The IRL's season-opener on Saturday night emphasized the length and difficulty of the road ahead for Indy car racing. There were many good things to see, including a fierce battle at the front and watching Marco Andretti drive such a strong race on a track where he has fared poorly in the past. In the end, Scott Dixon showed that he and Chip Ganassi's team will once again be serious championship contenders as Dixon took the pole and came through to win the race with a near-perfect performance after Tony Kanaan ran out of luck in the closing laps. It also was made clear that the IRL continues to be all about its three, big teams--Ganassi, Andretti-Green and Penske--who entirely dominated the evening.And made equally clear was the tough task facing the former Champ Car teams. French rookie Franck Perera was the fastest of this group, qualifying fifteenth in his debut with Eric Bachelart's Conquest team, while Oriol Servia was the best finisher, taking twelfth place, five laps down. Perera finished fourteenth, six laps behind, while Justin Wilson was fifteenth, seven laps back in his first race with Newman/Haas/Lanigan.
These guys are expected to be in better shape on the St Petersburg street circuit next weekend, but let's not forget that the top IRL teams have spent years and many millions of dollars in the wind tunnel and elsewhere developing, testing, understanding and dialing-in these cars. With limited resources, minimal testing, a brief switch back their Panoz DP01s for Long Beach before the long month of May in Indianapolis followed by twelve races in fifteen weeks, the ex-Champ Car teams face a long and challenging season.
"We've been through a very difficult eight weeks," commented Newman/Haas/Lanigan general manager Brian Lisles. "People who've never done it could never imagine what we've been through. We're rebuilding Graham's car which we hope to finish Monday night so that we can run at Sebring Tuesday afternoon, and we're converting Justin's car from oval to road course spec which means almost every mechanical part must be changed. We're in the process of doing that and finding out that most bits don't fit very well. We're doing the best we can with what we have, which is very limited resources, and we'll see what happens by the end of the year."
So after all the anticipation and white heat surrounding the unification of Indy car racing we are faced with the realization that nothing much has changed. Ganassi, Andretti-Green and Penske clearly are on top of a spec-car series with little emotional appeal that is filled with largely faceless drivers. There are few names, no superstars, and the only notable blip the series might enjoy is if Marco Andretti were to win a string of races and challenge for the championship. And of course, the former Champ Car teams face an embarassing struggle which is not likely to improve their hopes of selling any serious sponsorship, nor encourage the long-suffering Champ Car fans from turning out to support them.
So after all the anticipation and white heat surrounding the unification of Indy car racing we are faced with the realization that nothing much has changed. Ganassi, Andretti-Green and Penske clearly are on top of a spec-car series with little emotional appeal that is filled with largely faceless drivers. There are few names, no superstars, and the only notable blip the series might enjoy is if Marco Andretti were to win a string of races and challenge for the championship. And of course, the former Champ Car teams face an embarassing struggle which is not likely to improve their hopes of selling any serious sponsorship, nor encourage the long-suffering Champ Car fans from turning out to support them.
And what about Paul Tracy? It's ridiculous that he's not in the field. He's the biggest draw by far, the only guy with a real persona and a predilection to speak his mind. He may be near the end of his career on street circuits and some road courses, but like any driver, he'll continue to cut the mustard on ovals well into his forties. Let's not forget some of Paul's ferocious recent performances at Milwaukee in Champ Car's final years at the venerable track when he showed everyone what it's all about with some superbly aggressive outside passes. And of course, as Tracy says himself, he would love to come back to Indianapolis with a properly competitive car and team to attempt to avenge his loss in 2003. With the right car, PT would bring some flavor and promotion to the Indy 500 that it hasn't enjoyed in many years. Why on earth won't he be there? ....
To read the rest of the article, go to: http://www.gordonkirby.com/categories/columns/theway/2008/the_way_it_is_no120.html
courtesy of http://www.gordonkirby.com
SIDE NOTE:
Apologies to my Finnish friends, Milka Duno is from Venezuela in South America, not Finnish as I had previously thought.
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