MOTORSPORTS
CLIMATE CHANGE
Extreme Makeover Indycar has big plans, but indecision could hinder its progress. By LaRue Cook
The DELTA WING concept car is just one of the new designs that could replace the current dallara.
ONCE UPON A TIME, INDYCAR sold its fans
on the idea that any team could put a successful car on the track. But with Ganassi and Penske dominating Sundays, parity in open-wheel racing is nonexistent. So what’s a struggling league to do? For the IRL, the answer is to reinvigorate the field with a new chassis and engine. “At the moment, it’s a spicy subject,” says Sarah Fisher, one of the small-team owners/ drivers who fear the competitive gap could grow wider from the change. “I’ll continue to be supportive, though, if we design the new rules and stick to them—black and white.” Only it’s not an issue of black or white; it’s about green. Ticket buyers are clamoring for a car of the future now. And that’s why the IRL is scrambling to select a new chassis by June, hoping to have it on the track in less than two years. While the gearheads are rightfully tired of the Dallara—the default chassis since 2003—teams are worried about footing the bill with such a short lead time. “The budget is sensitive for all of us, and budget versus entertainment is a delicate balance,” Fisher says. “Keeping these cars for
another year would selfishly allow our team to be more confident in our existence, plain and simple.” Even Roger Penske is skeptical of fast-tracking a decision after the February unveiling of the Batmobile-esque Delta Wing chassis. He suggests retrofitting a new engine to the Dallara at a lesser cost. Other owners are well aware that Penske, who has won nine of the series’ past 20 races, knows his way around a Dallara and could lose his edge if forced to start from scratch. Not to mention that Penske says he’d be out “$2 to 3 million, plus parts” to have his cars race-ready in a new chassis. But Ganassi managing director Mike Hull, whose team has taken all but one of the 11 other races since last season, says bring it on: “We need to meet the deadline so chassis and engine companies can be prepared. The economy shouldn’t be a doorstop to progress.” Gil de Ferran, team owner rep to the IRL’s advisory committee, cautions that IndyCar is so far from a consensus that a June decision may not happen. But while his two-driver team would benefit from keeping the Dallara, he doesn’t want to hold back his sport. “The sooner we come to a conclusion, the better,” says the 2003 Indy 500 champ. Until then, Indy’s future will remain in park.
W2W4 04.25 SUNDAY
aaRON’S 499: TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
New spoilers and larger restrictor plates have fans expecting faster—and more dangerous— racing. Greater expectations weigh on Dale Jr., still seeking his first W since ’08.
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As IndyCar nears 2010’s first oval on May 1, drivers should prepare for a track obstacle: Milka Duno. In the first three races, Duno’s qualifying laps were five seconds or more off the pace, and that was on road courses where speeds are half as fast as on ovals. Guys, rip a page out of the old F1 rulebook. Weed out dangerous stragglers by making qualifiers finish within 107% of the pole sitter’s time. Or at least add slow lanes.
CAR OF MANY COLORS it’s rare FOR a jeff koons
creation to be handled with anything other than kid gloves. Well, do driving gloves count? The sculptor’s latest is an M3 GT2 Art Car, commissioned by BMW to race the 24 Hours of LeMans on June 12. Koons tells us what it takes to design a competitive work of art.
You worked at a racetrack in your hometown of York, Pa. Have you always been into cars? I had a muscle car when I was younger and a Firebird 400. But I’ve always admired the art cars. The artists have made some very special ones. I’ve always loved Roy Lichtenstein’s 1977 320I.
As Twitter crackled with the news that Kasey Kahne would be leaving Richard Petty Motorsports to join the Hendrick Motorsports stable in 2011, one exasperated race fan posted: [“Remember when Silly Season started in October?!”] Yes, the changing leaves used to signal NASCAR’s annual driver/team/sponsorship moves—usually sparked by announcements over the fall race weekend at Charlotte. But pressure to win has forced a move of seasons. “People within the sport feel there is too much at stake to wait as long to make deals,” admits owner Jack Roush, whose 2005 contract tussle with Kurt Busch is viewed as the moment Silly Season became a spring or summer event. “If I wait too long,” Roush continues, “someone else is going to steal a deal out from under me. Particularly in the current economic climate.” Now that Kahne is off the board, Kevin HaRvick is the only five-star free agent left without plans for 2011. (Busch’s Penske Racing deal is up, but both sides are expected to exercise a one-year option.) And with the Silly Season buffet to himself, the 2007 Daytona 500 champ is in no hurry to decide. “All I want to do is win races,” says Harvick, admittedly ducking the query. “We haven’t done that in a while at Richard Childress Racing, but we’re a helluva lot closer than we were a year ago. The contract stuff will work out the way it’s supposed to, when it’s supposed to.” Well, one thing we know for sure—it’ll all happen way sooner than October.
No art car has raced in 31 years. Were you thinking about history when you created yours? To know that Andy Warhol’s 1979 art car was the last one to race, and that mine is the next one, is a treat. I tried to create a design that captured the strong energies and brutal power of racing.
Were a lot of your design decisions based on making the car faster? I didn’t want to do something that would be shooting myself in the foot, like covering the car with lead. That wouldn’t help achieve the goal of what we’d like to do here. I didn’t want to create anything that wouldn’t put this car in a position to be very competitive and, you know, hopefully win.
A lot of effort has gone into the design. What’s going to happen to the car after its day of racing? I guess it’s like a person, right? It will develop a character. I’m excited to see it take on a patina from the rocks and the odd pebble here and there, whatever comes flying by that can puncture or rip or dirty the surface. I think it’s looking forward to meeting its fate. -Amanda Angel
all news Governor Rick Perry sponsors Labonte’s No. 71 for Texas race … British court seizes U.S. F1 haulers, auctions them on eBay … NHRA drivers vote no on more four-wide races … 90
LEARN MCGEE’S SUPER NUMERICAL MATHEMATICAL WINNING FORMULA FOR TALLADEGA, ON ESPN.COM
CLOCKWISE FROM SIDEBAR: Jennifer Stewart/US PRESSWIRE; Sam Sharpe/US PRESSWIRE; Alex Ogle/AFP/Getty Images; Chris O’Meara/AP IMAGES; Frank Polich/Getty Images
BY RYAN MCGEE