Racing. No promises as to when that will be. I move into my new apartment next week, and then I start my real job!

2011 Indianapolis 500 Field Set

Today was Bump Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the starting grid for the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 is set. Seven cars did not make the show, namely the cars of Ho-Pin Tung, Scott Speed, Rafa Matos, James Jakes, Mike Conway, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Sebastian Saavedra. Last year, I broke down the stories in terms of the good, bad, and the ugly, and I will continue with that tradition. First, however, I feel I need to explain the qualification procedures for the 500.

There were two days of qualifying. The first is known as "Pole Day," as the polesitter of the race is determined. This was yesterday (Saturday). On Pole Day, the first 24 spots were filled. For the last hour, the Fastest Nine cars requalified and were guaranteed a spot no worse than ninth.

Today was the second day of qualifying, known as "Bump Day." Here, the final three rows are filled to position 33. After all spots are filled, the slowest car is "on the bubble." For a car to make the race, it has to post a speed faster than the slowest car. If they accomplish this, the slowest car is bumped from the field, and the new car takes its appropriate place by speed among the Bump Day qualifiers.

There was more drama throughout qualifying than I can recall in my time following IndyCar. Granted, I am only 23, so surely there was more drama in other years, but it was still incredible considering that just a few years ago it was a huge struggle to even get 33 cars entered for the race.

Without further adieu, here are the good, the bad, and the ugly throughout qualifying for the 500.

The Good
There were tons of great stories throughout qualifying. Only three of the five combined Penske and Ganassi cars were in the Fast Nine, and only one of the Penske cars made it.

Alex Tagliani on the pole is amazing. He was surprisingly quick in practice all week, but I knew for sure that Penske and Ganassi were sandbagging and would take the first five spots of the grid. Alex is a great guy and I hope his car continues to be fast as they work on the race set-up on it. The same can be said for Oriol Servia, who will be starting third.

Buddy Rice and Dan Wheldon are two former Indy 500 champions, and both are without full-time rides. Buddy hasn't driven in an IndyCar in years, and he showed that he still deserves to drive one. Both came in on short notice and really turned heads, and I hope their performances can turn into more races for them throughout the season.

Ed Carpenter was also impressive in the Dollar General car of Sarah Fisher Racing. They are an oval-only program, and this is the first oval of the year, and they really turned some heads.

Simona also did a good job of getting the car in the field. She crashed her car pretty bad during practice this week and suffered third degree burns on her hands. This was not the first time she has been burned in a crash, and she showed amazing toughness and fortitude to get the car in the field on Pole Day.

The Bad
The Penske cars certainly were not to form during qualifying. Only Will Power made it into the Fast Nine, Helio Castroneves, a three-time 500 winner, only made it to 16th, and Ryan Briscoe came in 27th on Bump Day in his backup after wrecking his primary on Pole Day.

Scott Dixon did well for Ganassi starting second, and Dario Franchitti may very well have been on the first row with his teammate, but he ran out of fuel on the final lap of his requalification during the Fast Nine. A very curious mistake for such an experienced team!

Ganassi's second team didn't do so well either with the cars of Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal. There must not be much information being shared between the flagship and the apprentice teams, as Kimball and Rahal start next to each other on row 10 in 29th and 30th.

Also feel bad for Sebastian Saavedra, as he has not had good luck at Indy. Last year, he crashed his car on Bump Day, and started the race 33rd after being bumped INTO the field when Paul Tracy withdrew his time good enough for 33rd and failed to be quick enough to make it into the race, all while Sebastian was in a hospital bed. He struggled throughout May last year, and continued the struggle this year.

The Ugly
Andretti Autosport really fell from grace. All week during practice, only Danica and John Andretti's cars were consistently quick. Only John Andretti managed to get into the field on Pole Day. Danica made it in pretty solidly on Bump Day, and Marco Andretti bumped his teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the race when he posted a time quick enough to make it in. The disparity between their oval and road course programs are amazing. They have been near the front on the road courses, and have thoroughly struggled all week. The fifth car of Mike Conway also failed to make the race. Conway and Hunter-Reay are the last two winners of the Long Beach Grand Prix, the most prestigious street race in the United States, and both will be watching the race while three of their teammates are in the race.

