IndyCar's accidents have made a mess of the Indy 500

(by Jenna Fryer sports.yahoo.com 5-18-15)

IndyCar had a crisis looming well before James Hinchcliffe was injured in another spectacular accident during preparations for the most esteemed race in motorsports.

Three cars have gone airborne, and one of the series' most popular drivers was in the intensive care unit Monday night after surgery on an injury to Hinchcliffe's left thigh suffered when he crashed following a suspension part breaking. IndyCar said he was in stable condition.

As Hinchcliffe's car shot back down the track toward the apron, it quickly tilted on its side and seemed headed to a rollover before it snapped back down on all four wheels.

Hinchcliffe's car did not go airborne - oh, it certainly tried to, even after a good bit of speed had been scrubbed from it when it slammed into a wall - but that might have been because half the car was destroyed. He also wasn't in a Chevrolet, the automaker under scrutiny since three of its cars took flight during wrecks last week.

Although his crash was unrelated to last week's wrecks, it was still ugly and Hinchcliffe joins a list that includes Helio Castroneves, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, flipping his car last Wednesday. Josef Newgarden went airborne the next day, and finally on Sunday, Ed Carpenter, an Indianapolis standout and an heir to the family that controls all things IndyCar, became the third Chevrolet driver in five days to go airborne.

But this crisis had been in the works since the season-opening race two months ago, where a woman suffered a fractured skull when a piece from one of the new aerokits on the cars flew over the St. Petersburg, Florida, grandstands and hit her.

From that very first race, it was clear there are many unknowns about the bodywork kits and IndyCar has been reacting nearly every week to situations that no one predicted.

Why? Because they didn't do enough testing, and when any bit of contact was creating debris fields all over the race track, someone should have had the sense to say 'Maybe we should get the speedway kits out and make sure they don't also have any unforeseen problems.'

Alas, the speedway cars didn't hit the track until the beginning of May, and until cars started sailing, no one had any idea that could happen.

Cars aren't meant to leave the racing surface, and when they do, it's a very big deal. Such a big deal that the three flips have overshadowed Pippa Mann's tremendous hit last Wednesday into both an inside wall and then into the attenuator in pit lane.

A day before that, Simona de Silvestro watched her car erupt into flames in a standard incident that made for tremendous photographs but was mundane in the world of racing.

All of these incidents create the images that are drawing worldwide attention to the ''The Greatest Spectacle in Racing'' a full week before the renowned event.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing for IndyCar, the besieged series that just can't seem to get anything right, but stays in business year after year in part because it calls the Indianapolis 500 its own. Some buzz around this crown jewel event can only help.

Not like this, though.

It shouldn't be accidents followed by the appearance of an amateur hour in crisis management from series leadership creating the narrative leading into Sunday's race.

This is a mess - a hold-your-breath-and-hope-for-the-best situation - at a time when IndyCar was so excited to show off the new bodywork on the Chevrolets and the Hondas and the increased speeds around the famed Brickyard.

Instead, it's possible that Chevrolet's design contributed to its three cars going airborne. And even though Honda had yet to have a serious problem - unless, of course, you count the total domination Chevrolet has had of the speed charts - IndyCar ordered both manufacturers to make changes before Sunday's qualifying session.

But as a weary Mark Miles and Derrick Walker met the media Sunday, it was clear series management was overwhelmed with the problem at hand.

Racing is dangerous, we're told that after every wincing wreck, even the ones that end in injury, or, on rare occasion the past decade, death. But it's the responsibility of the series to create the safest conditions possible, and Miles and Walker have a mess on their hands.

IndyCar was badly wounded following the death of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon in the 2011 season finale. Wheldon was killed racing for a $5 million prize in a gimmick designed to draw more eyeballs to the series.

One of the most charismatic drivers in the under-marketed series was a victim of a rules package that created dangerous pack racing on a high-speed track where very few competitors in the field had any experience.

Many tried to voice their concerns in the days leading up to the accident, but they were shouting in the wind: Leadership was committed to the finale, and when a series is struggling for attention, there aren't very many people to complain about a possible problem.

