Bump Day was really fun in 2011 when some big drivers weren’t going to make the show. If it was like that more often more people would care about qualifying.

However, back in the days when we saw such a thing in CART, the engines were getting replaced roughly 2-3 times as often as they are now. Does anybody feel good about asking Sarah Fisher, Dale Coyne, A.J. Foyt, Bryan Herta, Dennis Reinbold, or any of the other relative IndyCar minnows to pony up an extra million or two dollars in engine lease cash, with no ironclad guarantee that their extra outlay is going to result in even an extra 0.1 TV rating (because all of this “speed sells” talk is really an unproven theory at this point…it’s never been tried in this day and age of XBox, 10,000 cable channels, 3D movies, organized kids sports out the wazoo, a million other things to do, etc., so there is no guarantee that 240 MPH is going to mean much of anything to most of America)? Certainly, we can ask Honda and GM to crank the boost and revs up to where we get to see huge speeds again, but we’re liable to see car counts go down by 6-8 or even more overnight.

Big power and fast cars are awesome. But they are expensive. As the old adage goes, “horsepower costs money. How fast do you want to go?”

HOWEVER, we’ve got some things that need to be addressed. jhall14 touched on a little of this already, but increased speed, for all the positive that it could bring, it also brings some things that we definitely do not want. For starts, if we’re talking about the drivers, once we get above 200 MPH, every 10 MPH increase brings a 10% increase of kinetic energy that has to be dissipated when the car hits something (velocity is squared in the kinetic energy equation, so it increases at a non-linear rate…and yes, I know this is nerd-talk; I only get so many chances to use this here slide rule that I paid so much for). Energy that isn’t trasferred into the wall, absorbed by crush structure or stripped off of the car by parts flying off…that is energy that can hurt or potentially kill the driver. Before we go cranking the cars up to 240 MPH and beyond, Dallara and IndyCar are going to have to confirm that 240 MPH impacts are not something that are going to kill drivers, SAFER barier or no. If 240 MPH impact = dead driver, then we are going to have nobody driving, and yes, that includes all of the “balls of steel” drivers you see at your local short track who claim they’re way braver than all of the candy asses you see on TV every week. Even those guys won’t want to strap in if they know that a blown tire means without a doubt that their kids will be orphans.

The next piece of physics that needs to be talked about is the lift force equation. All of that stuff I just said about kinetic energy? The same goes for lift as well. We all know from seeing cars spin that when they are no longer going the direction they were intended to go (forward), they no longer make downforce, and usually they will make lift (air gets under the car, increasing pressure under the car,and the wings now do the exact opposite thing that you want them to do). Every 10 MPH gain over 200 MPH brings roughly a 10% gain in lift. You can also read that as a 10% increased chance that a car is going to do a Mike Conway special, and wind up in the fence. Or, in the worst case, from what I heard, emulate Tony Renna’s car which may have wound up IN the stands. You think IndyCar’s finances are tenuous now? Imagine them getting sued by a couple dozen families who’ve had family members crushed by a tub/engine/transmission/tires/uprights/etc. that made it into the stands. We’ll all have watched the last ever IndyCar race.

Now, with all of that wet blanket talk out of the way, my point is this: if IndyCar wants to take on speed records again (and, again, I would like them to…very much), they are going to have to do a lot to ensure the safety of the drivers, and more crucially, the fans. If fences can be heightened and strengthened, and if the walls made even safer yet, and if the cars can be simulated to go through impact test after impact test at an even higher standard than they are now, then by all means, let’s go after Arie’s number. But not until then.

Sadly, the HG family thought they had a better idea. Instead of the nostalgic days we romanticize they thought 12 chances to qualify, a racing dentist, and spec cars were better.

Now, the clown CEO they hired can’t wait to put in a playoff no one wants and spend gobs of money improving the NASCAR event at the Speedway. Clearly, they don’t get it, and there’s little evidence they ever will.

George, you run a heck of a blog, and I don’t mean to be a Negative Nancy. If anything, I love this sport more than is healthy but am frustrated with the current state of affairs.

While your point about speed is valid, realistically the economy will need to turn around if we’ll ever see records fall.

Keep up the good work.

Brian