The Month of May in Indianapolis – What Does it Mean?
The road race takes place on Saturday, May 10, which is four-time winner Helio Castroneves’ birthday. This race is usually on a Saturday because of Mother’s Day on Sunday. It doesn’t draw a huge crowd – nothing compares to the 500 after all – but it usually has some good action, particularly in its first turn, after 27 cars take the green flags, running opposite to the direction they’ll take once practice opens for the 500.
This year there’s a new wrinkle in place. INDYCAR seems to love wrinkles of one sort or another that are intended to spice up the competition. This year there is a new race tire rule update for this particular race. The fifth of 17 total races will change rules for use of the alternate Firestone race tire. In the past teams were required to use a single set of alternate compound rubber in competition and one set of primary compound tires during the race.
This year, each car is required to mount two sets each of both primary and alternate Firestone Firehawk tires for the Sonsio Grand Prix. There are no requirements to use scuffs or stickers but each car needs to complete two laps on each type of rubber. One lap has to begin once green flag running is underway.
While INDYCAR bills itself as the apex of open-wheel racing in the United States, it still is searching for another engine supplier to complement Chevrolet and Honda. To date it’s been unsuccessful and really needs to look at why it’s failed to entice a third manufacturer to join its premier series. The rationale is pretty easy: there are few benefits, other than winning the Indianapolis 500 and being able to promote that success for a year – until the next one.
The other 16 races? Well, the 50th annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is probably the only other venue that could be considered a marquee event, bringing nearly 200,000 to the Pacific Ocean-adjacent street circuit for three days of racing and partying – hard. Fans do that at Indy, too, from the moment they arrive until they leave. They party hard and occasionally watch the racing.
INDYCAR has its diehard fans who keep up with all the drivers and their teams. But a core to the sport is lacking. INDYCAR feels old and tired. It’s been using – albeit updated – the same chassis since 2012 and the current engine spec, while changed last year to accept hybridization in the car’s bell housing, is long in the tooth as well. There’s “talk” of a new chassis from Dallara; there needs to be talk about a new chassis from Dallara and a second car maker. Lola is back in business with new owners; perhaps they’d like to join this party?
When the Formula One World Championship changed their cars to make them safer with a halo over the driver, one that’s fairly easy for ingress/egress, INDYCAR went a different direction with a very large aeroscreen that was initially making the drivers exceptionally heated. Considering the series has the bulk of its events in summertime, heating up the athletes in already-hot cars wasn’t a solution. So INDYCAR made some adjustments to its aeroscreen.
F1’s had hybrids for a number of years, mirroring acceptance by the World Endurance Championship and IMSA. Both of those series have many manufacturers because these car makers consider this type of sportscar competition good for business. INDYCAR? Not so much. Especially since the hybrids are fairly new and not mounted where they would be, say, in a road-going vehicle.
INDYCAR keeps trying to re-invent the wheel and it’s not working. While they’ve got a good broadcast partner this year in FOX, with all races broadcast on that network, not on its sub-networks like FS1 and FS2, both of which are being called upon to produce practice and qualifying shows, there were a few hiccups in the first races that should never have occurred. We lost the feed at St. Pete and had to use INDYCAR’s website for information. The cars get practice and qualifying before the first race of the year; surely Fox had a pre-run? If so, it sucked.
Still it will be interesting to see what happens, both with this weekend’s road race, during practice and qualifying for the Indy 500 and during the Greatest Spectacle in Racing on May 25th. For the Sonsio Grand Prix this weekend, teams may use as much hybrid activation as they please, with a maximum deployment of 425 kilojoules each of the 85 laps of competition. Strictures for the 500 haven’t – as yet – been outlined, so it’ll be interesting to see how the cars and internal combustion engines work together once practice for the 500 begins next week.
At the same time, as we look at the Month of May and what transpires at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the future of this series seems neither bright nor lacking. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES appears to be treading water. Let’s hope it swims, rather than sinks.