Four years after Wheldon's underdog Indy 500 victory, people are paying attention and noticing that something seems to be amiss in Indy.

IndyCar learned from Wheldon's death, and everyone understands the series doesn't want to endure another such heartbreak. But the series has only itself to blame for this mess.

Maybe they've hit on something that will keep the cars on the track, and hours after Hinchcliffe's accident brought Monday's action to a halt, the drivers were back on track for a flawless final session filled with inter-brand drafting, slingshot passes and the tight racing which fans have come to expect of Wheldon's namesake DW-12 chassis.

Maybe Sunday will be void of any major incidents, and maybe, just maybe, the 99th running will be the greatest Indy 500 in history.

But it's just a guess at this point, and IndyCar officials better be crossing their fingers that they've gotten this right.

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http://sports.yahoo.com/news/indycars-accidents-made-mess-indy-500-235159875--irl.html

Quick safety team response key in critical Hinchcliffe crash

(by Robin Miller and Marshall Pruett racer.com 5-19-15)

Great response by IndyCar's safety and medical teams more than likely saved James Hinchcliffe's life on Monday.

The personable Canadian driver was bleeding profusely after a vicious accident in Turn 3 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and, according to one of Hinchcliffe's associates who asked not to be identified when speaking with RACER, it was a life-threatening situation that was handled to perfection by IndyCar's HOLMATRO Safety Team, and by doctors inside the ambulance that rushed him to IU Health Methodist Hospital before surgeons completed the save.

In the impact, which flattened the right side of the chassis, one of the suspension wishbones penetrated the Dallara safety cell, and subsequently caused the majority of the physical damage Hinchcliffe received. RACER has confirmed through multiple sources that Hinchcliffe had the steel wishbone enter and exit his right leg, then enter his upper left thigh, and continue into his pelvic region before it came to a stop.

The suspension component pinned the 28-year-old in the car, leading the safety team to cut the wishbone from the chassis to allow Hinchcliffe's extraction.

With the multiple intrusions, Hinchcliffe experienced massive blood loss at the crash site, and despite the gravity of the soft tissue injuries to his lower extremities, stopping the bleeding became an immediate priority for the medical staff to address once he was pulled from the chassis.

After being placed in the ambulance, the doctors and technicians inside evidently stabilized Hinchcliffe's injuries. It's not known how long he was in surgery but it was "touch and go" for a while, according to the source.

"He's probably not going to race anymore this year but the most important thing is that all those great people saved his life," said his friend.

Hinchcliffe, who serves as Schmidt Peterson Motorsport's lead driver and won the IndyCar race at New Orleans in April, crashed entering Turn 3 during Monday's practice session. According to timing and scoring data, he was carrying at least 228mph of momentum before a right-front suspension failure sent the No. 5 ARROW Dallara-Honda into the SAFER barrier nose first. Without the ability to steer the car, Hinchcliffe was unable to alter his course. The force of the impact reportedly measured 125 Gs.

Many observers, including those who've witnessed some of the most troubling crashes at Indianapolis, believe Hinchcliffe's impact was among the most violent on record. Upon reaching the crash site, emergency workers radioed the incident in as a "Code 5," which is reserved for traumatic situations.

Hinchcliffe remained in intensive care but was resting comfortably on Tuesday morning.

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http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/116939-indy-500-hinchcliffe-saved-from-serious-injuries

James Hinchcliffe's Honda briefly overturns in wreck

(espn.go.com 5-18-15)

James Hinchcliffe is in stable condition after becoming the latest IndyCar Series driver to crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Hinchcliffe underwent surgery at Indiana University Methodist Hospital on an injury to his upper left thigh suffered in the crash, the IndyCar Series announced.

Hinchcliffe's leg was pierced by the car's right front rocker and the piece of equipment needed to be removed, according to two people familiar with the crash who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because IndyCar and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports were not releasing details of the injury. The surgery also was needed to stop massive bleeding.

"Obviously we're relieved that James is awake and out of surgery," Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team owner Sam Schmidt said.

"That's the most important thing on our minds right now, and we will do absolutely everything required to ensure a complete recovery."

A suspected mechanical failure sent Hinchcliffe's Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda hard into the Turn 3 wall Monday.

