2011 IndyCar Series

[Adam Eggbeer]

The NHRA used it in 1996 before any other series.

 

[Omer Said]

The NHRA used it in 1996 before any other series.

Oh sorry, thanks for clarifing it

 

[Gilles da Silva]

Three or four ovals per year is great, but any more than that is too boring.
CART/ChampCar had it right in all departments. What a shame the best racing series in the world was killed off in favour of Indy!

 

[Luke McVicar]

Champcar was going downhill badly, not to mention they brought in the stupid no blocking rules into indy.

 

[stefano.schivari]

 

[Brian Hodgins]

This may be old news already, but i did not see it mentioned yet. Lack of funds forced Newman-Haas to fold up their Indycar operation.

http://www.indycar.com/news/show/55-izod-indycar-series/51007-newman-haas-to-sit-out-2012-season/

 

[David Jundt]

This may be old news already, but i did not see it mentioned yet. Lack of funds forced Newman-Haas to fold up their Indycar operation.

http://www.indycar.com/news/show/55-izod-indycar-series/51007-newman-haas-to-sit-out-2012-season/

You make it sound like they have more teams running somewhere else.

But I am sad, since Newman/Haas was my favourite, mostly when the Andrettis and Fittipaldi were with them

I hopey they'll be back in 2013.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

And again terrible luck for Oriol Servia, that after a great season finishing 4th is without seat again...

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

And again terrible luck for Oriol Servia, that after a great season finishing 4th is without seat again...

I actually dont see this as a sign that IndyCar teams are struggling... IDK Sarah Fisher's team just ordered 2 new cars so it just might be that Newman Haas itself was struggling rather than a reflection of the entire series?

IDK 2012 is a do or die year for IndyCar. Either the new changes will work and IndyCar's popularity might reach a level where it can sustain the discipline? Or it wont work and people would start to lose interest and IndyCar will die. I seriously hope IndyCar doesn't die. I don't want to go back to NASCAR to get my oval fixes

 

[Brian Hodgins]

You make it sound like they have more teams running somewhere else.

But I am sad, since Newman/Haas was my favourite, mostly when the Andrettis and Fittipaldi were with them

I hopey they'll be back in 2013.

Sorry about the ambiguous phrasing on that, they are not running a team anywhere else that I know of.

They have not officially completely closed up shop yet, but they released all their Indycar personnel (who should really have no trouble finding work).

There are other things at play here besides the money. Carl Haas is in his 80s and his health is going. His wife has been very active in running things, but I think the two of them may have decided to throw in the towel. If Paul Newman were still around, they would probably keep going.

I'm really just guessing, but whatever the case may be it is a big blow to the series. They have been the strongest team next to Penske for many years and were the home for many talented drivers.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/7338205/indycar-leaving-ovals-hurt-indycar

I think Blount does have a point. At the same time, ending Indycar's ventures at ovals is indeed a mistake although I think IndyCar should start venturing out to more interesting ovals like ovals that won't require the cars to be flat out. Unfortunately, most of those ovals (like milwaukee) wont be retuning next year due to horrid ticket sales so the only ovals that want indycar are high speed 1.5s...

IDK, it's an interesting perspective

 

[Brian Hodgins]

I am personally not a big fan of the oval races and I never watch them, but I tend to agree with Terry Blount. There are better ways to improve safety without eliminating badly needed revenue for the series. From what I understand, it was the failure of the roll protection on the car at impact that caused Dan Wheldon's death. That is something that could theoretically be corrected, probably at relatively low cost to the teams. The easiest thing to fix would be the size of the field at higher risk tracks though.

Regardless of my own personal tastes as a spectator, the oval races are a necessity for Indycar. The series is struggling financially, and anything that reduces the cash coming in needs to be a last resort, not the first option taken.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/30004671/detail.html

^ Essentially, no one "sole cause" was the reason for Dan's death. It was just a large number of conditions that caused it and there's no one specific point that needs to be improved or gotten rid of. According to Bernard. Ovals like Vegas are not inherently life threatening to race. It was a multitude of conditions that caused it and it seems that IndyCar wants to move away from pack racing.

