Comments on: The Forgotten Chassis

By: mm658

mm658 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:02:50 +0000

I agree with Walter – there was another conspiracy theory at the time — that Honda and Toyota didi not want their teams using the Falcon, as an unproven car might make their teams (and them, by association) “look bad.”

Yet another theory was essentially the same as the “keep Penske out” theory, except replace Penske with Lola. Supposedly, Lola wanted to supply cars to both CART and the IRL, and the League was not keen on that idea, and thus created the Falcon phantom-car to keep Lola out.

By: Brian McKay

Brian McKay — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:51:54 +0000

I believe that two or three competing chassis mfrs would get enough customers to be profitable! I loved the ‘loook’ of the Eagles, and as a Dan Gurney worshipper, I had high hopes for their success, in AAR and as customer cars. Too bad AAR was struggling with underperforming, unreliable Toyota engines and Goodyears then was dropped by longtime partner Toyota. AUGH! I would have loved to see AAR continue in ChampCar and IndyCar!

By: Brian McKay

Brian McKay — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:47:17 +0000

I thought the same thing. I thought, ‘how can he know all that?!’ until I read that he interned at R&S. Thanks for the insight, Andy. I boycotted TonyCar drom the start though I could’ve watched the inaugural race at the Mickyard for free.

By: Brian McKay

Brian McKay — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:41:42 +0000

Yeah, this is why I love this blog. Where else could I read this? I gotta check the Oilpressure!

By: tim nothhelfer

tim nothhelfer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

After viewing the pictures Tom (thanks) left a link for the 2002 roll out it looks to me that that car is nothing more than a (body) shell, with little detail.
Since I have no emotional investment in the USF1 team i have no hope that this spring that team will amount to much more than the Falcon. Heck, if they want to save some money they could just roll it out again.
And if there is any real effort going on over there and the do produce a real car a and driver I will be happy for them.

By: walter beach

walter beach — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:17:14 +0000

One other theory: Honda and Toyota wanted proven chassis for their engines.

By: oilpressure

oilpressure — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:26:36 +0000

Wow, Andy. Good stuff! Your knowledge of the Riley & Scott far surpasses mine. My weakpoint in IRL history is what I call the “dark days” from 1996-2000. I followed CART much more closely than the IRL in those days. I just couldn’t get too fired up to watch Racin Gardner battle it out with Dr. Jack Miller.

By: Travis R

Travis R — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:18:05 +0000

Oddly enough, I got an opportunity to tour the Riley shop in Indianapolis about 3 years ago, before they moved to North Carolina. My coworker’s brother works for Riley, so he took a couple of us through there.

They had a leftover IndyCar chassis sitting there, although I can’t remember whose name was on it, if anybody’s. My coworker’s brother didn’t know much about it, although he commented that Indy really didn’t fit in their business plan anymore. They actually had quite a collection of one-off projects lying around, including an all carbon fiber supercar that they had built. It seemed that they built their business plan around the GrandAm stuff.

By: The Speedgeek

The Speedgeek — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:25:16 +0000

Great work on the Falcon article!

As for the “other” other chassis, he R&S chassis had various drivers from ’97 when it debuted until 2001 or so when it went away. Off the top of my head, I remember Mark Dismore and Stan Wattles debuting the car in late-’97, Salazar, Dismore and Wattles in ’98 and maybe ’99, Davey Hamilton (I think) in ’99 also, though Hamilton might have driven for Nienhouse in the Reebok car after they ditched the R&S and went to the G-Force (again, I think). Andy Michner was in an R&S there for a bit in ’98 or so driving a black #3 car with supposed involvement from Richard Childress, but I think the involvement began and ended with the font used for the car number. Then, for the next-gen car in 2000, R&S developed a new car with help from Reynard, which won at Phoenix, with Buddy Lazier starting last and going to the front. I’ve never really been sure why the R&S went away, though I have a feeling that it’s similar to the G-Force story: too much downforce and drag in a time that the League went to largely 1.5 mile ovals. Therefore, it’d be great at about three races out of the schedule and a liability at all the others.

I’m a little attached to the R&S story, since I “interned” for them for a summer and a spring break in ’97-98. By “interened’ I mean that I largely painted walls in their shop on Main Street, carried around office furniture and spent the better part of my spring break week scrubbing the bathroom floor with a wire detailing brush, while Bob Riley glared at me from the doorway (I apparently wasn’t working as fast as he’d have liked). Not good times.

Anyway, not necessarily because of my involvement there, but the R&S would make another fascinating entry…

By: Mike Lis

Mike Lis — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:55:30 +0000

Great IRL History! I do remember all these cars and wish they were on the grids today. Race cars now are like if all women looked the same. SAD