Dragon Racing did not come to the track prepared. They entered only two cars, and neither had a back-up. They brought Ho-Pin Tung and Scott Speed with them, both rookies to formula oval racing IndyCar. Ho-Pin Tung crashed his car yesterday and suffered a concussion. Scott Speed was formerly an F1 driver, and I expected better of him. He had no idea what was going on all week, and on the morning of Pole Day he left the track because he was so frustrated with the team. Patrick Carpentier stepped into the car Sunday morning and crashed it as well. With no backups, the team had to pack up and leave. They are entered to run the Firestone Twin 275s on June 11 with Paul Tracy, and it will be a miracle if they are able to show up.


It was an interesting week of practice and qualifications. The media storm is this week, as well as a few more practice sessions to hone in on the race set-up. After I see how those practice sessions are going, I'll put up a post entailing my predictions for the race.

2012 IndyCar "Unveiled"

Yesterday, the 2012 IndyCar was "unveiled" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I say "unveiled" because they are not representative of what Dallara is actually designing for its aero kits. They goal was more to show the fans the direction they were headed in, and show designers the freedom they have in making aero kits, as the road course and oval kits are vastly different, as shown below.

Road course car on left, oval on right 

I think they are a good start, however. On the road course car, there are multiple added pieces on the wings to add more downforce, as on the road courses, you want to produce as much downforce as you can to provide more grip so that you can go through corners quicker.

The oval car has a very sleek profile. One thing people are already complaining about are the totally sheathed rear wheels (well, the top of the wheel is open, but that doesn't really count).

As an aerodynamicist, I love this move. I absolutely love open wheel formula racing, but when I see open wheels, the aerodynamicist side of me shudders. The wheels are a bluff body, which means they produce TONS of drag. An aerodynamic fact that can be proven mathematically (I've been trying to find the proof since I KNOW we did it in my fluids class junior year, but I can't find it) is that a cylinder and an airfoil whose maximum thickness is 27 times the thickness of the cylinder produce the same amount of drag. In essence, they surround the bluff body with a streamlined body to reduce drag. Totally awesome.

 On both cars, the bodywork surrounds the rear wheel. This was already confirmed from the initial conceptual design phase so as to avoid accidents involving interlocking tires. I think they did a good job here of producing a car that looks like an open wheel car, even though it isn't truly an open wheel car.

People are also complaining about the fin that extends from the roll hoop to the rear wing. This is, again, something I love as an aerodynamicist. It prevents vortex shedding and the flows from either side of the engine cowling from mixing into a big turbulent mess before getting to the rear wing, where most of the car's downforce is produced.

Tons of people are getting all riled over the new cars. Dallara came out beforehand and stated that this is in NO WAY representative of the direction they are going with their aero kits, but it was more to show fans that they are making progress, and to show potential aero kit manufacturers that they have plenty of freedom with their designs.

I will refrain from judgment until a test car gets on track this summer.

The Science of Racing: Tires

I don't get to talk about racing enough, so I've created a new series where I'll get to do just that. Once a week (if time allows) I would like to talk about something that makes a race car far different from the one you drive all the time. A big one is aerodynamics. That, however, is my bread and butter, so I'll save it for later.

The first component I would like to talk about is inarguably the most important part for any automobile: the tires! Why are they the most important, you ask? It's the only part of the car that actually touches the ground!

At first glance. a race tire looks fairly similar to your ordinary road tire.

They couldn't be any more different, however. The most noticeable difference is the tread pattern. Typically, the tread of a race tire is slick, as shown above. This is to maximize the tire's contact patch with the ground, thereby maximizing grip.  Many formula racing series do have rain tires for when it rains when they are running on road and street courses. This look much like a road tire in that there is a tread pattern rather than being slick. There are two different sets of rain tires, intermediates, and full wets. Intermediates are used when the track is wet, but little or no water is actually falling onto the track, whereas full wets are used when there is steady, consistent rain falling on the track. There are even more tread patterns for dirt tires, ice tires, etc. My specialty is formula racing, where neither of these are used, so I won't talk about them.

