West Allis, WI – As I was doing the wrap-up on this blog, I received a text message that with this win, I have now been the first and only driver to capture a win on every step of the current Mazda Road to Indy ladder (Skip Barber Nat’l, USF2000, Pro Mazda, Firestone Indy Lights). I don’t pay too much attention to stats, but I have a lot of pride in that one. It’s cool that I got wins at each level in my rookie seasons.

Heading into the Milwaukee Mile, I knew that winning the race would be a tall order, since the points leader, Carlos Munoz tested there about a week ago with his Andretti Autosport team. Even though I had a lot of confidence from my Indy Freedom 100 performance, I know what a day of testing can do for a driver and team at a track.

Courtesy: Sage Karam

My team at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports had a great setup for the #8 Comfort Revolution car and I was able to get up to speed immediately on the promoter test day. On used tires I was very fast and my car was stable. Even a stable car is gnarly if you are driving it on the edge. I had a couple of moments in the car where I went full lock with the steering wheel while correcting a loose car, but for the most part, I was able to let it fly.

On Friday we ran two sets of new tires and I felt comfortable, at that point that we would be in contention for the pole award. Every other driver used only one set of new tires for these practice sessions and they saved one set of new tires for qualifying and another set for the race on Saturday.

Flashback several years and as a go karter, we were always looking to save money and never ran new tires for every race. I won many National championships on used karting tires and got pretty good at saving the tires. In fact, we would add extra air in the tires in qualifying so the tires would come in earlier and I wouldn’t have to run as many laps as the other drivers. This taught me to run fast times quickly on cold tires. This is something that has carried over to my ability to turn fast laps in my car on cold tires today.

I remember in 2010 I was racing in the USF2000 series for Andretti Autosport at Road America. My crew chief had me test a set of new ties in practice, another new set in qualifying, and the final set of new tires in Saturday’s race #1. This meant on Sunday I would have to go with used tires for race #2. We won race #1 Saturday. But we set the track record on Sunday in race #2 on used tires!

Munoz went out and qualified before me. My engineer, Tim Neff, radioed to me his times as I pulled out of the pits and started my qualifying run. The car felt good and the team gave me everything I needed to put it on pole, and I did. It was kind of amazing that we stuck it on pole and it was the first time I have been to this track in this car! It was my second consecutive pole and the momentum was growing.

We left the track and hit up Culver’s Restaurant for dinner. It’s always been good luck when I eat dinner at Culver’s, and we weren’t going to take any chances. They have this ice cream dessert called a cement mixer, and it is amazing.

Race day arrived and I had a great feeling. One of my sponsors called me and said that he’d give me a $1000 bonus if I win. Those kinds of deals are always good!  Being that I have never won a FIL race, I think today was as good a day as any to get my first. After driver intros, I strolled up the grid and eyed up the cars. It was a little intimidating to see new tires on the Andretti Autosport cars and the Belardi’s as well. I looked at my used tires one last time before I got into my car and recalled the days of going fast on used tires in those karting days. Somehow, I still felt confident in my car and myself.

Courtesy: Sage Karam

Sam Schmidt often contacts me and offers racing advice and sometimes just calls and checks in on me. He called me the previous night and gave me specific advice on how to lead the cars to the green flag and how to manage the first lap. I pretty much let him down and lost the lead on the drop of the green flag. The leader took off at a blistering pace. As I followed him, I realized that even though he was on new tires, there was no possible way he’d maintain that pace, and his tires will certainly be used up by the halfway point. I learned in Star Mazda the importance of tire conservation and how easy it was to make the error of driving on emotion and use up your tires.

Sure enough the leader started to fade and I easily passed him a little past the halfway point. I knew there was very little chance of anybody being able to pass me as long as I maintained my pace by being smart with my tires. With five laps to go, the yellow flag came out because of a car spinning. I thought this couldn’t be happening to me. Up to that point, I had a nice lead and was comfortable. On the restart with 3 to go, I checked out and crossed the finish line as the winner!

After crossing the finish line I pulled out the American flag (top secret where I had it concealed haha) and let it wave in the wind as I drove on the victory lap. It was an amazing feeling to get my first win. Not only was it my first FIL win, but it kept in tact my record of getting on the podium at every oval (9) I have ever competed at in the entire Mazda Road to Indy ladder. My win moved me into 2^nd place in the standings and I only trail the leader by 18 points. I am the top American and also the top rookie in the championship standings.

