(espn.go.com 12-21-11)
Dario Franchitti hasn't had any time to celebrate his fourth IndyCar title.
He's been too busy working during a somber offseason.
Instead of kicking back and relaxing with his wife, Ashley Judd, Franchitti has been out testing the new 2012 car, discussing safety proposals with series officials and reflecting on the death of his close friend, Dan Wheldon.
"It's been obviously a lot different this year with losing Dan at the last race. It (winning a fourth series title) has not been something I thought about that much," Franchitti said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "It did sink in. It's bizarre. Last year it sunk in when I was in the middle of the Outback when I was on a motorbike. This year I think I was driving somewhere when it hit me. Last year I felt it was kind of really joy."
There has been nothing joyous about this title tour.
Six days after clinching his third straight points championship in Las Vegas, Franchitti was in Florida for Wheldon's funeral. The next day, he attended a public memorial service in Indianapolis. The day after that, he was back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading a meeting with drivers and series officials to discuss safety reforms.
Things were even tougher when the 38-year-old European native returned home.
He drove a go-kart to help raise money for Alzheimer's research, Wheldon's favorite charity. And as Franchitti made the rounds on the United Kingdom racing awards circuit, Wheldon's family brought back reminders, too.
"If he (Dan) was here, he would have been here with me, he would have been celebrating his Indy 500, and I would have been celebrating the championship," Franchitti said. "We would have had a good time. He would have been getting the plaudits he richly deserved. Whether it was his family or his dad, Clive, getting these awards on his behalf, it was pretty tough."
The two drivers had plenty in common.
Franchitti grew up in Scotland, Wheldon in England. Both won two Indianapolis 500s, were enormously popular within the racing community and drove for Michael Andretti at the height of the team's success.
But when tragedy struck in October, Franchitti's life changed. From the moment he broke down in tears in the cockpit of his No. 10 car, Franchitti became a more forceful advocate for driver's safety.
In the weeks since Vegas, Franchitti has been testing the new IndyCar and getting feedback from others who have done the same. He's stayed in touch with other drivers and series officials about what measures could be taken to prevent another racing death.
The league's investigation showed a "limitless" track at Vegas was a key factor leading to the crash. IndyCar president Brian Barnhart said the series will conduct more testing at ovals, and that he hopes to put 12 or more cars on those tracks to better simulate racing conditions -- a move Franchitti approves.
"I think Dan's accident was a catalyst for a renewal of that (safety) effort. We've all been working on that," Franchitti said. "Yeah, I think right now I'm happy with what I see and with the effort that everybody's putting in, the fact that the drivers have very much been included in that. I take my hat off to the IndyCar Series for doing that."
Safety isn't the only concern.
Bernard said last Thursday he was hoping to release the 2012 schedule in the next two days. It's still not out and the tentative schedule only has three oval races.
The new cars have not performed as well as expected, either, and will likely require additional work to get up to speed.
Franchitti and team owner Chip Ganassi believe those problems will get solved, in time.
"I think in terms of road racing, the car is fine. It just needs a little help on the ovals," Ganassi said. "There's only three ovals right now from what we're hearing. That may be a blessing right off the bat."
But for Franchitti, the most difficult part of the offseason has been the memory of winning a championship at a race where he lost a friend.
"What happened with Dan was absolutely tragic. We miss him. Really, I don't know what else to say apart from that," he said. "He was obviously a great friend and a terrific competitor. I think I speak for the whole racing community, especially the IndyCar family, that we'll all really, really miss him."
Showing posts with label indycar 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indycar 2011. Show all posts
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
IndyCar's Barnhart says Las Vegas banking not to blame for Wheldon's accident
(by Mark Glendenning autosport.com 12-12-11)
IndyCar president of operations Brian Barnhart has quashed claims that Dan Wheldon's fatal accident at Las Vegas in October could be attributed to IndyCars running on 1.5-mile, high-banked ovals.
The suitability of IndyCars to tracks such as Las Vegas and Texas has been subject to intense scrutiny since Wheldon's crash, with the series confirming last week that it was backing out of plans to race at Las Vegas next year.
Barnhart, who announced the initial findings from the investigation into Wheldon's crash earlier today, said that the incident at Las Vegas was not triggered by the banking, but by the fact that the drivers could run flat-out on the full width of the track.
"Each track should be taken into consideration on an individual basis, not simply by banking alone," he said. "IndyCar and Champ Car have successfully carried out many races over the years at tracks that meet the definition of high-banked ovals.
"Due in part to the total geometry of the track, each track has its own unique routes around the circuit that optimise speed and handling capabilities.. Most tracks have a limited number of racing grooves - it's not unusual for ovals to have one or two grooves.
"Racing grooves not only restrict drivers' naturally aggressive racing behaviour, but make the location of another competitor's car more predictable. The examination of video at Las Vegas shows pack racing that is normal at high-banked ovals.
"What we also witnessed was almost unlimited movement on the track surface under race conditions. This capability of nearly unlimited movement on the track without the natural restriction of racing grooves must be attributed to the overall track geometry beyond banking.
"This movement not only allowed for increased car-to-car contact, but made it more difficult for drivers to predict the movement of other drivers around them."
The series has formed a technical committee comprising IndyCar officials, team engineers and representatives from chassis manufacturer Dallara to focus on the aerodynamic and mechanical considerations relating to racing on 1.5 mile, high-banked ovals in the future.
IndyCar president of operations Brian Barnhart has quashed claims that Dan Wheldon's fatal accident at Las Vegas in October could be attributed to IndyCars running on 1.5-mile, high-banked ovals.
The suitability of IndyCars to tracks such as Las Vegas and Texas has been subject to intense scrutiny since Wheldon's crash, with the series confirming last week that it was backing out of plans to race at Las Vegas next year.
Barnhart, who announced the initial findings from the investigation into Wheldon's crash earlier today, said that the incident at Las Vegas was not triggered by the banking, but by the fact that the drivers could run flat-out on the full width of the track.
"Each track should be taken into consideration on an individual basis, not simply by banking alone," he said. "IndyCar and Champ Car have successfully carried out many races over the years at tracks that meet the definition of high-banked ovals.
"Due in part to the total geometry of the track, each track has its own unique routes around the circuit that optimise speed and handling capabilities.. Most tracks have a limited number of racing grooves - it's not unusual for ovals to have one or two grooves.
"Racing grooves not only restrict drivers' naturally aggressive racing behaviour, but make the location of another competitor's car more predictable. The examination of video at Las Vegas shows pack racing that is normal at high-banked ovals.
"What we also witnessed was almost unlimited movement on the track surface under race conditions. This capability of nearly unlimited movement on the track without the natural restriction of racing grooves must be attributed to the overall track geometry beyond banking.
"This movement not only allowed for increased car-to-car contact, but made it more difficult for drivers to predict the movement of other drivers around them."
The series has formed a technical committee comprising IndyCar officials, team engineers and representatives from chassis manufacturer Dallara to focus on the aerodynamic and mechanical considerations relating to racing on 1.5 mile, high-banked ovals in the future.
IndyCar wants teams' help to improve safety in the sport
(by Mark Glendenning autosport.com 12-15-11)
IndyCar officials have said that they expect more co-operation from teams and drivers in testing to ensure that they have a full understanding of how cars behave in pack conditions in order to avoid a repeat of Dan Wheldon's fatal crash at Las Vegas.
Speaking at today's announcement of the initial findings from the investigation into the accident that claimed the life of Wheldon in October, IndyCar president of operations Brian Barnhart said that understanding how the cars functioned in race conditions was critical in restricting the opportunity for similar accidents in the future.
"I think it is one of the byproducts to come out of this is that [teams will] have a better understanding of the request and requirements that we are expecting," Barnhart said.
"If you look at traffic [in Wheldon's accident], JR Hildebrand was only running 215mph. Dan was running 224mph. That's a 9mph spread, and they were all running in the same pack. Some of that is explained by the drafting aspect of being in race conditions, and you don't get that when you have just two cars doing the feasibility test.
"I think it is something we are going to have to do - get more cars on there, and expect more from the teams and the drivers in terms of finding what parameters are acceptable, and making sure that we have a clear understanding of what our expectation is when we go back out there to race."
IndyCar officials have said that they expect more co-operation from teams and drivers in testing to ensure that they have a full understanding of how cars behave in pack conditions in order to avoid a repeat of Dan Wheldon's fatal crash at Las Vegas.
Speaking at today's announcement of the initial findings from the investigation into the accident that claimed the life of Wheldon in October, IndyCar president of operations Brian Barnhart said that understanding how the cars functioned in race conditions was critical in restricting the opportunity for similar accidents in the future.
"I think it is one of the byproducts to come out of this is that [teams will] have a better understanding of the request and requirements that we are expecting," Barnhart said.
"If you look at traffic [in Wheldon's accident], JR Hildebrand was only running 215mph. Dan was running 224mph. That's a 9mph spread, and they were all running in the same pack. Some of that is explained by the drafting aspect of being in race conditions, and you don't get that when you have just two cars doing the feasibility test.
"I think it is something we are going to have to do - get more cars on there, and expect more from the teams and the drivers in terms of finding what parameters are acceptable, and making sure that we have a clear understanding of what our expectation is when we go back out there to race."
Indycar confirms contact with fence pole caused Dan Wheldon's death at Las Vegas
(by Mark Glendenning autosport.com 12-15-11)
IndyCar has confirmed that Dan Wheldon was killed by a head injury sustained through contact with a catch fencing pole in his crash at Las Vegas in October.
The series announced the initial results of its investigation into the Las Vegas crash today, and President of Operations Brian Barnhart confirmed that Wheldon had suffered two significant blows to the head during the accident, the second of which was unsurvivable.
"The chassis of the [Wheldon's] #77 impacted a post along the right-side of the tub and created a deep defect in the tub that extended from the pedal bulkhead, along the upper border of the tub, and through the cockpit," Barnhart said.
"As the race car passed by, the pole intruded into the cockpit and made contact with the drivers' helmet and head. Dan's injury was limited to his head injury.
"Dan appeared to suffer two distinct head forces. The first head force created a level of Head Injury Criterion, also known as a HIC number, that normally does not produce any injury.
"During the initial crash sequence, the accident data recorder measured 12 or 13 impacts. During that timeframe one of those impacts measured a measurable HIC number for Dan - that's the number that does not normally cause injury.
"The number was low enough. The second force was a physical impact, and it was the second force that caused a non-survivable blunt force injury trauma to Dan's head."
The series said that Wheldon had been travelling at 224mph just before the accident, but had managed to slow to 165mph immediately before the impact with the car of Charlie Kimball.
The impact was measured at G-forces of 24 longitudinal and negative 23 vertical.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Newman/Haas Moving Ahead With Streamlined Operation
Don’t count Newman/Haas Racing out quite yet.
“The team remains in business,” NHR General Manager Brian Lisles told SPEED.com Friday afternoon.
Despite Thursday’s shocking announcement, Lisles and NHR owners Carl and Bernie Haas will press ahead as they seek new opportunities and adjust to life after IndyCar.
With a few irons in the fire, NHR is keeping its doors open and maintaining a limited number of staff as it attempts to write a new chapter in the team’s illustrious history.
“Yes the race shop is open and Newman/Haas Racing remains in business,” Lisles continued. “As you can imagine there is a substantial amount of work to reorganize everything related to running in the IndyCar Series. That will keep us busy for a while and then will be followed by some new racing projects that I cannot discuss at the moment.”
Although Lisles wouldn’t be drawn on where he hopes NHR will reappear, rumors have linked the team to a possible American Le Mans Series program, and John Dagys, SPEED.com’s ace sports car reporter, has been tracking an as-yet unnamed team that is said to be fielding a Honda-powered Lola LMP2 prototype. Could NHR be that team?
“As we said in our press release yesterday, we are not entering the 2012 IndyCar Series," said Lisles. "I cannot discuss our other plans at this time, but we plan to stay in racing.”
Through Lola’s longtime US importer, Carl Haas Auto (which is unaffected by the changes at NHR), the team would be seem to be perfectly placed to run a customer ALMS team.
Lisles began fielding inquiries about the team’s newly available employees throughout Thursday, and this writer was also inundated with requests for contact information from open-wheel and sports car teams in need of talented personnel.
“We have spoken with a number of teams and we are circulating relevant contact details to everyone,” he said.
It’s believed that NHR will retain approximately 10 team members, and Lisles made it clear he would love nothing more than to put the entire NHR family back into place.
“We are in double figures not including the administrative staff, so we are still substantial,” he said. “We had a tremendous staff of people in 2011, as our results showed. So yes, we would love to have any of them back with us.”
As some of its former employees confirmed, the team broke with tradition by paying the departing staff through the end of the year, which is unique amongst cash-strapped open-wheel teams.
Compared to many who get cut and are offered nothing, Lisles says he wanted to make sure NHR did what its best to provide some financial support.
“When you have people who have worked for you for 19 years, you do not simply show them the door. Everyone received a severance related to their length of employment.”
The final item Lisles addressed was the fate of the new 2012 Dallara DW12s the team ordered in anticipation of contesting the full IndyCar Series championship.
“We have not decided [what we’ll do with them],” he said. “We are working through a variety of options.”
There’s no doubt that selling the cars and using the proceeds to boost NHR’s bottom line makes the most sense, but as their fans will likely attest, the thought of Lisles and the Haas family keeping at least one car tucked away for future use would be the best news of all.
“The team remains in business,” NHR General Manager Brian Lisles told SPEED.com Friday afternoon.
Despite Thursday’s shocking announcement, Lisles and NHR owners Carl and Bernie Haas will press ahead as they seek new opportunities and adjust to life after IndyCar.
With a few irons in the fire, NHR is keeping its doors open and maintaining a limited number of staff as it attempts to write a new chapter in the team’s illustrious history.
“Yes the race shop is open and Newman/Haas Racing remains in business,” Lisles continued. “As you can imagine there is a substantial amount of work to reorganize everything related to running in the IndyCar Series. That will keep us busy for a while and then will be followed by some new racing projects that I cannot discuss at the moment.”
Although Lisles wouldn’t be drawn on where he hopes NHR will reappear, rumors have linked the team to a possible American Le Mans Series program, and John Dagys, SPEED.com’s ace sports car reporter, has been tracking an as-yet unnamed team that is said to be fielding a Honda-powered Lola LMP2 prototype. Could NHR be that team?
“As we said in our press release yesterday, we are not entering the 2012 IndyCar Series," said Lisles. "I cannot discuss our other plans at this time, but we plan to stay in racing.”
Through Lola’s longtime US importer, Carl Haas Auto (which is unaffected by the changes at NHR), the team would be seem to be perfectly placed to run a customer ALMS team.
Lisles began fielding inquiries about the team’s newly available employees throughout Thursday, and this writer was also inundated with requests for contact information from open-wheel and sports car teams in need of talented personnel.
“We have spoken with a number of teams and we are circulating relevant contact details to everyone,” he said.
It’s believed that NHR will retain approximately 10 team members, and Lisles made it clear he would love nothing more than to put the entire NHR family back into place.
“We are in double figures not including the administrative staff, so we are still substantial,” he said. “We had a tremendous staff of people in 2011, as our results showed. So yes, we would love to have any of them back with us.”
As some of its former employees confirmed, the team broke with tradition by paying the departing staff through the end of the year, which is unique amongst cash-strapped open-wheel teams.
Compared to many who get cut and are offered nothing, Lisles says he wanted to make sure NHR did what its best to provide some financial support.
“When you have people who have worked for you for 19 years, you do not simply show them the door. Everyone received a severance related to their length of employment.”
The final item Lisles addressed was the fate of the new 2012 Dallara DW12s the team ordered in anticipation of contesting the full IndyCar Series championship.
“We have not decided [what we’ll do with them],” he said. “We are working through a variety of options.”