Many other differences come about due to the speed difference. Road tires are typically designed to maintain speeds up to 100 mph, where as a race tire has to endure speeds of over 200 mph! This means that the sidewall of the tire (the part where the manufacturer paints their logo) must be very sturdy so that the tire does not flex much. Speeds this high, as I'm sure you can imagine, lead to very high amounts of friction, and the tire starts heating up quite significantly, usually around temperatures where water begins to boil. To maintain the integrity of the tire and to keep it from blistering, the treads are incredibly thin, around the thickness of a credit card for slick tires (!!!). This temperature increase also means that the cold pressure of a racing tire is generally fairly low, around 20 psi where your car's tires have around 35 psi. Rain tires have much thicker treads and carry higher amounts of heat, but are cooled by the water on the track, so it is less of an issue. You typically want the temperature of the tire to be uniform, as this means that the entire surface of the tire was in contact with the road. If the middle of the tire is warmer than the edges, the tire is overinflated (and the other way around). Although for initial tests, it may be beneficial to overinflate the tire to see if the suspension needs tweaking to ensure an even contact patch (more on suspension at another point in time). You may have also noticed that pit crews seem to work effortlessly when changing tires, when you know your tires to be relatively heavy. It is not because the crew has superhuman strength, it is because the tire is so light!

Another thing to note is that the compound of the tire changes from track to track. Most tires are made of a synthetic rubber made from various chemicals, and the change in the recipe of the chemicals lead to a different end compound. These compounds change the overall "grippiness" of the tire. A tire with lots of grip is said to be "soft," and a tire with less grip is said to be "hard." There is a trade-off, however. Softer tires tend to degrade much quicker than hard tires, to you may only get a few laps of tire integrity before they start wearing away. (Yes, even race tires wear!)

I'm no expert on tires, and I'm sure there's far more that goes into them than even what I explained! I bet you never realized just how much goes on with something as mundane as tire. Race tire scientists and engineers certainly earn their income! I cannot remember the last time a Firestone failed in an IndyCar race.

Hopefully I'll get to keep doing these about once a week. Since I already alluded to it in this post, I'll probably talk about suspension next. Finals are next week, as well as checking residents out of the hall. It may be more like a week and a half, if not two weeks. If you have any questions, feel free to comment!

Purdue Grand Prix - So Much Fail

Yesterday, I finally attended Purdue Grand Prix. After five years at Purdue and other experiences trying to interact with the Grand Prix Foundation in years past, I must say, it is the most poorly run organization I have ever seen, and it is a miracle the event happens at all each year.

My first three years, I was a member of Purdue Motorsports Association, one of many organizations that merged into MAP (Motorsports at Purdue). Unfortunately, I no longer had the time to participate once I became an RA. Anyway, they always talked about how poorly run Grand Prix was. I always thought it was in jest, but this year taught me first-hand.

As an RA, I was trying to put together an event for the hall to pay for tickets to go to the race. There was no information about ticket sales until a mere TEN DAYS before the race. Keep in mind that track activity had begun a few weeks before that. As soon as tickets went on sale, I emailed the director of sales to see if we could be invoiced for twenty tickets, as we need to transfer money to an account if it's through a Purdue club. I never heard back. Tuesday of last week, I emailed their president, and never heard back. Finally, on my way out of town to go see 30 Seconds, I stopped by their ticket sales booth.

The girl running the table at Stewart west foyer told me to go down to their office in the basement to get things taken care of. Fair enough. I head downstairs, and there are two officers in there talking to the Jimmy John's guy. One of them noticed me and asked what I needed. I had to wait until they were done with the Jimmy John's guy. They were done talking business after five minutes. I sat there another 15 until they finally filled out a VERY unofficial invoice (not the actual real Purdue one used for transactions, but basically a piece of paper that said "you owe us $140").