We head into Iowa this week and this track has been good to me. I won all three times I have been here; I won in USF2000 and twice in Star Mazda. But we will enter this race with the same situation as we did in Milwaukee. The AA cars tested here this year and I have never been on the Iowa Speedway with a Lights car. We only have 2 short 45-minute sessions to practice on Saturday before we qualify. So needless to say, this challenge is even bigger than Milwaukee’s. I’m not crying about it, just stating the degree of this challenge.

I have learned a lot in this series so far and am very confident in this car. My team understands my intensity and my desire to be the best. I think they actually sense my intensity and neither of us want to let each other down. Sure, I have a lot to learn yet, but I feel things are going well. We have demonstrated consistency and we are the only driver to not to finish worse than 4^th in any race.

My goal is to keep improving and put myself in position of still having a real shot of winning the championship at the last race of the season. Hopefully along the way I will be impressive enough to even be considered for an IndyCar test, or a race this year. Hey, a guy has to have dreams!

English:

Spanish Version:

From 1980-1982, CART ran two events at the Milwaukee Mile; one right after the Indianapolis 500 and the other in August or September. That idea was abandoned starting in 1983.

Michael Andretti was the master of Mliwaukee in his CART career, having five wins at the track. In 1991, (a Michael win) the Andretti’s finished 1-2-3 with Michael’s father, Mario finishing second and Mario’s nephew, John finishing third. So it seems pretty fitting that Michael Andretti and his Andretti Sports Marketing is promoting the event. Under IRL/IICS sanction Andretti has added his win total list as a car owner to nine wins in total at Milwaukee.

What makes the Miwaukee Mile so special though? The thing is that it is unlike any other race track in the world (my opinion). It is built inside the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds which holds Wisconsin’s State Fair in early August. The track is a driver’s track and driver’s really enjoy that discipline of a track. There is non-stop passing and that makes things exciting on the track for the fans there and viewers sitting in their living rooms.

So what exactly is IndyFest? I can say from being at the first one last season, it is a spectacular event. On Friday, the drivers/teams do all practice and qualifying with Pro Mazda and Indy Lights running on that day. In the infield, there is a snake pit, carnival rides and most importantly ticket prices are fairly cheap. Saturday caps everything off with the big show.  Last year, the event had almost 25,000 people in the inaugural IndyFest. I’ve heard that 30,000 tickets have been sold for this year alone.

At the last race in Texas, the talk was all about tires. I have to think that this week the race will be once again about tires. Helio Castroneves won last weekend’s Firestone 550K at Texas Motor Speedway and takes full possession of the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings over Andretti Autosport drivers, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay who finished second and fifth respectively. I expect Helio, Marco and RHR to carry their momentum into Milwaukee this weekend. Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay are under some pressure this weekend to deliver since it is a team promoted race for Andretti.

Darkhorses: 

Marco Andretti: We are now in the oval section of this year’s championship run and Marco Andretti, on paper, seems like the driver to beat for the next couple of weeks. Andretti’s best Milwaukee finish is fifth in 2006 but Marco seems like a rejuvenated driver this season and his average finish on ovals is 4.5 with a season average of 6.9. I think Marco will be strong this weekend because he needs to make up some ground on Helio Castroneves in the point standings.

Ryan Hunter-Reay: Why wouldn’t we not count out a two-time winner at the Mile? Remember, Ryan led all 250 laps in 2004 at Milwaukee and won last year’s event. As RHR put in the post-race interviews, “We are heading into a good stretch for us.” Keep in mind, he won three straight last year (Milwaukee, Iowa and Toronto.) The champion looks very confident heading into this weekend.

Tony Kanaan: The Indy 500 champion is a two time winner at Milwaukee but that was when he was driving for Andretti Green (Andretti Autosport). Coming off an impressive comeback podium at Texas, Kanaan stated with an interview with ABC after Texas that he is heading into a good stretch for himself as a driver. Can the AJ Foyt Oval Trophy leader extend his oval championship gap over Marco Andretti at Milwaukee? Kanaan ran second in last year’s event.

Some things to take note of:

• Chevy had locked out the top 5 at Texas
• Honda has only won two of the eight races this season

I will be at the Milwaukee IndyFest this coming weekend covering for Open-Wheels.com. I will have more coverage of this event later on this week about news and notes and a stat sheet. You can follow me on twitter for updates on Friday June 14th and Saturday June 15th @Kent_Mueller

Restricting the personalities of these drivers, will only do more to drive our fan base away, but also push away the drivers.  When I first became a fan of the series, it was due to one driver, and that drivers personality that pushed me to “care” about what happened to them on the race track.  Then another driver allowed me access to their real personality, that wasn’t Pr’d down.  Eventually I got to know many of the drivers, and this made it hard for me to participate, purely because I didn’t have a favorite, nor did I allow myself to choose one or the other.