Replays showed sparks trailing from the No. 5 Honda when it shot directly up the track and struck the SAFER barrier with the right front wheel first. The car spun around one and a half times and briefly overturned before landing on its wheels and stopping in Turn 4.

Hinchcliffe had just completed a lap at 221.3 mph and was drafting the Team Penske Chevrolet of Juan Pablo Montoya when the accident occurred.

It took the IndyCar safety team several minutes to extract Hinchcliffe from the car, which sustained heavy right-side damage. The driver was reported to be awake and alert before being laced on a backboard and transported to IU Methodist Hospital.

Hinchcliffe's right front suspension failed, Honda spokesman Dan Layton said. Layton said Honda officials aren't concerned about the safety of the company's aero kit but are more concerned about what caused the suspension problem as Sunday's Indianapolis 500 nears.

"It's gut-wrenching," said defending Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, a teammate of Hinchcliffe's until this season. "It's terrible. There's no other way you can think about it."

This was the fourth time in the past week that an Indy car was pitched upside down, but the first involving a Honda car. The three previous rollovers all featured Chevrolet-designed bodywork.

Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden went airborne in crashes last week that raised concerns about the safety of the new oval aero kits. On Sunday, Ed Carpenter flipped his car on its side in practice leading up to Indy 500 qualifying.

IndyCar Series officials made a last-minute rule change for qualifying in the wake of the three Chevrolet accidents, reducing turbocharger boost to decrease power and removing aerodynamic panels.

Scott Dixon of New Zealand took his second Indy pole with a four-lap average of 226.760 mph Sunday -- and there were no wrecks.

The series halted Monday's scheduled 3½-hour practice session and investigated the Hinchcliffe crash. Practice resumed at 4:15 p.m. ET.

"It was shocking," driver Townsend Bell said. "The worst possible accident that you can have here is to be fully loaded right in the middle of the corner and have something break. It was a really horrible circumstance for him."

Derrick Walker, IndyCar's president of competition and operations, has blamed Castroneves' wreck on an aero balance setting that was pushed too far and Newgarden's on a cut tire, and said Carpenter simply had an accident.

A year ago, Hinchcliffe sustained a concussion when struck in the head by debris from another car in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. After the road course race, he missed five days while waiting to be cleared and then qualified second, despite limited practice time.

Hinchcliffe, who won at New Orleans last month and is eighth in the driver standings, qualified 24th for this year's 500.

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http://espn.go.com/racing/story/_/id/12908418/james-hinchcliffe-taken-hospital-wreck-indianapolis-motor-speedway

(video of Hinchcliffe's crash)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvtAq7K0uYo

Chaos causes IndyCar to dumb down pole day

(by Gregg Doyel indystar.com 5-18-15)

This was chaos. This was Indianapolis' Ed Carpenter skidding upside down at 200 mph, his car disintegrating and his helmet inches from the sparks that became a blaze. This was media surrounding the IndyCar operations trailer for answers, and fans surrounding the media seeking the same, and team owners like Michael Andretti and Bryan Herta standing around the same trailer, waiting for the bad news they knew was coming.

This was avoidable. Let's get that bit of hindsight out of the way. Fair, that hindsight? Oh, probably. Seeking the delicate combination of added safety and speed, IndyCar switched this season from universal Dallara bodywork to distinct aero kits by Chevrolet and Honda — but didn't test the designs until the series reached Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 3. That wasn't enough time. That's hindsight. And, as Sunday showed, factual.

"We set out an ambitious schedule, no doubt," IndyCar president of competition Derrick Walker said. "Hindsight gives us a different perspective."

But …

"Clearly we'd like not to be where we are right now."

Where they were Sunday is chaos. In a morning practice session Carpenter became the third driver in five days to get turned around, hit a wall and go airborne. All three drivers — first was Helio Castroneves on Wednesday, then Josef Newgarden on Thursday — are in Chevy kits.

That's the same manufacturer that dominated the first five stops on the 2015 IndyCar Series, winning all but the rain-shortened March 12 event at NOLA Motorsports Park. Those were road courses, and Chevy's kits manhandled Honda's.

