I had to break this preview into two parts — not for length’s sake, but because yours truly had a 5 a.m. wakeup call for work today…Joy. Anyway, here are the other five big questions that need to be answered during the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season.
6. They ripped the knob out. Will it work?
This season, IndyCar drivers will have to use their own right feet to save fuel as the four-level fuel mixture knob was removed from cars over the offseason; if I recall correctly, the only fuel position remaining is meant to be used during yellow caution periods only. So does that mean every IndyCar race will be safe from being tagged as gas-saving derbies? Of course not. But it’s still another option that is back in the driver’s hands and away from the clutches of technology. The strategy aspect of events has increased due to this decision from the IRL and Honda, and we’ll see which teams and drivers can take advantage of it.
7. Who will build the next generation of IndyCars?
Over the last month or so, we’ve seen everything from the traditional to the radical as far as the 2012 IndyCar concepts are concerned. A final decision on which manufacturer will build the new open-wheel machines may come as early as May during preparations for the Indianapolis 500. And it is indeed a very big decision. With the sport still rebuilding, the last thing it needs is a car that can’t capture the imagination of new fans. At the same time, there are still plenty of traditionalists to placate and they have been very loud throughout this whole coming-out process. Whatever the IRL chooses, there will likely be some feelings hurt. But the league must put the cars’ ability to improve the racing product as its highest priority in determining whether Dallara, Lola, Delta Wing, Swift or BAT gets the call.
8. How will Randy Bernard adapt to the racing world?
As I said earlier, the IRL has a lot of burdens to deal with right now and all of them are falling right at the feet of its new chief executive officer. Bernard, the former leader of the successful Professional Bull Riders, has never seen an IndyCar race going into this weekend’s event at Sao Paulo, but he has won early praise for talking with as many racing figures as he can in order to learn the ropes in quick fashion. He’s also a bonafide promoter and that element has been sorely lacking in recent years for the league. But perhaps the biggest positive for Bernard is that he is an outsider that never had to deal with the bad vibes created from the IRL-CART split. He can go ahead and try to build up the organization without worrying too much about past troubles — although he can never be completely ignorant of them, either.
9. Will the racing be better?
It took until the Kentucky Speedway event in August before IRL fans were really enjoying themselves with the on-track action. A horribly boring stretch of oval races eventually triggered the creation of a new speedway aero package and it did its job perfectly at Kentucky and Chicagoland. Unfortunately, when the series came back to Homestead for the series finale, a stinker ensued and the Ganassi and Penske teams crushed everybody else. The package will be back for 2010, but after Homestead, it would seem that the onus for preventing more bad races may fall on the other squads. Can they close the competitive gap?
10. Who’s turn is it?
Don’t expect the title to go away from the Penske/Ganassi bloc — it’s just a matter of who among those five drivers will walk away with the championship. Defending champ Franchitti is a conservative pick for the title, having proved last year that despite a year away from open-wheel, he’s still one of the top drivers on the planet. His teammate Dixon needs a faster start than he had last year, but he should be a threat once more. On the Penske side, Briscoe seemed to fully realize his potential in 2009 and he will be a force in 2010 for sure. But with his window of opportunity slipping away, Castroneves may feel more motivation than ever to finally bag the series championship missing on his mantle. However, the wild card is their new full-time teammate — Power can be an absolute monster on street circuits and if he can stay in the lead pack on the ovals, he’ll have a big shot at the crown.
