Indy Car queston
 

Since the rules and specs are the same this year, are these the same cars? Have some of the teams built new cars for this year?

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Basically the same cars, but there were some areo updates that came out in the off season.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by Action Tracker:
Since the rules and specs are the same this year, are these the same cars? Have some of the teams built new cars for this year?

Actually, No teams build new cars anymore. You are not allowed to make, modify or repair anything. All cars and parts have to be bought from the dallara spec racer company..... Same with the engines. You are not allowed to own or touch the engines..The sealed engines must be rented from either chevrolet or honda.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by mac miller:
Actually, No teams build new cars anymore. You are not allowed to make, modify or repair anything. All cars and parts have to be bought from the dallara spec racer company..... Same with the engines. You are not allowed to own or touch the engines..The sealed engines must be rented from either chevrolet or honda.

And people wonder why the Indycar series isn't drawing well or even cared about outside of Indy. I will watch the ABC races (really excited for Pocono) but the attention getting part of Indycar racing just isn't there. No innovation, no tinkering with engines, no really art like there used to be.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Yeap it’s so horrible guys ...that in the first four races there have been 3 different winners, two first time winners, and none where in Penske or Ganassi cars!!

Sao Paulo was a street course and had some intense racing and multiple lead changes in the last two laps... it was nuts but I’m sure you didn't watch it....

The new formula might not be the prettiest cars but it's producing some great racing, and with the boost increases for fast Friday and pole day there will be some quick times put up. Motors aren't cheap but they get 5 for the year....

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by mr nobody:
And people wonder why the Indycar series isn't drawing well or even cared about outside of Indy. I will watch the ABC races (really excited for Pocono) but the attention getting part of Indycar racing just isn't there. No innovation, no tinkering with engines, no really art like there used to be.

ha! I get a laugh when I hear these current people talk about "designing a car". In my day "designing a car" meant new Kurtis, Watson, Lotus, Penske, Lola, Wildcat, Eagle, STP turbine and Coyote..... Now "designing a car" means getting out your box of Crayolas and coloring in a new paint job on the dallara spec racer....
These current race fans have no clue what the real INDY 500 was all about..
mac miller in INDY

Why isn't Kyle Larson in a car.I see no time crunch with nascar.Im fairly certain ow fans would help fill the seats

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Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by mc/rider:
Why isn't Kyle Larson in a car.I see no time crunch with nascar.Im fairly certain ow fans would help fill the seats

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They don't fill the stands at dirt tracks. How can they fill Indy?

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by Tony74:
Yeap it’s so horrible guys ...that in the first four races there have been 3 different winners, two first time winners, and none where in Penske or Ganassi cars!!

Sao Paulo was a street course and had some intense racing and multiple lead changes in the last two laps... it was nuts but I’m sure you didn't watch it..

I try to watch every race, becuase I know that the ovals only format of the IRL is NEVER COMING BACK. We all need to be rowing in the same direction for the series to grow. If you only watch the ovals, and piss and moan about the road courses, you're a part of the problem, not the solution.

Of course I wish there were more ovals on the schedule. But if we can get the kind of finish that we had at Sao Paulo, trust me, I'll deal with the road corses.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by Tony74:
Yeap it’s so horrible guys ...that in the first four races there have been 3 different winners, two first time winners, and none where in Penske or Ganassi cars!!

Sao Paulo was a street course and had some intense racing and multiple lead changes in the last two laps... it was nuts but I’m sure you didn't watch it....

The new formula might not be the prettiest cars but it's producing some great racing, and with the boost increases for fast Friday and pole day there will be some quick times put up. Motors aren't cheap but they get 5 for the year....

Tony, I'm glad you like today's Indy Car racing. The racing is fine and I'm good with that. But I go back to the days when there was a dozen different chassis and several different engines showing up at Indy. There were rear engined cars roadsters and even a dirt car or two making the pavement races. To win championships meant racing on speedways, road courses and the dirt miles too.

I can't watch an Indy Car race without longing for things the way they used to be. It's a perspective thing. Today I'd rather watch Tony Main and 19 of his closest friends race at the local dirt track than watch an Indy Car race.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by BrentTFunk:
They don't fill the stands at dirt tracks. How can they fill Indy?

Indy Car racing needs to be more inclusive. When I started watching the Champ cars we had USAC drivers, F1 drivers, sports car drivers, a motorcycle racer, NASCAR drivers and a driver that raced dragsters. With that kind of diversity it was no wonder the Indy 500 seats would quickly sell out long before Tony said his four little words.

