So nice they raced it twice

IndyCar series officials went back thirty years last night in an effort to spice up the Texas race and the annual post-Indy hangover – a doubleheader of twin 275 Km races. Give them an ‘A’ for effort, but in the end, there wasn’t much intrigue, excitement, or, oddly, racing. It was a parade, albeit a high-speed parade, and despite attempts to market it as otherwise, it fell short of even a typical 1.5 mile race, despite the number of time Dan Wheldon tried to convince us that it was “intense.”

Since the formation of the Indy Racing League, IndyCar has made a distinct effort at building an audience for the sport, starting with the casual fan and hoping to convert them to hard-core fans with a trip to the track and the sensual overload of sight, sound, smell, feel and taste that is a major league motorsport event.

The staple of casual fan-friendly efforts has been the short oval, of which the 1.5 quad-oval at Texas is exhibit one. A seat along the front-stretch gives visibility to the entire track, it’s relatively easy to light, and it’s banked turns provides the promise of the much coveted – in America – side-by-side racing. For the casual fan, it’s worked. Of the 21 IndyCar races held before Saturday night at Texas, 14 have had margins of victory of less than one second, and seven have been decided by less than a tenth of a second.

But, have you noticed the number of empty grandstands at Texas the past several years? The races have featured tight finishes, but the miles of racing to get there has been a bit on the monotonous side. The drivers won’t say that, to be sure, because thirty cars all with 15 seconds of one another on a lightning fast, banked track makes for one white-knuckled trip. For the fans though, there’s a bit of a déjà vu, a ‘haven’t we seen this before’ kind of feeling.

In a spec-series on a relatively short track, the speeds are too high and the cars too closely matched for racing and overtaking in a sprint race format. Without an ability to work on the cars during pit stops and make the subtle adjustments necessary to moving along with changing track and racing conditions, a sprint-type race comes down to setting up the car with an educated guess in the garage. You hit it right, you run up front. You hit it wrong, you run in the back. With only one opportunity to make changes, you’re stuck playing the hand you drew at the start.

So, Saturday night came and went with an interesting novelty. Will novelty attract the casual fans and turn them into life-long devotees? Maybe, but probably not. Will the life-long devotees get tired of pro wrestling style of promotions and become casual fans? Maybe, but hopefully not.

It’s appropriate to give kudos to IndyCar and Texas promoter Eddie Gossage for being willing to experiment and switch things up. But, novelties like twin sprints and a lottery for starting positions aren’t going to address the roots of IndyCar’s struggles, but rather provide just a temporary salve for the symptoms.

We’re seeing IndyCar evolve from its ovals-only roots as the IRL, which is a positive step. Thanks, Tony George for setting the stage to get us back to exactly where we were in 1994. The promise of a new car and new development packages are due to arrive next year – halleluiah. Now, we just have to figure out how to keep our enthusiasm up this year, and Milwaukee and Iowa aren’t likely to do that.

We’re hotlapping on Twitter @RayHartjen

Spelling “Overrated” J-U-N-I-O-R

NASCAR continues its left-turn parade this weekend with the STP 400 on the 1.5 mile oval at Kansas Speedway. Fans will undoubtedly pack the track and cheer their favorite drivers and teams on, coupled with their fevered jeers against the perceived evil villains of their favorites’ arch rivals. NASCAR has seemingly become what it aimed to become – the motorized version of the WWE.


The driver who will garner the biggest of the cheers, and very nearly nary a jeer, is Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who has won the fan voting for NASCAR’s most popular driver award eight consecutive years. It’s a title that is understandable, as Dale Jr. is certainly a legacy of stock car racing royalty. What’s not to be confused is the word ‘popular” with “best,” for Junior is rapidly cementing a reputation as the most overrated driver in motorsports.