There’s no doubt that selling the cars and using the proceeds to boost NHR’s bottom line makes the most sense, but as their fans will likely attest, the thought of Lisles and the Haas family keeping at least one car tucked away for future use would be the best news of all.
End Of The Road For Newman/Haas
(by Marshall Pruett speedtv.com 12-1-11)
Newman/Haas Racing, one of the most successful teams in open-wheel racing, is closing the its doors.
The Lincolnshire, Il.-based CART, Champ Car and IZOD IndyCar Series team, formed by Carl Haas and the late Paul Newman, joined CART in 1983, went on to take eight championships and won more than 100 wins and poles with drivers like Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Sebastien Bourdais and many others.
NHR, which led Oriol Servia to a fourth-place finish in the 2011 championship and delivered Rookie of the Year honors for James Hinchcliffe, informed its 33 employees on Thursday they would be released effective immediately--with severance pay through December 31st, at which point the team will then close its doors for good.
“The economic climate no longer enables Newman/Haas Racing to participate in open wheel racing at this time,” said Haas, in a statement released by the team. Prior to the team's press release, multiple sources within the team
News shot through the Indy car community quickly on Thursday as many struggled to grasp the loss of one of open-wheel's most tenured teams.
"This is really sad news for me," said Sebastien Bourdais, who won four consecutive Champ Car titles with the team.
"I'm really sad for Carl and Bernie [Haas], and all of the team members. They are like family to me and I can [only] hope the engineers and mechanics find new work immediately. If you look at all the success we had together, and what they did last season with Oriol and James, you know they are some of the best anywhere."
"I don't know if I can say it was expected," Indy car legend Mario Andretti told SPEED.com, "but they tried to hang on as long as they could and it's a shame."
Andretti, who served as NHR's original driver back in 1983, says the loss of the storied team closes another chapter in open-wheel history.
"The only way you can characterize it is this is the end of a wonderful era that included so many wins and wonderful times with Newman/Haas. I will miss the team tremendously."
Hinchcliffe, who has been on the shopping lists of a number of teams and has extremely close ties with Honda, would be a natural fit for the known openings at Honda-powered teams like Rahal Letterman Lanigan and A.J. Foyt Racing.
Servia, who has been silent thus far in the off-season, has commanded interest from a variety of teams, including Andretti Autosport, RLL, Foyt and others.
As the two do not carry significant personal backing, securing an open seat elsewhere would likely require millions in sponsorship dollars.
Although the news of NHR's closure comes as a surprise, it wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cracks in the team's foundation--specifically with its financial footing in the wake of Paul Newman's death late in 2008--led to rumors regarding a possible closure before it eventually answered the bell for 2009.
With existing sponsorship from McDondald's carrying over from 2008 for Rahal's entry, the team signed Robert Doornbos as his teammate, but once the Dutchman's funding ran short, Servia and Alex Lloyd were brought in to fill the void in a car that at times raced without major sponsorship.
Lacking sponsorship for 2010, NHR was thrown a lifeline in the form of Honda driver Hideki Mutoh. Rahal, after finding his own funding to continue, returned to NHR for six races towards the end of the year.
Heading into 2011, it's understood that Bernie Haas made a sizable investment to keep the team on the grid, hoping the strength of a solid two-car effort with Hinchcliffe and Servia would help to attract the sponsors to move NHR's finances from red to black.
Facing the added costs of new cars and equipment for 2012, the team was recently confident a new sponsor it had on the line would secure its immediate future, but once those negotiations fell through, Haas chose to hold out a bit longer in the hopes that another sponsor could be found.
After spending the month of November hunting for money, and with no new leads or potential funding on the horizon, Haas made the hard choice to close the doors.
-------------------
Barnhart Removed From Race Control; Angstadt Departs
(by Robin Miller speedtv.com 11-29-11)
After a season of non-stop controversy, including starting a race in the rain and a lack of consistency in applying on-track penalties, Brian Barnhart has finally been removed from Race Control in INDYCAR.
SPEED can report that Barnhart will be offered to stay on the payroll as president of operations but will no longer have anything to do with the officiating or managing of IZOD IndyCar Series races.
INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard was unavailable for comment but indicated a few weeks ago that some major changes were forthcoming.
In addition to removing Barnhart as chief steward and director of racing, Bernard is also replacing Terry Angstadt with Mark Koretzky, who served as director of business development for IndyCar in 2011.
Angstadt had been president of the commercial division of the IndyCar Series since 2007.
Barnhart and Angstadt were also the last major links to Tony George’s old Indy Racing League regime.
A former mechanic in CART for Roger Penske and Rick Galles who was named director of racing operations by George in 1997, Barnhart had been under fire from drivers, teams and fans the past couple seasons.
From his insistence on spread-out, single-file starts at the Indianapolis 500 and other ovals to judgment calls that drew the ire of veteran drivers like Justin Wilson and Oriol Servia to starting a street race in Baltimore with safety trucks still on the track, Barnhart had lost all respect inside the paddock.
And it all came crashing down last August at Loudon, N.H. when he ordered a restart while it was raining and a pileup ensued that caused major carnage and instant anger.
Will Power, taken out in the accident, raised both middle fingers to Barnhart up in Race Control and declared: “This has got to be it. They cannot have this guy running the show. He makes such bad calls all the time.”
Bernard fined Power and defended Barnhart at the time but knew a change had to be made for 2012 and beyond.
The possible candidates to replace Barnhart are former CART driver Scott Pruett, ALMS chief steward Beaux Barfield and longtime CART team owner Steve Horne, who has maintained all along he’s not interested in a full-time job.
Tony Cotman, the program manager of the new car who ran Race Control in Champ Car before being hired by George to oversee Indy Lights in 2008, would be a logical successor but wants to concentrate on his race track design business.
Angstadt took his position with the IRL after serving as vice president of marketing for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was instrumental in landing IZOD as the title sponsor of IndyCar in 2010.
Before joining IndyCar, Koretsky worked with the NFL as director of operations for multiple Super Bowl committees in Atlanta, Houston and Detroit. He was in charge of the week-long championships last month in Las Vegas, which included a parade of cars down The Strip and various parties and fund raisers.
After a season of non-stop controversy, including starting a race in the rain and a lack of consistency in applying on-track penalties, Brian Barnhart has finally been removed from Race Control in INDYCAR.
SPEED can report that Barnhart will be offered to stay on the payroll as president of operations but will no longer have anything to do with the officiating or managing of IZOD IndyCar Series races.
INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard was unavailable for comment but indicated a few weeks ago that some major changes were forthcoming.
In addition to removing Barnhart as chief steward and director of racing, Bernard is also replacing Terry Angstadt with Mark Koretzky, who served as director of business development for IndyCar in 2011.
Angstadt had been president of the commercial division of the IndyCar Series since 2007.
Barnhart and Angstadt were also the last major links to Tony George’s old Indy Racing League regime.
A former mechanic in CART for Roger Penske and Rick Galles who was named director of racing operations by George in 1997, Barnhart had been under fire from drivers, teams and fans the past couple seasons.
From his insistence on spread-out, single-file starts at the Indianapolis 500 and other ovals to judgment calls that drew the ire of veteran drivers like Justin Wilson and Oriol Servia to starting a street race in Baltimore with safety trucks still on the track, Barnhart had lost all respect inside the paddock.
And it all came crashing down last August at Loudon, N.H. when he ordered a restart while it was raining and a pileup ensued that caused major carnage and instant anger.
Will Power, taken out in the accident, raised both middle fingers to Barnhart up in Race Control and declared: “This has got to be it. They cannot have this guy running the show. He makes such bad calls all the time.”
Bernard fined Power and defended Barnhart at the time but knew a change had to be made for 2012 and beyond.
The possible candidates to replace Barnhart are former CART driver Scott Pruett, ALMS chief steward Beaux Barfield and longtime CART team owner Steve Horne, who has maintained all along he’s not interested in a full-time job.
Tony Cotman, the program manager of the new car who ran Race Control in Champ Car before being hired by George to oversee Indy Lights in 2008, would be a logical successor but wants to concentrate on his race track design business.
Angstadt took his position with the IRL after serving as vice president of marketing for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was instrumental in landing IZOD as the title sponsor of IndyCar in 2010.
Before joining IndyCar, Koretsky worked with the NFL as director of operations for multiple Super Bowl committees in Atlanta, Houston and Detroit. He was in charge of the week-long championships last month in Las Vegas, which included a parade of cars down The Strip and various parties and fund raisers.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Will Power says he's committed to IndyCar Series
(si.com 10-26-11)
Will Power said Wednesday he's committed to IndyCar and believes the series will become much safer from the investigation into Dan Wheldon's fatal accident.
Power was involved in the 15-car accident that killed the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Power's car went airborne in the Oct. 16 accident and hit the wall that had an energy-absorbing SAFER barrier at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In the days after the accident, reports in Power's native Australia indicated he was reconsidering his future in IndyCar, which he said is not the case.
"I am committed, I am staying in IndyCar, simple as that," Power said.
Power suffered a broken vertebra in the accident, his second serious back injury. He also broke two vertebrae in a 2009 crash at Sonoma. The injury will temporarily keep him from testing the 2012 IndyCar, but Penske Racing president Tim Cindric said the driver is mentally ready to get back in the car.
"I think the best medicine for any race car driver is to get him back in the car, get him back to what it is he does," Cindric said. "Obviously, he was very lucky for how it turned out for him. But he's a race car driver, and he's ready to compete.
"Is he ready to test? Ready to go back out? If we had a race tomorrow, he'd be ready to go."
Power expressed confidence IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard will improve overall safety in the series through the investigation into Wheldon's accident.
"I see how committed Randy Bernard is to making it safer, and that gives me confidence," Power said.
The Las Vegas event was the final race for the current IndyCar, and the new model is being tested all winter in preparation for the 2012 season. Power has tested the car and believes the safety improvements on the new model, particularly bolstering the seat and adding foam to soften rear impacts, "probably would have prevented me from breaking my back."
But as one of the drivers who went airborne in the accident, he recognizes how quickly things are taken out of the drivers' control. He recalls with vivid detail every step of the accident, from when he first saw smoke to when he hit the left rear tire of Alex Lloyd's car and "my car took off, went flying, and I remember thinking 'Oh, I'm going to the catchfence; that's not good."'
It was Wheldon, though, who hit the catchfence, and Power could tell immediately it was a serious situation.
"I was happy the car had stopped, I felt fine, I knew I had done some damage to my back," Power said. "And I wasn't really thinking about anything. Then I was just concerned for who was in the car in front of me, I then knew it was Dan and thought 'This is bad.' I could see the concern from the medical guys.
"So, I eventually got out of the car. I went away. I walked off."
He said he has had conflicting emotions in the week after the accident.
"It was so hard, comprehending everything that happened, really, that someone had actually been killed," he said. "It's weird, it's hard and it's tough. It's such a tight-knit community, motorsport, and that's worldwide, and it was honestly a bit of disbelief for a couple days.
"You just can't believe it happened, you just can't believe Dan Wheldon was killed. And then after reality, it sets in, and then it becomes common to you."
Will Power said Wednesday he's committed to IndyCar and believes the series will become much safer from the investigation into Dan Wheldon's fatal accident.
Power was involved in the 15-car accident that killed the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Power's car went airborne in the Oct. 16 accident and hit the wall that had an energy-absorbing SAFER barrier at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In the days after the accident, reports in Power's native Australia indicated he was reconsidering his future in IndyCar, which he said is not the case.
"I am committed, I am staying in IndyCar, simple as that," Power said.
Power suffered a broken vertebra in the accident, his second serious back injury. He also broke two vertebrae in a 2009 crash at Sonoma. The injury will temporarily keep him from testing the 2012 IndyCar, but Penske Racing president Tim Cindric said the driver is mentally ready to get back in the car.
"I think the best medicine for any race car driver is to get him back in the car, get him back to what it is he does," Cindric said. "Obviously, he was very lucky for how it turned out for him. But he's a race car driver, and he's ready to compete.
"Is he ready to test? Ready to go back out? If we had a race tomorrow, he'd be ready to go."
Power expressed confidence IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard will improve overall safety in the series through the investigation into Wheldon's accident.
"I see how committed Randy Bernard is to making it safer, and that gives me confidence," Power said.
The Las Vegas event was the final race for the current IndyCar, and the new model is being tested all winter in preparation for the 2012 season. Power has tested the car and believes the safety improvements on the new model, particularly bolstering the seat and adding foam to soften rear impacts, "probably would have prevented me from breaking my back."
But as one of the drivers who went airborne in the accident, he recognizes how quickly things are taken out of the drivers' control. He recalls with vivid detail every step of the accident, from when he first saw smoke to when he hit the left rear tire of Alex Lloyd's car and "my car took off, went flying, and I remember thinking 'Oh, I'm going to the catchfence; that's not good."'
It was Wheldon, though, who hit the catchfence, and Power could tell immediately it was a serious situation.
"I was happy the car had stopped, I felt fine, I knew I had done some damage to my back," Power said. "And I wasn't really thinking about anything. Then I was just concerned for who was in the car in front of me, I then knew it was Dan and thought 'This is bad.' I could see the concern from the medical guys.
"So, I eventually got out of the car. I went away. I walked off."
He said he has had conflicting emotions in the week after the accident.
"It was so hard, comprehending everything that happened, really, that someone had actually been killed," he said. "It's weird, it's hard and it's tough. It's such a tight-knit community, motorsport, and that's worldwide, and it was honestly a bit of disbelief for a couple days.
"You just can't believe it happened, you just can't believe Dan Wheldon was killed. And then after reality, it sets in, and then it becomes common to you."
IndyCar CEO Bernard revisits 'horrific' week
(si.com 10-26-11)
Randy Bernard knows there are people who blame him for Dan Wheldon's death, who say the IndyCar CEO pushed the series over the edge.
In the 24 hours after the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner was killed in a fiery 15-car accident in the season finale, Bernard wondered if perhaps all the hate mail accusing him of sacrificing safety for the show was right.
"The last week was probably the most horrific week of my life," Bernard told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.
It's been open season on Bernard since the accident, and his silence all last week only intensified the scrutiny on his leadership of the open-wheel series.
Now, nine days later, Bernard is able to publicly talk about Wheldon and the day all his work toward building a spectacular finale went terribly wrong minutes into the race. He still becomes emotional about it, taking a deep breath in his office at IndyCar headquarters as he recalls the controversial decision to cancel the race.
Bernard is focused on moving forward and helping IndyCar through this dark period. He says he never once considered resigning but admits IndyCar is now "in crisis, and we have to get answers."
"In tough times, that's when you have to be focused," Bernard said. "You have to lead, and I know this is a time I have to make sure I am going to be very decisive, very articulate and be a leader. In tough times is where you build your character; it's not in good times."
The second-year CEO was hired to revitalize the series despite no auto racing experience, and that's contributing to blaming Bernard for creating the circumstances that led to Wheldon's death.
He allowed a season-high 34 cars on a high-banked oval, where a field of mixed experience levels had enough room to race three-wide at over 220 mph around Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And he offered a jobless Wheldon the chance to earn a $5 million bonus if he could drive from the back of the field to Victory Lane.
All those elements created a buzz around the race, where Dario Franchitti and Will Power would end their championship battle and superstar Danica Patrick would run her final event as a full-time IndyCar driver. It was everything Bernard had been hired to do when IndyCar lured him away after running Professional Bull Riders for 15 years. He was so confident of improving on the poor TV ratings from the year before that he promised to resign if ABC's broadcast drew anything less than a 0.8 rating. That would have meant that fewer than 1 percent of the nation's homes with televisions watched the race.
Bernard insists he did not sensationalize the inherent danger in auto racing.