What the series is doing now by leveling fines that are potentially more than a driver could earn in one race, is going to cause these drivers to become introverted, and not allow them to be themselves.  This is was a ridiculous move, and if IndyCar ever wants to join those upper echelon series of Formula 1 and Nascar they need to let the drivers be drivers.

Eddie Gossage is a genius in his marketing of the “Angry Birds” at TMS this weekend, and the series needs to embrace a similar idea.

This editorial may have made absolutely no sense, but I had to put something out there about how I feel.

- Tellez

Since that dark day in October that Randy Bernard got fired, fans have been wondering about a few topics. Well I got in touch with the Hulman-George Company president and CEO, Mark Miles to discuss a few things on the future of IndyCar.

Q: First off, thank you Mark for doing this it is very appreciated by the staff of Open Wheels. Lets get into our first question. You have spoken about the fact that you’ve always been a big fan of IndyCar and the Indy 500. As a fan, given a blank sheet of paper – describe the American Open Wheel racing you’d like to see 10 years from now.

Mr. Miles: First, thank you for the continued IndyCar coverage on Open-Wheels.com. Our vision is for the IndyCar Series to be a strong, vibrant championship featuring the world’s best drivers and the most exciting and competitive racing.  As you know, Derrick Walker, INDYCAR’s new president of operations and competition, and I announced recently our efforts to encourage innovative technology improvements in the sport designed to bring controlled increases in speed, along with improvements in safety to the sport. We will continue to develop relationships with business partners who can help us grow and activate the sport’s appeal of courageous drivers, diverse, exciting competition and high-tech racing machinery in new and existing markets. We also need to use emerging technology and traditional and digital media platforms better to promote our sport, reach existing fans and create new fans. An exciting example of this approach is our work with DreamWorks’ on its upcoming animated major motion picture “Turbo,” which is all about a snail fulfilling his dream to race in the Indianapolis 500. The movie will open nationwide July 17.

Q: We know that in March, the Boston Consulting Group released their report on the state of IMS and IndyCar for the future. What positive things can you take out of that, and implement to IndyCar?

Mr. Miles: BCG looked at every aspect of our business using a data-driven neutral perspective. BCG’s work helped us look at our business in a different way, and consider new proposals and programs. Honest, in-depth examination  of any business is healthy and, where appropriate, we’ll work to integrate key BCG suggestions with our own to develop a platform and plan for long-term success for this series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Q: With Audi  announcing that IndyCar could be in the series by 2015 as a engine supplier, have you had any conversations with them on this subject. As a follow up, will we see any aero kits introduced and a raise in levels of boost in horsepower for the cars?

Mr Miles: We welcome interest from all manufacturers who are interested in using our platform of speed, high technology, skill and excitement to promote their products and grow their market share, including a performance brand with an impressive racing pedigree like Audi. As I mentioned previously, we just unveiled a long-term competition strategy to open the door to increased technical innovation in our cars and further our longstanding effort to improve safety in open-wheel racing. That strategy starts now, with plans through 2021. Those initiatives include aero configuration kits starting in 2015, with specifications for superspeedway and road/street/short oval configurations.

Q: If you could, could you please talk about what you want to do with the schedule. Will we see any drastic changes. I know that you have been talking about a second race at the Speedway on the road course. I am wondering, why would we see the series end in September at the road course when we already have events such as Houston and Fontana to build on for the latter part of the season? In a perfect world how many events would be on the schedule, how much are you willing to listen to the IndyCar fan base as a whole?

Mr. Miles: Building the right schedule for everyone is always a challenging task. I know – I helped to build an annual worldwide tennis schedule as the CEO of the ATP Tour for 15 years. Our priority remains to work with committed promoters who are in our sport for the long term to assure stability and date equity for our fans, business partners and promotional partners. We’ve discussed internally various scenarios to close out our season each year and we continue to discuss if and how a road course event at IMS could fit into that schedule. The key to presenting a successful schedule is making sure each event fits into a long-term strategy to assist the series in growing its fan base and helping promoters, partners and teams derive value from our events.

 Q: One last question. Do you think that F1 and IndyCar on the NBC Sports Network is a good thing for IndyCar. Have you had any conversations with Bernie Ecclestone on working together in the states with each other. This is greatly appreciated Mark, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to answer these questions.

 Mr. Miles: The addition of Formula One to the NBC Sports Network will help increase viewership of IZOD IndyCar Series races. NBC has aggressively cross-promoted IndyCar races during F1 events, and vice-versa as it bills itself as the television destination for American open-wheel racing fans. The IZOD IndyCar Series is a vital part of that package. We think F1 fans who haven’t watched IndyCar races lately will like what they see. Thanks again for this opportunity to communicate with people who share our passion for about the great sport of open-wheel racing and IndyCar. 