Since the end of the 2006 season, Junior has won once - one solitary victory, the result of winning on fuel strategy determined in the pits, and, to be fair, a masterful drive to conserve – literally – every last drop of fuel. June 15 will mark the three year anniversary of that trip to victory lane in Michigan, despite driving for the marquee team of NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports. With each passing lap, each lost race weekend, and each empty season of dashed hopes, Earnhardt’s legion of fans cheer louder and buy more 88 gear. He’s become an industry into himself, the “lovable loser,” the Chicago Cubs of Sundays in the south; 1,081 days and counting. That is, if anyone’s counting.

Did you hear the fans scream as Junior jumped into the lead with two laps to go in Charlotte last weekend? Hope; eternal optimism; the folly of fools. One minute later, did you hear the groans as he ran out of gas on the back stretch and coasted home in 7th place? The cheers and groans were easily audible, even over the roar of 30-plus 700 horsepower engines circling the track.

The winless efforts weren’t always the norm. Junior started racing full-time in the Sprint Cup series in 2000, resplendent in his Budweiser livery. He managed two victories in his maiden campaign, and followed that up with at least two victories each of the next three years. Then, in 2004, he had a breakout campaign, winning a career-high 6 races and contending for a championship.

Oddly enough, 2004 was also the year Earnhardt was burned severely in a sports car accident at Infineon Raceway, where we was moonlighting during a rare weekend off in NASCAR’s nearly year-around schedule. Coincidence? Some think not, feeling maybe he lost his nerve. I won’t go that far, for it takes a lot of nerve to buckle into a hunk of metal and drive 200 miles per hour 6 inches away from three other cars in the draft on the high banks of Talladega.

What can’t be mistaken is the opportunity bestowed on Junior every season. Perhaps in no sport is money better equated with success than motorsport. Simply put, speed is expensive, and the more money you have, the faster you will go. No one, no one, benefits from sponsorship greater than the series’ most popular driver, Junior.

Additionally, no one prepares better cars than Hendrick Motorsport, the organization behind the 5-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, as well as stable mate and 4-time former champion Jeff Gordon. Since 1995, Rick Hendrick-owned cars have won 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup championships. Since 2008, Hendrick has fielded a car for Junior. The results: 120 starts, 2 pole positions, 15 top-five’s, and one victory.

In terms of “return on investment,” that equates to what is known in NASCAR circles; and, oddly and perhaps polar oppositely, Jewish delicatessens; as “bupkis.”

Be it spread too thin over commercial shoots, side businesses in restaurants and clubs, or ownership of his own JR Motorsports team, or age or talent or some other reason, the fact is that Earnhardt Jr. has under-performed for the past several years. With each passing race, the pressure mounts, despite the affection of his growing army of followers.

It’s time. Time to distinguish between royalty and reality. Time we stop referring to Junior as a real contender and an elite driver in NASCAR’s highest series. Time we recognize the proof points lie in his average finishes the past two years of 22nd and 21st.

Three years. It’s time for Junior to show fans he’s not overrated.

Swap some paint on Twitter @RayHartjen.

The Day After: Indy 500 Recap

Slipping in and out of the draft:


Thumbs up, JR Hildebrand. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard spot. After navigating 799 turns and through strokes of perseverance, strategy, and brilliant fuel conservation, he was seemingly on the way to winning Indy as a 23-year old rookie. Then, entering the final corner with faster cars catching him quickly, he stumbled across a considerably slower car – decision time. In 1989, Al Unser Jr. backed off slightly in Turn Two due to traffic, allowing Emerson Fittipaldi to catch him and ended his race famously in Turn 3. With his foot firmly on the throttle, Hildebrand tried the pass on the high side, caught the grey of the marbles and ended his Cinderella story alongside the Turn Four wall.

In hindsight, not the right move. In the moment, absolutely the right move. Use your bullets and fight going forward. Here’s hoping he overcomes this disappointment and moves forward.

Thumbs up, Dan Wheldon. What can you say about Wheldon? I’m not sure if he knows much; in fact, after countless interviews, I’m certain he doesn’t know much. But I’m convinced that he certainly knows how to get around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is always fast and always a contender, and Sunday was no exception. He wasn’t the fastest car all day, but he was always very close, and when opportunity knocked, he answered. At midnight, his contract with Bryan Herta racing expired. I wonder what his plans hold for the remainder of the season?