IndyCar never came to Honda's aid. As far as arguments go that one is a non sequitur — a speed differential is not equal to a safety differential — but it's a complaint that was raised to me in multiple Honda garages Sunday: IndyCar did nothing to help Honda keep up with Chevy on the road courses, but made the enormous decision to scrap the qualifying trim and have cars compete on pole day with the same — slower, safer — setup they'll use during the 99th Indy 500 on Sunday.

Basically, IndyCar dumbed down — neutralized — one of the most exciting days of the series: pole day at the Indy 500. No Fast Nine Shootout. No shot at a speed record. No danger.

"It was a flat, easy go-around," said Will Power, who qualified second on Sunday, one spot behind pole winner Scott Dixon.

Sitting next to Power in the press room was his Penske teammate, Simon Pagenaud, who craned his neck to see the qualifying times on a TV screen before adding his two cents.

"We're talking (a difference of) just 5 mph, and it feels like you're going really slow," said Pagenaud, who qualified third. "This level in down force and boost, is not really hard for us."

Said Power: "That's what's always been cool about this place. You can trim out, you can get fast through the straight, but can you hang on around the corner? You don't want your grandma to be able to drive around on your back rear, like some of these places we drive at."

But that's what IndyCar did, slowing down both manufacturers because it had no idea what was making one — Chevy — go airborne. Or if the issue was just to Chevy.

moderately injured in the last week — but enough's enough. IndyCar realized that after watching Carpenter skid upside down, summoning both teams to its competition trailer to hash out what Honda knew was coming.

The scene was surreal. After meeting with IndyCar, Honda engineers literally ran out of the trailer to their garages to make the setup changes. Honda owners stood around the outside, forming a semicircle around the trailer. Media formed a larger semicircle around the Honda owners. Fans formed an even larger semicircle around the media. We became a 500-person Russian nesting doll.

On the outer semicircle, with the fans, a dour-looking man was standing too close to Gasoline Alley when an IMS security guy in a yellow shirt yelled, "Keep this area clear, please."

The dour-looking man walked away. Tony George, member of the track's ownership family. He was as lost as everyone else.

And everyone's lost, believe it. Some of the smartest people in town were in that trailer on Sunday, engineers and Ph.Ds who were studying video and data and talking to drivers and each other. And after all that, IndyCar emerged from the trailer with no answers. Why does Chevy keep getting airborne? Is this just a Chevy issue? So many theories. No answers.

"We don't have complete clarity, and that is the reason to be careful right now," Walker said. "It would be fairly negligent on our part if we focused on one manufacturer. …

"I don't believe a year from now we'll still be sitting here, scratching our head. We just don't have the time … (but) the problem is solvable."

Sure, just not here. Even if someone figures it out before Sunday, qualifying is over and cars will use the same setup next weekend.

On the other hand, with less horsepower available on pole day to separate good drivers from the great ones, legit Indy 500 contenders like defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (qualified 16th), 2000 winner Juan Pablo Montoya (15th) and three-time top-10 finisher Ed Carpenter (12th) will start back in the field. Cars will be passed next week, count on that. Could make for an exceptionally exciting edition of the Indy 500.

And wouldn't that be something — for this race, and this racetrack, to see this weekend's chaos become next weekend's catharsis.

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http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2015/05/17/doyel-chaos-causes-indycar-dumb-pole-day/27505399/

Has Indy hit on solution for flying cars?

(by John Oreovicz espn.go.com 5-17-15)

This was supposed to be the year that aero kits brought speed and style back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Instead, unproven aerodynamic components have made safety the watchword in a week when three cars got upside down and airborne during testing at IMS.

Ed Carpenter's crash in a Sunday morning practice session was the third in the past five days in which a Chevrolet-bodied Indy car snapped out of control and took to the air, a disturbing pattern that cannot be viewed as coincidental.

Carpenter's situation prompted IndyCar Series officials to delay qualifying by more than five hours. They also implemented changes to both Chevrolet and Honda cars, reducing engine power for qualifying and requiring Chevrolet teams to remove several aerodynamic components that they believe may have contributed to the three crashes and subsequent flights.

