Complete Guide to Indycar Series

Spring is finally here and the racing season has begun. We would all be fooling ourselves if we admitted that we knew everything about all the racing series. In an effort to reduce confusion and hopefully bring some clarity, we have started a series of articles about the various road racing series in U.S. and the world. Feedback is always appreciated; let us know what you want to see or if we missed something. This week we continue with the Izod Indycar Series.

History:

The Indycar Series has an unusual past that is both storied and pockmarked with problems. Tracing its roots back to the 1911 Indianapolis 500, Indycar is the oldest running series in American racing history. Though the specifications for the cars have changed drastically over the last 100 years, the race remains the cornerstone of the series, and one of the most well known races in the world.  For several years, the series was either completely raced on oval tracks, or at least predominately oval based. Recently, though, the schedule has expanded to include more road course and street course racing including such notables as Laguna Seca and the Long Beach street course. Since there is more emphasis on road course racing in Indycar as of late, in addition to the season championship, there is now a separate “championship-within-a-championship” for the driver who scores the most points on a road courses and driver who scores the most points on ovals.

Over the last few years, IndyCar drivers have suffered with loss of sponsorship. Most notable cases include fan favorite Paul Tracy, who has not had a full-time seat since the fall of competing series Champ Car, and perennial top competitor Tony Kanaan, who at the end of last season lost his ride with Andretti Autosport when his sponsor 7-11 left the series.  Kanaan signed to a different team during the off season, though that deal also fell through as sponsorship did not materialize.  The third time was a charm as Tony Kanaan found his place within the KV racing technologies – Lotus team for the 2011 season.

Who to Watch For:

Consistently found at the sharp end of the field are cars fielded by Penske Verizon Racing and Target Chip Ganassi Racing.  Five of the six most recent driver championship titles have been won by drivers in either of these teams.  Searching for his fourth title, Dario Franchitti is a favorite, driving the number 10 Target Chip Ganassi car, but no other drivers on either team should be discounted.  Andretti Autosport seems to slot in to a definitive third, though all other teams seem to be fighting for the “best of the rest” title.

Though she has only won one race during her tenure in IndyCar, Andretti Autosport driver Danica Patrick continues to garner idol-like adoration from her fans.  Her temper and attitude turn some off, though others see her primarily as a role model for women.  Starting this season on a hard note, she broke two front wing structures in two separate incidents, and received a fine for vulgar language on national television.  Her fans must be hoping that this is not an omen for the entire season.

Current Season:

The 2011 season encompasses 17 races, with nine of them on a road course, and a further eight on ovals.  The series leaves the United States for four of those races with two in Canada, one in Brazil, and another in Japan.  This is the last year of the current specification.  A new engine supply as well as a new chassis is expected for next year. Firestone recently signed a contract through the end of the 2013 season.

An interesting wrinkle in the plot of the 2011 season comes at the Las Vegas season ending race.  The race promoters have hoisted a 5 million US dollar prize for any “non-series regular” who can win October’s IndyCar World Championships in Vegas. Rumors have noted that five million is quite a draw for possible entries from Formula 1, WRC, MotoGP, and sports car drivers to try their hand at IndyCar open wheel racing.

Classification:

There is only one class in Indycar, and, conveniently, it is called Indycar.  This year the cars remain much the same as they have been for several years.  Honda provides 2.4 liter V8 engines to all IndyCar racers, while the spec chassis is supplied by Italian Dallara.  The teams are allowed very few changes to the specification as the engines are sold as sealed units, and the aerodynamics are specified to be particular units from Dallara with very few changes between cars.  All cars are run on Firestone spec tires, with both the soft “red” compound and the hard “black” compounds required to be used during the course of a race.

How to watch:

In 2008, IndyCar (at the time known as the Indy Racing League, or IRL) signed a full season contract with the Versus network to broadcast all of its races and qualifying sessions barring the Indy 500 which remains, on ABC.  Versus and IndyCar have strengthened their respective relationships with ABC in 2011, with five of the races being broadcast on the nationwide standard channel.

Schedule:

Race 1 – Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL. March 27^h

Race 2 – Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Birmingham, AL.  April 10^th

Race 3 – Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix, Long Beach, CA.  April 17th

Race 4 – Sao Paolo Indy 300 presented by Nestle, Sao Paolo, Brazil. May 1^st

Race 5 – Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, Indianapolis, IN.  May 29^th

Race 6 – Firestone Twin 275s,Fort Worth, TX.  June 11^th

Race 7 – Milwaukee 225, Milwaukee, WI.  June 19^th

Race 8 – Iowa Corn 250, Newton, IA.  June 25^th

Race 9 – Honda Indy Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  July 10^th

Race 10 – Edmonton Indy, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  July 24^th

Race 11 – Honda Indy 200, Lexington, OH.  August 7^th

Race 12 – New Hampshire Indy, Loudon, NH.  August 14^th

Race 13 – Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA.  August 28^th

Race 14 – Baltimore Grand Prix, Baltimore, MD.  September 4^th

Race 15 – Indy Japan 300, Motegi, Tochigi, Japan.  September 17^th

Race 16 – Kentucky Indy 300, Sparta, KY.  October 2^nd

Race 17 – IZOD IndyCar World Championships at Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV.  October 16^th