"I think anytime we are on any track it's always dangerous - we do as much as we can to make it safe - (and) our storylines were never, 'Come watch this dangerous event!"' he said.
"Our storylines going to Las Vegas were first and foremost 'Come watch Will and Dario fight it out for the world championship.' The No. 2 storyline was Dan Wheldon competing for $5 million starting at the back. Our third storyline was Danica Patrick. ... Our fourth storyline was 34 cars in the race.
"I think none of those, looking back on it, had any type of connotation of any danger. If the race was tomorrow, it would still be the same storylines."
Compelling competition, yes, but with a happy ending.
IndyCar now must look at making sweeping changes. And Bernard is prepared, even eager, to do that.
He called a three-hour driver meeting Monday, and Franchitti, a four-time champion, said there was no sense of anger toward Bernard as the drivers all had a chance to speak. Franchitti also said the CEO earned an immeasurable amount of respect by canceling the race after Wheldon's death when grief-stricken drivers were unable to decide if the show - per tradition - should go on.
Bernard, with such limited auto racing experience, wasn't tied to that etiquette. Instead, he went with his gut.
"I felt that I didn't really care about tradition on this," he said, becoming emotional for the only time in the hour-long interview. "I felt like no driver in their right mind could have a clear head knowing that one of their friends had just died, and I felt this is where I needed to make a stand and say 'No."'
Bernard called instead for a five-lap tribute. Drivers, including Tony Kanaan, Franchitti and Patrick, were seen sobbing as they climbed back into their cockpits.
Bernard took Wheldon's death extremely hard and essentially isolated himself in Las Vegas after the race. "I was numb. I didn't, I was, just numb," he said.
But he went to work immediately. The first step was the driver meeting, followed by a three-hour strategic session with a small focus group to discuss the 2012 car that's supposed to be a tremendous upgrade in safety and technology standards.
"It's been an unfair beating on Randy because nobody singlehandedly makes decisions. I just don't understand the criticism I'm seeing. It's from people unaware of this industry and aiming with the buck-stops-here mentality," said Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage. "But there's no doubt Randy's got his hands full, and it's an ugly situation."
Bernard is hesitant to discuss specifics about Wheldon's death, citing his desire to see what comes from the ongoing investigation. A team of series safety and competition officials is evaluating the data and will use independent experts and consultants for analysis before it's turned over to a third-party group for validation.
"I think everything is premature right now," Bernard said. "I want to see the investigation."
But the questions remain, especially about the $5 million bonus. Without it, Wheldon never would have been in the race.
Originally, the promotion was designed to lure someone from outside the series to the season finale. Bernard had hoped that would be someone such as NASCAR stars Tony Stewart or Juan Pablo Montoya, but in the end only XGames star Travis Pastrana seriously tried to put together a deal. Then Pastrana broke his foot and ankle two days before his scheduled debut in NASCAR's Nationwide Series in Indianapolis, where he was to sign an agreement to run for the $5 million IndyCar bonus.
That left Wheldon. Out of work all season except for his victorious one-off in the Indy 500, Wheldon met the spirit of the promotion because he wasn't a series regular.
He wasn't a slouch, either. Las Vegas was his 134th career start, and he had 16 career victories - 15 on ovals - and on the morning of the race, Wheldon had made a deal with Michael Andretti to replace Patrick full-time next season.
"On the bonus, if you are a professional race car driver, whether you are (ranked) 33rd, 23rd or first, your job is to win," Bernard said. "That's why they race. Every series has bonuses attached to winning, so I am not sure why people say that played a role."
But what if it had been Pastrana? With so many questions swirling about the level of experience in the field, how would Bernard have justified letting Pastrana race at Las Vegas?
"I am not confident Travis Pastrana would have passed the testing required to compete in that race," he said.
According to the contract Pastrana had been presented, a copy of which was obtained by AP, participation in the $5 million challenge required at least three two-day test sessions at Las Vegas and Kentucky Speedways supervised by IndyCar competition director Brian Barnhart and a designated active driver serving as a mentor. If he had passed testing, Pastrana still would have been subjected to a vote of approval from the current IndyCar drivers.
"The drivers themselves had to give him the thumbs up," Bernard said. "If Travis Pastrana didn't pass the test, that doesn't make IndyCar look bad or him look bad, it shows you how difficult it is to be in one of our race cars. Dan Wheldon was experienced in our race cars."
Bernard has a lot of serious issues to address in the six months before the 2012 season opener in St. Petersburg, and he won't speculate on what could be coming until the investigation is complete. There could be changes to the new car, and the 2012 schedule has yet to be fully announced, so he has no idea how many ovals IndyCar could visit next year.
Las Vegas already had been announced as the 2012 season finale, but a return is undecided.
"It's premature to answer anything related to that," Bernard said, "but it's part of IndyCar to race ovals and mile-and-a-halfs."
Franchitti said ovals need to remain on the IndyCar schedule, and the focus should be on making the car more compatible with the tracks. He appreciates Bernard taking a wait-and-see approach. "We need, going forward as a series, we need to improve the safety of the cars vs. the tracks," Franchitti said. "Randy has done a good job for us. I think there's definitely some parts he still doesn't understand, but he's got other people here who understand racing."
Bernard faced criticism this year when some of his ideas - double-file restarts and a random drawing to determine starting position for the second of two dual races at Texas - ran into resistance from the drivers. But he believes he can move the series forward.
"I look at this is a crisis, and I think we have to put this as our top priority," he said. "We have to focus on first the factual determination and second the remedy. That's how we have to look at this."
Randy Bernard knows there are people who blame him for Dan Wheldon's death, who say the IndyCar CEO pushed the series over the edge.
In the 24 hours after the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner was killed in a fiery 15-car accident in the season finale, Bernard wondered if perhaps all the hate mail accusing him of sacrificing safety for the show was right.
"The last week was probably the most horrific week of my life," Bernard told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.
It's been open season on Bernard since the accident, and his silence all last week only intensified the scrutiny on his leadership of the open-wheel series.
Now, nine days later, Bernard is able to publicly talk about Wheldon and the day all his work toward building a spectacular finale went terribly wrong minutes into the race. He still becomes emotional about it, taking a deep breath in his office at IndyCar headquarters as he recalls the controversial decision to cancel the race.
Bernard is focused on moving forward and helping IndyCar through this dark period. He says he never once considered resigning but admits IndyCar is now "in crisis, and we have to get answers."
"In tough times, that's when you have to be focused," Bernard said. "You have to lead, and I know this is a time I have to make sure I am going to be very decisive, very articulate and be a leader. In tough times is where you build your character; it's not in good times."
The second-year CEO was hired to revitalize the series despite no auto racing experience, and that's contributing to blaming Bernard for creating the circumstances that led to Wheldon's death.
He allowed a season-high 34 cars on a high-banked oval, where a field of mixed experience levels had enough room to race three-wide at over 220 mph around Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And he offered a jobless Wheldon the chance to earn a $5 million bonus if he could drive from the back of the field to Victory Lane.
All those elements created a buzz around the race, where Dario Franchitti and Will Power would end their championship battle and superstar Danica Patrick would run her final event as a full-time IndyCar driver. It was everything Bernard had been hired to do when IndyCar lured him away after running Professional Bull Riders for 15 years. He was so confident of improving on the poor TV ratings from the year before that he promised to resign if ABC's broadcast drew anything less than a 0.8 rating. That would have meant that fewer than 1 percent of the nation's homes with televisions watched the race.
Bernard insists he did not sensationalize the inherent danger in auto racing.
"I think anytime we are on any track it's always dangerous - we do as much as we can to make it safe - (and) our storylines were never, 'Come watch this dangerous event!"' he said.
"Our storylines going to Las Vegas were first and foremost 'Come watch Will and Dario fight it out for the world championship.' The No. 2 storyline was Dan Wheldon competing for $5 million starting at the back. Our third storyline was Danica Patrick. ... Our fourth storyline was 34 cars in the race.
"I think none of those, looking back on it, had any type of connotation of any danger. If the race was tomorrow, it would still be the same storylines."
Compelling competition, yes, but with a happy ending.
IndyCar now must look at making sweeping changes. And Bernard is prepared, even eager, to do that.
He called a three-hour driver meeting Monday, and Franchitti, a four-time champion, said there was no sense of anger toward Bernard as the drivers all had a chance to speak. Franchitti also said the CEO earned an immeasurable amount of respect by canceling the race after Wheldon's death when grief-stricken drivers were unable to decide if the show - per tradition - should go on.
Bernard, with such limited auto racing experience, wasn't tied to that etiquette. Instead, he went with his gut.
"I felt that I didn't really care about tradition on this," he said, becoming emotional for the only time in the hour-long interview. "I felt like no driver in their right mind could have a clear head knowing that one of their friends had just died, and I felt this is where I needed to make a stand and say 'No."'
Bernard called instead for a five-lap tribute. Drivers, including Tony Kanaan, Franchitti and Patrick, were seen sobbing as they climbed back into their cockpits.
Bernard took Wheldon's death extremely hard and essentially isolated himself in Las Vegas after the race. "I was numb. I didn't, I was, just numb," he said.
But he went to work immediately. The first step was the driver meeting, followed by a three-hour strategic session with a small focus group to discuss the 2012 car that's supposed to be a tremendous upgrade in safety and technology standards.
"It's been an unfair beating on Randy because nobody singlehandedly makes decisions. I just don't understand the criticism I'm seeing. It's from people unaware of this industry and aiming with the buck-stops-here mentality," said Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage. "But there's no doubt Randy's got his hands full, and it's an ugly situation."
Bernard is hesitant to discuss specifics about Wheldon's death, citing his desire to see what comes from the ongoing investigation. A team of series safety and competition officials is evaluating the data and will use independent experts and consultants for analysis before it's turned over to a third-party group for validation.
"I think everything is premature right now," Bernard said. "I want to see the investigation."
But the questions remain, especially about the $5 million bonus. Without it, Wheldon never would have been in the race.
Originally, the promotion was designed to lure someone from outside the series to the season finale. Bernard had hoped that would be someone such as NASCAR stars Tony Stewart or Juan Pablo Montoya, but in the end only XGames star Travis Pastrana seriously tried to put together a deal. Then Pastrana broke his foot and ankle two days before his scheduled debut in NASCAR's Nationwide Series in Indianapolis, where he was to sign an agreement to run for the $5 million IndyCar bonus.
That left Wheldon. Out of work all season except for his victorious one-off in the Indy 500, Wheldon met the spirit of the promotion because he wasn't a series regular.
He wasn't a slouch, either. Las Vegas was his 134th career start, and he had 16 career victories - 15 on ovals - and on the morning of the race, Wheldon had made a deal with Michael Andretti to replace Patrick full-time next season.
"On the bonus, if you are a professional race car driver, whether you are (ranked) 33rd, 23rd or first, your job is to win," Bernard said. "That's why they race. Every series has bonuses attached to winning, so I am not sure why people say that played a role."
But what if it had been Pastrana? With so many questions swirling about the level of experience in the field, how would Bernard have justified letting Pastrana race at Las Vegas?
"I am not confident Travis Pastrana would have passed the testing required to compete in that race," he said.
According to the contract Pastrana had been presented, a copy of which was obtained by AP, participation in the $5 million challenge required at least three two-day test sessions at Las Vegas and Kentucky Speedways supervised by IndyCar competition director Brian Barnhart and a designated active driver serving as a mentor. If he had passed testing, Pastrana still would have been subjected to a vote of approval from the current IndyCar drivers.
"The drivers themselves had to give him the thumbs up," Bernard said. "If Travis Pastrana didn't pass the test, that doesn't make IndyCar look bad or him look bad, it shows you how difficult it is to be in one of our race cars. Dan Wheldon was experienced in our race cars."
Bernard has a lot of serious issues to address in the six months before the 2012 season opener in St. Petersburg, and he won't speculate on what could be coming until the investigation is complete. There could be changes to the new car, and the 2012 schedule has yet to be fully announced, so he has no idea how many ovals IndyCar could visit next year.
Las Vegas already had been announced as the 2012 season finale, but a return is undecided.
"It's premature to answer anything related to that," Bernard said, "but it's part of IndyCar to race ovals and mile-and-a-halfs."
Franchitti said ovals need to remain on the IndyCar schedule, and the focus should be on making the car more compatible with the tracks. He appreciates Bernard taking a wait-and-see approach. "We need, going forward as a series, we need to improve the safety of the cars vs. the tracks," Franchitti said. "Randy has done a good job for us. I think there's definitely some parts he still doesn't understand, but he's got other people here who understand racing."
Bernard faced criticism this year when some of his ideas - double-file restarts and a random drawing to determine starting position for the second of two dual races at Texas - ran into resistance from the drivers. But he believes he can move the series forward.
"I look at this is a crisis, and I think we have to put this as our top priority," he said. "We have to focus on first the factual determination and second the remedy. That's how we have to look at this."
Pippa Mann defends Las Vegas field
(espn.go.com 10-27-11)
IndyCar rookie Pippa Mann rejects the idea that the drivers in the Las Vegas finale did not have enough experience on ovals.
Mann was one of 15 drivers involved in a fiery accident in which two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed.
"They don't just let people come in off the street and race an IndyCar," Mann said Wednesday.
Las Vegas was Mann's third start in the IndyCar Series, and critics have complained that too many inexperienced drivers in the crowded 34-car field contributed to the accident. Eight of the 34 were rookies.
Mann was behind the accident when it began, one of the many drivers who had nowhere to go when the cars began spinning all over the track.
"There are always going to be rookies. What are we going to do?" said Mann, who had surgery Tuesday in Indianapolis to repair the badly burned pinkie finger on her right hand.
"Everybody has to go through being a rookie. Everybody has to do a first oval."
Las Vegas wasn't Mann's first oval.
She made her IndyCar debut at the Indianapolis 500 in May and finished 20th. She also raced at Kentucky two weeks before the Oct. 16 finale at Las Vegas and spent two seasons in Firestone Indy Lights, the feeder system for IndyCar.
In Indy Lights in 2010, Mann won the pole at Indy, Kentucky and Homestead, all ovals. She had two podium finishes on ovals and won at Kentucky.
Mann also defended Wade Cunningham, who made his fourth career start at Las Vegas and was involved in the accident. The 26-year-old Cunningham had 64 starts in Indy Lights, eight career victories and was the 2005 Indy Lights champion.
"Wade is a champion. We both have experience in a series where the speeds and the car handling are similar enough to (IndyCar)," she said. "The only thing we don't have a great deal of experience in is pit stops and adapting to cold tires."
The IndyCar rule book requires drivers to display "sufficient competitive driving ability and experience as determined by the Senior Official." There is a rookie orientation test -- Mann said she did hers at high-banked Texas Motor Speedway -- and a clause that allows IndyCar to hold a "refresher" test on any driver who has not competed in the last 12 months.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway also holds a second testing program for any rookie driver attempting to run the 500.
Four-time series champion Dario Franchitti did not blame the fatal accident on the varying levels of experience of the field.
"I will say, with rookies, there is a certain level of inexperience, but people at my level can make mistakes, too," he said.
Mann, a 27-year-old from London, was one of three drivers injured in the accident. Will Power suffered a broken vertebra in his back, and JR Hildebrand was treated for a bruised sternum.
She said she saw the accident ahead of her, tried to slow and headed for what she thought was a gap. Instead, Paul Tracy's car ended up in the same space, and Mann ended up airborne, upside down and on fire.
"I started to see it unfolding, but there was just not enough time to knock speed off the car," she said. "Usually when a car spins on an oval track, you head toward the spinning car because it won't be there when you get there. But this time, all you can try to do is aim for the gap. PT was in the gap when I got there."
Photographs of the accident show Mann's car sailing through the air upside down and engulfed in flames. Her car landed upside down, and, unable to open her eyes because of all the dirt and debris in her helmet, she could only wait for safety workers to arrive.