Thumbs down, ABC. While the thumbs might be down, another digit might be raised. ABC managed to deliver a brilliant telecast interspersed very infrequently between a merciless onslaught of commercials. Once, within the final 100 miles, ABC returned to the telecast, whereupon host Brent Musberger encouraged us to come back to them after another commercial break. What? A commercial break as a follow-up to a commercial break? While that was the most egregious example, ABC routinely went to commercial after within 5 minutes of a previous commercial break. “Side by side,” or not, in the age of the DVR, you’re playing with fire. Sponsors beware: frustrated viewers are learning their lessons.

Thumbs down Target Chip Ganassi Racing; Thumbs up Panther Racing. Target Chip Ganassi had the fastest cars off the trailer when the Speedway opened for practice, had the fastest cars most of the entire month, had the fastest cars on race day, and had the fastest cars loaded back onto the trailers last night, all to finish just 5th (Scott Dixon) and 12th (Dario Franchitti). We saw the team conserve fuel early in the race, through most every stint, only to seemingly abandon the strategy for the final stint.

While the seat here is much different than the seat on pit wall, it would appear that the book on fuel strategy has been written by Panther Racing. In each of the last two years, they’ve had their driver conserve fuel early in the final stint, knowing two things: 1) if a yellow flag comes out, they’re right there in it at the end, and 2) if a yellow flag doesn’t come out, they’re one of the very, very few right there at the end. They narrowly missed last year with Wheldon and were even closer this year with Hildebrand.

Thumbs up, IndyCar officials. Still think the double-wide restarts are unnecessary, as we’ve seen loads of action over the years. However, if double-wide you must, having drivers start accelerating in Turn 4 is the right call over the front straight, just 900 feet from the start finish line. That Saturday decision proved to be the right one, and I’m certain the majority of the shops are thankful that their cars came back straight, with all four corners on them.

Interesting thought turns to next year and the reintroduction of turbos and “turbo lag.” Hammering the throttle at low speeds brings an uneven power band and torque path, resulting in peculiar handling characteristics in a car set up to turn left. One need only to ask Kevin Cogan about the 1982 race to learn about the dangers.

Thumbs sideways, the IndyCar season. The Indianapolis 500 is the crown jewel of the IndyCar series and, as such, is a much needed catalyst to build fan interest in the rest of the season. ABC did the sport no favors with the commercial-thon on Sunday. But, maybe the series, its teams and drivers did? Does attention wane toward NASCAR and Formula 1, or, even worse yet, baseball? Time will tell, although this morning I can tell you I’m more interested in the Formula 1 circus returning to Canada in two weeks hence than I am about the IndyCar traditional follow up at the Milwaukee Mile.

Thumbs up, Indianapolis Motor Speedway ticket renewal process. Online ordering made easy. Just hate spending my $600 for 4 Paddock Penthouse seats 364 days in advance. If there’s one thing the Hulman George families know, it’s good cash flow management. Touché.

Throttle down on Twitter @RayHartjen.

Watchful Eyes on the Indy 500

The 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 begins with the wave of the green flag on Sunday, and while this year’s race is looks on the surface to be a wide-open, competitive affair, there are, as usual, a few things to keep a keen eye on. Between drivers, teams, and new rules, there’s a little bit of something, from casual fans to the hardcore.

Double-file restarts
From the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” department might come one of the most bold – and baffling – rules changes in recent memory. Indy Car officials, in a bid to make the racing more exciting have instituted two-wide restarts coming out of yellow flag caution periods. So far this season, the result has been a bunch of twisted race cars.