Saturday, the original race day finally comes around. It was raining and crappy and there was a very good chance that the race would be postponed. According to the hall's team, that decision came around 1:15-1:30 pm. There was no news posted anywhere on the internet until about 1:40, and we almost had everyone signed up to go out the door until someone from the hall's team came back from the track and said that the race had been postponed until Sunday.

So Sunday rolls around, and only a few people actually came; 18 had signed up, but only 6 showed up, two of which weren't actually signed up. So we walk to Wiley dining court where a shuttle is supposed to pick people up and take them to the race. And we wait. And wait. And wait. About 20 minutes. Finally, about fifteen minutes before the race was supposed to start, we decide to take the half-hour trek to the track. When we got there, the shuttle did as well.

We finally get to the track, and there is no one to collect tickets. This may be because it was a rain date, but still, the fact that the hall spent $140 for tickets was futile at that point. At this point, I was thoroughly convinced that Grand Prix Foundation was the most poorly run organization I had ever seen. As an RA, if I had months to plan an event (quite literally, it's the ONLY thing they do) and it turned out as poorly as Grand Prix, I would not get any credit for it.

Grand Prix has sponsorship from many restaurants in West Lafayette. They even have a corporate sponsor in Lockheed Martin, and this year marked the first in a new partnership with the IZOD IndyCar Series. Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher served as Grand Marshals for the race, and I'm truly embarrassed for the farce of a race they witnessed. I'm sure most freshmen don't even realize that there IS a race, and there's probably still some seniors who don't realize there actually is a race. This could be a great event with just a little bit of advertising to actually return the sponsors' investment and get people to the race.

They could probably also boost revenue by lowering prices. $7 advance/$10 at the gate seems a bit steep to me. The only people there seemed to be alumni or frat brothers whose house had a car in the race. Get the broke college student demographic in there!

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. This university is a great institution, and Grand Prix is one of its biggest events. I know that it could be easily better run with better leadership. Someone needs to step up and get the Grand Prix Foundation pointed back in the right direction, or sponsors may leave and we could lose one of our greatest traditions.

IndyCar Double File Restarts

Now on to stuff I usually write about and much more light hearted!

This season, IndyCar is employing double file restarts. The first race was two weekends ago, on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. In addition to the double file restarts, the acceleration zone was moved much closer to the start/finish line. The initial start, which has always been double file, was the most hideous start to a race I had ever seen. The crash going eliminated two cars in the Andretti Autosport teammates Marco Andretti and Mike Conway, and damaged many others. This, of course, started a caution period. When the race went green, there was another incident in turn one. Then on the third restart. Finally, they got the hang of it on the fourth.

At first I was outraged because I thought it had ruined the racing, but then I realized the biggest hiccup was on the initial start, which was always double file to begin with. Granted, the movement of the acceleration zone kept the field much more bunched together than in the past, but these are professional drivers we are talking about. They just need to show each other a little respect in the first few turns, and everything will settle out.

The double file restarts even allowed some ambitious drivers to move up the field. At the end of the race, Simona de Silvestro was challenging Tony Kanaan for third place because she had picked up so many spots in the restarts.

It will take some time, but I think the double file restarts and the closer acceleration zone will greatly improve the racing, especially on the ovals.

First corner pileup, claiming Andretti (Venom car) and Conway (GoDaddy car).

BREAKING: Lotus to Supply IndyCar Engines in 2012

On Facebook, I saw an announcement from IndyCar's page that said that there would be an announcement regarding a THIRD engine manufacturer for 2012. I was completely shocked and excited by this. After perusing TrackSide Online and SpeedTV, I learned that Lotus would be coming along in addition to Honda and Chevrolet with the backing of Cosworth, and an official announcement is being made tomorrow at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Group Lotus is making a return to auto racing, perhaps prompted by their name being used in Formula One this year, though they aren't actually affiliated with the F1 team. They had an IndyCar run by KV Racing Technology branded, and had recently announced that they were looking to expand that partnership to two or three cars for 2011, and would develop aero kits in 2012. It's great to see such manufacturer involvement after having no competition (Honda engines, Dallara chassis) since 2006.

