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IndyCar
INDYCAR: St. Pete Rewind
Marshall Pruett looks back at some of the interesting stories from the opening IndyCar race at St. Pete in his first Rewind column of the year.
Dive into the topics of interest and behind-the-scenes happenings that took place at St. Petersburg in the first IndyCar Rewind column of the new season. (Photo: LAT)
It took the chance occurrence of going through the Tampa International Airport security line with IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard to gain a perspective I’d failed to fully grasp on the season-opening race.
For Bernard, the race was a processional and anti-climactic affair that cried out for immediate fixing. With all of the newness to the series this year—cars, engines and drivers—the 100-lap event lacked the passing and excitement he was hoping to deliver.
I’m probably in the minority on this one, but I thought the manner the race played out was just what the series needed. Looking at the fiery, painful conclusion to the last IndyCar race, having the exact opposite take place in St. Pete seemed appropriate.
No major crashes, blowups, tears or tirades took place last weekend. For some of us who are maybe still a bit shell-shocked after what took place at the 2011 season finale, a mellow start to the 2012 season wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
But He Still Has A Point
Bernard’s take on the race--as I’ve heard and read from numerous sources--was fairly universal. Adding some spice to the remaining races will become a priority within the IndyCar offices, with push-to-pass considered the easiest remedy to artificially induce more passing.
INDYCAR, the sanctioning body for the series, wrote a provision for push-to-pass into its engine regulations, but it’s highly unlikely that Chevrolet, Honda and especially Lotus are ready to pump an extra 100 hp through their small-displacement turbo engines with the touch of a button. Not at such an early stage of development.
The series needs to dial up the excitement factor for those watching at home, but not at the risk of littering the tracks with oil and engine parts using “push-to-explode,” as one manufacturer described it.
So How Do You Fix The Problem?
When most of us sit down to watch a race on TV, we do so with the reasonable expectation that the people who control the dozen or more cameras filming the action will make every effort to bring that action footage to its audience, right?
Above all else, the quality of the viewing experience falls on the choices that are made in the control booth, and having seen both the raw St. Pete track footage and what ABC chose to broadcast, I’m left wondering why they decided to lull their audience into a coma when there was plenty of dicing and passing to be shown.
I’m not saying St. Pete was an instant classic, but it was far better than what the TV portrayed.
That message will surely be conveyed to ABC by the series and, in the greater scheme, the terrible job they did from green to checker showed just how much control television has over IndyCar’s fate.
There are MANY things that need to be tweaked on the Dallara DW12 to make more passing happen, but as St. Pete proved, none of that matters if the cameras aren’t trained on the action—wherever it’s taking place on the track. Passing can be a precious and rare commodity at times, which should dictate just how important it is to be shown. It’s not rocket surgery.
The King Of All Media
The appearance by Howard Stern during the driver introductions was a pleasant surprise.
It Might Get Loud
Tucked away in the first eleven laps of the race was an occurrence that could spell trouble for 25 of the 26 cars in the field. Will Power, the most vocal opponent of the understeery Dallara DW12, and his Team Penske engineers have now rid his No. 12 car of the handling trait he despises the most. Power promptly marched out to a 2.8-second gap over his Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe before a yellow flag for Katherine Legge’s stalled car wiped away his advantage.
If pulling away by an average of a quarter-second per lap on his teammate in an identical car doesn’t scare the hell out of his rivals, maybe his post-race comments about his car will do the job: “I had a car exactly how I wanted,” he said. “It might have had the best car I’ve ever had in my career.”
I don’t think Power even expected to find the sweet spot on his car this early in the season, but if he and engineer David Faustino have indeed come up with the right handling formula, DJ Willy P should be untouchable at Barber.
A&F For ABC
ABC’s handling of the race broadcast might have been an epic FAIL, but the pre-race Dan Wheldon feature was simply stunning.
No Fuel For You
Before the event, some teams reported fueling problems involving slow fuel fill rates, premature splash back through the vent hose and the inability to get all 18.5 gallons of E85 ethanol into the DW12’s fuel cell.
Although teams had put a fair amount of test mileage on the chassis and engines, it was obvious that refueling the DW12s would take some time to refine and master. What stood out during the race was the difference between the teams who spent the extra hours in the shop and in testing to work through the refueling kinks prior to loading in to St. Pete, and those who had to catch up over the three-day event.
A few drivers went into heavy fuel conservation mode during the race’s final stint after learning they would run dry as many as four laps shy of the finish line, with incomplete fuel fills and slightly increased fuel consumption to blame.