This is for sure – restarts will be more exciting. They’ll likely be very expensive for car owners too. In NASCAR, a two-wide start is an entirely different beast, and a function of cars with fenders and an extra thousand pounds or so coming to grips with the bumping and grinding. For open wheel cars, it’s something else entirely. When cars come together at speed, there’s very, very little chance of both cars coming out unscathed; expect suspension and wing damage at the least. More likely, expect heavy contact with the Turn One wall. The last two years have seen terrifying accidents at the speedway as a result of wheels “tripping” over others. Let’s hope in the bid for excitement, IndyCar officials don’t have to face the effects of serious injuries like Vito Meira’s (2009) or Mike Conway (2010). Or, face up to worse.

Plenty of time to get snacks
There’s an old saying in motorsports, “cautions breed cautions.” The double-file restart will make sure the yellow flags come in bunches this year. But, compounding that, yellow flags will last longer. What’s the point of going double file if the track suffers from tire marbles and clag from degradation? As defending race champ Dario Franchitti said on Friday, “The marbles are what makes the double-file so tough, unless they clean them up very, very well in Turns 1, 2, and 4.” Look for the track to be swept during every caution. It will take time; perfect for restroom and snack runs, bad for on-track action. On the plus side, as every sofa-sitting fan can attest, “beverages breed bathroom breaks,” so maybe there’s a symbiotic relationship born.

The favorites
Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Franchitti - Both are past winners (Dixon with Ganassi in 2008; Franchitti with Andretti Green in 2007 and Ganassi last year) and have the experience of setting their cars up for race traffic and changing track conditions as the race grinds on. Their teams are battle tested and rarely make mistakes. With the way Dixon carved up traffic during Carb Day on Friday, look for these two cars to be pushing the pace all day.

The not-to-be-discounted-too-early
Dan Wheldon – Wheldon has won the 500 before (2005, with Andretti), and always finds a way to run up front, either by pure speed, wily experience, or stones the size of Stonehenge. Wheldon will likely be fast, but as he tends to fly under the radar, you will likely get great odds on a wager.

Tony Kanaan – Always a crowd favorite, fans might have thought his best chances were dashed with his divorce from Andretit Autosport over the winter. Well, the month of May has shown that to be a not-so-bad thing, at least for Kanaan. Always a wizard on starts and restarts, look for Kanaan to rapidly shuffle his way upwards at the wave of every green flag. If ever the restart rule was perfect for one driver, it’s tailor made for this one.

Danica Patrick – Granted, Patrick has never won at the Brickyard, and for that matter holds only one career victory in IndyCar. Plus, she and her entire Andretti Autosport team have struggled mightily this month to find pace. However, if there’s one track that Patrick knows how to get around, it’s Indy, where she consistently runs up front. With her growing emotional maturity honed through experience and her time struggling during cameos in NASCAR’s Nationwide series, look for Patrick to run a steady, if unspectacular, race and find herself in the mix by halfway.

Team Penske – Since when has a 500 been run without a strong focus on a Team Penske team driver? Both Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe have had challenging months at Indy, but Will Power has maintained team pride with a solid fourth in qualifying. Regardless of performance thus far, expect one, if not all three, to make a solid run into the top five with 100 miles to go. Of course, as long-time track observers know, those last 40 laps are when the real race begins.

The dark horses
Ed Carpenter – Carpenter doesn’t have a full time ride in the series, and probably shouldn’t, as his strengths on ovals is overshadowed by his limitations on road and street circuits. But, Carpenter does excel on ovals and there’s a bit of karmic return as the driver for fan favorite Sarah Fisher's team, as well as his being the stepson of IndyCar founder Tony George. Then again, there might be a karmic backlash instead, as a payback for George dealing a nearly fatal blow to open wheel racing in the United States in the early 90’s with his CART-crushing founding of the Indy Racing League.

Townshend Bell – I know what you’re thinking. Who? Race fans will know Bell,, who finished a career-best 4th in the 2009 Indy 500, and was running fourth last year until he was penalized, questionably, for blocking. Bell is a driver who’s never really had a great opportunity to run full seasons, either in the U.S. or in Europe. But, with limited seat time in a variety of open-wheel formulas, he usually finds himself on the point edge of the field.

