Comments on: The 2012 IndyCar: A Bevy Of Mixed Emotions http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/ Speed is Life Tue, 21 May 2013 17:01:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: The Speedgeek http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4595 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:13:41 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4595 Randy Bernard has said that he wants to maintain a 50/50 road/oval split. I’m going to take him on his word for that.

]]> By: Mike89 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4593 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:27:59 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4593 I’m going to put a different spin here on the direction of Indycar. IMO, IndyCar is going a wrong direction adding these road courses. Already more than half the races now are road courses. I think it’s just bad to try to turn Indycar into Formula 1 (American racing into European Racing), which as far as I’m concerned is boring as hell. American racing is ovals where the cars are going 200 + mph trying to out do each other on the track and where the viewer can see the whole race instead of a car at a time on road courses where a car can hardly ever pass another car. There needs to be more ovals, longer races and more cars. Get rid of or reduce the little 200 mile sprints. Sounds a little like Nascar? You bet. They know what makes a good race and what people watch. Indycar needs to figure that out and it’s going to take more than new cars.

]]> By: NaBUru38 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4592 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:23:17 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4592 They made me believe that allowing multiple chassis was economically impossible, so I wasn’t shocked by that. Neither was I when they chose Dallara and not Lola or Swift. But the Lola was gorgeous, and they let it go. I don’t like current’s nose, but the meltdown proposal shown this week is too strange. I’m not sure that alternative bodies will make it look good. It’s not a tragedy, I welcome different looks and a road/street-built model. But I was praying for Lola and they let me down.

]]> By: IndyCar – A New Hope « I Watch Too Much Racing http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4583 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:16:38 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4583 [...] Mixed feelings from George at OilPressure; [...]

]]> By: JohnMc http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4580 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:58:35 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4580 I like it. I like it a lot.

]]> By: JohnMc http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4579 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:57:52 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4579 Indy has ALWAYS garnered the support of sponsors AND the month of May is where MOST of the value of a sponsorship is. Always and NOTHING will change that. Ever. Now, Scott, tell us something that we don’t know.

]]> By: PC http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4576 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:51:02 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4576 I was disappointed. But if I separate emotion and logic, I fully support the logic behind their decisions. As an experienced cost accountant in manufacturing (though a mediocre one at best), the economic reality of all this is very clear. This is a four year deal and I still have faith the current leadership wants what we want and will do their best to give it us as the financial state of the league, teams, manufacturers, and sport allows. Its all light-years ahead of where we were a year or two ago.

]]> By: redd http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4570 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:09:25 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4570 I don’t think Dallara demanded to be a sole manufacturer, but the per chassis price would have risen dramatically if there was more than one manufacturer from what I understand.

]]> By: Martin http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4568 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:33:53 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4568 George,

I guess I missed the Dallara and Lola comments on sole source.

But there’s this piece of dialogue with Tony Purnell from yesterday’s Q and A:

“Q: Three questions, one for Tony and one for the other Tony and one for Brian.

Tony, you worked for Lola, they gave a dynamite presentation from all reports. Everybody is kind of thinking is there a reason that you couldn’t have a Lola IndyCar cell and a Dallara? Was there a key reason they couldn’t both build them?

PURNELL: Yes, the reason is commercial reality. We would love to have everybody involved. The economic times as what they are, a single supplier making as many standard parts as possible produces a dramatic cost save.

So we were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, and we decided to take that adversity and turn it around and come up with something with real innovation to try and get everybody possible involved in this series that we could. So, OK, we could only choose one Safety Cell manufacturer. You know, designing a chassis is a complex business, manufacturing it you need to be in tune with the designers. But heck, we’ve given every opportunity for anybody with the expertise to get involved in this series. And I meant what I said: They’re welcome. ”

I think that speaks for itself.

I read Cavin daily, and I don’t remember him citing anything from D or L which said they didn’t need to be sole supplier, so I took his comments about the two of them with a large grain of salt.

]]> By: Oilpressure http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4567 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:17:30 +0000 https://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-2012-indycar-a-bevy-of-mixed-emotions/#comment-4567 Martin:

I don’t think I was alone in these expectations. I’ve never claimed to be an insider, but I read and listen to a lot of people who are insiders and I respect their opinions. For example, as I said in the article – Curt Cavin said on his show and wrote in The Star that all indications were that the choice would be Lola and Dallara, for the reasons i listed. Like him or not (and I do), Curt Cavin has his ear to the ground and has a pretty good idea which way the wind is blowing most of the time.

A week ago, he was still saying Dallara and Lola, but that there might be a twist. We now know what the twist was. By the way, you are incorrect in saying that all of the potential manufacturers required a sole source agreement. Dallara and Lola did not.

So, I am a little perplexed as to why you think I was so off-base in my “expectations”. Those expectations were based off of the opinions of people I trusted and still trust. It’s just that the ICONIC committee was so tight-lipped that even the best sources were left to merely speculate. – GP

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