Jul 17

Written by: The Commish
7/17/2010 12:41 PM 

Optimism was high before last week's ICONIC 2012 IndyCar rules reveal and much like Lebron's televised signing announcement, the content was disappointing.  Oh yea, the IndyCar press conference didn't have quite the draw of Lebron's, either.

The announcement that all cars will be Dallara's, with the capability of running different engines and bodywork/aerodynamics was a first blush downer. 

IndyCar needs a complete metamorphisis, not a makeover.    

Not that I can't sympathize with the panel.  Compromise, aka watering down, getting around, procrastination, collusion, conspiracy, etc. is the name of the game.  Just look at congress.

I can't really blame Randy Bernard or Brian Barhardt or Gil de Ferran or Admiral Nimitz or anyone else on the ICONIC panel for making the rules that are now published and set in some exotic, harder-than-stone epoxy.  It truly is all about the economy now and we all know business owners occasionally have to put off what's best for the long term in favor of what's best for the present and immediate, bill-paying future, at least until they can regroup financially, probably when the economy improves.

But right now its all about survival.  I'm actually okay with that.

(So I'll wait another five years in hoping a Delta Wing prototype is built, successfully tested and perhaps raced -- I don't know how, realistically -- toward its becoming the next new IndyCar design format.   That's assuming IndyCar survives, of course.  If the coming years don't see significant manufacturer involvement, including lots and lots of marketing and promotions and media attention, who knows how long the Hulman George family and IZOD and Firestone will feed this very expensive, no-return-other-than-the-Indy 500 habit.)

But my real sorrow lies in how I believe they missed the mark on the whole Dallara -built "safety cell" foundation for the new rules package.  I understand the politics, i.e. the factory in Indianapolis, the tax breaks for the Italian company and the jobs that will go to Americans, but what they call a safety cell I call a spec roller, if I understand the new rules package correctly.

Rollers are pretty much complete, spec racecars sans drivetrains.  They all come with bodywork, just as the Dallara will, and you can bet your autographed Barney Navarro photo the Dallara engineers and aerodynamicists will come up with the best, most efficient design possible given the resources allotted.

I do not believe there will be a lot of interest from other companies in alternative aero packages, certainly not for 2012.

Given one roller chassis, of specified dimensions, there can only be one direction or ballpark for the optimum aero package because physical laws won't change according to one bodywork supplier or another.  Different elements may change slightly as all the variables and their combinations of wings, sidepods, noses and engine cover are analyzed and modeled but that takes time and money.  

A big investment to have an edge on the competition is one thing.  A big investment that everyone will have equal access to is quite another.  So I can't imagine how an alternative body package would be profitable for anyone except a participating car manufacturer; one where the bodywork/aero investment -- either created in-house or subcontracted to a racecar company -- would be included in their overall racing budget.  

That brings us to the branding issue.  Any company that writes checks to participate in IndyCar racing is doing so to build their brand toward increasing sales and profit, and that should logically apply to Dallara, the engine manufacturers and the companies that build aero kits. 

I guess Dallara is okay with their name being in the background because the bodywork companies are supposedly going to get the chassis credit.  What about the engine manufacturer?  Won't Ford or Honda or Audi want their cars to prominently promote their brand in all published materials?

Will there be Swift/Dodge's, Dallara/Ferrari's, BAT/Chevy's and Lola/Lexus IndyCars? 

If Ford builds an aero kit for its teams, knowing it will be offered to other teams, will their cars be Ford IndyCars? 

Will a team that runs a Honda but with Ford -developed bodywork and wings see its entry listed as a Honda/Ford (or Ford/Honda) Indycar?

Fact:  They're all Dallara's regardless of the bodywork.  With the same suspension, wheelbase, height, weight, width, electronics, fuel system, etc.  Just like today.

I don't like it and I don't think the public will like or understand it very much either. 

I don't know.  Maybe new fans won't care. 

But I care.  And I don't want to see the 2012 season open with nothing but grandfathered Dallara/Honda V8s and new Dallara/Honda V6s.

So without further adieu let me share my worth-exactly-what-you're-paying opinion.  If I had been on the ICONIC panel; if I had the ears of Randy Bernard and Eddie Gossage and Tony Cotman and the rest, including pictures of all panel members in compromising positions for leverage, here's what I would have suggested:

The safety cell should be a spec tub, it's primary purpose to protect the driver.  It should be the only major component made from carbon fiber or some other composite or cutting edge material that drastically elevates the cost. 

The engine and transmission -- either as a stressed member or packaged in a subframe -- should attach to the safety cell.  Maybe the rules should dictate a tube chassis that envelops the safety cell.  With both front and rear suspension, and the sidepods, and the bodywork attached to that economical, small race shop - buildable chassis. 

Let Dallara build the safety cell.  If not Dallara, then some other US company in the industry, even if they're in Charlotte or Denver or SoCal instead of Indianapolis.

Although I do like the jingoism offer re: discounts for Indianapolis -based teams.  A similar incentive should be created for local industry component suppliers, too.  

Instead of soliciting race car builders to design, produce and sell bodywork for a competitive company's chassis,  which just doesn't make sense to me, IndyCar would offer a licensing program so approved builders could create an entire racecar around the spec safety cell and approved drivetrains.   Race car manufacturers would work within dimension, weight and volume parameters and there would be restrictions on materials, if not by the necessity of the mandated retail cost then by the rulebook.

Dallara would be licensed to built an IndyCar around the spec safety cell, as would Swift, BAT, Lola and even Delta Wing if the tire differences could be addressed. 

And if all those companies decided the business model was profitable.

But other companies could apply for licensing, too; from Dan Drinan's Race Products to Riley, Doran, Oreca, Beast,  Panoz, Pratt & Miller, etc., as long as they had the production capacity and their racecars passed inspection.

Every manufacturer would still have to offer its chassis for the same fixed price.  Each would be allowed to build a minimum number of cars for its first 'probation' season and then forced to commit to being able to produce a larger number, equal to a TBD percentage of a 33-car field when fully licensed.  Any and all updates, introduced on an annual basis, would have to be available to all customers.

But that's just me.  And while I've been called many names, iconic was never one of them.

I'm just an IndyCar fan that does not believe in spec chassis, let alone spec chassis and engines, for America's premier open wheel series.  Ever.

And I wish the 2012 rules package wasn't based on another spec Dallara chassis.