The deadline for entering competition in 2012 has passed (certainly for engine competitors, not sure about aero kits), so Honda, Chevrolet, and Lotus will be the three engine manufacturers for 2012. There are also rumors that Fiat wants to join IndyCar as well with their Alfa-Romeo brand, but they'd have to come in 2013 at the earliest. There was also a recent quote from IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard that he was hopeful for another competitor for 2013. Was he referring to Alfa-Romeo? Or Lotus? Or another manufacturer all together?

Whatever the case may be, we have Honda, Chevy, and Lotus committed to making engines for 2012. In addition, Dallara will be designing an aero kit to go with their Safety Cell (all cars will be using the Dallara Safety Cell), Lotus was already committed to designing an aero kit, and GM hinted that they may be doing so as well during their press conference last week announcing the Chevrolet commitment. With Lotus and GM making aero kits, I wouldn't be surprised to see Honda make one as well. I've also heard rumors that Lockheed Martin is potentially interested in supplying an aero kit. Long story short, there will be three engines and at least two, probably three, maybe four or more aero kits in 2012, with the potential for more engine and aero kit manufacturers in later seasons. That gives at least six different configurations possible for 2012, which is way more than the one we will have had for six seasons prior.

Is it bad that I am looking way more forward to the 2012 season, and don't really care what happens in 2011?

Chevy Returns!

Today, it was announced that Chevrolet would return to competition in the IZOD IndyCar Series starting in the 2012 season with a V6 turbocharged direct-injection engine. They will be partnering with Ilmor Engineering in Plymouth, MI, a racing engine supplier, to design their engine.

This is great news for IndyCar racing. Competition generally attracts more sponsors, which is something IndyCar is desperate for. It also attracts more fans, because, let's face is, most Americans are going to be more impressed to hear that Chevrolet won the Indianapolis 500 rather than Honda (or any other foreign manufacturer, for that matter).

It was also announced that Team Penske would be running Chevrolet engines beginning with the 2012 season. Penske and Chevrolet was already a great pairing, as the pair had won 31 races, including 4 Indy 500s before Chevrolet left the sport in the middle of the decade.

The one downside is that this will bring costs up slightly. If Honda were to remain the sole supplier, an engine lease was expected to come in at less than $600k for the season, but with competition, the series has an engine lease capped at $690k. However, costs will still be around half of what they presently are, and there will be far more benefits with the addition of engine competition.

There are also rumors floating around that GM may want to supply aero kits as well, and Lotus may also supply aero kits. I look forward to the 2012 season more and more each day when the new spec is debuted? Have a likely lackluster 2011 season to get through first, though.

The Giants Win the World Series?!?

Baseball season has come to an end, and the Giants have won the World Series. When the season started, the Giants were the last team I saw seeing the World Series. I knew they were good, I just didn't think they had the swagger to win a World Series, but they proved me wrong.

Baseball season is over, racing season is over (because NASCAR isn't racing), and football is pretty much already dead to me, as both Purdue and the Bears totally suck. Purdue's basketball team will be disappointing after Robbie Hummel tore his ACL AGAIN, and NBA basketball is too flashy to feel too strongly for the Bulls. The Blackhawks will have another decent season, but I don't see them winning the Stanley Cup again.

145 more days until IndyCar opens the season on March 27 in St. Petersburg, FL, and 150 days until the Cubs open their season at home on April 1 against the Pirates!

Two 2010 Seasons Conclude

This weekend saw the conclusion of both the regular season in MLB, as well as the final race of the year for the IZOD IndyCar Series. Seeing as these are two of my favorite sports EVER, naturally, I'm going to talk about it.

First, the MLB. My Cubs finished in 5th place in the NL Central. I was impressed, however. They only finished 12 games below .500, and had been as low as 22 games under. The youth of the team put together a really good streak toward the end, and I'm excited to see what they can do next year. I think that it was obvious the players had given up on Lou Piniella, as the team really excelled after Lou's departure. I hope that Ryne Sandberg is hired as the manager starting next year. He is a great baseball personality and a true student of the game. If the Cubs don't pick him up, someone else will, and it would be terrible for the Cubs to lose Ryno.