I personally think it's the pack racing that caused this type of incident. So... according to these findings, Vegas will still remain off the 2012 schedule but there's a chance (if conditions are different) that Vegas will be on the schedule again for 2013.

 

[Rui F. Martins]

it's really a shame what happened, but i agree that pack racing was one of the most important factors that contributed to what happened, i don't wacth many indy races, but i had never seen so many cars runing so close to each other

 

[Eric Estes]

A very in-depth look at the report:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-49-page-wheldon-crash-report-explored/

 

[Antony Snook]

I went to the Molson Indi in Toronto and fell asleep during the stupid race. The only exiting thing i did was talk one on one with Mario Andretti as 1993 saw Mansell join his Newman House team.
The problem with NASCAR is all manufacturers look the same. If one chassis got a jump in performance they wine to NASCAR and usualy get a airo change and soon pull forwards. So it dose not matter who you drive for as the formula generates a tight box for teams to work with.
In F1 you have to put the whole package together. And can not copy your competitors. That is why they have the number 1 circuit racing in the world.

Watching Indi car is like watching GP2. Dull boring and stupid

 

[Yann Laprevotte]

Watching Indi car is like watching GP2. I find it dull boring and stupid

Fixed for you.

Yea, spec racing is not for everyone. Some might find it alienating, like the chaps who want to see several types of cars in their racing for example. That's perfectly fine, but please let the spec series fans enjoy their stuff.

Just to explain why IndyCar only has one "official" spec chassis, -oh, shocker argument- spec racing is the cheapest way to go racing.

How much international open spec single seater series could you name? Hell, I could only name F1. And it runs on a rather restricting technical ruleset, which is only getting more and more restricting year after year.


Also, in case you aren't aware, IndyCar is slowly getting away from the close spec mindset. It's getting 3 different engine suppliers this year. Different aero kits in 2013. Heck, if economy permits, perhaps they could become a open spec series again in a few years, who knows.

In F1 you have to put the whole package together. And can not copy your competitors.

Cliches.

Whenever someone comes up with a technical innovation(more recent examples: double diffusers, F-Duct, blown exhausts) the opposition copies it in a few GPs. Or, if it is too expensive to do properly, they'll just make some lobbying to the FIA and get it banned(ride height system).

Or, you also have the complete rip-offs(Super Aguri 2006/Arrows 2002, Sauber 2004/Ferrari 2003, Ligier 1996/Benetton 1995, etc).

__________

On topic though...

Open wheelers going 3 wide at 220mph is the most badass thing I've ever seen, but society tells me I should feel ashamed for enjoying it.

I'm getting tired of this society that doesn't let anyone lead a risky life - or only approve that way of life.

No one forces those drivers to run at 220mph on ovals. Heck, most of them are actually PAYING to do that!!

If DC finds that too dangerous for him, fine, he can stay in DTM.


Now I realise I'm just beating a dead horse since DC had those words months ago, so I'll just stop here

 

[William Levesque]

My love...

 

[Hampus Andersson]

And can not copy your competitors.

Wrong.

Watching Indi car is like watching GP2. Dull boring and stupid

There´s more action in GP2 then in F1. By a mile. And then some..

I still watch F1 though because when there is action, it´s the best on the planet. By a mile. And then some.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

#1. No, it's actually not. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Remember when Ralf Schumacher was seriously injured on a roval in 2004? Yeah how many IndyCar drivers walked out of similar wrecks either unscathed or close to unscathed? And Ralf was nowhere near the speeds that IndyCar's at when he had his crash at Indy. IndyCar drivers experience much worse wrecks than Ralf every oval race yet Ralf was the one that was seriously injured.

Then explain why nobody in F1 has died for the last 18 years while someone in Indycar died 5 months ago?