She doesn't have many details about the accident as it unfolded.
"The honest answer is at the point I knew I was going to hit the car, and there was no gap, I just pulled my arms in and shut my eyes," she said. "Nothing I was going to see was going to help me in the future mentally. When the car came to a stop, I just sat there and waited."
Mann suffered severe burns down to her pinkie bone on her right hand, and surgery Tuesday moved nerves, blood vessels, tendon and skin grafts from her hand in an effort to rebuild her pinkie. She's now in an oversized cast, wearing her boyfriends' clothes because hers don't fit over the cast, and asking her mother for help brushing her hair.
Doctors said it will be January before she can get back in a race car. Mann already was looking for funding to run a full season in 2012, which opens in St. Petersburg, Fla., and isn't sure what's next.
"My intention is for (Las Vegas) to not be my last IndyCar race," she said. "I would love to be in St. Pete. I intend to be in St. Pete, and I will work to be ready for St. Pete."
IndyCar rookie Pippa Mann rejects the idea that the drivers in the Las Vegas finale did not have enough experience on ovals.
Mann was one of 15 drivers involved in a fiery accident in which two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed.
"They don't just let people come in off the street and race an IndyCar," Mann said Wednesday.
Las Vegas was Mann's third start in the IndyCar Series, and critics have complained that too many inexperienced drivers in the crowded 34-car field contributed to the accident. Eight of the 34 were rookies.
Mann was behind the accident when it began, one of the many drivers who had nowhere to go when the cars began spinning all over the track.
"There are always going to be rookies. What are we going to do?" said Mann, who had surgery Tuesday in Indianapolis to repair the badly burned pinkie finger on her right hand.
"Everybody has to go through being a rookie. Everybody has to do a first oval."
Las Vegas wasn't Mann's first oval.
She made her IndyCar debut at the Indianapolis 500 in May and finished 20th. She also raced at Kentucky two weeks before the Oct. 16 finale at Las Vegas and spent two seasons in Firestone Indy Lights, the feeder system for IndyCar.
In Indy Lights in 2010, Mann won the pole at Indy, Kentucky and Homestead, all ovals. She had two podium finishes on ovals and won at Kentucky.
Mann also defended Wade Cunningham, who made his fourth career start at Las Vegas and was involved in the accident. The 26-year-old Cunningham had 64 starts in Indy Lights, eight career victories and was the 2005 Indy Lights champion.
"Wade is a champion. We both have experience in a series where the speeds and the car handling are similar enough to (IndyCar)," she said. "The only thing we don't have a great deal of experience in is pit stops and adapting to cold tires."
The IndyCar rule book requires drivers to display "sufficient competitive driving ability and experience as determined by the Senior Official." There is a rookie orientation test -- Mann said she did hers at high-banked Texas Motor Speedway -- and a clause that allows IndyCar to hold a "refresher" test on any driver who has not competed in the last 12 months.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway also holds a second testing program for any rookie driver attempting to run the 500.
Four-time series champion Dario Franchitti did not blame the fatal accident on the varying levels of experience of the field.
"I will say, with rookies, there is a certain level of inexperience, but people at my level can make mistakes, too," he said.
Mann, a 27-year-old from London, was one of three drivers injured in the accident. Will Power suffered a broken vertebra in his back, and JR Hildebrand was treated for a bruised sternum.
She said she saw the accident ahead of her, tried to slow and headed for what she thought was a gap. Instead, Paul Tracy's car ended up in the same space, and Mann ended up airborne, upside down and on fire.
"I started to see it unfolding, but there was just not enough time to knock speed off the car," she said. "Usually when a car spins on an oval track, you head toward the spinning car because it won't be there when you get there. But this time, all you can try to do is aim for the gap. PT was in the gap when I got there."
Photographs of the accident show Mann's car sailing through the air upside down and engulfed in flames. Her car landed upside down, and, unable to open her eyes because of all the dirt and debris in her helmet, she could only wait for safety workers to arrive.
She doesn't have many details about the accident as it unfolded.
"The honest answer is at the point I knew I was going to hit the car, and there was no gap, I just pulled my arms in and shut my eyes," she said. "Nothing I was going to see was going to help me in the future mentally. When the car came to a stop, I just sat there and waited."
Mann suffered severe burns down to her pinkie bone on her right hand, and surgery Tuesday moved nerves, blood vessels, tendon and skin grafts from her hand in an effort to rebuild her pinkie. She's now in an oversized cast, wearing her boyfriends' clothes because hers don't fit over the cast, and asking her mother for help brushing her hair.
Doctors said it will be January before she can get back in a race car. Mann already was looking for funding to run a full season in 2012, which opens in St. Petersburg, Fla., and isn't sure what's next.
"My intention is for (Las Vegas) to not be my last IndyCar race," she said. "I would love to be in St. Pete. I intend to be in St. Pete, and I will work to be ready for St. Pete."
Zanardi hits out at pack racing in IndyCar following Wheldon's death
(by Michele Lostia and Pablo Elizalde autosport.com 10-27-11)
Double Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi has hit out at the pack racing seen in IndyCar after the death of Dan Wheldon in Las Vegas.
Wheldon, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was killed in the IndyCar finale following a 15-car accident in which a few other drivers were injured due to the severity of the crash. The crash took place as the drivers travelled at over 200mph.
"As I often say, it's not speed the cause of such a crash. If anything, it could be an aggravating factor," Zanardi said in an interview with Autosprint magazine.
"My early years of oval racing, up to 1998, were always very dangerous. Back then, setting up the car meant finding a compromise on the car's speed. You would let it slide until the downforce wasn't yet too low in a way that penalises turn speed too much.
"It was drift driving, and tyre degradation was an important parameter. If a driver crashed against the wall, it was usually his own mistake after he had underestimated these factors.
"Nowadays, instead, driving has become too easy. At turn entry, mid turn, and turn exit, the car is attached to the road surface. In the name of safety - in principle it was even right - the intention was to slow down the cars by giving them an exaggerated amount of downforce, and therefore high drag.
"The result was that, in order to find speed, you now see set-ups with the front being 7cm higher than the rear to lessen the wing's influence! This is nonsense, but it's a necessity to beat the stop watch."
Although Zanardi did not race in the Indy Racing League-sanctioned IndyCar Series, he competed on the high-banked superspeedways in Champ Car - including during the Handford wing era when the Michigan and Fontana events featured non-stop slipstreaming between cars, the closest Champ Car came to the current style of IndyCar pack racing.
"At the beginning of 1998, the Handford wing was introduced in our series. It was a sort of an L-shaped Gurney flap attached backwards, and it was supposed to slow down the cars by generating drag. After the first race I, Michael Andretti and Greg Moore were literally assaulted by enthusiastic journalists who would say what a great race it was, what spectacle.
"We looked at each other and, without having agreed beforehand, we replied simultaneously: 'Have you seen the same race as us?'
"For us it had been crap: with the Handford you couldn't open up a gap to your rival anymore.
"Our job wasn't to race anymore, it was to wait to catch the final slipstream. No more talent, just strategy and that's it. In the long term, this has made the Indy audience fall out of love too.
"At Las Vegas it wasn't a race between drivers anymore. It was a pack of cars moving all together, bunched up with no chance of breaking off. Now, when you race for five minutes with your rival right next to your side, at the point that you notice if his sponsor stickers are not straight, when it's too easy do drive even on the outside line...
"At that point it's like driving with a tutor. An obscenely idiotic thing, because then you distract yourself for not concentrating enough. After a while, even if you are travelling at 340 km/h, you don't realise it anymore."
Zanardi, who lost both his legs in an accident during his Champ Car career, thinks driver standards are also lowered by pack racing.
"In my times, if you went racing on a road course, Paul Tracy would bang wheels regardless when you got by his side," he said. "Instead at Michigan, a super-quick track, he would have enormous respect for anyone.
"With these cars, instead, you drive by always keeping the inside white line as your reference, just because that's the shortest line; the car is glued to the track anyway. But I prefer to race with 1,000 bhp while having to manage the car, instead of nowadays' 650 bhp and these absurd levels of grip."
Double Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi has hit out at the pack racing seen in IndyCar after the death of Dan Wheldon in Las Vegas.
Wheldon, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was killed in the IndyCar finale following a 15-car accident in which a few other drivers were injured due to the severity of the crash. The crash took place as the drivers travelled at over 200mph.
"As I often say, it's not speed the cause of such a crash. If anything, it could be an aggravating factor," Zanardi said in an interview with Autosprint magazine.
"My early years of oval racing, up to 1998, were always very dangerous. Back then, setting up the car meant finding a compromise on the car's speed. You would let it slide until the downforce wasn't yet too low in a way that penalises turn speed too much.
"It was drift driving, and tyre degradation was an important parameter. If a driver crashed against the wall, it was usually his own mistake after he had underestimated these factors.
"Nowadays, instead, driving has become too easy. At turn entry, mid turn, and turn exit, the car is attached to the road surface. In the name of safety - in principle it was even right - the intention was to slow down the cars by giving them an exaggerated amount of downforce, and therefore high drag.
"The result was that, in order to find speed, you now see set-ups with the front being 7cm higher than the rear to lessen the wing's influence! This is nonsense, but it's a necessity to beat the stop watch."
Although Zanardi did not race in the Indy Racing League-sanctioned IndyCar Series, he competed on the high-banked superspeedways in Champ Car - including during the Handford wing era when the Michigan and Fontana events featured non-stop slipstreaming between cars, the closest Champ Car came to the current style of IndyCar pack racing.
"At the beginning of 1998, the Handford wing was introduced in our series. It was a sort of an L-shaped Gurney flap attached backwards, and it was supposed to slow down the cars by generating drag. After the first race I, Michael Andretti and Greg Moore were literally assaulted by enthusiastic journalists who would say what a great race it was, what spectacle.
"We looked at each other and, without having agreed beforehand, we replied simultaneously: 'Have you seen the same race as us?'
"For us it had been crap: with the Handford you couldn't open up a gap to your rival anymore.
"Our job wasn't to race anymore, it was to wait to catch the final slipstream. No more talent, just strategy and that's it. In the long term, this has made the Indy audience fall out of love too.
"At Las Vegas it wasn't a race between drivers anymore. It was a pack of cars moving all together, bunched up with no chance of breaking off. Now, when you race for five minutes with your rival right next to your side, at the point that you notice if his sponsor stickers are not straight, when it's too easy do drive even on the outside line...
"At that point it's like driving with a tutor. An obscenely idiotic thing, because then you distract yourself for not concentrating enough. After a while, even if you are travelling at 340 km/h, you don't realise it anymore."
Zanardi, who lost both his legs in an accident during his Champ Car career, thinks driver standards are also lowered by pack racing.
"In my times, if you went racing on a road course, Paul Tracy would bang wheels regardless when you got by his side," he said. "Instead at Michigan, a super-quick track, he would have enormous respect for anyone.
"With these cars, instead, you drive by always keeping the inside white line as your reference, just because that's the shortest line; the car is glued to the track anyway. But I prefer to race with 1,000 bhp while having to manage the car, instead of nowadays' 650 bhp and these absurd levels of grip."
2012 IndyCar Dallara to be called DW12 to honour Dan Wheldon
(by Michele Lostia and Pablo Elizalde autosport.com 10-26-11)
Dallara has confirmed its 2012 IndyCar single-seater will be called DW12 to honour the memory of the late Dan Wheldon.
The Briton, who was killed during the IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas, had helped develop the new car from the Italian manufacturer before his fatal accident.
"As a homage to the work he (Wheldon) did, we've decided to dedicate the 2012 IndyCar Dallara to him, and from today it will be called the DW12," Gian Paolo Dallara told Autosprint magazine.
Dallara also rubbished suggestions that Wheldon was taking unnecessary risks to win the race and the prize money at offer.
"That's shameless rubbish," he said. "Wheldon was a professional racing driver, not a daredevil. He had a sense of limit. He knew perfectly well that he couldn't win that race.
"In Kentucky, in a similar situation, he started last and finished 15th. And besides, he had just agreed with Team Andretti to race for them in 2012, so he had nothing to prove to anyone."
Dallara has confirmed its 2012 IndyCar single-seater will be called DW12 to honour the memory of the late Dan Wheldon.
The Briton, who was killed during the IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas, had helped develop the new car from the Italian manufacturer before his fatal accident.
"As a homage to the work he (Wheldon) did, we've decided to dedicate the 2012 IndyCar Dallara to him, and from today it will be called the DW12," Gian Paolo Dallara told Autosprint magazine.
Dallara also rubbished suggestions that Wheldon was taking unnecessary risks to win the race and the prize money at offer.
"That's shameless rubbish," he said. "Wheldon was a professional racing driver, not a daredevil. He had a sense of limit. He knew perfectly well that he couldn't win that race.
"In Kentucky, in a similar situation, he started last and finished 15th. And besides, he had just agreed with Team Andretti to race for them in 2012, so he had nothing to prove to anyone."
Franchitti: We should still race on ovals, but make them safer
(by Simon Strang autosport.com 10-26-11)
Four-time IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti believes ovals should remain on the category's schedule in the future as the investigation into the 15-car crash during the Las Vegas finale that led to Dan Wheldon's death continues.
Franchitti was critical of the decision to run the event on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motorspeedway venue at the time because the nature of the track led to close proximity racing with little or no margin for error. But he insists that oval racing is part of the fabric of the sport and should not be discarded altogether.
"I love the fact that the IndyCar series is the mix of all the disciplines and to win the championship, you've got to be strong at all of them," the Scot said in an interview with AP. "So we've got to be on ovals, and it's got to be safe. It's got to be a lot safer."
"You can always look back with hindsight, but we've raced on the 1.5-mile ovals before," Franchitti added. "With the information they had, I think they believed what they were doing was right. Going back now, I wouldn't do it, because we know the result."
Franchitti also supported IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard's decision to call off the race in the aftermath of the accident.
"He [Bernard] made absolutely the right choice," Franchitti said. "Especially when I got back in the car and I realised how emotional I was there, and I thought 'Absolutely right decision.' I think most of us couldn't drive because the tears, we couldn't see where we were going.
"The drivers were very concerned. Each person was very confused, and Randy, ultimately, he really as a leader did a good job and took the decision out of our hands.
"You cannot blame one person for this. Motor racing is not safe. We've known that since I started racing, and I don't think we're being cavalier in saying that. But we have to move on, look at what we do now.
"We are going to look at all those elements and try and take as many of them out of the equation, to do whatever we can to make this as safe as we possibly can."
Bernard himself he had no doubts in his mind about the right course of action in the events that immediately followed the accident: "I felt that I didn't really care about tradition on this," said Bernard. "I felt like no driver in their right mind could have a clear head knowing that one of their friends had just died, and I felt this is where I needed to make a stand and say 'No.'"
Franchitti will get his first taste of the new-for-2012 Dallara set to be named in honour of Wheldon - who led the development driving of the project - when he tests it at Sebring on Wednesday.
Asked whether he'd considered his own future in the sport following the death of his friend and former team-mate, Franchitti replied: "I've definitely wondered if it's worth it," he said. "But I believe I still want to race."
Four-time IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti believes ovals should remain on the category's schedule in the future as the investigation into the 15-car crash during the Las Vegas finale that led to Dan Wheldon's death continues.
Franchitti was critical of the decision to run the event on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motorspeedway venue at the time because the nature of the track led to close proximity racing with little or no margin for error. But he insists that oval racing is part of the fabric of the sport and should not be discarded altogether.
"I love the fact that the IndyCar series is the mix of all the disciplines and to win the championship, you've got to be strong at all of them," the Scot said in an interview with AP. "So we've got to be on ovals, and it's got to be safe. It's got to be a lot safer."
