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Anyone who wanted to drive at Indy in May showed-up , money or not. 33 made the show as Bruno Junqueira , Stanton Barrett , Buddy Lazier , Jacques Lazier , Jeff Simmons , Buddy Rice , Phil Geibler , Jimmy Kite and a couple others sat this one out. Fact is , the best Indy Car drivers in the world raced today. Where could more experience and accomplishment be found ( in Indy Car ) than what is represented in those driving today ?
I'd say those two right there have talent far above people like Duno, Conway, Moraes, Meira, Mutoh, Patrick, Fisher, Andretti (either one), and RHR. The only reason that the Buddy's were not in there in the race is Lazier tried like hel to get Hemelgarn's sled in and the car just isn't competitive anymore and Rice doesn't have a boat load of money with him. Both are former winners (Lazier with Hemelgarn in 1996 and Rice with RLR in 2004).
Indy is now all about who has the money to buy a ride. That is how teams like D&R, HVM, RLR, and KV are on the grid.
New engines won't make a difference unless it gets back to a run what you brung type of format. I'd propose this: run an engine formula comperable to a national midget or a 305 sprintcar engine. This way the teams can take care of their own engines: no manufacturer badging. The original idea of the IRL had this similar engine format and it was a great idea. Sadly it wasn't allowed to continue as greed (TG) let Honda/Toyota in and we see what we have now.
A car that allows people to "play" with them (no windtunnel testing) would also do wonders. The cars are just to d*mn even to produce any good racing. Remove the large front wings and go to much smaller front wings, lower the rear wing end plates to be even with the top of the wing and set the rear wing back 4 inches from present location.
That should help with getting more passing and more side by side racing.