Open-Wheels.com would like to thank Mr. Miles for his time to share somethings on IndyCar.

The first Canadian Grand Prix took place in 1967 at Mosport Park and it alternated with Circuit Mont-Tremblant from 1968-1970. From 1971 to 1977 the race was held at Mosport Park. Since 1978 (exception 2009) the race has ran in Montreal at Circuit Gilles Villenueve. The first winner at Montreal was Gilles Villenueve in his Ferrari, the man who the track is named for after his tragic death in 1982 at the Belgian GP). There has been 20 different winners at Montreal in 35 years.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has the most wins at the track for active drivers, Michael Schumacher is the overall leader of that category with seven and six of those wins were with Ferrari and he won three in a row from 2002-2004. Ferrari and McLaren are held with 13 constructor wins a piece but McLaren has won the past three years (Button, Hamilton x2).

The circuit at Montreal is a racing friendly circuit that provides plenty of overtaking. The straightaway then chicane/hairpin method of the track really helps. When the FIA first introduced the Drag Reduction System (DRS) at Canada it had two zones because of the long straightaways at the circuit. For 2012, it reverted back to the pit lane/main straightaway though. Expect a lot of overtaking this Sunday.

Also, NBC will be carrying the coverage of the Canadian GP for the United States viewers. At the last race in Monaco, NBC also covered that event live. The TV ratings on NBC went up 241% from any SPEED/Fox or NBC Sports Network race it had approximately 1 million viewers. I am really interested to see if the trend continues into Canada and for the majority of the season on NBC Sports Network and CNBC (England and Germany only). The advantage NBC has by covering the bigger races is that they can draw bigger audiences for the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas and the season finale a week later in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Like Monaco, I do believe that NBC is bringing live coverage from Montreal.

After Monaco, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Renault held his point lead after a second place finish and Kimi Raikkonen lost ground with a tenth place finish and only earning one point. Fernando Alonso is third in points more than a race behind Vettel with Hamilton fourth in points. Mark Webber rounds out the top five in points. It will be interesting to see if Mercedes can lock out the front row for the fourth straight weekend and see if they can hold on like in Monaco with the tires. Lotus should be contenders as the dominated Australia, a similar track to Canada.

Analysis: While the McLaren’s have not been up to par this season and their best finish on the season is sixth, I do believe that they could contend this weekend for a podium. I say this because Jenson Button is a former winner and Sergio Perez pulled off an impressive third in a Sauber last season. I call Montreal, McLaren’s playground because it seems for the past three years they are the team to beat.

As I mentioned above, Lotus could be a huge player because of the similarities to Australia in Canada. Plus, Kimi Raikkonen is probably in the best form in his career as he has scored points in 21 straight races. If he scores points this weekend (which I think he will), he will tie Michael Schumacher’s record of 22 races with consecutive points paying finishes. As for his teammate Romain Grosjean, he has a ten place grid penalty to deal with after his accident in Moncao with Jean Eric Vergne, I don’t expect him to be a factor not unless he can pull off a strategy miracle.

Rosberg and Hamilton of Mercedes are the speeding wizards on Friday/Saturday so I expect them to qualify in the top 3. As for the race, Rosberg’s best Canada finish is sixth and Hamilton winning three times has to help boost the team morale going into this weekend. It wouldn’t surprise me if Mercedes sends Rosberg on a different strategy to try to hold up the field a bit (like Penske’s Barber strategy with Power and Castroneves.) This will all depend on tire life.

As for the others, Massa needs to have a good run as he is coming off a crashes in Monaco two weeks ago. Alonso will be in the points. Red Bull will remain consistent. I don’t expect Ferrari or Red Bull to have winning cars but top 5 cars.

Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso could potentially have point spoiling finishes. As we saw two weeks ago, Force India had both drivers in the points and I would like to see them both land up there but realistically I think only one of their drivers will get up there. If Sauber and Toro Rosso want to fight with Force India for the mid-pack constructors points, they will need to get on a completely different strategy and just hope and pray it works. As for the bottom three teams (Williams, Caterham and Marussia) I think this weekend will be a struggle and in my opinion they need to focus on 2014′s regulations for the car/engine. Especially Williams, as they announced a new partnership with Mercedes for 2014.

My podium for this weekend is: Hamilton, Raikkonen and Button.

-Kent Mueller

The weekend began with Mike Conway winning a rather smooth Race #1. 3 cautions, but that can easily be attributed to drivers feeling out the new and improved and concrete boulder-free Belle Isle course and saving their cars for Sunday. It was reasonably exciting, an underdog won, and a great setup for Sunday…or so we thought. Let’s move on to Sunday, shall we?