"You can always look back with hindsight, but we've raced on the 1.5-mile ovals before," Franchitti added. "With the information they had, I think they believed what they were doing was right. Going back now, I wouldn't do it, because we know the result."
Franchitti also supported IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard's decision to call off the race in the aftermath of the accident.
"He [Bernard] made absolutely the right choice," Franchitti said. "Especially when I got back in the car and I realised how emotional I was there, and I thought 'Absolutely right decision.' I think most of us couldn't drive because the tears, we couldn't see where we were going.
"The drivers were very concerned. Each person was very confused, and Randy, ultimately, he really as a leader did a good job and took the decision out of our hands.
"You cannot blame one person for this. Motor racing is not safe. We've known that since I started racing, and I don't think we're being cavalier in saying that. But we have to move on, look at what we do now.
"We are going to look at all those elements and try and take as many of them out of the equation, to do whatever we can to make this as safe as we possibly can."
Bernard himself he had no doubts in his mind about the right course of action in the events that immediately followed the accident: "I felt that I didn't really care about tradition on this," said Bernard. "I felt like no driver in their right mind could have a clear head knowing that one of their friends had just died, and I felt this is where I needed to make a stand and say 'No.'"
Franchitti will get his first taste of the new-for-2012 Dallara set to be named in honour of Wheldon - who led the development driving of the project - when he tests it at Sebring on Wednesday.
Asked whether he'd considered his own future in the sport following the death of his friend and former team-mate, Franchitti replied: "I've definitely wondered if it's worth it," he said. "But I believe I still want to race."
Power diagnosed with a compression fracture after Vegas accident
(by Pablo Elizalde autosport.com 10-25-11)
Will Power has been diagnosed with a compression fracture following the accident he was involved in during the Las Vegas IndyCar event.
The Australian underwent further tests in Indianapolis on Monday as he was experiencing back pains following the crash, despite being released from hospital with no evidence of significant injuries following the accident.
On Monday, however, series orthopedic specialist Dr. Terry Trammell determined that Power suffered a compression fracture of his fourth thoracic vertebra.
Power is expected to recover from the injury with rest and rehabilitation.
Fellow IndyCar driver Pippa Mann, meanwhile, will undergo surgery today to rebuild the right side of her hand she injured in the same crash.
"Need replacement blood vessels, nerves, stealing a tendon from my wrist and a skin graft," she explained on her Twitter account.
Will Power has been diagnosed with a compression fracture following the accident he was involved in during the Las Vegas IndyCar event.
The Australian underwent further tests in Indianapolis on Monday as he was experiencing back pains following the crash, despite being released from hospital with no evidence of significant injuries following the accident.
On Monday, however, series orthopedic specialist Dr. Terry Trammell determined that Power suffered a compression fracture of his fourth thoracic vertebra.
Power is expected to recover from the injury with rest and rehabilitation.
Fellow IndyCar driver Pippa Mann, meanwhile, will undergo surgery today to rebuild the right side of her hand she injured in the same crash.
"Need replacement blood vessels, nerves, stealing a tendon from my wrist and a skin graft," she explained on her Twitter account.
Drivers hail 'productive' meeting with IndyCar bosses
(autosport.com 10-25-11)
Four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti said he was positive following a meeting between drivers and series bosses on Monday.
IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard invited drivers for a meeting following the death of Dan Wheldon on October 16.
Both parties exchanged ideas on issues such as safety and promotion during the three-hour meeting, which Franchitti labelled as productive.
"We all got to talk a lot, listen a lot and just look at going forward how do we improve things really in all areas," said Franchitti.
"I think it was a very positive and productive meeting and that is the first step today.
"There's still a lot of heavy hearts but everybody is very positive and everybody had ideas. We're all on the same page; we're all trying to improve things.
"It obviously was a massive shock what happened to Dan last week and we saw with the MotoGP as well that racing is a dangerous business. We're trying to make it as safe as possible; that's always been the goal."
2004 IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan said the series was moving in the right direction in trying to improve safety even further.
"We're heading in the right direction," the Kanaan. "(The meeting is) not something that is being done because something happened now. We set the standards. IndyCar created the soft walls so we're always going to set the standards. We're just trying to make it better.
"What people have to understand is that we're not going to make motor racing 100 percent safe. That's the fact. We're the lab and hopefully we can make it better, make it safer, but we'll never make it 100 per cent safe."
Four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti said he was positive following a meeting between drivers and series bosses on Monday.
IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard invited drivers for a meeting following the death of Dan Wheldon on October 16.
Both parties exchanged ideas on issues such as safety and promotion during the three-hour meeting, which Franchitti labelled as productive.
"We all got to talk a lot, listen a lot and just look at going forward how do we improve things really in all areas," said Franchitti.
"I think it was a very positive and productive meeting and that is the first step today.
"There's still a lot of heavy hearts but everybody is very positive and everybody had ideas. We're all on the same page; we're all trying to improve things.
"It obviously was a massive shock what happened to Dan last week and we saw with the MotoGP as well that racing is a dangerous business. We're trying to make it as safe as possible; that's always been the goal."
2004 IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan said the series was moving in the right direction in trying to improve safety even further.
"We're heading in the right direction," the Kanaan. "(The meeting is) not something that is being done because something happened now. We set the standards. IndyCar created the soft walls so we're always going to set the standards. We're just trying to make it better.
"What people have to understand is that we're not going to make motor racing 100 percent safe. That's the fact. We're the lab and hopefully we can make it better, make it safer, but we'll never make it 100 per cent safe."
Wheldon crash investigation by IndyCar continues
(by Jamie O'Leary autosport.com 10-25-11)
IndyCar is continuing to investigate the cause of the 15-car crash that led to the death of Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this month.
A two-stage investigation is already underway into the accident, that also caused injuries to a number of drivers; including Will Power, Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand.
"We must continue to move forward with a thorough investigation," said IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard.
"Fortunately, that has already begun, and we have the protocols in place to get this done. This was a tragic accident, and IndyCar needs to understand everything possible about it."
The first phase of the investigation is already underway, with an internal team of safety and competition officials evaluating data from the accident data recorders and accelerometers of the 15 cars involved.
An analysis of all the cars involved, of the personal safety equipment used, of photos, videos and timing and scoring data from the accident and its aftermath and the post-incident reports from race control and track safety crews.
Stage two of the investigation will use the findings of stage one to influence future safety procedures in IndyCar racing in a bid to minimise risks.
IndyCar is continuing to investigate the cause of the 15-car crash that led to the death of Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this month.
A two-stage investigation is already underway into the accident, that also caused injuries to a number of drivers; including Will Power, Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand.
"We must continue to move forward with a thorough investigation," said IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard.
"Fortunately, that has already begun, and we have the protocols in place to get this done. This was a tragic accident, and IndyCar needs to understand everything possible about it."
The first phase of the investigation is already underway, with an internal team of safety and competition officials evaluating data from the accident data recorders and accelerometers of the 15 cars involved.
An analysis of all the cars involved, of the personal safety equipment used, of photos, videos and timing and scoring data from the accident and its aftermath and the post-incident reports from race control and track safety crews.
Stage two of the investigation will use the findings of stage one to influence future safety procedures in IndyCar racing in a bid to minimise risks.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Tony Stewart says criticism of IndyCar safety is unfair
(by Diego Mejia autosport.com 10-22-11)
Tony Stewart has defended the IndyCar Series and says the criticism its officials are receiving following the death of Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas last weekend is unfair.
Stewart won the 1997 title in what was then known as the Indy Racing League, and believes many have voiced emotional opinions after 33-year-old Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a multi-car incident early in the series finale last Sunday.
He underlined that despite racing now being safer than ever, danger will always be a part of the sport and is something drivers have always lived with.
Stewart does not believe anyone should be held responsible for what happened last Sunday as such incidents are part of the sport.
"[IndyCar chief] Randy Bernard has been getting beat up over it and he shouldn't," said Stewart. "It's part of racing, it's part of what can happen.
"Everybody is a back chair quarterback going 'no we should do this or shouldn't do that'. It's racing; I mean it's always been racing. Auto racing as a whole is safer than it's ever been.
"It still boils down to the people that are steering the cars around. It's not that the cars are unsafe, there's still people that tell the cars where to go so we've got to take responsibility. There is no reason for anybody to point fault anywhere. There's no fault in it. It's racing.
"Racing has always been dangerous. That's why people come to watch races because there is an element of danger involved. You're never going to get it all out but like we said it's safer than it's ever been. It's a freak thing that happened and it can happen every race.
"I think everybody has got to take a deep breath and let the emotions settle down. Everybody is obviously thinking about Dan and his family, his wife and two children, there's a lot of great charity stuff coming up to help them out which we are really proud to be a part of but I think everybody has to take a step back from it and realise this is auto racing.
"It's always been dangerous but everybody still does it. If it was so bad none of us would want to do this but we still love doing this every week and it's just part of the sport unfortunately. It's never going to be 100 per cent safe."
The two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion believes IndyCar racing has been gaining momentum recently and he remains a fan of the series competing on ovals - which formed the entire schedule in Stewart's IRL days.
Earlier this week his NASCAR colleague Jimmie Johnson said IndyCar should not race on ovals, although he later clarified he was referring to high-banked ovals like Las Vegas and Texas.
"They had 34 cars at Vegas, that's an incredible field," said Stewart about Sunday's race. "That's the biggest field I've seen in years.
"I think that's a sign that they're gaining a little bit and I hope they are. I'm a big fan of IndyCar racing. I always have been and I always will. I prefer to watch them on the ovals versus the road courses. I've always been a fan of it."
Stewart said the reasons for him not racing an IndyCar again since he last competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 2001 are not related with any safety concerns he may have but more with how the competitive nature of the series has evolved over the last decade, making it harder to have any successful one-off attempts for non-regulars.
"The hard thing is that series has got really competitive," said Stewart. "You aren't just going to go show up and drop in one and be up to speed right away. That's why it makes it so hard to go do something like that. It would be like trying to go run a top fuel dragster next week. I've never done it and it's going to take you a while to get used to something like that.
"The reason we don't do it isn't even remotely safety issue-wise, it's just time-wise and if you're going to do it you want to be competitive doing it. You want to make sure when you show up at a race you're competitive and ready to go."
Stewart and Johnson will donate their helmets from this weekend's race at Talladega for auction in benefit of the Wheldon Family Trust.
Tony Stewart has defended the IndyCar Series and says the criticism its officials are receiving following the death of Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas last weekend is unfair.
Stewart won the 1997 title in what was then known as the Indy Racing League, and believes many have voiced emotional opinions after 33-year-old Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a multi-car incident early in the series finale last Sunday.
He underlined that despite racing now being safer than ever, danger will always be a part of the sport and is something drivers have always lived with.
Stewart does not believe anyone should be held responsible for what happened last Sunday as such incidents are part of the sport.
"[IndyCar chief] Randy Bernard has been getting beat up over it and he shouldn't," said Stewart. "It's part of racing, it's part of what can happen.
"Everybody is a back chair quarterback going 'no we should do this or shouldn't do that'. It's racing; I mean it's always been racing. Auto racing as a whole is safer than it's ever been.
"It still boils down to the people that are steering the cars around. It's not that the cars are unsafe, there's still people that tell the cars where to go so we've got to take responsibility. There is no reason for anybody to point fault anywhere. There's no fault in it. It's racing.
"Racing has always been dangerous. That's why people come to watch races because there is an element of danger involved. You're never going to get it all out but like we said it's safer than it's ever been. It's a freak thing that happened and it can happen every race.
"I think everybody has got to take a deep breath and let the emotions settle down. Everybody is obviously thinking about Dan and his family, his wife and two children, there's a lot of great charity stuff coming up to help them out which we are really proud to be a part of but I think everybody has to take a step back from it and realise this is auto racing.
"It's always been dangerous but everybody still does it. If it was so bad none of us would want to do this but we still love doing this every week and it's just part of the sport unfortunately. It's never going to be 100 per cent safe."
The two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion believes IndyCar racing has been gaining momentum recently and he remains a fan of the series competing on ovals - which formed the entire schedule in Stewart's IRL days.
Earlier this week his NASCAR colleague Jimmie Johnson said IndyCar should not race on ovals, although he later clarified he was referring to high-banked ovals like Las Vegas and Texas.
"They had 34 cars at Vegas, that's an incredible field," said Stewart about Sunday's race. "That's the biggest field I've seen in years.
"I think that's a sign that they're gaining a little bit and I hope they are. I'm a big fan of IndyCar racing. I always have been and I always will. I prefer to watch them on the ovals versus the road courses. I've always been a fan of it."
Stewart said the reasons for him not racing an IndyCar again since he last competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 2001 are not related with any safety concerns he may have but more with how the competitive nature of the series has evolved over the last decade, making it harder to have any successful one-off attempts for non-regulars.
"The hard thing is that series has got really competitive," said Stewart. "You aren't just going to go show up and drop in one and be up to speed right away. That's why it makes it so hard to go do something like that. It would be like trying to go run a top fuel dragster next week. I've never done it and it's going to take you a while to get used to something like that.
"The reason we don't do it isn't even remotely safety issue-wise, it's just time-wise and if you're going to do it you want to be competitive doing it. You want to make sure when you show up at a race you're competitive and ready to go."
Stewart and Johnson will donate their helmets from this weekend's race at Talladega for auction in benefit of the Wheldon Family Trust.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
A Driver’s Death Raises Questions About IndyCar’s Leader
(by Ken Belson and Jerry Garrett nytimes.com 10-22-11)
In the wake of Dan Wheldon’s death at a race in Las Vegas last Sunday, IndyCar officials have been all but silent. No formal statements, beyond an expression of regret and a pledge to investigate themselves. Certainly no news conferences to answer questions about the propriety of the race, which was held at a fast track not truly built to stage such an event.
The IndyCar officials, after canceling their suddenly pointless championship banquet, left Las Vegas, trailing bitterness and finger-pointing.
“This wasn’t even our event,” said Jeff Motley, a communications director for Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which leased its track to IndyCar for the fatal race. “But they’ve left us to be the only ones to answer for this. There is such a thing as Crisis Management 101. And they flunked it.”
IndyCar racing, in truth, had been in some degree of crisis for more than a decade — attendance at races had slid, television ratings had fallen and a stream of drivers and fans had abandoned the sport for the more prosperous Nascar circuit.
Randy Bernard, a former chief executive of the Professional Bull Riders, had been signed up as chief executive last year to end the larger crisis. And the Las Vegas event — complete with glitzy promotions and a race featuring a multimillion-dollar bonus for Wheldon if he could pull off the feat of winning the race after willingly starting in last position — was going to be Bernard’s masterstroke.
Bernard’s unfamiliarity with racing had been seen as an asset of sorts by those who hired him. He had been unburdened by the infighting and litany of strategic and marketing mistakes that had plagued the sport. Having turned bull riding into an international success, Bernard had spent his first year and a half atop IndyCar using his prodigious work ethic and showmanship to try to revive a sport whose heyday went out with the Nixon Era.
While he knew little about racing when he arrived, Bernard understood that fans love danger, speed and a spectacle, his formula for success at the Professional Bull Riders. Instead of seeing cowboys get tossed and gored by bucking bulls, fans would come out to watch drivers hit speeds of 220 miles per hour, one snap decision from peril.
Despite some grumbling by many IndyCar followers, many people at IndyCar embraced their new leader. In his short tenure, Bernard had signed big-ticket sponsors, added a popular street race and new car designs, and stanched the slide in attendance and television ratings. Eager to shake things up, Bernard worked his Rolodex relentlessly, regularly held predawn conference calls and fired off e-mails while others were asleep.