I'm thinking it's gonna be a Rays/Phillies World Series. After coming so close last year to winning, and due to the relative inexperience of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Phillies will come in and take the series in 6. That's about a month away though.

Saturday night saw the final race of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway. First off, it was immediately clear why the series will not be returning to Homestead next year, as there couldn't have been any more than 5000 people in the stands, and that is a VERY liberal estimate. You're only as strong as your weakest link, and Homestead has definitely been one of the weakest links for awhile.

I was disappointed with the way the season ended. Will Power entered the race with an 11 point lead over Dario Franchitti for the championship, and just had to finish ahead of him to ensure a championship, but could have been within a couple spots of Dario, depending on where he finished. Dario dominated the race, and wrapped up the two bonus points fairly early in the race for leading the most laps. Will, as he is seemingly prone to do, choked under pressure, got the car in the marbles, and hit the wall about two-thirds through the race. From there it was Dario's championship to lose, but he finished the race and brought home the championship.

First off, this is a great string for Dario. He has won the 2007, 2009, and now 2010 titles. These are the last three seasons he participated in, as he took a year off in 2008 to try his hand in NASCAR. When you consider the fact he's won the championship each of the last three years he's tried, it's quite an impressive feat.

I am also starting to fear for Will's racing career. He had a seemingly insurmountable points lead just one month ago, and Dario was able to topple it relatively easily. A couple years ago, Will was running away with the race at Surfers' Paradise, his home race in Australia, when he stuffed his car in the tire barrier. He really needs to gain composure under high-stress situations in the car. He has amazing talent and is quite possibly the best IndyCar racer since Rick Mears, but he doesn't have anything to show for it.

This leaves one year left with the current spec until the new car comes in 2012. While next season will surely be much of the same Penske and Ganassi domination, I am hopeful other teams could be more competitive. At the very least, there will hopefully be some new(ish) names up front. Graham Rahal has secured funding for a full season next year, and should be near the top, no matter which team he runs for. Justin Wilson also did a fantastic job making something of nearly nothing in his drive with Dreyer & Reinbold this season. No matter where he winds up next season, it should be a step up from where he currently is, and I look forward to seeing what he is capable with better equipment under him.

Laying the Foundation

I know I have had a lot of IndyCar related posts lately, but lots of news has been spewing from the world of IndyCar.

Randy Bernard, IndyCar CEO, spent the first week and a half of September in Europe, talking to potential engine manufacturers and F1 teams trying to garner interest in the series, inviting any and all manufacturers to supply engines and/or aero kits for the new spec coming in 2012, as well as introducing himself. From the sounds of things, people were very receptive and welcoming of him and his vision for the new IndyCar. Hopefully good things come from this, and we will again have several engine suppliers and several aero kit providers! Brief article about his trip can be found here.

Also, Tony Cotman, the man who is in charge for writing the technical details for the 2012 car, has also been working very hard. He started a blog on Racer which will encapsulate his work and give details as they are announced. His first blog states that they need to get the size of the engine compartment specified in the next 30-45 days, that way, potential engine suppliers will have plenty of time for development. Cotman is hopeful they can begin on-track testing in September 2011, which means Cotman will have his work cut out for him.

Another thing I found interesting about his first post is that he has his mind on driver comfort. The current cars are fine for the short drivers such as Danica Patrick (5'2") and E.J. Viso (5'5"), but the tall drivers like Justin Wilson (6'3") and Graham Rahal (6'2") really have to fold themselves up and pack themselves into the current cars. Justin often reports bruised elbows and knees from being packed into the current car and being subjected to 3+ G's for a substantial period of time. Cotman notes that next month, they will fly drivers out to Italy (Dallara, the company manufacturing the standard IndyCar safety cell, is based in Italy) to ensure that all drivers will be able to fit into the new car. That's a true engineering mindset, thinking about more than the obvious! Cotman's first post can be found here.

Just two months ago, the 2012 IndyCar was nothing more than a few computer models. I am very excited to see the project actually gaining momentum with some actual facts, figures, and photos arriving in the coming months!