Simona de Silvestro in the wall at Belle Isle

Sunday’s race at Belle Isle featured Mike Conway on the pole, but it didn’t even make it a complete lap before the yellow flag flew. In a case of deja vu, AJ Allmendinger was in the wall…again. I’d like to think that the General would put AJ in a car again, but I’m not so sure. AJ had a great comeback performance at Indy, but putting two rather expensive cars into the wall in two days? That may stretch even a forgiving Roger Penske’s patience. Allmendinger could jump into the Panther car when Ryan Briscoe has ALMS conflicts, but if John Barnes couldn’t handle what JR Hildebrand had to offer…he’s going to go Krakatoa the first time Allmendinger walls it. Then again, Briscoe didn’t put up a stellar performance this weekend and one can always wonder whether the National Guard is particularly pleased about having a non-American drive its car.

Allmendinger wasn’t he first one to dabble in the derp, the race featured 6 ugly cautions and bordered on embarrassing, had they not gotten it together in the second half. Blame the double file restarts, blame fatigue, heck blame the ducks from practice, but these are supposed to be the best drivers in the world and they sure as hell weren’t driving like it. Tagliani punted Newgarden then was punted by Carpenter, Simona and RHR both walled it (although not due to other drivers, fortunately), and Bourdais managed to cause the ‘big one’ on a road course.

Speaking of ‘the big one,’ we weren’t treated to Will Power’s angry birds, but we were treated to a lazy Scheckter-esque glove throw. Power won’t be winning any fast pitch softball titles, but he did have great accuracy. Power also managed to insult Bourdais by calling him a ‘chump,’ and I can’t say I blame him. Bourdais has ruffled a number of feathers this year, but when you drive for Jay Penske…well, let’s just say that perhaps Jay has rubbed off on Sebs a bit, as Sebs seems to be pissing away his opportunities.

But what was the reason for all the derp in Race #2? ABC’s commentators did ask what some bloggers were wondering, if fatigue could be a factor. Honestly, I highly doubt that that was a reason, as it wasn’t like these are two 500-mile races. It seems like on Saturday, drivers were feeling each other and the track out, just laying down laps and conserving their cars for a chance on Sunday. On Sunday, drivers were significantly more aggressive and less conservative, simply because they knew they didn’t have to run another race tomorrow. In turn, we could cue the circus music, as Pressdog would say. This on-track product was embarrassing. IndyCar always says that its drivers are the best in the world. Well, if ‘the best drivers’ can’t manage to wreck fewer cars than at Bristol, then perhaps we should rethink that title.

That being said, should we expect the same thing at Toronto? Last year’s Honda Indy GP of Toronto featured 8 caution laps, but last year’s GP of Detroit only featured 12 caution laps (excluding the concrete fiasco), so we can’t really use that as a trend. I would predict we see a fairly accident prone second race at Toronto, but only time will tell.

VIDEO LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js3j7lp7TZ4

DERRICK WALKER:  Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, as is no secret, I’ve now joined IndyCar. Crossed over to the dark side, as I like to say (laughter). I took this job because I wanted to and it was offered to me and it represented a huge challenge, a huge opportunity for me. I’m more than happy to be here. We’re here to talk about one of the many favorite topics of conversation over the last year or so:  the infamous aero kits.

When we started thinking about aero kits, Will Phillips (Vice President, Technology, IndyCar) to my left here, we started hunkering down on how do we go forward. We had a lot of input, talked to the manufacturers, the teams, Firestone, Dallara. Will had done a considerable amount before I joined on.

It was coming in and laying it all out on the table, what does it mean, how do we do it, what’s the best thing for the series. As has been said, some of you may say today, why screw with aero kits, we’re racing. Hopefully where you see where we ended up, you’ll get an idea where we are doing what we’re going to do, which is obviously introduce some modifications to the car over time.

We started looking at it, how is it best to do it? We kept getting drawn into the concept, where is it going to go. It’s easy to pass a rule and say, it’s aero kits next year, knock yourself out. What does it really mean, where is it going to go. Since we’ve got such good foundation in the car and competition now, we need to think about this carefully.

The more we thought about it, the more we had to look out long-term. We went as far out as could imagine. What is the lifespan of this car realistically, the main components. What could we do that would maintain stability of that package.

Also we had to look at the manufacturer’s participation, what they were looking for. We listened to the fans because the fans are a big component of this. The fans — whether you [media] get it or not, we do — they want some kind of change. They like what they want, but they’re still crying out for some other things, good old days, bring it back. We had a series of objectives. We looked out as long term as we can.