“Racing, for all the talk of how advanced it is, is pretty stale,” said Bobby Rahal, the three-time series champion who co-owns a racing team and is president of the Road Racing Drivers Club, which mentors young drivers. “Randy has brought a different look because he hasn’t been in the sport. He thinks outside the motor racing box.”
Las Vegas, then, was Bernard’s different look. IndyCar had not raced there in years, but Bernard had struck gold in Vegas with the bull riders, holding an annual extravaganza in the city. To better manage things, Bernard leased the track and promoted the race on his own. He somehow persuaded local officials and businessmen to allow him to have the Vegas strip shut down so the racers could drive their cars past the throngs of tourists at the hotels and casinos.
He also persuaded Wheldon, the Indy 500 champion who had driven just a few times this year, to race for a $5 million bonus that would be split with a randomly chosen fan. Several drivers complained that the prize was more than the pool for the rest of the field. Yet Bernard was so confident the event would be a success, he staked his job on it, saying he would resign if the event did not do better than last year’s finale.
When the dust settled, Wheldon, a beloved driver and a handsome, articulate face of the sport, was dead. IndyCar has pledged to investigate what one historian called the biggest crash in the sport’s 100-year existence. Reforms may follow, though they are unlikely to include a wholesale reinvention of the sport.
A spokeswoman for IndyCar would not say whether Bernard would make good on his promise and resign. Several executives of the sport have urged caution about rushing to conclusions about blame or reforms; others did not want to speculate while still grieving for Wheldon.
What is clear, though, is that emotions remain raw. Some racing executives who were skeptical of Bernard’s tactics are mulling his ouster, while others are considering keeping him on a shorter leash. Competitors like Tomas Scheckter claim that the drivers need to stand firm against what he regards as Bernard’s reckless efforts to create more exciting races.
There are, though, still significant forces in the sport that for the moment remain supportive of Bernard. After years of turmoil in the sport, they are wary of starting over. They include legends like Mario Andretti, who says he does not blame Bernard for Wheldon’s death and sees no use in adding to the turmoil by replacing him.
The promotion Wheldon participated in, he said, was not a factor in the crash. Besides, Bernard — who declined to speak for this article — was only doing the job he was asked to do, which was to find novel ways to breathe life into the sport.
“We all want more promotions, more publicity,” Andretti said.
Old Issues
The roots of the sport’s problems stretch back decades. As in other racing circuits, Indy car drivers, racing teams, speedway owners, promoters and others form factions and hold grudges that can sabotage even simple decisions. The bickering was so fierce it led to the splintering of the sport that effectively ended its prominence as the top racing circuit in the United States, creating an opening that Nascar ultimately filled.
In 1979, Indy car teams and drivers, eager for a greater say in the sport’s business, split from the United States Auto Club sanctioning body and formed their own series. Eventually, track promoters — except those of the Indianapolis 500, which remained loyal to the Club — gave the new series more say in scheduling and how purses and television money were divided. The breakaway drivers could still race at Indy, but the 500 was not part of their new series.
Initially called Championship Auto Racing Teams, the CART series grew steadily during the next 15 years. The series began replacing some of the sport’s traditional oval tracks with more lucrative stops at road courses and city street circuits.
In 1989, the heirs of the longtime Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman handed control of the famed Brickyard to Hulman’s grandson, the young, untested Tony George. CART soon ran afoul of the enigmatic George, who objected to what he saw as an excessively foreign flavor of the slate of competitors that CART promoted. George wanted more opportunities for homegrown American talent, and a return to the sport’s oval racing roots. He also felt rich car owners had too much say, and wanted to give track operators and small teams a greater voice.
George reportedly pumped untold millions of dollars of his family’s fortune into teams, events, race track construction and television packages. But the sport’s civil war made it hard for either series to prosper because it forced fans, broadcasters, sponsors and other players to choose sides.
While Nascar has raced into the mainstream, huge patches of empty seats at Indy car races are now the norm, schedules have been shortened and old standing-room sections reduced or eliminated. And while Nascar is a staple on network television, Indy car races are harder to find, often consigned to lesser-known channels. Some of the top Indy car drivers have left or are leaving for Nascar, including Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick.
Sponsors routinely pay $30 million to sponsor a top Nascar driver, about three times more than what they will spend on an Indy car, according to Zak Brown, the chief executive of Just Marketing International, which brokers sponsorships in motor sports. Nascar drivers also typically have about twice as many sponsors for their cars, he said.
By 2008, the two struggling factions in Indy car racing finally agreed to reunite, with Tony George in charge. Within a year, however, George’s sister, Josie, reportedly engineered a boardroom coup that led to his ouster.
Bernard, who had been named one of the country’s top young sports executives, was hired.
From Bulls to Racecars
In sports and business circles, Bernard’s rise is the stuff of legend. He grew up on a working ranch in Monterey County, Calif., and from an early age helped out at his family’s farm and pitched in at the fairgrounds, which his grandfather ran.
Bernard studied agricultural business management for a few years in California, but left before graduating to work promoting the California Mid State Fair. It was there that he met Cody Lambert, who was riding in the rodeo. Impressed with his work ethic and creativity, Lambert and his friends and colleagues recruited Bernard, then 28, to run the Professional Bull Riders.
When Bernard came on board in 1995, he had no more than a table, a telephone and instructions from Lambert to “take us to the next level.” Lambert recalls telling Bernard to set a goal of bringing in at least $50,000 in new business so he would at least get paid. Things were so tight that one executive groused about the $300 Bernard had spent for a proper desk and chair.
“But pretty soon, we had three floors in that building and 100 employees,” said Lambert, who is now the livestock director for the P.B.R. “He’s very creative and he’s willing to outwork everyone.”
Bernard turned bull riding into a show, and made many riders rich in the process. Grand openings — including pyrotechnics and loud music — were added, television contracts were signed and a $1 million bonus was given to the circuit’s champion. More than 20 riders have earned more than $1 million and, through the wonders of television and showmanship, they were turned into modern-day gladiators. Even the bulls became superstars.
Bernard was seemingly everywhere, selling a sport that he unashamedly said relied on danger as one of its attractions. Something of an urban cowboy, he traveled the country in snappy suits and a Stetson hat meeting sponsors and television executives. He kept working despite needing neck surgery. A colleague had to take him to the hospital to take care of some blood clots.
The hard work paid off. In 2007, Spire Capital, an investment firm in New York, bought into P.B.R., making multi-millionaires out of the original founders. Wayne Gretzky and John Elway later invested in the group.
If Bernard had a fault, Lambert said, it was trying to do too much.
Starting Fast
True to form, Bernard wasted no time getting to work at IndyCar. He spent months talking with the key players, absorbing as much as he could about a sport he hardly knew. At one breakfast meeting, Rahal jokingly told Bernard that “you must feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose.”
Bernard not only had to get up to speed on a blizzard of technical issues, he also had to navigate IndyCar’s byzantine politics.
“In Indy car racing, it’s like the Middle East,” said Eddie Gossage, the president of Texas Motor Speedway. “There are so many factions and cultures, so you can’t possibly understand it.”
But as he did at P.B.R., Bernard eagerly tried new things to see what worked. He took Gossage’s advice and split the annual race in Texas into two 275-mile events, even though some drivers complained about how they were positioned to start the second race.
Bernard, too, lopped off races at tracks where attendance lagged, including at Watkins Glen, N.Y., and restored a race at Belle Isle in Detroit. He is exploring the possibility of racing in China.
Recently, IndyCar made a splash in Baltimore, which hosted the first of five annual street races this year. In these events, cars race through downtown streets.
Though the event drew larger-than-expected crowds, it did not turn a profit because of the initial investments in street paving, barriers and so on. Some local businesses objected to dozens of trees being removed to make way for the course. Others complained that the city should not be spending precious dollars on paving projects.
“But Randy realizes that the street events are important because instead of trying to attract people to the middle of nowhere, you’re putting your product in the middle of the city,” said Jay Davidson, president of the Baltimore Grand Prix. “You feel like you’re in good hands with him at the helm.”
Under Bernard’s watch, Lotus and Chevrolet have announced plans to join Honda as engine suppliers, and a safer new chassis for the cars has been developed. The new design features bumpers, partly enclosed wheels and a reinforced cockpit.
When needed, Bernard has done damage control, too. This year, Firestone, a major sponsor and tire supplier, let its deal with IndyCar lapse. Bernard raced to lure the company back, allowing Firestone to pay less for its sponsorship and receive more for its tires.
“It was a marketer’s dream,” said Al Speyer, executive director of the Bridgestone Americas Motor Sports.
Bernard has certainly had his missteps and generated concern and pushback, most notably from drivers who feel his introduction of a race feature — what is known as a double-file restart — is too dangerous. Bernard actually told some reporters that the restarts are exciting because they can lead to more crashes, a comment he has since regretted.
And the decision to return to Las Vegas will get picked over long after the memorial services for Wheldon are over on Sunday.
“I think this is going to be a wake-up call that could lead to some massive changes,” said Scott Goodyear, a commentator on the telecast of the race. “There was the same reaction when Dale Earnhardt was killed and changes were implemented.”
In the wake of Dan Wheldon’s death at a race in Las Vegas last Sunday, IndyCar officials have been all but silent. No formal statements, beyond an expression of regret and a pledge to investigate themselves. Certainly no news conferences to answer questions about the propriety of the race, which was held at a fast track not truly built to stage such an event.
The IndyCar officials, after canceling their suddenly pointless championship banquet, left Las Vegas, trailing bitterness and finger-pointing.
“This wasn’t even our event,” said Jeff Motley, a communications director for Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which leased its track to IndyCar for the fatal race. “But they’ve left us to be the only ones to answer for this. There is such a thing as Crisis Management 101. And they flunked it.”
IndyCar racing, in truth, had been in some degree of crisis for more than a decade — attendance at races had slid, television ratings had fallen and a stream of drivers and fans had abandoned the sport for the more prosperous Nascar circuit.
Randy Bernard, a former chief executive of the Professional Bull Riders, had been signed up as chief executive last year to end the larger crisis. And the Las Vegas event — complete with glitzy promotions and a race featuring a multimillion-dollar bonus for Wheldon if he could pull off the feat of winning the race after willingly starting in last position — was going to be Bernard’s masterstroke.
Bernard’s unfamiliarity with racing had been seen as an asset of sorts by those who hired him. He had been unburdened by the infighting and litany of strategic and marketing mistakes that had plagued the sport. Having turned bull riding into an international success, Bernard had spent his first year and a half atop IndyCar using his prodigious work ethic and showmanship to try to revive a sport whose heyday went out with the Nixon Era.
While he knew little about racing when he arrived, Bernard understood that fans love danger, speed and a spectacle, his formula for success at the Professional Bull Riders. Instead of seeing cowboys get tossed and gored by bucking bulls, fans would come out to watch drivers hit speeds of 220 miles per hour, one snap decision from peril.
Despite some grumbling by many IndyCar followers, many people at IndyCar embraced their new leader. In his short tenure, Bernard had signed big-ticket sponsors, added a popular street race and new car designs, and stanched the slide in attendance and television ratings. Eager to shake things up, Bernard worked his Rolodex relentlessly, regularly held predawn conference calls and fired off e-mails while others were asleep.
“Racing, for all the talk of how advanced it is, is pretty stale,” said Bobby Rahal, the three-time series champion who co-owns a racing team and is president of the Road Racing Drivers Club, which mentors young drivers. “Randy has brought a different look because he hasn’t been in the sport. He thinks outside the motor racing box.”
Las Vegas, then, was Bernard’s different look. IndyCar had not raced there in years, but Bernard had struck gold in Vegas with the bull riders, holding an annual extravaganza in the city. To better manage things, Bernard leased the track and promoted the race on his own. He somehow persuaded local officials and businessmen to allow him to have the Vegas strip shut down so the racers could drive their cars past the throngs of tourists at the hotels and casinos.
He also persuaded Wheldon, the Indy 500 champion who had driven just a few times this year, to race for a $5 million bonus that would be split with a randomly chosen fan. Several drivers complained that the prize was more than the pool for the rest of the field. Yet Bernard was so confident the event would be a success, he staked his job on it, saying he would resign if the event did not do better than last year’s finale.
When the dust settled, Wheldon, a beloved driver and a handsome, articulate face of the sport, was dead. IndyCar has pledged to investigate what one historian called the biggest crash in the sport’s 100-year existence. Reforms may follow, though they are unlikely to include a wholesale reinvention of the sport.
A spokeswoman for IndyCar would not say whether Bernard would make good on his promise and resign. Several executives of the sport have urged caution about rushing to conclusions about blame or reforms; others did not want to speculate while still grieving for Wheldon.
What is clear, though, is that emotions remain raw. Some racing executives who were skeptical of Bernard’s tactics are mulling his ouster, while others are considering keeping him on a shorter leash. Competitors like Tomas Scheckter claim that the drivers need to stand firm against what he regards as Bernard’s reckless efforts to create more exciting races.
There are, though, still significant forces in the sport that for the moment remain supportive of Bernard. After years of turmoil in the sport, they are wary of starting over. They include legends like Mario Andretti, who says he does not blame Bernard for Wheldon’s death and sees no use in adding to the turmoil by replacing him.
The promotion Wheldon participated in, he said, was not a factor in the crash. Besides, Bernard — who declined to speak for this article — was only doing the job he was asked to do, which was to find novel ways to breathe life into the sport.
“We all want more promotions, more publicity,” Andretti said.
Old Issues
The roots of the sport’s problems stretch back decades. As in other racing circuits, Indy car drivers, racing teams, speedway owners, promoters and others form factions and hold grudges that can sabotage even simple decisions. The bickering was so fierce it led to the splintering of the sport that effectively ended its prominence as the top racing circuit in the United States, creating an opening that Nascar ultimately filled.
In 1979, Indy car teams and drivers, eager for a greater say in the sport’s business, split from the United States Auto Club sanctioning body and formed their own series. Eventually, track promoters — except those of the Indianapolis 500, which remained loyal to the Club — gave the new series more say in scheduling and how purses and television money were divided. The breakaway drivers could still race at Indy, but the 500 was not part of their new series.
Initially called Championship Auto Racing Teams, the CART series grew steadily during the next 15 years. The series began replacing some of the sport’s traditional oval tracks with more lucrative stops at road courses and city street circuits.
In 1989, the heirs of the longtime Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman handed control of the famed Brickyard to Hulman’s grandson, the young, untested Tony George. CART soon ran afoul of the enigmatic George, who objected to what he saw as an excessively foreign flavor of the slate of competitors that CART promoted. George wanted more opportunities for homegrown American talent, and a return to the sport’s oval racing roots. He also felt rich car owners had too much say, and wanted to give track operators and small teams a greater voice.
George reportedly pumped untold millions of dollars of his family’s fortune into teams, events, race track construction and television packages. But the sport’s civil war made it hard for either series to prosper because it forced fans, broadcasters, sponsors and other players to choose sides.
While Nascar has raced into the mainstream, huge patches of empty seats at Indy car races are now the norm, schedules have been shortened and old standing-room sections reduced or eliminated. And while Nascar is a staple on network television, Indy car races are harder to find, often consigned to lesser-known channels. Some of the top Indy car drivers have left or are leaving for Nascar, including Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick.
Sponsors routinely pay $30 million to sponsor a top Nascar driver, about three times more than what they will spend on an Indy car, according to Zak Brown, the chief executive of Just Marketing International, which brokers sponsorships in motor sports. Nascar drivers also typically have about twice as many sponsors for their cars, he said.
By 2008, the two struggling factions in Indy car racing finally agreed to reunite, with Tony George in charge. Within a year, however, George’s sister, Josie, reportedly engineered a boardroom coup that led to his ouster.
Bernard, who had been named one of the country’s top young sports executives, was hired.