No, short track fans will not fill Indy, nor will they boost the TV ratings into NASCAR territory but I don't think IndyCar is in a position right now to turn away potential fans.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by mac miller:
ha! I get a laugh when I hear these current people talk about "designing a car". In my day "designing a car" meant new Kurtis, Watson, Lotus, Penske, Lola, Wildcat, Eagle, STP turbine and Coyote..... Now "designing a car" means getting out your box of Crayolas and coloring in a new paint job on the dallara spec racer....
These current race fans have no clue what the real INDY 500 was all about..
mac miller in INDY

I completely agree. I have the Watson Roadster book that was published a few years ago talking about every roadster that Watson made. Those were truly works of art. The KK roadsters of the 50's were the most beautiful cars to ever turn laps at Indy. I wished to God I could have lived in the times when racing was more "Hey lets try this today on the car at the track" then "Well, what does the computer tell us to do?" Computers are nice for some things but they sure have hurt auto racing for those of use that "tinker".

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by Gregg:
Tony, I'm glad you like today's Indy Car racing. The racing is fine and I'm good with that. But I go back to the days when there was a dozen different chassis and several different engines showing up at Indy. There were rear engined cars roadsters and even a dirt car or two making the pavement races. To win championships meant racing on speedways, road courses and the dirt miles too.

I can't watch an Indy Car race without longing for things the way they used to be. It's a perspective thing. Today I'd rather watch Tony Main and 19 of his closest friends race at the local dirt track than watch an Indy Car race.

I missed out on that that era...I've read all about it but yes it would be difficult to accept what Indy is now having seen the past.
But like many on here feel with the silver crown cars the contrast drone of folks saying negative things eats me up at times. Indy is still the pinnacle! For me and all of my close buddies that race...will it happen for any of us, not without the lottery.

Yes if drivers from all the top series would float from car/dragsters/bikes it would sure add to the event. But the sponsorship thing seems to keep guys locked in place.

I'll get back to building a motor so maybe we can be ready soon....

Re: Indy Car queston
 

My only question is...why was this post led off with the "HARF" logo? It has nothing to do with club events, even though it is about the Indy 500.
YES...everyone wants the good old days, but this is what we have now. I was a child of the roadsters and novi's too, nothing i loved more then the real noise of a novi, & LOTZ of room for sponsor's ads. But instead of trying to break the 150 mph barrier, we now go 230! In today's disposable world, if fans had to sit for 5 hours to watch the race the stands would be even emptier. Live with what we have & quityerbitchin", no more open trailers rolling thru the gates of the speedway, no more Watson roadsters, no more Jim Hurtubise's! Go or don't go, watch it on tv or change over to the golf channel, I'm just saying it's fast and loud and no place "I" would rather be, and i will be there every minute i can be! And as we always have to say...jmho...bob.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

What in my opinion has ruined pretty much all types of racing is the perception that faster is always better. Faster, Faster, Faster. There comes a time when outright speed and tech makes for crappier racing i.e. winged cars. For someone who was raised around racing when you actually built you own car, engine ect. racing has lost most all of its luster and intrigue.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by HARFprez:
My only question is...why was this post led off with the "HARF" logo? It has nothing to do with club events, even though it is about the Indy 500.
YES...everyone wants the good old days, but this is what we have now. I was a child of the roadsters and novi's too, nothing i loved more then the real noise of a novi, & LOTZ of room for sponsor's ads. But instead of trying to break the 150 mph barrier, we now go 230! In today's disposable world, if fans had to sit for 5 hours to watch the race the stands would be even emptier. Live with what we have & quityerbitchin", no more open trailers rolling thru the gates of the speedway, no more Watson roadsters, no more Jim Hurtubise's! Go or don't go, watch it on tv or change over to the golf channel, I'm just saying it's fast and loud and no place "I" would rather be, and i will be there every minute i can be! And as we always have to say...jmho...bob.