When you see this chart we’re going to show you, it covers a lot of different aspects of that puzzle. What we’re trying to do is introduce change, I’ll come back to why we need to introduce change. We need to do it in a fiscally responsible way, because change costs money as we all know. We had to do it in a way that we listened to the people who are going to probably spend the most money on this thing, the manufacturers. We had two manufacturers who had interest in doing aero kits, and a deeper participation in IndyCar. We wanted to listen to them because they’re a big part of this component.

When we looked at it, we developed this chart. I’m going to walk you through it. I’m sure you’ll have lots of questions. If I can ask you to hold that to the end and we’ll come back to your questions when we’re done.

In 2012, 226.484mph was a pole position time. You can see increases in speed as you go through. Some of those have already been done and some of them potentially could be targets depending on how we could reconfigure our car. Depending on which side of the equation you sit, it’s our belief that speed does count. Speed is a differential that IndyCar has. They are the fastest cars in the world, in the closed circuit competition, if we want them to be. They have been and they still have some considerable records.

So when you look at that qualifying speed, you’re looking at Indianapolis only. You’re taking a snapshot of Indianapolis and saying if speed is a component, what do we do and what’s the effect. These are just calculations. Don’t get hung up on the numbers.

As you step through it, we introduced the current car in 2012, we’re halfway through 2013. Here is where we really started to look at it very carefully and say, what do we need to do. What we need to do and are going to do is we needed to look to, first, safety. If we’re going to ramp up the speed, as we make these changes, as the teams get more familiar with the car, as the engine manufacturers continue to invest money into the series, we’re going to have to go quicker.

What’s out there we really need to think about. Safety came up on the radar. One component of this car is the capability of lift. It has a huge flat bottom. We know it needs that perfect storm to create lift with these cars. We said we have to address lift. We’re going to look at that aspect. Open-wheel cars in general, and even NASCAR, all have had to deal with that. In the good old days when I started racing, they didn’t have flat bottoms like now. It wasn’t an issue. You’d probably roll over before you take off. Nowadays the component of downforce and the larger area underneath the car, we have a lift component.

We said, “Wait a minute, if we’re going to do these aero kits, change the bottom, what sense does that make?  The manufacturers are going to waste all their money.” We said safety is number one. We need to get that floor situation under control.

So we said let’s look at it from multiple angles. Do we reduce it, put trap doors in it? We haven’t got the answer today. All I can tell you, we, IndyCar, are going to spend a bit of money researching a floor as soon as we can that reduces the lift potential of this car. If we’re going to have a speed potential, you’re going to increase the lift four times every mile an hour, whatever it is. We’re going to start a development program. We’re going to get with Dallara and engine manufacturers, our advisory committee. A lot of people with a lot of ideas.

We’re going to start working on a revised floor. Hopefully it will be done for the manufacturers to build into their aero kits. 2014, there is no change in aero kits. The engines will be modified, already planned. We’re going to have a reduction in downforce. We’re going to have to continue to modify that balance of the amount of downforce for the avoidance of wide-open racing.

Also when you look at that component, we’re talking superspeedways here. But there’s also another component, a street race. What we need at a street race isn’t necessarily what we need at a superspeedway. We’re not trying to keep moving the goalposts with cost. Don’t be anybody surprised if Will isn’t doing some juggling with the downforce to improve the show.

In 2015, providing our manufacturers are still motivated to stay in our series, we’re going to introduce these aero configurations. They’re aero changes in the car. That change is going to be across road courses and ovals. You’re going to hopefully have a Honda and a Chevrolet version. If there’s some other manufacturer comes along, it all fits and can be done in an organized manner, the door is open for others.

You’ll see a significant jump in speed at Indianapolis. The rules to that are currently being scripted. We had them pretty well 80 percent done until we finalized this outline. The manufacturers within a couple weeks will have the written rules as to how they can compete, what they can and can’t do.

That takes you to 2016, which happens to be the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. So an important team and ceremonial event. When you look at the speed increases, the improvements in the car, you can realistically expect that we will possibly break that record unless we make major changes to backtrack, we’re probably going to crack the record.

It’s not a must do. It would be a nice do, but it’s not a must do. When you take a look at the changes in the car configuration, it’s logical to think we’re going to get a rise in speeds. In that, as the car develops, we’re working with our partner Firestone to develop the best kind of tires for our cars. Everybody would have to agree to date we’ve had super support from them, a lot of great, safe racing. They know how a build a car for 240, 250 miles per hour, if you can go that fast. The capacity is there.