From Bulls to Racecars
In sports and business circles, Bernard’s rise is the stuff of legend. He grew up on a working ranch in Monterey County, Calif., and from an early age helped out at his family’s farm and pitched in at the fairgrounds, which his grandfather ran.
Bernard studied agricultural business management for a few years in California, but left before graduating to work promoting the California Mid State Fair. It was there that he met Cody Lambert, who was riding in the rodeo. Impressed with his work ethic and creativity, Lambert and his friends and colleagues recruited Bernard, then 28, to run the Professional Bull Riders.
When Bernard came on board in 1995, he had no more than a table, a telephone and instructions from Lambert to “take us to the next level.” Lambert recalls telling Bernard to set a goal of bringing in at least $50,000 in new business so he would at least get paid. Things were so tight that one executive groused about the $300 Bernard had spent for a proper desk and chair.
“But pretty soon, we had three floors in that building and 100 employees,” said Lambert, who is now the livestock director for the P.B.R. “He’s very creative and he’s willing to outwork everyone.”
Bernard turned bull riding into a show, and made many riders rich in the process. Grand openings — including pyrotechnics and loud music — were added, television contracts were signed and a $1 million bonus was given to the circuit’s champion. More than 20 riders have earned more than $1 million and, through the wonders of television and showmanship, they were turned into modern-day gladiators. Even the bulls became superstars.
Bernard was seemingly everywhere, selling a sport that he unashamedly said relied on danger as one of its attractions. Something of an urban cowboy, he traveled the country in snappy suits and a Stetson hat meeting sponsors and television executives. He kept working despite needing neck surgery. A colleague had to take him to the hospital to take care of some blood clots.
The hard work paid off. In 2007, Spire Capital, an investment firm in New York, bought into P.B.R., making multi-millionaires out of the original founders. Wayne Gretzky and John Elway later invested in the group.
If Bernard had a fault, Lambert said, it was trying to do too much.
Starting Fast
True to form, Bernard wasted no time getting to work at IndyCar. He spent months talking with the key players, absorbing as much as he could about a sport he hardly knew. At one breakfast meeting, Rahal jokingly told Bernard that “you must feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose.”
Bernard not only had to get up to speed on a blizzard of technical issues, he also had to navigate IndyCar’s byzantine politics.
“In Indy car racing, it’s like the Middle East,” said Eddie Gossage, the president of Texas Motor Speedway. “There are so many factions and cultures, so you can’t possibly understand it.”
But as he did at P.B.R., Bernard eagerly tried new things to see what worked. He took Gossage’s advice and split the annual race in Texas into two 275-mile events, even though some drivers complained about how they were positioned to start the second race.
Bernard, too, lopped off races at tracks where attendance lagged, including at Watkins Glen, N.Y., and restored a race at Belle Isle in Detroit. He is exploring the possibility of racing in China.
Recently, IndyCar made a splash in Baltimore, which hosted the first of five annual street races this year. In these events, cars race through downtown streets.
Though the event drew larger-than-expected crowds, it did not turn a profit because of the initial investments in street paving, barriers and so on. Some local businesses objected to dozens of trees being removed to make way for the course. Others complained that the city should not be spending precious dollars on paving projects.
“But Randy realizes that the street events are important because instead of trying to attract people to the middle of nowhere, you’re putting your product in the middle of the city,” said Jay Davidson, president of the Baltimore Grand Prix. “You feel like you’re in good hands with him at the helm.”
Under Bernard’s watch, Lotus and Chevrolet have announced plans to join Honda as engine suppliers, and a safer new chassis for the cars has been developed. The new design features bumpers, partly enclosed wheels and a reinforced cockpit.
When needed, Bernard has done damage control, too. This year, Firestone, a major sponsor and tire supplier, let its deal with IndyCar lapse. Bernard raced to lure the company back, allowing Firestone to pay less for its sponsorship and receive more for its tires.
“It was a marketer’s dream,” said Al Speyer, executive director of the Bridgestone Americas Motor Sports.
Bernard has certainly had his missteps and generated concern and pushback, most notably from drivers who feel his introduction of a race feature — what is known as a double-file restart — is too dangerous. Bernard actually told some reporters that the restarts are exciting because they can lead to more crashes, a comment he has since regretted.
And the decision to return to Las Vegas will get picked over long after the memorial services for Wheldon are over on Sunday.
“I think this is going to be a wake-up call that could lead to some massive changes,” said Scott Goodyear, a commentator on the telecast of the race. “There was the same reaction when Dale Earnhardt was killed and changes were implemented.”
Changes to IndyCar need to be made following Wheldon's death
(by Bruce Martin si.com 10-19-11)
What happened at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Sunday's IndyCar World Championships could best be described as a perfect storm of calamity.
There were so many factors at play that resulted in the 15-car crash that killed reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon. Sadly, nearly every driver in the IndyCar Series feared and predicted that a calamity would happen in this race for a variety of reasons.
"The track is so smooth we will be three-wide out there," Danica Patrick projected last Thursday after she was the fastest in practice. "The race will be crazy and the crashes spectacular."
During the two-hour red-flag period Sunday, when the race was stopped followed the Lap 11 crash, I had a chance to talk to Patrick in her pit area.
"Remember me saying that on Thursday?" she asked. "I guess it was prophetic. We all feared there would be a major crash at this race because this track has so much grip and was so easy to drive that it would create a pack. This certainly isn't how I want to end my IndyCar career."
At the time she made those comments, no one knew for sure that Wheldon, the popular driver from Emberton, England, who won his second Indianapolis 500 on May 29, was dead. But the reports from drivers who had been in the infield care center began to circulate around pit lane that Wheldon did not make it. Of course, without an official announcement everything was rumored and drivers such as Patrick, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and others hoped and prayed for the best.
That the 19 drivers remaining in competition were called into a special meeting was an indication this race would not continue. A much lesser story than Wheldon's death was the massive damage done to the racecourse. There were huge gashes, ruts and divots in the asphalt from the cars that went airborne and landed upside down. A large portion of the catchfence was destroyed as well as the SAFER Barrier -- the Steel And Foam Energy Resistant wall that absorbs much of the impact of a crash. Developed by the University of Nebraska in conjunction with the IndyCar Series in the late 1990s, it was first installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2001.
Today, the SAFER Barrier is required at all major racing facilities and it more than did its job in Sunday's crash because many more of the 15 drivers in that crash could have experienced more significant injuries.
But even with SAFER Barriers, Head and Neck Support (HANS) Devices and other major advancements in the sport, it is clear that auto racing is risky business. There is always an element of danger when drivers go into competition. They assume the risks when they strap themselves into the cockpits, and Wheldon fully understood those risks throughout his glorious career, which included Indy 500 victories in 2005 and 2011. He won 16 IndyCar races, including a then-record six in 2005 -- the year he won the series championship.
Wheldon's death was the first in the series since inexperienced driver Paul Dana was killed in a crash during a warmup session before the 2006 season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ironically, Wheldon was the winner of the race held later that day.
After Sunday's massive spectacle of a crash, it became clear to IndyCar Series officials that it was pointless in continuing the event. One of the drivers involved in the crash that went airborne was Team Penske driver Will Power, who entered the race 18 points behind Franchitti in the battle for the championship. With Power out of competition, Franchitti clinched the title, although his fourth IndyCar crown comes with no celebration.
Power was vocal in his criticism of the formula of race cars competing at the wide, smooth, high-banked, 1.544-mile oval.
"A lap around this place is so brainlessly easy flat, but starting that far back in the pack (Wheldon started last out of 34 cars) it is not brainlessly easy," Power said after Friday's qualifications.
In simple terms, the recipe for this perfect storm included the following:
• The current IndyCar chassis has low aerodynamic drag and high downforce, which gives the cars tremendous grip, allowing all of the 34 cars in the race to run close to the same speeds.
• Because the cars could run relatively the same speed, there was no chance to separate the field between the good cars and the bad cars. That allowed the drivers with relative inexperience on the ovals at the back of the grid to run similar speeds to the fast cars at the front, creating a giant 34-car pack similar to what happens at NASCAR's restrictor-plate race tracks at Daytona and Talladega.
• Pack racing in IndyCar is extremely thrilling but tremendously hazardous because these cars were racing at speeds exceeding 220 mph. NASCAR cars typically run 180 mph.
• The 34-car lineup made it the largest field in IndyCar history since the 1997 Indianapolis 500. Several of those cars, however, never made it to the green flag at Indy that year because some of them had engine failures on the parade lap, and the three cars that made up Row 7 all crashed on the pace lap. The normal starting lineup for an IndyCar race on an oval has ranged between 26 to 28 cars recently.
• Although 33 cars start the Indianapolis 500 every year (with the exception of 1997 and other years because of extenuating circumstances), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a 2.5-mile, flat, four-cornered oval. That puts a premium on a race car's chassis setup, so cars that have hit the right setup are able to drive away from the other cars, creating separation. That is why many of the crashes in the Indianapolis 500 are often single-car incidents, because the drivers have time to react and avoid the incident. That was not the case at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. By having 34 cars racing on a 1.544-mile oval at the speeds they were traveling, it eliminated any reasonable reaction time for a crash in traffic.
• Wheldon was part of a $5 Million Challenge. If he could win the race starting last in the 34-car field he would split $5 million with a fan. Wheldon's mission was to drive through the field and pick off as many cars as he could early in order to settle in with the more competitive cars at the front. Wheldon had already improved 10 positions in the first 10 laps of the race.
• When Sebastian Saavedra's car had a momentary slip in front of James Hinchcliffe, Wade Cunningham's car hit the back of Hinchcliffe's, momentarily causing Cunningham to get off the throttle. By slowing just enough, the car behind Cunningham, driven by rookie J.R. Hildebrand, ran into the back of Cunningham's rear tires. That sent Hildebrand flying into the air.
• With the other cars so closely bunched, it triggered the massive chain-reaction crash. Charlie Kimball, E.J. Viso and Vitor Meira crashed in reaction to Hildebrand's incident. Wheldon's car ran over the back of Kimball's wheel, sending Wheldon on his fatal upside-down flight.
The IndyCar Series came to Las Vegas hoping to move the needle of fan interest. After having the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway for several years in front of small crowds, series officials hoped a change in venue to the Entertainment Capital of the World would put the spotlight on IndyCar. A nearly weeklong schedule of events, which included running all 34 IndyCars up "The Strip" during a parade Thursday night, was highly successful, and people in this town were actually talking about IndyCar.
IndyCar wanted to become front-page news again. It accomplished that goal but for all the wrong, grim, grisly reasons.
The headlines didn't hail Franchitti as the greatest IndyCar Series driver of his era as he claimed his fourth series championship and third in a row. Instead, the headlines told the awful tale that the popular and talented Wheldon was dead, killed in one of the most horrific crashes in the modern era of IndyCar -- a form of racing that dates to the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
The 33-year-old Wheldon became the fourth Indianapolis 500 winning driver to die the same season he won the world's biggest race. Gaston Chevrolet won the Indianapolis 500 in 1920 and was killed in a race at Beverly Hills, Calif. In 1929, Ray Keech won the race and was killed the next month at Altoona, Pa. In 1946, George Robson won the Indianapolis 500 and was killed later that year in a race at Atlanta.
Wheldon's death is the seventh to happen in this form of racing since 1996. Scott Brayton was killed in practice for the 1996 Indianapolis 500 after he won the pole one week earlier. Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a CART race at Toronto in July 1996. Gonsolo Rodriguez was killed in a CART practice at Laguna-Seca in 1999, and Greg Moore was killed in the CART race at Fontana, Calif., two months later. Tony Renna was killed in a tire test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2003, and, most recently, Dana's death in 2006.
Once the race was canceled, the 19 drivers left in the race paid tribute to Wheldon by running five laps in rows of three around the track as "Amazing Grace" and "Danny Boy" were played over the loudspeakers in an emotional send-off.
When the IndyCar Series World Championships were announced in February, INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard had offered a $5 Million challenge that no drivers from another series could beat IndyCar's best. He hoped that bet would lure such NASCAR stars as five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. It was a bet none of those drivers chose to take.
"Their average was 225 [mph]? I've never been 225 mph in my life -- and that's their average around an oval," Johnson said Monday. "They are brave men and women that drive those things.
"Knowing Dan and his wife and two kids, and then I'm sitting there with my daughter running around in the backyard, I was torn up yesterday. I mean, I know Dan ... or knew Dan. We just stared at the TV for a long time yesterday with long faces. Just really sad."
Johnson contended IndyCar should not compete on ovals, although the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is actually an oval, and that is the centerpiece of the sport.
"There's just no need to," Johnson said. "Those cars are fantastic for street circuits, for road courses. The ovals at those speeds ... there's very little crumple zone around the driver. It's an open cockpit, and then you add open wheels -- it's just creating situations to get the car off the ground at a high rate of speed. And you can't control the car when it's off the ground.
"I hate, hate, hate that this tragedy took place. But hopefully they can learn from it and make those cars safer on ovals somehow. I don't know how they can really do it. Myself, I have a lot of friends that race in that series, and I'd just rather see them on street circuits and road courses -- no more ovals."
Johnson was involved in a massive impact when he crashed late in Saturday night's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Johnson was uninjured in the crash but knows that there remains plenty of danger in NASCAR but not to the degree as IndyCar.
"We know what the risks are [in NASCAR], and the risk factor to driving an open-wheel car is multiplied by 10," Johnson said. "Yes, that threat exists. But I feel like NASCAR has worked hard to keep speeds down. We have devices on the vehicles to keep them on the ground. We don't have those types of crashes.
"I'm not saying the perfect storm couldn't take place, and we couldn't get a couple off the ground. ... But I just don't see our cars having the same issue. I don't see the chance [being] anywhere in the ballpark as those open-wheel cars."
The IndyCar Series will move forward because it always has. Unfortunately, death has been an unwelcome companion to auto racing since the sport began. But here are some necessary changes that need to be made to prevent another perfect storm of calamity.
• Sunday's race was the final time the current IndyCar Dallara chassis and normally aspirated engine was used. This was the same chassis used since 2003 and will be replaced by a newer Dallara chassis that has added safety features, including partial covers to the rear and front of the rear wheels with extended bodywork. Ironically, the test driver for the new 2012 car was Wheldon, whose legacy may partially be that he played a key role in the on-track testing of these cars. The engines will also be turbocharged, which means the speeds can be adjusted downward or upward with the use of a pop-off valve. If the speeds are too high, the pop-off valve can be adjusted to blow at a much lower rate of pressure.
• If IndyCar does return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the field should be capped at 24 to 26 cars. Starting 34 around a track this size proved to be downright insane. It was trying to combine the variable of traffic at a short oval with the high-speed thrill of a high-banked track. That proved to be a fatal combination.
• Make the cars harder to drive. By doing that, it puts more skill back into the driver's hands, allowing the best in the series to actually drive the race cars. That means increase the aerodynamic drag and make the cars actually have to slow down to make the turns. After all, getting on the throttle, shifting gears and hitting the brake are more a part of racing than simply holding the accelerator flat to the floor and turning left.
• While it is essential to bring new drivers into the sport, some of the inexperienced drivers in the back of the field should have been scrutinized further. Perhaps have more rookie tests and actually make those tests harder to pass. Having said that, every driver in any series has to have the opportunity to make their first start. Adding eight drivers to the Las Vegas lineup didn't really bring anything positive to the show, although many drivers admit the same catastrophe could have happened with a 24-car field.
The IndyCar Series was supposed to stage its annual championship celebration where Franchitti would be honored as the series champion, and James Hinchcliffe as the Rookie of the Year. But that was canceled as the thoughts turned to remembering Wheldon not only as a great IndyCar driver but also a tremendous person.
But once the grieving is complete, the hard work begins for the IndyCar Series, and that is making sure it steers clear of the next perfect storm.
What happened at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Sunday's IndyCar World Championships could best be described as a perfect storm of calamity.