IndyCar Rebranded

In the same announcement that saw the 2011 IndyCar schedule revealed, another change was revealed.

In 1994, Tony George split from CART, forming the Indy Racing League. Before the start of the 2008 season, the remnants of both series merged back together under the IRL banner. During "The Split" as it's affectionately been named, IndyCar racing fell from a state of being nearly the most popular form of motorsport in the world, second only to Formula 1 on a global scale, and actually attracting Formula 1 drivers to it, to confused fans not knowing which side to follow, and generally following NASCAR instead.

The terms Indy Racing League and IRL has beleaguered many fans who stayed on the CART (which eventually became Champ Car) side, and Randy Bernard, IndyCar CEO, has acknowledged this. Starting with the 2011 season, the sanctioning body of the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone Indy Lights will be known as IndyCar. Fans world over know the style of racing as IndyCar, and hopefully, this will bring many of them back.

Also, based on the press conference, I have to infer that more of the sport's history will be included. The IRL always treated their races as the only IndyCar races ever, and doesn't account for previous decades of history. For instance, Scott Dixon is listed as the winningest IndyCar driver with 23 wins, when the actual record belongs to Mario Andretti with 52. I can only hope this inference is correct, because I cringe during race broadcasts when it is claimed that Scott Dixon has won the most IndyCar races and that Sam Hornish Jr. has led the most laps in IndyCar competition. There's a good 80 years of history they've been neglecting.

Bernard hasn't been in charge for 12 months yet, and he's already making fantastic changes. He is the former CEO of Professional Bull Riding, and brought it from the little mom & pop run event to the media conglomerate it is now. Hopefully he continues to listen to fans and make the proper decisions in growing IndyCar back to its original status and hopefully toppling NASCAR. (Side note - did you know we are the only nation that takes stock car racing seriously? Because we are. It's a joke everywhere else. It's a sign of a BAD DRIVER to race stock cars.)

2011 IndyCar Schedule Revealed

On Friday, the schedule for the 2011 IndyCar season was announced. Before I give my opinion, the schedule is as follows:

MARCH 27 – St. Pete (street circuit)
APRIL 10 – Birmingham, Ala. (road course)
APRIL 17 – Long Beach (street)
MAY 1 – Brazil (street)
MAY 29 – Indianapolis 500
JUNE 12 – Texas doubleheader (oval)
JUNE 19 – Milwaukee (oval)
JUNE 26 – Iowa (oval) 
JULY 10 – Toronto (street)
JULY 24 – Edmonton (road course)
AUG. 7 – Mid-Ohio (road course)
AUG. 14 – Loudon (oval)
AUG. 28 – Sonoma (road course)
SEPT. 4 – Baltimore (street)
SEPT. 18 – Motegi, Japan (oval)
OCT. 2 – Kentucky (oval)
TBA - TBA, TBA


What do I like about this schedule? First off, the season starts on US soil. This year, the first race was in Brazil, and it seemed like a hassle to get all the equipment down there for the first race and back. I also like that the race in Brazil is a couple months later than it was, hopefully the weather proves to be more cooperative (there was damn near a tsunami on race day this year). I also do like that the race following Brazil is Indy with a few weeks off before Brazil, as teams can have the chance to get their car for Indy done in that time as well, and shouldn't be too rushed to get back to the shop, prepare their car, and get to Indy.


I am also very excited about the return to the Milwaukee Mile, a track bestowed with more history than Indy. Races there are always a test of skill and endurance with really long corners with little banking, and is a place where a driver who doesn't have a high quality ride can see themselves high in the standings. I have high hopes for the street race in Baltimore as well. The city has been trying to make this happen for a couple years, and seem to be real excited about it finally happening, so, hopefully, the event will be a success!