When they see this plan, they’ve got something to work to. We’re not sitting there saying maybe, maybe, we’re going to do that. A big part of that is working with our Firestone partners and adapt the car to what it needs to be.

In addition, engine power will increase. For qualifying, the qualifying situation at Indy, anywhere else for that matter, we have the ability to turn up the boost, to give more power if that is needed. It’s just saying there’s a potential. Not saying a must do. At the end of the day, the longer we turn up the boost, the more the engine needs to be rebuilt and the more it costs teams. It’s a difference between going crazy and going fast.

Taking you out to ’17, you can see aero upgrades. The process of racing, IndyCar racing, like all racing series, is a continual change. Nothing ever stays forever in racing, nor should it. We can realistically expect there could be some upgrades in the future in 2017 to continue to grow, because we’ll learn what our aero kit does and how to optimize it. You can expect some changes there. Again, working with our partners, not decisions made in a vacuum. The engine manufacturers can make a bigger change in their engine configuration in 2017.

Here is a new one — team development. We’re going to open up areas of the cars, and we’re going to try to get back to a little bit more of a variation in our competition. In a controlled way, because all the teams want to see us monitor the show, make sure there’s no cheating going on, no bending of the rules, when we open up areas, we’re losing a lot of control in a sense because we’re allowing the teams to do non-Dallara parts or modified parts. We need to keep the competition fair for everybody.

You’ll see the speeds drop down after 2016. I think that’s just a speculation and it’s also a possibility if it’s required. I’m not sure that we as IndyCar need to be doing the sound barrier all the time every year, we don’t need to break that barrier. I think you will see changes in specifications to the car that will influence speed. The quest to be quick is certainly an objective.

Then taking it out to 2018, a very important year, because the current car, with aero kits, 2018, it’s probably the end of its current form in competition — or could be. We’re saying it probably is, or is rather, not probably. If you look at the current platform of the pieces we’ve got, even with the aero kits thrown in there, the basic package has been on the shelf for quite a long time at that point. There will be a lot of other ideas coming along, safety ideas, all kinds of things that come along, that will say that we need do some bigger changes.

2018 you’re probably looking at the end of era of this current car. Then we’re really faced with a situation, if we were so lucky, going into 2019 by saying, do we go with another new car, get the latest technology, or do we find another way?

We’re proposing — and we think it’s probably what’s going to happen, because of the economic environment we’re in — we’re probably going to extend the life of that car another three or so years. How we’re going to do that is take the basic spine — chassis, gearbox, other key components of the chassis, the rolling chassis — and say let’s not do a kit, let’s do a complete facelift, a complete body styling, which would give you several things.

It would build in more safety, build you a car for the future to extend that car’s life. It would help the teams by not making everything obsolete. More fans, more sponsors coming in, ultimately being able to afford to look at other variations.

For the time being, we’re looking at a lean, mean economy out there, so we’re going to keep some longevity in our path.

It would give you a different look, a different performance. It should be about the car of the future. It should be a car — probably heard that word before, but a car that looks like a modern racing car. When you look at it, you will say, “That’s an IndyCar.” We can build a complete wing package, underfloor, look like a completely different car. Whether we run into some safety issues, we’ll have to reverse that.

The process to do 2019, it’s going to be coming around the corner here soon. We’re going to work over a few years to this point, start with some basic concepts, again, not in a vacuum, including as many parts of our community as we can. In 2019, we’re saying it has to be a major improvement in the car, a different styling, performance.

Then when we come to the engine formula. We will have run in formula right through 2019. There’s nothing says we can’t look at other engine formulas along the way, but obviously we haven’t said that in this chart. We’ve not intimated that. Any new formula change in the engines we’re going to get with our current partners, Chevrolet and Honda, say that we have a potential to do this, how do you feel about it. We don’t want to alienate anybody. But certainly 2019, I think it’s far enough out to say we look at other technologies, other engine sizes, other whatever.

What we’re saying here is obviously we want to build a car that’s not only fast, not only IndyCar, but we want to build a car that’s got a green element to it, a variation in the formula that adds more variety, brings more people into the sport, enhances the competition.

We’re putting that out there. Why it’s very useful to have that as a statement as where we’re going to go, as we talk to other manufacturers, interested parties, we can say, here is our plan, if you want to come in with your different technologies, 2019, we can go back to our current partners, introduce it sensibly sooner, I don’t think it’s likely, we can do that.

All the changes up to ’19 are all a combination of working together. It’s not us making decisions in a vacuum.

Then ’19 through to ’21, we parted those years out. I think these old dogs by ’21 will be old dogs and we’ll be changing them. How do we make this thing last longer, save money for the teams and build in some longevity. That’s our plan.