There were so many factors at play that resulted in the 15-car crash that killed reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon. Sadly, nearly every driver in the IndyCar Series feared and predicted that a calamity would happen in this race for a variety of reasons.
"The track is so smooth we will be three-wide out there," Danica Patrick projected last Thursday after she was the fastest in practice. "The race will be crazy and the crashes spectacular."
During the two-hour red-flag period Sunday, when the race was stopped followed the Lap 11 crash, I had a chance to talk to Patrick in her pit area.
"Remember me saying that on Thursday?" she asked. "I guess it was prophetic. We all feared there would be a major crash at this race because this track has so much grip and was so easy to drive that it would create a pack. This certainly isn't how I want to end my IndyCar career."
At the time she made those comments, no one knew for sure that Wheldon, the popular driver from Emberton, England, who won his second Indianapolis 500 on May 29, was dead. But the reports from drivers who had been in the infield care center began to circulate around pit lane that Wheldon did not make it. Of course, without an official announcement everything was rumored and drivers such as Patrick, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and others hoped and prayed for the best.
That the 19 drivers remaining in competition were called into a special meeting was an indication this race would not continue. A much lesser story than Wheldon's death was the massive damage done to the racecourse. There were huge gashes, ruts and divots in the asphalt from the cars that went airborne and landed upside down. A large portion of the catchfence was destroyed as well as the SAFER Barrier -- the Steel And Foam Energy Resistant wall that absorbs much of the impact of a crash. Developed by the University of Nebraska in conjunction with the IndyCar Series in the late 1990s, it was first installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2001.
Today, the SAFER Barrier is required at all major racing facilities and it more than did its job in Sunday's crash because many more of the 15 drivers in that crash could have experienced more significant injuries.
But even with SAFER Barriers, Head and Neck Support (HANS) Devices and other major advancements in the sport, it is clear that auto racing is risky business. There is always an element of danger when drivers go into competition. They assume the risks when they strap themselves into the cockpits, and Wheldon fully understood those risks throughout his glorious career, which included Indy 500 victories in 2005 and 2011. He won 16 IndyCar races, including a then-record six in 2005 -- the year he won the series championship.
Wheldon's death was the first in the series since inexperienced driver Paul Dana was killed in a crash during a warmup session before the 2006 season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ironically, Wheldon was the winner of the race held later that day.
After Sunday's massive spectacle of a crash, it became clear to IndyCar Series officials that it was pointless in continuing the event. One of the drivers involved in the crash that went airborne was Team Penske driver Will Power, who entered the race 18 points behind Franchitti in the battle for the championship. With Power out of competition, Franchitti clinched the title, although his fourth IndyCar crown comes with no celebration.
Power was vocal in his criticism of the formula of race cars competing at the wide, smooth, high-banked, 1.544-mile oval.
"A lap around this place is so brainlessly easy flat, but starting that far back in the pack (Wheldon started last out of 34 cars) it is not brainlessly easy," Power said after Friday's qualifications.
In simple terms, the recipe for this perfect storm included the following:
• The current IndyCar chassis has low aerodynamic drag and high downforce, which gives the cars tremendous grip, allowing all of the 34 cars in the race to run close to the same speeds.
• Because the cars could run relatively the same speed, there was no chance to separate the field between the good cars and the bad cars. That allowed the drivers with relative inexperience on the ovals at the back of the grid to run similar speeds to the fast cars at the front, creating a giant 34-car pack similar to what happens at NASCAR's restrictor-plate race tracks at Daytona and Talladega.
• Pack racing in IndyCar is extremely thrilling but tremendously hazardous because these cars were racing at speeds exceeding 220 mph. NASCAR cars typically run 180 mph.
• The 34-car lineup made it the largest field in IndyCar history since the 1997 Indianapolis 500. Several of those cars, however, never made it to the green flag at Indy that year because some of them had engine failures on the parade lap, and the three cars that made up Row 7 all crashed on the pace lap. The normal starting lineup for an IndyCar race on an oval has ranged between 26 to 28 cars recently.
• Although 33 cars start the Indianapolis 500 every year (with the exception of 1997 and other years because of extenuating circumstances), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a 2.5-mile, flat, four-cornered oval. That puts a premium on a race car's chassis setup, so cars that have hit the right setup are able to drive away from the other cars, creating separation. That is why many of the crashes in the Indianapolis 500 are often single-car incidents, because the drivers have time to react and avoid the incident. That was not the case at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. By having 34 cars racing on a 1.544-mile oval at the speeds they were traveling, it eliminated any reasonable reaction time for a crash in traffic.
• Wheldon was part of a $5 Million Challenge. If he could win the race starting last in the 34-car field he would split $5 million with a fan. Wheldon's mission was to drive through the field and pick off as many cars as he could early in order to settle in with the more competitive cars at the front. Wheldon had already improved 10 positions in the first 10 laps of the race.
• When Sebastian Saavedra's car had a momentary slip in front of James Hinchcliffe, Wade Cunningham's car hit the back of Hinchcliffe's, momentarily causing Cunningham to get off the throttle. By slowing just enough, the car behind Cunningham, driven by rookie J.R. Hildebrand, ran into the back of Cunningham's rear tires. That sent Hildebrand flying into the air.
• With the other cars so closely bunched, it triggered the massive chain-reaction crash. Charlie Kimball, E.J. Viso and Vitor Meira crashed in reaction to Hildebrand's incident. Wheldon's car ran over the back of Kimball's wheel, sending Wheldon on his fatal upside-down flight.
The IndyCar Series came to Las Vegas hoping to move the needle of fan interest. After having the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway for several years in front of small crowds, series officials hoped a change in venue to the Entertainment Capital of the World would put the spotlight on IndyCar. A nearly weeklong schedule of events, which included running all 34 IndyCars up "The Strip" during a parade Thursday night, was highly successful, and people in this town were actually talking about IndyCar.
IndyCar wanted to become front-page news again. It accomplished that goal but for all the wrong, grim, grisly reasons.
The headlines didn't hail Franchitti as the greatest IndyCar Series driver of his era as he claimed his fourth series championship and third in a row. Instead, the headlines told the awful tale that the popular and talented Wheldon was dead, killed in one of the most horrific crashes in the modern era of IndyCar -- a form of racing that dates to the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
The 33-year-old Wheldon became the fourth Indianapolis 500 winning driver to die the same season he won the world's biggest race. Gaston Chevrolet won the Indianapolis 500 in 1920 and was killed in a race at Beverly Hills, Calif. In 1929, Ray Keech won the race and was killed the next month at Altoona, Pa. In 1946, George Robson won the Indianapolis 500 and was killed later that year in a race at Atlanta.
Wheldon's death is the seventh to happen in this form of racing since 1996. Scott Brayton was killed in practice for the 1996 Indianapolis 500 after he won the pole one week earlier. Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a CART race at Toronto in July 1996. Gonsolo Rodriguez was killed in a CART practice at Laguna-Seca in 1999, and Greg Moore was killed in the CART race at Fontana, Calif., two months later. Tony Renna was killed in a tire test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2003, and, most recently, Dana's death in 2006.
Once the race was canceled, the 19 drivers left in the race paid tribute to Wheldon by running five laps in rows of three around the track as "Amazing Grace" and "Danny Boy" were played over the loudspeakers in an emotional send-off.
When the IndyCar Series World Championships were announced in February, INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard had offered a $5 Million challenge that no drivers from another series could beat IndyCar's best. He hoped that bet would lure such NASCAR stars as five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. It was a bet none of those drivers chose to take.
"Their average was 225 [mph]? I've never been 225 mph in my life -- and that's their average around an oval," Johnson said Monday. "They are brave men and women that drive those things.
"Knowing Dan and his wife and two kids, and then I'm sitting there with my daughter running around in the backyard, I was torn up yesterday. I mean, I know Dan ... or knew Dan. We just stared at the TV for a long time yesterday with long faces. Just really sad."
Johnson contended IndyCar should not compete on ovals, although the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is actually an oval, and that is the centerpiece of the sport.
"There's just no need to," Johnson said. "Those cars are fantastic for street circuits, for road courses. The ovals at those speeds ... there's very little crumple zone around the driver. It's an open cockpit, and then you add open wheels -- it's just creating situations to get the car off the ground at a high rate of speed. And you can't control the car when it's off the ground.
"I hate, hate, hate that this tragedy took place. But hopefully they can learn from it and make those cars safer on ovals somehow. I don't know how they can really do it. Myself, I have a lot of friends that race in that series, and I'd just rather see them on street circuits and road courses -- no more ovals."
Johnson was involved in a massive impact when he crashed late in Saturday night's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Johnson was uninjured in the crash but knows that there remains plenty of danger in NASCAR but not to the degree as IndyCar.
"We know what the risks are [in NASCAR], and the risk factor to driving an open-wheel car is multiplied by 10," Johnson said. "Yes, that threat exists. But I feel like NASCAR has worked hard to keep speeds down. We have devices on the vehicles to keep them on the ground. We don't have those types of crashes.
"I'm not saying the perfect storm couldn't take place, and we couldn't get a couple off the ground. ... But I just don't see our cars having the same issue. I don't see the chance [being] anywhere in the ballpark as those open-wheel cars."
The IndyCar Series will move forward because it always has. Unfortunately, death has been an unwelcome companion to auto racing since the sport began. But here are some necessary changes that need to be made to prevent another perfect storm of calamity.
• Sunday's race was the final time the current IndyCar Dallara chassis and normally aspirated engine was used. This was the same chassis used since 2003 and will be replaced by a newer Dallara chassis that has added safety features, including partial covers to the rear and front of the rear wheels with extended bodywork. Ironically, the test driver for the new 2012 car was Wheldon, whose legacy may partially be that he played a key role in the on-track testing of these cars. The engines will also be turbocharged, which means the speeds can be adjusted downward or upward with the use of a pop-off valve. If the speeds are too high, the pop-off valve can be adjusted to blow at a much lower rate of pressure.
• If IndyCar does return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the field should be capped at 24 to 26 cars. Starting 34 around a track this size proved to be downright insane. It was trying to combine the variable of traffic at a short oval with the high-speed thrill of a high-banked track. That proved to be a fatal combination.
• Make the cars harder to drive. By doing that, it puts more skill back into the driver's hands, allowing the best in the series to actually drive the race cars. That means increase the aerodynamic drag and make the cars actually have to slow down to make the turns. After all, getting on the throttle, shifting gears and hitting the brake are more a part of racing than simply holding the accelerator flat to the floor and turning left.
• While it is essential to bring new drivers into the sport, some of the inexperienced drivers in the back of the field should have been scrutinized further. Perhaps have more rookie tests and actually make those tests harder to pass. Having said that, every driver in any series has to have the opportunity to make their first start. Adding eight drivers to the Las Vegas lineup didn't really bring anything positive to the show, although many drivers admit the same catastrophe could have happened with a 24-car field.
The IndyCar Series was supposed to stage its annual championship celebration where Franchitti would be honored as the series champion, and James Hinchcliffe as the Rookie of the Year. But that was canceled as the thoughts turned to remembering Wheldon not only as a great IndyCar driver but also a tremendous person.
But once the grieving is complete, the hard work begins for the IndyCar Series, and that is making sure it steers clear of the next perfect storm.
Tracy voices IndyCar concerns
(by Gordon Kirby 10-21-11)
Paul Tracy found himself in the middle of the 15-car wreck in which Dan Wheldon perished at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend. Tracy, 42, has been racing Indycars for 20 years but has been without a regular ride in recent seasons and has run only a handful of races for various teams. He made his fifth start of the year at Las Vegas but is seriously considering his future in racing after surviving the carnage at the high-banked 1.5-mile superspeedway.
“My parents and my wife don’t want me in those cars any more and I understand their concerns,” said Tracy this week. “It would be one thing if you were making big money but I do it for nothing now. Is it worth the risk? When I started racing I did it because I love racing and I still do, but I need to go race something else that’s not dangerous.”
The Canadian pointed to former World Champion Jody Scheckter, who wants his son Tomas to get out of Indycars following the Las Vegas tragedy, while title runner-up Will Power’s father has asked his son to do the same. “Power was really lucky,” said Tracy. “Did you see how high his car was off the ground?”
Tracy has always had a sense of humour but he sees nothing funny in IndyCar’s horsepower restricted formula and the ‘pack racing’ it creates on high-banked ovals in particular.
“You can’t run around in a pack like that,” said the Canadian. “You have to be able to go fast enough to spread the field out and be able to make clean, quick passes. We need more horsepower and a different aero package.
“You could go out on that particular track and run 25 laps on a set of tyres and it was like they weren’t even wearing. It’s so easy flat and there’s so much downforce that you’re hardly using the tyre.
“You can do 50 or 60 laps like that without any change in the grip or performance. Until you get to the point where you have to work the car and tyres and have some type of fall-off in grip you’re never going to create any type of separation between the cars.”
Tracy believes that all the drivers in the Vegas shunt were lucky to escape Wheldon’s fate. “It could have been Will or Pippa [Mann] or it could have been me,” he said. “When Pippa drove over the side of me she went right across my face and it ripped the steering wheel out of my hand. Another couple of inches and it would have ripped my head off.”
Tracy is unhappy with the IndyCar Series’ lack of response to making the now-retired Dallara-Honda combination better and has his reservations about the new 2012 car.
“I know racing is dangerous and I know people get killed,” he said. “But this car has had an inherent problem for eight years of taking off and flying. And the driver’s head is 80 per cent more exposed in the new car. We lost a great guy last weekend and I hope they work harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Paul Tracy found himself in the middle of the 15-car wreck in which Dan Wheldon perished at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend. Tracy, 42, has been racing Indycars for 20 years but has been without a regular ride in recent seasons and has run only a handful of races for various teams. He made his fifth start of the year at Las Vegas but is seriously considering his future in racing after surviving the carnage at the high-banked 1.5-mile superspeedway.
“My parents and my wife don’t want me in those cars any more and I understand their concerns,” said Tracy this week. “It would be one thing if you were making big money but I do it for nothing now. Is it worth the risk? When I started racing I did it because I love racing and I still do, but I need to go race something else that’s not dangerous.”
The Canadian pointed to former World Champion Jody Scheckter, who wants his son Tomas to get out of Indycars following the Las Vegas tragedy, while title runner-up Will Power’s father has asked his son to do the same. “Power was really lucky,” said Tracy. “Did you see how high his car was off the ground?”
Tracy has always had a sense of humour but he sees nothing funny in IndyCar’s horsepower restricted formula and the ‘pack racing’ it creates on high-banked ovals in particular.
“You can’t run around in a pack like that,” said the Canadian. “You have to be able to go fast enough to spread the field out and be able to make clean, quick passes. We need more horsepower and a different aero package.
“You could go out on that particular track and run 25 laps on a set of tyres and it was like they weren’t even wearing. It’s so easy flat and there’s so much downforce that you’re hardly using the tyre.
“You can do 50 or 60 laps like that without any change in the grip or performance. Until you get to the point where you have to work the car and tyres and have some type of fall-off in grip you’re never going to create any type of separation between the cars.”
Tracy believes that all the drivers in the Vegas shunt were lucky to escape Wheldon’s fate. “It could have been Will or Pippa [Mann] or it could have been me,” he said. “When Pippa drove over the side of me she went right across my face and it ripped the steering wheel out of my hand. Another couple of inches and it would have ripped my head off.”
Tracy is unhappy with the IndyCar Series’ lack of response to making the now-retired Dallara-Honda combination better and has his reservations about the new 2012 car.
“I know racing is dangerous and I know people get killed,” he said. “But this car has had an inherent problem for eight years of taking off and flying. And the driver’s head is 80 per cent more exposed in the new car. We lost a great guy last weekend and I hope they work harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
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