Follow the race on Twitter @RayHartjen

Boneheads and Their Blunders

I’m thoroughly convinced that Formula One teams are comprised of the best and brightest minds in the automotive business. Each one of those racing machines, particularly those at the front end of the field, are absolute technological marvels. The amount of organizational, engineering, and mechanical knowledge floating around an F1 paddock is staggering. So, it’s all the more befuddling when you see one repeated bone head move after another. It seems each week, the F1 circus is intent on one upping each other in blunders.


The true silly season started even before the start of the season. A big Boneheaded Blunder award deservedly goes to our very own USF1 entry, an ambitious project spearheaded by Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson. Big on intellectual horsepower, but woefully short on financial horsepower. Despite preparing early and appearing to have all their “ducks in a row,” the team massively underestimated the budget required to even get started with producing a car. We should have known something was amiss when the team was a no-show at the first test session.

Speaking of no-showing at a test session, another big Boneheaded Blunder award goes to Christian Horner, Adrian Newey and the lads over at Red Bull Racing. They decided to skip one of the four test sessions so as to further refine the aerodynamic package – the thought being, “Why test when we’re going to make changes?” Here’s the reason: to develop reliability. Two races into the season, Sebastian Vettel has seen two easy victories turn into one forth place finish and one DNF. Instead of sitting on 50 points in the championship, he has 12. If we’ve learned one thing from modern F1, it’s that building an early lead in the championship is critical. Will Red Bull make all the tests next pre-season? My money says “yes,” particularly if Vettel can’t overcome his early season deficit.

While Vettel was failing to finish last week’s Australia Grand Prix, the cars of Virgin Racing, driven by Timo Glock and Lucas Di Grassi, went into the race knowing they wouldn’t be around at the end. Somehow, with all the technical engineering know-how back at the shop, the boys at Virgin Racing designed a car with a fuel tank that was too small to see their cars to the end of the race in Melbourne. Last year, no big deal. This year, the first with no refueling allowed since 1993, it’s a really, really big deal. It’s not like they were a few drops shy. They estimated they were a ridiculous 12 liters shy of the fuel necessary, and that’s what they admitted to. Either they’re planning a very expensive redesign to accommodate a larger fuel cell, or we can expect the Virgin cars to be parked well before the end of several Grands Prix this year. To Virgin, I bestow another Boneheaded Blunder award.

All of the above was prior to today, when the big bully on the F1 block, Ferrari, made another colossal screw-up, bigger so than the shockingly foretelling Massa Malaysian Qualifying Mess-Up of ’09. At the Sepang circuit today, both Ferraris were safely ensconced in the garage, out of the elements of the wind and rain, brilliant in their red finish, so sparkling as it was being bone dry. The other cars, mind you, were circling the wet track, posting timed laps – any time – in case the weather got worse. Ferrari gambled, and lost. The weather did get worse, the times grew slower, and by the time the cars of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa took to the track, a sailboat would have been a more preferred vehicle to post a fast time.

Gambling makes total sense when the goal is to be the quickest car. However, the goal of Q1 is not to be quickest; rather, the goal is to not be in the slowest seven, and thus earn your way into Q2. Ferrari gets to start Sunday’s race in 19th and 21st. Alongside those honors, they can also show off their own Boneheaded Blunder award.

So, if the F1 teams are filled with the best and brightest minds of the automobile industry, what explains the ongoing parade of idiocy? Ah, I overlooked perhaps the key words – “best and brightest minds of the automobile industry.” Oh yeah, that’s right.

Tweet me up at the track @RayHartjen

When 15th is Like First

The trip back home from Bahrain will be a raucous party for the lads with Lotus F1. While hardly a competitive threat for the podium on Sunday, the entire organization will still view the result as nothing short of a victory. The cars of both Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli finished the full race distance of 49 laps, the only finishers from the new entries on the F1 grid.
“It was a good race for our team,” a happy Kovalainen said. “To get both cars to the finish is a great achievement. My car didn't have a single problem. I know Jarno did, and managed to nurse his car to the end, but the primary goal was to get both cars to the end and we achieved that."