Gone next year are all tracks run by International Speedway Corp, which is run by the France family, which owns NASCAR. They never care about anything but NASCAR on their tracks, and will only run other series if it's not an inconvenience to NASCAR. The series has worked very closely with Bruton Smith and Speedway Motorsports Inc. to get races on their tracks. The good news is that this sees the return of New Hampshire Speedway, a one-mile oval, and the TBA event is more than likely Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The bad news is that this gets rid of Watkins Glen, Chicagoland, and Homestead-Miami. The Glen is one of the nation's best natural terrain road courses, Chicagoland is my home track and has seen five of the ten closest finishes in IndyCar history, and Homestead was capable of producing decent races as well. However, ISC was terrible at promoting races at these venues, and there was hardly any fan turnout. ISC is used to not having to advertise, as they have the "bring them, and they will come" NASCAR mindset. I'm sad to see these tracks go, but it was necessary.


One thing that leaves me scratching my head is that New Hampshire is right in the middle of a string of road courses. Generally, they try to keep the season segmented to prevent teams from having to change the cars from road course to oval packages quickly (this is one of the things they are hoping to remedy with the 2012 car). Thankfully, they have two weeks off before the following race in Sonoma, CA.


All in all, I like the direction the series is headed in. Randy Bernard, the new CEO, really listens to the fans concerns, and is righting the ship. As far as further things I'd like to see, Road America, Phoenix, and Richmond need to be on the schedule, and Chief of Competition Brian Barnhart needs to go! Maybe go the 2011 season with him, but Tony Cotman is writing the rules on the 2012 car, so I suggest that Cotman entirely re-writes Barnhart's rulebook and takes over in 2012!

The Next Generation IndyCar

(This was originally posted on boilercamp.us on 7/15/10)

Yesterday, the next generation IndyCar to begin competition in 2012 was unveiled at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Watching the announcement streaming live from www.indycar.com, I felt like a kid at Christmas once again, as everything I was hearing was music to my ears.

Dallara, the current (and only) car manufacturer, will provide what is being called the "IndyCar Safety Cell," which comprises of the driver's tub, nose, engine compartment, undertray. wing mounts, and suspension pieces among other things. Any company that so wishes can also provide the aero kit for the car. The aero kits can take on any size and shape as long as they fit within the certain size parameters and comes in at less than $70K. The safety cell from Dallara will come in at $345K, with a full car from Dallara and $385K, approximately a 45% drop in current price.

I really like this idea, and was implemented to satisfy the best of three worlds. First, Dallara has provided IndyCars for nearly a decade, and have been the sole chassis supplier for much of that time, so IndyCar wanted to give them as much business as possible. Second, most fans (myself included) wanted to see more than just one car configuration running around the track, and this formula makes is possible for cars run by each team to look completely different. Third, with the current rules package, any trick parts added by teams were their own property and would not be shared with other teams. The new formula mandates that all aero kits must be approved by the league for certain safety and cost parameters, and once it is approved, it will be made available to all the teams. That means that if Penske or Ganassi, the two powerhouses in IndyCar today, discover something groundbreaking for their cars, it must be shared with everyone else.

The new spec coming in for 2012 will be remarkable on all counts. It will be lighter, faster, racier, and come in at around half the cost of an IndyCar today. Engines are going to be turbocharged, which will allow the league to tune the cars to their whim to keep lap times safe depending on the track, and also to provide enough horsepower to make road racing interesting (the current combination of low power and heavy cars makes road racing BORING!).

Randy Bernard, the new CEO of IndyCar, has done a fantastic job since coming in at the beginning of the year at listening to everyone's request and putting together a new formula that will please everyone.

One thing that remains to be seen is whether these safety cells can be run in the Indy Lights series as well. The Lola car proposal kept a common tub between IndyCars and Indy Lights, to reduce costs for each series, and to allow IndyCar teams to easily run a Lights team to take advantage of the testing bonus offered for doing so, so that Indy Lights teams can run a few IndyCar races throughout the year relatively easily, and so that Indy Lights drivers are better prepared for the jump to IndyCar. I hope so, because it is painful to watch Indy Lights drivers dominate the field, then be completely lost behind the wheel of an IndyCar.

In all, the 2012 car announcement created as many questions as were answered, but IndyCar fans world over are surely looking forward to the 2012 season.