With a flurry of fuel tank and refueling system tweaks currently under way, this weekend’s race at Barber should, in theory, have fewer fuel-related dramas.
For Bernard, the race was a processional and anti-climactic affair that cried out for immediate fixing. With all of the newness to the series this year—cars, engines and drivers—the 100-lap event lacked the passing and excitement he was hoping to deliver.
I’m probably in the minority on this one, but I thought the manner the race played out was just what the series needed. Looking at the fiery, painful conclusion to the last IndyCar race, having the exact opposite take place in St. Pete seemed appropriate.
No major crashes, blowups, tears or tirades took place last weekend. For some of us who are maybe still a bit shell-shocked after what took place at the 2011 season finale, a mellow start to the 2012 season wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
But He Still Has A Point
Bernard’s take on the race--as I’ve heard and read from numerous sources--was fairly universal. Adding some spice to the remaining races will become a priority within the IndyCar offices, with push-to-pass considered the easiest remedy to artificially induce more passing.
INDYCAR, the sanctioning body for the series, wrote a provision for push-to-pass into its engine regulations, but it’s highly unlikely that Chevrolet, Honda and especially Lotus are ready to pump an extra 100 hp through their small-displacement turbo engines with the touch of a button. Not at such an early stage of development.
The series needs to dial up the excitement factor for those watching at home, but not at the risk of littering the tracks with oil and engine parts using “push-to-explode,” as one manufacturer described it.
So How Do You Fix The Problem?
When most of us sit down to watch a race on TV, we do so with the reasonable expectation that the people who control the dozen or more cameras filming the action will make every effort to bring that action footage to its audience, right?
Above all else, the quality of the viewing experience falls on the choices that are made in the control booth, and having seen both the raw St. Pete track footage and what ABC chose to broadcast, I’m left wondering why they decided to lull their audience into a coma when there was plenty of dicing and passing to be shown.
I’m not saying St. Pete was an instant classic, but it was far better than what the TV portrayed.
That message will surely be conveyed to ABC by the series and, in the greater scheme, the terrible job they did from green to checker showed just how much control television has over IndyCar’s fate.
There are MANY things that need to be tweaked on the Dallara DW12 to make more passing happen, but as St. Pete proved, none of that matters if the cameras aren’t trained on the action—wherever it’s taking place on the track. Passing can be a precious and rare commodity at times, which should dictate just how important it is to be shown. It’s not rocket surgery.
The King Of All Media
The appearance by Howard Stern during the driver introductions was a pleasant surprise.
It Might Get Loud
Tucked away in the first eleven laps of the race was an occurrence that could spell trouble for 25 of the 26 cars in the field. Will Power, the most vocal opponent of the understeery Dallara DW12, and his Team Penske engineers have now rid his No. 12 car of the handling trait he despises the most. Power promptly marched out to a 2.8-second gap over his Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe before a yellow flag for Katherine Legge’s stalled car wiped away his advantage.
If pulling away by an average of a quarter-second per lap on his teammate in an identical car doesn’t scare the hell out of his rivals, maybe his post-race comments about his car will do the job: “I had a car exactly how I wanted,” he said. “It might have had the best car I’ve ever had in my career.”
I don’t think Power even expected to find the sweet spot on his car this early in the season, but if he and engineer David Faustino have indeed come up with the right handling formula, DJ Willy P should be untouchable at Barber.
A&F For ABC
ABC’s handling of the race broadcast might have been an epic FAIL, but the pre-race Dan Wheldon feature was simply stunning.
No Fuel For You
Before the event, some teams reported fueling problems involving slow fuel fill rates, premature splash back through the vent hose and the inability to get all 18.5 gallons of E85 ethanol into the DW12’s fuel cell.
Although teams had put a fair amount of test mileage on the chassis and engines, it was obvious that refueling the DW12s would take some time to refine and master. What stood out during the race was the difference between the teams who spent the extra hours in the shop and in testing to work through the refueling kinks prior to loading in to St. Pete, and those who had to catch up over the three-day event.
A few drivers went into heavy fuel conservation mode during the race’s final stint after learning they would run dry as many as four laps shy of the finish line, with incomplete fuel fills and slightly increased fuel consumption to blame.
With a flurry of fuel tank and refueling system tweaks currently under way, this weekend’s race at Barber should, in theory, have fewer fuel-related dramas.
2013 INDY 500 Practice
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