We have one more chart here to show you, then I’ll take questions. On the right hand top corner, my left hand, you’ve got the speedway configuration. All the components in red are components, two current engine manufacturers, can make their own body panels, own styling, to individualize that car and compete in 2015.

There is a note. As you can see the arrows to the wings, if you don’t make any changes, currently right now these wings that we run at the superspeedways are getting some weird angles to achieve the lap times we want. If we didn’t change anything else, we’d probably come back and change the wings, make them operate in the traditional way they work, get the balance better for the teams.

But if we’re changing before, there’s a good chance that wing configuration is something that we’re looking at. May be the same wings. We’re not saying these components are automatic. Once we have some floor data, have a better idea, we’ll be telling the manufacturers whether they are a component or not a component of the aero kit. We’re trying to keep as many things consistent and not just change for change’s sake.

Then you go to the bottom right corner. That is the road course configuration. You can take everything you have there up in the left, with the exception of the wing main plate, you can fit them on your road course car and knock yourself out.

So that in simplistic terms is the plan. There’s a lot of work to go with that. Will has already started on a lot of the writing of this thing and we’ll be closing out as soon as we can and then we’ll be looking for the manufacturers to tell us where we are.

If one manufacturer of our current group decides it’s not what they want to do, doesn’t want to participate, or if the majority of the teams say they don’t want it, forget it, we’re not coming, we’re not doing it, then either of those situations we’d say, forget it, we’ll take it off the table. It is a rule going forward — it is going to happen, but it’s with consent of our partners. Without them buying into it, what are we doing, we’re dreaming up rules that don’t go anywhere.

Once we get the manufacturers committing to it, we’ll announce who is onboard with what we’re doing.

The master plan:

(C) IndyCar Media

Winners

Mike Conway

Conweezy was throwing down this weekend, driving the #18 car for Dale Coyne Racing which will be driven by multiple drivers for the rest of the season. Conway was called on Tuesday to drive the car this weekend and it clearly was the right decision. If Dale has any amount of brains, he will sign Mike for the remaining road course schedule. P1 and P3 for Conway.

Simon Pagenaud

Simon Pagenaud claims his first win in the Indycar Series, with a stealthy drive to the front and some brilliant laps in the middle to late stages of the race. Crepes all around for everyone.

James Jakes

James “The Walking Paradox” Jakes captured his first career Indycar podium in a very smooth and nice drive. He was strong all weekend. Is he finally living up to his potential?

Scott Dixon

Minus lap one of race one, Dixon had a very good weekend, staying out of trouble and picking up two top-five finishes on his way to collecting valuable championship points. Honorable mention goes to Dario Franchitti who also ran very well.

Losers

Takuma Sato

Well damn. Sato had a great championship going, but his title run has come to a halt following two pretty bad races for him in the form of a P19 and P23 finishes respectively. Can he pick it up in Texas?

James Hinchcliffe

The Mayor also had a pretty not so stellar weekend for someone who is in the top-five of the points championship coming into the race. P15 and P19 for Hinch means very little points for him.

Alex Tagliani

The driver with the second worst weekend out of all 25 drivers was Alex Tagliani. Tags had something go wrong from P3 in the first race, and he was collected in the gaggle wreck in race two. The results of these incidents was a mere 16 points collected in the two races. Horrendous.

Simona de Silvestro

Simona had a pretty shocking weekend. P16 in the first race which is just alright, and a crash in the second race which is anything but alright. Standings have not come out yet, but she should not be where she is in the championship at all.

Cone of Shame

AJ Allmendinger

Trying to decide how to describe AJ’s weekend. Appalling? Gruesome? Disturbing? Unpleasent? Jim Utter-ish? Hideous? Awful? Bricktacular? I don’t know if it is possible. Dinger, in two races, made it through a whopping six turns total before destroying two cars. That is not how you impress the boss in his backyard. With no more confirmed races on the season, Dinger may have to wait a long time for redemption.

On to the next one.

-Matthew Hickey @Indycar_MN

• Qualifying for race one will be the normal qualifying format with the Fast Six procedures. This will take place on Saturday. From what I gather, the grid for race two on Sunday will be another qualifying session, with the field being split into two groups evenly. Each group will get 12 minutes to qualify with five minutes of guaranteed green flag time (in the case of a yellow or red flag). The groups do not determine the inside row or the outside row or anything. They are merely meant to ease the congestion on the track with less cars in the groups.

• Race 1 will feature a standing start. Standing starts are used in many forms of road racing including F1 and V8 Supercars. Race 2 will feature the conventional rolling start.

 

The last standing start we saw was Champ Car Long Beach 2008 (Photo: Getty Images)