My first memory of the 500 is hearing the radio broadcast of the pileup at the start of the '58 race on somebody's transistor radio while out fishing with my dad on the Ventura pier; I was almost six. My 5-year-old brain pictured 11 cars stacked on top of each other, but despite that skewed image I was hooked.
Things have changed drastically over the years, but the Indy 500 is still "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing". I wasn't able to see the race in person until 2006, in the midst of what some people perceive as "the Dark Ages"; TG, Spec Racing, IRL - all Spectors of the Apocalypse. No matter. I was still overcome by the massiveness of the moment, and I admit I was pretty choked up when the command to start engines was delivered. Now that I live within walking distance of the track and have been to every 500 since moving here in 2009, I still get misty during the opening ceremonies, and my bet is that Eddie Sachs still would too. For people who bemoan the passing of the roadster era and the days of "run what you brung", it's interesting to note that almost all of the cars back then, while somewhat unique in the individual execution, were still tube-framed, solid-axled and Offy-powered, barring the odd Novi or Chenowith-Chevy. Spec racing? Maybe. But show me a more exciting finish than 2006 or 2011, or a more competitive one than last year, not to mention Taku's banzai last-lap dive into one. Empty seats? I never really have time to notice. And bear in mind, there are massive stands now where there were only trees and rabbits in 1958, and suites where the corporate-types that are neccessary to fund any sporting event you can care to name can hide from the noonday sun. Sure, the roadsters were probably the most beautiful 4-wheeled creations that ever existed, but the world has shifted. Constellations were gorgeous aircraft, but would you really want to fly from LA to New York in one after you've been in a 777? Do you miss your black & white Philco that got 5 channels on a good day, and you actually had to GET UP to change the channel?
Sure, things are far from perfect, but I still get a chill when I'm out in my yard and I hear an Indy Car out on the track, and I can't wait to get over there and soak it all in.

Re: Indy Car queston
 

In today's world you are not going to see the Indy 500 champion at Daytona or the Daytona 500 champion at Indy. Thats how the series promoters want it. in the past it was easier to flip between the 2 because of the large despairity. DW annoys me during a nascar telecast, but 1 thing he always has right, is the racing has never been closer. No drivers win by a lap anymore. There is not much inovation in any racing anymore. Just about everything at the top levels is a spec format. Some inovation is coming to Indycar. i sure hope it does not change the racing, as the first 4 were as could as anyone could ask for.

If Kurt Busch gets the way paved for doing the double next year think any body else would join him?

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Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by 767:
In today's world you are not going to see the Indy 500 champion at Daytona or the Daytona 500 champion at Indy. Thats how the series promoters want it. in the past it was easier to flip between the 2 because of the large despairity. DW annoys me during a nascar telecast, but 1 thing he always has right, is the racing has never been closer. No drivers win by a lap anymore. There is not much inovation in any racing anymore. Just about everything at the top levels is a spec format. Some inovation is coming to Indycar. i sure hope it does not change the racing, as the first 4 were as could as anyone could ask for.

Amen. It is an age of specialization; you won't see too many sprint car and midget drivers graduate to the 500 anymore, unfortunately. You also won't see Jimmy Johnson or Mark Webber either, JR or Hinch at the Daytona 500 or Monaco. Too many differences, fuller schedules, sponsor demands, public appearances.
I am thankful for this:
I live in the shadow of the shrine of motorsports, and still the largest single-day sporting event IN THE WORLD, and:
I am no more than a 2-hour drive from nearly a dozen dirt tracks where I can witness some of the best open-wheel racing I've ever seen.
It's too bad there's no longer the connection between the two that once existed, but it's stil pretty freakin' awesome...

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by mc/rider:
Why isn't Kyle Larson in a car.I see no time crunch with nascar.Im fairly certain ow fans would help fill the seats

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Because Kyle isn't hauling a boat load of money to any of the Indy Car owners. If he was, he would certainly be in a seat. No money=no seat. Simple economics.:deadhorse:

Re: Indy Car queston
 

Originally Posted by backitin:
What in my opinion has ruined pretty much all types of racing is the perception that faster is always better. Faster, Faster, Faster. There comes a time when outright speed and tech makes for crappier racing i.e. winged cars. For someone who was raised around racing when you actually built you own car, engine ect. racing has lost most all of its luster and intrigue.

That and with a faster race, that means less time to drink less beer.

confusous say: "what clate cars bling in the ray of equawity they lack in ray of betta mousetlap"

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Re: Indy Car queston
 

I just wish they would quit mandating a new spec every year, and get rid of a bunch of the details for the 500....it would be really cool if some short track guy could go hustle up enough money to buy a 3 year old car, throw whatever engine he could find in it, and make a qualifying attempt...like it used to be...that can never happen if they make everybody use the new spec chassis every year or 2 and obsolete the previous years car.

As for the car they have now, I do feel that it has created some really good racing the last year and a half, but it would sure be cool if ever IOW member could throw 100 bucks in a hat and generate enough money for Stanbrough to get in a 4 year old car and take a crack at making the grid.