An additional hourlong practice session and qualifications went off without incident. But heading into Sunday's Indianapolis 500 serious questions remain unanswered about the stability of the latest generation of Indy cars in general, and cars running the Chevrolet aero package in particular.

"It's definitely a concern and we don't know enough about it," Indy car legend Mario Andretti said. "We haven't seen whether a Honda car would pick up speed when going backward and I hope we never see that.

"The cars today have such huge square inches of floor area, and unfortunately they are susceptible to flying," Andretti added. "I've said that from the beginning and I'm one of the ones who had experience. That's one of the issues that may need to be addressed, narrowing the sidepods. I think it may have to be done."

Andretti retired from full-time driving in 1994, but famously went for a flight in a Dallara Indy car while making a test run for his son's team in 2003. On that occasion, Andretti's car took off like an airplane after hitting a piece of debris on the track from a crash that had just occurred in front of him.

The three accidents involving Chevrolet cars this week appeared relatively innocuous by Indianapolis crash standards until the cars spun around backward and launched into the air after hitting the wall.

In the only Honda wreck of the week, Pippa Mann's machine remained planted to the ground despite hitting two different walls.

The similarity between all three Chevrolet accidents has focused attention on the company's aero kit, specifically an unusually small rear wing that features no traditional end plates or fences.

Honda's rear wing appears much more substantial, with rectangular end plates and additional winglets for additional downforce and stability.

Arron Melvin, the chief designer of the Chevrolet aero kit, said that the tapered "Coke bottle" aspect of the Chevy's side pods helps the chassis create sufficient levels of downforce that reduces the need for a highly effective rear wing.

"We emphasize downforce in areas that aren't the rear wing," Melvin said Monday night at the public launch of Chevrolet's superspeedway aero components. "We need a very slender wing and therefore endplates are not particularly powerful or efficient anymore.

"On a higher downforce configuration, the endplates add more aerodynamic power and value, and we didn't need them," he continued. "The main plane looks very small because we can make a very efficient wing for oval events. It actually has just as much [aerodynamic] strength as the old wing and most of the time it's just providing a small amount of trim. It also has the nice side effect of lighter weight, which is a big factor for these cars."

The question is whether Chevrolet went too far in its quest for efficient downforce. Is the lack of rear-wing endplates contributing to the way the cars are suddenly snapping loose without warning, and to the seeming propensity for them to fly?

Carpenter says it's far too early to rush to judgment.

"There's a lot to understand and I don't think it's fair to say that this is an aero-kit issue," Carpenter said. "We have multiple variables going on this year. We have new tires, there's a new underwing [floor] with a huge hole in it, and aero kits.

"It's all just speculation at this point and we really need to learn what's causing this."

Still, it's a question that we probably wouldn't be asking right now if the IndyCar Series had been more adequately prepared for the introduction of the speedway version of the aero kits.

In an effort to maintain secrecy about their designs, Chevrolet and Honda did little on-track testing, by traditional standards, trusting their designs to wind-tunnel studies and computational fluid dynamics.

Teams did not receive the new wings and other parts until April 27, and for most drivers, a May 3 test at Indianapolis was their first experience with the new package.

Nobody ran more than 95 laps that day. And nobody crashed.

But the issue at Indianapolis really isn't the fact that cars are crashing. That's a natural and normal part of racing.

What isn't normal is the way the Chevy cars are taking flight. And until a crashed Honda car gets upside down, it's going to take time and real world testing to determine whether IndyCar is dealing with a Chevrolet aero problem or a problem endemic to the current iteration of cars in general.

That's why IndyCar mandated the changes it did Sunday morning, to try to make the cars as stable as possible for the short term while it buys the time it needs to research a more permanent solution.

With an oval race coming up June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway, arguably the most dangerous oval the series races on, the pressure is on IndyCar to get to the root of this problem quickly.

"Since the first incident that we had with the No. 3 car [Helio Castroneves' crash on Wednesday], we're working with both manufacturers and trying as fast as we can," IndyCar competition president Derrick Walker said. "They're running supercomputers day into night to try and compare what we have been doing in the past and what we're doing now and see if there are any big red flags that say we're going the wrong way here.

