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Los Angeles, CA. - Pre-race coverage of
the 89th Indianapolis 500 this year devoted major attention to
competitive rookie Danica Patrick, the 23-year old fourth female to
qualify for the Indy 500. NASCAR, with its American cars and
American short-track drivers, has stolen the thunder from open-wheel
Indy Car racing since the 1996 CART/Indy Racing League split.
However, the Indy 500 remains "the greatest spectacle in
racing" as advertised. If I could only see one race a year it
would be the Indy 500. It has drama, history, tradition and
human-interest stories that no other race can equal or hope to
match.
The new Indy 500 qualifying procedure for 2005
provided artificial excitement, but excitement nonetheless. Sam
Hornish withdrew his tenth fastest qualification speed and
re-qualified his car second fastest, going from row four to the
front row. Helio Castroneves withdrew his fourth fastest speed and
re-qualified, but dropped a position to fifth fastest. Two qualified
cars were bumped from the top 22 berths available on the first
qualification weekend and were re-qualified the next weekend.
Miss Patrick proved to be the real deal and
brought additional media coverage to the 500. She ran the fastest
lap of the month at 229.8 and her qualification run as the eighth
driver to qualify on pole day would've been the pole speed if she
hadn't had a first lap turn one wiggle that dropped her speed to
224.9. Her second through fourth laps were all in the 227.6 to 227.8
range, giving her a 227.004-mph speed and a female-driver best
fourth starting position. Adding luster to her month, Danica was the
fastest driver during the Friday, May 27 one-hour practice "Carb
Day" in the full-tank practice runs for all 33
drivers. Her 225.597 edged pole starter Tony Kanaan's
225.451mph.
The other major human-interest story had to be
the return of Kenny Brack to racing as the replacement driver for
injured 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice. Brack's disastrous crash at
Texas Motor Speedway in October 2003 gave Rice his opportunity with
Rahal Letterman Racing as Brack's replacement. Rice's crash in 2005
Indy practice gave Brack his first racing opportunity since his 2003
crash and he returned to his same No. 15 ride. To top off his
return, Brack was the fastest qualifier of all 33 drivers with his
227.598-mph run that beat Kanaan's pole speed of 227.566.
The official "Bump Day" actually had a
bump for the first time in several years when A. J. Foyt provided
his third car to ride-less Felipe Giaffone, a four-time Indy 500
veteran and past IRL winner. Felipe's arrival on Sunday afternoon of
bump day (after a telephone call from Foyt as he was shopping
with his wife) was 11th hour heroics. He practiced and qualified a
car he had never sat in and gave us the third major human-interest
story. Only 35 minutes from the 6:00 conclusion of time trials
Felipe came out and ran four laps of
217.8, 217.7, 217.6 and 217.3 for an average of 217.645. Felipe
bumped the 33rd
fastest qualifier Arie Luyendyk, Jr (215.039) run several hours
earlier. With only ten seconds remaining before the 6:00 gun ended
qualifications, Arie, 23, pulled out to re-qualify his way into the
500 in the same No. 98 Beck-Agajanian-Curb car. His four-lap run of
214.1, 213.9, 209.6 and 204.0 yielded a 210.351 official run, making
him 34th fastest.
Arie, Jr kept his cool and did the best he could,
even though some felt he was in over his head. He had no IRL
experience before Indy and his late qualification run did not give
him much time to practice full-tank runs with a race-day set-up. His
215.0 first qualification run that filled the 33-car field was 3.5
mph slower than the 32nd quickest driver. Arie, Jr would've been at
a great disadvantage and perhaps even a liability in the 500 at that
much slower speed and with no prior IRL races under his belt.
Giaffone is still the slowest qualifier in the 500, but he is only
one mph slower than the 32nd fastest driver. Felipe has full seasons
of IRL experience to draw upon in the 500 so he should be
competitive. Officials should restore the old rule that required
drivers to have raced in a prior Indy Car race before racing in the
Indy 500.
Everyone knows the civil war between the two Indy
Car/Champ Car series will keep major open-wheel racing in the
doldrums, even if the IRL and Champ Car World Series (ex-CART) would
merge any time soon. The loss of American open-wheel drivers such as
Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards,
J. J. Yeley, Tracy Hines and others ensured that American open-wheel
short-track fans must migrate to NASCAR to follow their successes.
The steady influx of foreign drivers, no matter how competitive and
personable they are, will not breed the same loyalty that
competitive American short-track drivers bring to major league
racing.
Rumors at Indianapolis that IRL and CCWS
executives are talking about a merger are encouraging. Mario
Andretti and Honda's USA executive Robert Clarke seem to be major
mediators in the merger talk. The time is right for both groups
because new engine/chassis rules are being formulated. With both
groups now racing on ovals and road circuits that makes them more
alike than different when it comes to racing venues. Both groups
must now forget that the other group will fail or just go away. This
week CCWS co-owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsyth bought from
Dover Motorsports the Long Beach Grand Prix. The cost was a
reported $15 million. IRL also coveted that street race as a new
event for its 2006 schedule.
After ten years of warring it is obvious that
both groups are in it for the long haul. One current proposal is for
IRL and CCWS to have common chassis and engine rules and for IRL to
sanction ovals and CCWS to oversee all street and road races. Just
as pro football and baseball have two leagues, open wheelers could
have two leagues and they would all meet at Indianapolis with Indy
500 points available to both leagues. All drivers from each series
would be competing in similar cars for the 33 starting positions.
Bumping would be back and making the race lineup would be an
accomplishment. If attendance and sponsors return in significant
numbers the Indy 500 purse should be hiked significantly. Such a
turn of events could possibly lure Formula One and stock car drivers
as in the old days. Ideally, Formula One and Nextel Cup should not
book conflicting race dates.
Engine manufacturer Toyota could depart IRL at
any time and Chevy already has announced that 2005 is its final year
in IRL. Honda reportedly does not want to be the only engine in IRL.
CCWS has only one engine manufacturer, Ford Cosworth, and that is
not an ideal situation. Engine manufacturers want to beat other
engine manufacturers to maximize the value of racing involvement.
With new engine rules that appeal to current and incoming engine
manufacturers Indy Car racing could match the competition level in
NASCAR between Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge. Current and new chassis
builders could and would participate in a healthy, merged Indy Car
series.
One potential problem remains how a merged
organization would be governed and by whom. It seems drivers
really respect IRL exec Brian Barnhart and he should retain a
significant role. Maybe a three member executive committee with a
member from each group and an independent third party such as John
Cooper could be the key ruling body for the merged organization. A
new name for the combined series, perhaps INDY CAR, Inc. (ICI),
should replace the current IRL and CCWS names so the merger will not
seem that one organization lost to the other. The new name should
identify clearly the type of racing involved (Indy Cars) the way
NASCAR is synonymous with stock car racing. If IRL and CCWS fail to
join forces now they may never do so. Get it done guys.
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