Well, this is just what American open-wheel racing needs. Actually, it’s the last thing it needs right now.
SPEED Channel’s Robin Miller has dropped a potentially huge bomb: Multiple IZOD IndyCar Series owners are getting nervous about the cost of the upcoming, next-generation IndyCar that’s set to debut in 2012 and based on that, according to Miller, they’re saying that they don’t want a new machine.
Conquest Racing owner Eric Bachelart went on the record stating that the Indy Racing League never consulted the teams on a new car, while Dreyer and Reinbold Racing’s Dennis Reinbold tried to downplay a meeting of the team owners (sans A.J. Foyt and Gil de Ferran) as simply “a matter of addressing our concerns because there’s a lot of unknown things and we want a voice.”
If you’re an IndyCar fan, please feel free to bash your head repeatedly into the nearest wall for a few seconds. I’ll wait…
Oh, you’re back? Good.
The first thing that crosses my mind in this is simply, the timing of this announcement — after IndyCar formed the ICONIC committee (which had De Ferran as the team owners’ representative), after IndyCar created the engine rules, after IndyCar announced that Dallara would provide the foundation for the new car. All the momentum created by those announcements may have just vanished. Let’s not forget about IZOD or any of the other current sponsors (as well as prospective ones). What the heck are they thinking right now?
Second, you wonder where the politics are involved. Fortunately, our friend Tony Johns over at Pop Off Valve may have found the answer:
“Delta Wing, of course, made it clear that if adopted the technical side of matters would be under the supervision and control of DeltaWing, LLC, which by all reports had the support and vested interest of the owners. ICONIC’s recommendation keeps technical control vested in the series.”
You remember the Delta Wing, right? That Batmobile-looking beast that kept getting ragged on by the fan base despite its intriguing attributes? The 2012 concept that had the backing of many of the owners in the paddock, whom said that it was necessary to bring lower costs and more innovation to the series?
So…they wanted a new car just this past spring and early summer…a new, cheaper car that everyone could buy…well, the new Dallara/[insert aero kit maker here] machines will go for $385,000 and that’s a 45 percent price drop from the current Dallaras. Is it the most innovative? Probably not, but it’s certainly a car that can attract potential new teams based on affordability.
Yet now, we get word from the owners that the cost is going to be too high. Shouldn’t they have said that they wanted to get some more value out of the current chassis earlier this year? Over the winter? The end of the 2009 season?
At the same time, if we put ourselves in the owners’ shoes, we find that there’s still a lot of questions to be answered about 2012. They’re getting set to change out your inventory for a car with no defined specs and no other engine manufacturer besides Honda (as well as only one outside kitmaker so far in Lotus) as of now. What’s more, they’re not sure how much all the new parts and pieces for the 2012 car is going to cost.
If we keep all of that in mind, perhaps all of this public hullabaloo is, at its core, a way to light a fire under the League and its 2012 car chief Tony Cotman and get all of this stuff sorted out ASAP. There’s not a lot of time between now and 2012 and the teams have to create a budget for that season quickly. Or maybe Miller is just simply over-hyping this — at least to a point.
Regardless, this cannot create a good image for the series and especially its team owners, who are gonna get ripped justly or not. Even if their concerns over cost and a lack of rules are legitimate, there’s the perception that they’re throwing a tantrum not because the League didn’t consult them on the new car (see the quote in Miller’s piece from League CEO Randy Bernard about De Ferran giving the owners three pages’ worth of questions to answer about it), but because the Delta Wing didn’t get picked.
Personally, I’m leaning toward the belief that the owners are saying “Chop chop!” to Bernard and Cotman on the car rules. But bad perceptions, like the one that has the owners upset over their favorite car going by the boards, could have an immediate and vicious effect on the series. Let’s see how this story plays out in the weeks ahead, especially amongst the owners that will be pressed to respond on the record about the matter…