"Crashes are very hard to simulate," Walker added. "They have such good computing power nowadays. They can simulate a car in yaw or 180 degrees going the opposite way, and that, quite frankly, is the best way to get there as quick as we can."

Because it was a safety issue, Honda took the high road and didn't complain that changes were required for its cars when the problems that occurred this week all involved Chevrolet cars.

However, there's a strong feeling that Honda was disadvantaged by the changes. Honda's top qualifier was Justin Wilson in sixth place, 1.5 mph slower than Scott Dixon's 226.760-mph pole speed.
But the drivers supported IndyCar's efforts to make things as safe as possible for them under the circumstances.

"It was a pretty hard decision, but I think they did the right thing," second-place qualifier Will Power said. "The problem was the fact that when you crash, the car flies, but I think that this is the first year we've ever had with this car that you could trim enough to make it quite hard to drive and people were making mistakes and crashing.

"I think it has kind of identified a problem with this car and until they get that fixed, I'm not sure what they can do. It's a pretty tough problem. But I don't think it's just Chevy, either. I think it's just the fact that the floor is built for a road course, and we're running it on an oval and it's quite steep. That's maybe one problem. But I'm not an engineer; I don't know."

Two days of on-track activity remain between now and race day: A full day of practice on Monday and Friday's hourlong Carburetion Day shakedown.

One thing is for certain. Whether it's a Chevy problem or, as Andretti suggested, a more basic issue associated with the wide, flat underbody of the current generation of cars, the IndyCar Series truly does have a problem. How IndyCar reacts moving forward is of utmost importance to the safety of its drivers and spectators and the integrity of the sport.

"Safety is obviously a big part of the sport and oval racing is one of the most dangerous forms, so it's always in the back of your mind," Dixon said after claiming the pole at 226.760 mph, a reduction of 4.309 mph from Carpenter's 2014 Indy pole speed. "All the crashes have been in very different scenarios and different situations.

"We don't want to see cars get in the air, but there are very few tools in the box for us to make changes to the cars," he added. "IndyCar used what they had and with the speeds down, I think safety is going to get better."

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http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/12904775/indycar-facing-major-problem-third-car-flies

Ed Carpenter crashes into Turn 2 wall during Indy 500 practice

(espn.go.com 5-17-15)

Ed Carpenter crashed during practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, delaying scheduled qualifying for the race.

Qualifying, which was originally scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET, was delayed until 3:15 p.m.

"This morning we saw a third car get into the wall, turn backward and lift into the air. We've said all along we want to go faster, but we want to do so safely," Mark Miles, the CEO of Hulman & Company, the parent company of IndyCar, said in a statement.

"As a precautionary measure, IndyCar will require that the cars qualify today in the same aero setup that they will run in the Indianapolis 500 next weekend. Also, for today, boost levels will return to race conditions. Given these changes, we have elected to not award points for today's qualifications.

"Safety for drivers and fans is the top priority for IndyCar and we will continue to be proactive in our research and development to improve all safety aspects of our sport."

Each of the 34 cars will be given one qualifying attempt and the top 30 spots will then be locked in. If time and weather permit, a 45-minute qualifying session will determine the final three starting spots in the May 24 race, and which car will be headed home.

Carpenter, who is trying to become the first driver to win three consecutive Indy 500 poles, spun into the Turn 2 wall and flipped over before the car came to rest on its side.

He was checked and released from the track's infield medical center a short time later.

"It caught me by surprise,'' Carpenter said. "I wasn't expecting to swap ends. The car was actually feeling pretty good, better than it did yesterday. Things are a little unpredictable right now.''

Carpenter's crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was similar to that of his CFH Racing teammate Josef Newgarden.

Newgarden lost control, hit the wall, and flipped his car on Thursday, a day after Helio Castroneves also went airborne during a crash that first raised questions about the safety of the new superspeedway aero kits.

Carpenter, Newgarden and Castroneves all drive Chevrolet cars.

Sunday's crash prompted a closed-door meeting between IndyCar Series officials and team owners from the Chevrolet-powered teams as track workers tried to fix the damaged catch-fence.