The Lotus crew worked nearly around the clock the entire weekend to get both cars prepared for the race. They were rewarded with an invaluable 98 combined laps of race testing, producing reams of information that will help them more fully develop the car. The sky-high level of morale was evident in the paddock after the race, despite the long days and nights prior to the race start.
There is simply no way to overstate the enormous effort it takes to compete in the modern era of Formula One. Budgets run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and the quest for top engineering and mechanical talent pushes budgets even higher. Lotus Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne has put together solid foundation for F1’s only Malaysian team. By mid-season, look for Lotus F1 to challenge Force India, Renault, and BMW Sauber Ferrari for bragging rights in F1’s middle tier of teams. Who knows, maybe even Williams will be in sight by the end of the year.

Well done, boys! Enjoy the flight home. You have two weeks until you have to do it again.

follow me on Twitter @RayHartjen

For the Love of Tires (or Tyres, as the case may be)

The Formula One season begins this week in Bahrain, the middle eastern tax haven "home" to a surprisingly large number of Formula One pilots.  They don't actually live there, like they often do in places like Monte Carlo.  But, plop down a few mil for a residence and tax haven, he we come.

Racing for luxury townhomes is one thing, racing on the track entirely different.  This season shapes up as the most anticipated in recent history.  The stories are too many to count:

1. Combacks - Schumy is back, albeit with Mercedes; Felipe Massa is back in the Ferrari
2. Driver transfers - World Champion Jensen Button (can't believe I just typed that!) has moved from Brawn to McLaren; Reubeniho is in the Williams; Rosberg is in the Mercedes; Fernando Alonso looks superb in Ferrari livery
3. World Champions - Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, and Button (4!) are in the field.  I could have probably added Felipe Massa's name to that list and not come up with too much of an argument due to his near miss two years ago. 
4. Constructors - Brawn is now Mercedes; BMW is now BMW Sauber Ferrari; Toyota has left, perhaps in the nick of time to deal with its burdened consumer brand; and Renault is sorta still Renault, sort of Lada
5. New constructors - Lotus, Virgin, and HRT.  No USF1 - ugh!  Of course, these teams will struggle.  But, keep the lookout for Lotus F1.  They have experience in management, engineers, crew, and maybe most important, drivers.  They'll have the quickest pace of the newcomers and will be the first to get points. 
6. New drivers a-plenty.  Have deep pockets?  You might be a F1 pilot next year!
7. New rules - the usual tweaks of the technical regulations, with one big one - no more mid-race refueling.

It's the ban on mid-race refueling that will play out over and over again throughout the season (in addition to the struggles of the newcomers).  The new fuel rules have a "trickle" affect.  First, cars have to accomodate the extra fuel - over 300 pounds or over 20% more again of the car's total weight.  That extra weight is going to play havoc on two areas of the car - the undertray (boring, but a potential source of disqualifications this year) and tires, or as the Brits so lovingly spell, t-y-r-e-s.  Those Brits are so cute.  Precious, indeed.

Tire management will be THE deciding factor in the races this year, compounded by the fact that teams must start the race on the tires they qualified on.  Up front, that will be the "super soft" tires, which, while fast, will be going off after just a few laps of race pace.  Early in the season, look for some strong results from mid-field qualifers on the harder compound tires.  They'll be able to go longer on their first tire stints.  Moreover, they'll be able to save their super soft tires for later in the race, when the tracks are rubbered in, and more importantly, their cars are hundreds of pounds lighter.

On Sundays, the races will be won by the swift, for sure.  But, the early season wager might be best played on the mid-field qualifer, where "swift" is better defined over the course of the entire race on Sunday as opposed to a single lap on Saturday.  For the first race, look for Adrian Sutil of Force India, sitting surprisingly racy on the tenth spot on the grid.

Of course, on the tenth spot of the grid, the entire race might be done by the first corner.  That's a story for Monday.