Picking up where we left off last week, we consider five more areas of Indy Car 2013-’14 and beyond.
• Though not strictly Indy Car, the Mazda Road to Indy development series struggled with small fields in 2013, especially in its top-rung Firestone Indy Lights division. With as few as eight or nine cars in some races, the racing action was, to say the least, spread out over long tracks like Fontana. Even the Freedom 100, run the day before the Indianapolis 500, saw only 11 cars take the green flag. That race however was perhaps the season’s most exciting as a four-wide finish saw Peter Dempsey nip race leader Carlos Munoz (who finished fourth by 0.04 sec.) for the win. Andersen Promotions has taken over the operation of the series and owner/CEO Dan Andersen hopes to find a way to grid more cars in 2014. A new Dallara chassis is planned for 2015, a change that will force all Lights owners to purchase the new vehicle. Things can only get better in this series that is designed to prepare young drivers for the rigors of Indy Car competition.
• 2013 IZOD Indy Car champion Scott Dixon was the series’ winningest driver with four trips to victory lane, all in the final nine events. He looked like anything but championship material in the first ten races however, with finishes of 11th (Long Beach), 18th (Brazil), 14th (Indy), 23rd (Texas) and 16th (Iowa). But the Target Chip Ganassi team rallied behind the two-time champion who hadn’t won since Mid-Ohio in August, 2012, winning three straight at Pocono and Toronto. With JP Montoya joining the series with Team Penske, and Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan joining Dixon at Ganassi, Dixon had better get going earlier in 2014 if he wants to repeat as the champ.
• Big changes in the engine department for the Ganassi (Chevrolet) and Michael Andretti (Honda) teams should prove interesting in 2014, especially during the early-season events. The two manufacturers were tied with nine wins each going into the season’s finale at Fontana, but Chevrolet clinched the manufacturer’s title with Will Power’s win for Team Penske. Ganassi’s sports car team announced recently that they will field Ford-powered cars in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship series; an interesting juggling act to go with his move to Chevrolet for the Indy Car races. Whichever team figures out its new engines first should be in a better position to compete with the Penske squad that stayed with long-time partner Chevrolet for 2014.
• The series’ top-three teams, Penske, Ganassi and Andretti, could account for half of the grid for all but the Indianapolis 500 in 2014. With Penske moving to three cars with the addition of Montoya, Ganassi added Kanaan to Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Charlie Kimball for four more. Andretti has three after resigning Marco and Hinchcliffe to partner with the returning Ryan Hunter-Reay; bringing the total to ten grid spots. But Michael says that Andretti Autosport is “close” to announcing its Indy Lights star Carlos Munoz as their fourth, with hopes for sponsorship for E. J. Viso bringing them to five entries. Despite half the field of 24 potentially belonging to these three owners in 2014, the series did sport ten different winning drivers among eight different teams in 2013. But the likes of Dale Coyne, AJ Foyt, Sam Schmidt and KV Racing Technology will have their work cut out to compete with the “Big Three” next year.
Notes of Note:
• Many who listen to the Indianapolis 500 and the Indy Car Series on the IMS Radio Network are waiting to see who will take over the broadcast from longtime chief announcer Mike King. King, who has headed the series’ broadcasts since 1996 and the 500 since 1999, noted that the now compact 18-race schedule conflicts with his regular job. Former TV and radio voice of NASCAR and Indy car races, Bob Jenkins, would be an ideal choice for the post-at least for the 500.
• Consistent driver Helio Castroneves raced all 19 Indy Car races without a DNF.
• The Pocono race will be changed from 400 miles to 500 next season.
• No award was given this year for the individual champions of the oval races and the road/street events. Dixon would have won the oval crown over Simon Pagenaud, and Castroneves would be the road/street king ahead of Hunter-Reay. If a sponsor is found, this competition could be officially resumed in 2014.
• The long-postponed Aero Kits, designed to give Indy cars different looks and better aerodynamics, are now part of a nine-year plan for scheduled changes in Indy Car technical advances and safety initiatives running from 2013-2021. Aerodynamic configurations will come on line in 2015 with different packages for superspeedways and street/road/short oval events.
• The rich National Guard sponsorship package, for six years Panther Racing’s main source of funding, may land at Rahal Letterman Lanigan for Graham Rahal in 2014. The NG program is perhaps the most valuable in the paddock, but the Guard has not been rewarded with a win during their time with Panther.
Stay tuned to see how these and many other issues are handled in 2014 and beyond.
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