"Chevrolet met with IndyCar this morning and the decision was made to run race-level aerodynamics and engine boost during qualifying in an effort to reduce speeds and increase downforce. We continue to review all available data from the crashes. Safety is our priority," Jim Campbell, Chevrolet's U.S. vice president for performance vehicles and motorsports, said.

That was followed by meetings with officials from Honda Performance Development and Honda team owners, who are reportedly unhappy about being forced to make last-minute changes to their cars in response to what they perceive as a problem unique to the Chevrolet cars.

"Even though we have every confidence in our design, we support IndyCar in their efforts to improve safety," HPD president Art St. Cyr said in a statement.

IndyCar Series officials refused to single out Chevrolet's aero kit, which features an unusually small rear wing with no traditional end plates, as the cause of the three crashes this week that ended with cars upside down and airborne.

As the series' only owner/driver, Carpenter was in the unique position of attending the manufacturer meetings with IndyCar as a Chevrolet team owner.

"There's a lot to understand and I don't think it's fair to say that this is an aero kit issue," Carpenter said.

"We have multiple variables going on this year. We have new tires, there's a new underwing [floor] with a huge hole in it, and aero kits.

"It's all just speculation at this point and we really need to learn what's causing this."

Pippa Mann was the only driver to crash a Honda this week in practice, but that car remained upright on the track.

"Ultimately if we are not certain what is causing this, we can't say for certain if this is a Chevy problem or a Honda problem," Miles said. "We're left in a situation where we need to be cautious.
"This is a complex technical situation, but ultimately, the decision was based on that."

Saturday's session was rained out after only two drivers completed the four-lap qualifying procedure. A third driver, Scott Dixon, finished one lap before the yellow flag came out because of light rain. They wiped out the averages of both qualifiers, Carlos Huertas and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Organizers then revised Sunday's schedule to give drivers two short practice sessions in the morning.

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http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/12902039/ed-carpenter-car-flips-indianapolis-500-practice-crash

(video of Carpenter's crash)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaZ8QbTZbb0

Aero package is center of attention

(by John Oreovicz espn.go.com 5-15-15)

 It's the year of the aero kit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

And already, Chevrolet's and Honda's unique modifications to the IndyCar Series' standard Dallara chassis are causing a buzz -- the kind that comes with updated looks, faster speeds and the shadow of risk that has always followed speed, as seen here Wednesday when Helio Castroneves pulled a 200 mph somersault in a practice lap and walked away without a scratch.

In the first five races of the season, all on street or road courses, Chevrolet had the speed advantage, winning four races to Honda's one.

Now, as action switches to IMS for the first oval race of 2015, "low drag" replaces "high downforce" as the design brief for engineers. And just as series officials had hoped, Honda's solution for the 240 mph demands of the Brickyard not only looks markedly different from Chevy's, it also appears to be a much more competitive proposition. Andretti Autosport's Carlos Munoz set the fastest speed of the month Wednesday at 230.121 mph in the No. 26 Honda.

The aero kits were implemented this year for several reasons: to help fans differentiate between Chevrolet and Honda cars, to create an engineering and marketing platform for the manufacturers outside of the 2.2-liter turbocharged V-6 engines they have supplied to the IndyCar Series since 2012 and, hopefully, to achieve a new track record at Indy in 2016 in conjunction with the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.

The current one- and four-lap records (237.498 mph and 236.986 mph, respectively) were established in 1996 by Arie Luyendyk. The following year, IndyCar mandated lower-tech cars with the intention of cutting costs and reducing speed in the name of safety. Luyendyk claimed pole position for the 1997 race at 218.940 mph and speeds have generally stayed at 230 mph or below over the last two decades.

This year's pole speed is expected to be in the 233-234 mph range.

Of course, as speeds increase, so too does the potential for danger. The decision to pursue a new track record was not taken lightly; advances in chassis safety, and most importantly, the development of the SAFER barrier, make high-speed ovals like Indianapolis a much less dicey endeavor than they were 20 years ago or more.

The dangerous side of chasing speed was put on display Wednesday, when a mundane-looking oval crash involving Castroneves, a three-time Indianapolis winner, turned spectacular.

