May. Spring is on the wane, the heat and humidity levels are rising, and the racers are back at Indianapolis. Well, maybe not quite yet, since their race in Brazil ran a day longer than it was planned to due to rain…
I remember watching footage of the 500 as a kid–you'd usually catch it on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" a few weeks after the race ran. I didn't follow it as closely as some fans did back then, but I knew of it and of the storied drivers who attempted to beat the track. Some won, some lost…
I was in college when I really started taking an interest in the race. I got familiar with their qualifying format, Bump Day, Carburetion day, and the like. Back then, you might have 50 or 60 cars vying for a spot in the starting grid. Indy, unlike other races, sees the fastest 33 cars start the race. It doesn't matter if you're the defending Champ, if you aren't quick enough, you go home–as Smokey Yunick said in his memoirs, "Turn in your hero badge and try again next year."
When the Split came in 1996, I lost interest. It seemed to me then that North American open wheel racing was in serious trouble. I wasn't far off the mark–the upstart Indy Racing League (IRL) sputtered on with their low-buck scheme using one or two approved powerplants and chassis to make racing affordable, while the established Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) seemed to hold all the cards–other than the Memorial Day race at the Brickyard, they had the well funded teams and still fostered a sense of innovation. CART had better backing, and most of the established teams stayed with CART after the split. After a few years, though, CART's armor started to tarnish when several big name teams–Penske, Ganassi, and what is now Andretti Autosport, to name a few–defected to the IRL. Their goal? Run ans win the Indy 500. As CART teams, their chances were limited under the IRL's rules which only allowed a certain number of non-IRL teams an opportunity to qualify. CART went insolvent in 2003, re-branded itself as ChampCar, and then folded in early 2008. The two series were reunified under the IRL (now IndyCar) banner.
But the IRL wasn't the first time that open wheel racing in the States had issues. The Indy 500 was originally sanctioned by The American Automobile Association, and remained so until the multitude of racing fatalities that occurred in 1955–Bill Vukovich died in a fiery crash at Indy, and over 200 hundred people were killed or injured at that year's running of the 24 Heures duMans when Pierre Leveigh's Mercedes went airborne and crashed into a group of spectators, to name a few. AAA got out of the racing business. The United States Auto Club (USAC) took over sanctioning duties for North American open-wheel racing (along with short track, sprint cars, and briefly, stock cars) until the late 1970's. With attendance, purses and revenues on a decline, and a sense that the sanctioning body wasn't doing their job, a group of team owners drafted the "Gurney White Paper", which was inspired by the way Bernie Ecclestone had reformed Formula One. CART would promote the races under USAC sponsorship. When that was rejected by USAC, CART took over. The rest, as they say…
These days, a good year sees maybe 35 to 40 cars make a qualifying attempt. I do certainly hope that the new overseers of IndyCar take a long look at what Indy has become. Do we need four weeks at the speedway? After all, the cars haven't used carburetted engines since the 1960's or earlier, so what sense is having Carb Day? Knock it down to two weeks, and you'll save the teams money and maybe be able to add a race to the schedule.
If you want a good idea of what Indy qualifying used to be like, you need to read Smokey Yunick's memoirs. While largely though of as a NASCAR personality, Smokey's real love was Indy and the 500. As he says, they had a little. skinny rule book and they fostered innovation. And Smokey was certainly an innovator.
I do look forward to this year's running–it is the 100th running of the Indy 500, true, but the quality of the racing has improved. In a twist of irony, the IRL under previous leader Tony George had turned into what CART was when the Split took place–a few large, well funded teams were the perennial winners, the others were also-rans. Once they defected from CART, they quickly became the teams to beat, and the smaller, lesser known teams suffered as a result. It seems that the new leadership at IndyCar understands this, and it also seems as if some of the former ChampCar teams have caught up to the long-standing IRL teams in terms of speed and quality. New drivers have come along, both those from the defunct CART/ChampCar ranks and from the various developmental series.
And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the "girl racers". While ladies had run Indy before–Lyn St. James and Janet Guthrie have both run the race–lately it has been the Danica Patrick show. Before Danica was Sarah Fisher, now a team owner, and the forgettable Milka Duno–Milka came to the IRL from the Grand American Road Racing Associations' Rolex Sports Car series, where she was a perennial back marker. If she couldn't get it done at sub-100 mile per hour speeds, she certainly became a hazard at 200+ mph. Lately, two new young ladies have entered the series: Simona deSilvestro and Ana Beatriz. Simona and Ana, I believe, have what it takes to win races–Simona had the quickest lap this past weekend at the rain-soaked Brazilian race.
And my favorite to win? This year, I'd like to see Sarah Fisher's hard work pay off. She's due for some good fortune at Indy, and why not this year?
Whoever you cheer for, enjoy the month of Indy. Try to catch some of the qualifying sessions. They're so different from the way qualifying is usually done, and it can become habit-forming.
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.