Castroneves had just warmed up with a 219 mph lap when he lost control and spun 180 degrees in Turn 1. Traveling backward at around 200 mph, the rear end of Castroneves' Chevrolet lifted and the car performed a graceful aerial backflip, landing on its roll hoop before bouncing back onto its wheels. Castroneves quickly clambered out, extremely fortunate that he did not hit a fence or anything else during his airborne adventure.

The scene repeated itself in part on Thursday when Josef Newgarden's Chevrolet also hit the wall and flipped, though not as spectacularly as Castroneves'.

The problem with racing accidents is that they cannot be created or replicated in a laboratory, nor are any two incidents the same. Speculation immediately centered on whether the Chevrolet aero kit played a factor in Castroneves' car taking flight, or Newgarden's car flipping over.

"The surprising thing is he got airborne while the car was going backwards and we're going to have to look at that," said Castroneves' car owner, Roger Penske. "It's the first time we've run the speedway bodywork and it's pretty hard to simulate that in a wind tunnel.

"But we've got smart guys and we're going to investigate."

On Thursday, the Chevrolet teams were allowed to remove a three-quarter inch wicker "spine" that bisects the center line of the chassis in the belief that the component had contributed to Castroneves' flip. Honda's cars retained the trim piece, which is intended to stabilize the car and prevent it from flipping when it gets sideways (in a state of yaw).

But the stability of the Chevrolet aero kit was again called into question Thursday when Newgarden crashed heavily late in the day. His Chevrolet spun 360 degrees before striking the Turn 1 wall almost head-on. The car then nearly went upside down before flipping onto its side as it came to a rest. Newgarden appeared fundamentally OK, but shaken, before being transported to the IMS infield care center.

For the time being, drivers, teams, fans and series officials will be waiting with bated breath for the next crash, wondering whether the car will react as expected upon impact without taking flight.
Even after an accident, the show -- and the search for speed -- must go on.

The aero kits haven't come without controversy. They were prioritized by Chevrolet when it re-entered Indy car competition in 2012 after six years of sole Honda engine supply. The biggest fear was the return to a competitive engine market would reduce the parity that the IndyCar Series used as a selling point during what was essentially a spec-car era from 2006-11.

To some extent, that has held true. Since the turbo V-6 formula was instituted in 2012, Chevrolet has won 37 of 55 races and the IndyCar manufacturers championship every year. However, Honda won the 2013 drivers championship with Scott Dixon and two of the last three Indianapolis 500s.

"Aero kits improve the diversity of the fan experience and renew technical engagement, while providing a controlled cost structure," said Derrick Walker, IndyCar's president of competition and operations. "This is an important step in making incremental changes to our cars toward further enhancing speed, innovation and safety."

The additional variable of aerodynamics increases the possibility of one manufacturer becoming more dominant, and that's been the case so far in 2015. But Honda claims that Indianapolis was the priority when it designed its aero kit and the balance between manufacturers has been much closer this week.

In fact, most of the top speeds achieved without the benefit of a draft or tow have been achieved by Honda cars.

Still, Michael Andretti, owner of Munoz's Honda and four other Indianapolis 500 entries, isn't convinced aero kits were the right move for the series and its manufacturers.

Costs for the components are capped for teams, starting at $75,000 for the first kit and rising incrementally. But the manufacturers are absorbing millions of dollars in development costs, and Andretti questions the need.

"You're adding huge expense to the series, and you're messing with the product on the race track, which I think is the best racing out there," Andretti said.

"Now we potentially have a split field and I can't see how it is going to get any more people in the stands or watching on TV."

In defense of the aero packages, Walker said they will drive innovation and make the series more interesting to casual fans and gearheads alike.

"Car development has been frozen since the chassis came out in 2012, and at Indianapolis, the pole speed has increased nearly 5 mph since then even without any aerodynamic development," said Walker.

"When you say to designers and engineers, 'OK, you can make some changes,' you'll get some different shapes and certainly you'll get more performance.

"Records will be broken, and for the casual fan or the technical enthusiast, there's a lot more to look at."

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http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/12887117/aero-kits-take-center-stage-quest-speed

(video of Newgarden's crash)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THfIvk628eo