The Homestead Report

[Dr. Austin]

HOMESTEAD & IRL RACING 101

By Miles Nelson


I am writing this review five days after the race, after all the news is in and I have watched the race three times. That is how I work, everyone has seen the race and read all the reports, my intent is to try to figure out what it all means!


Last week I did a Homestead preview where I mention that a dozen drivers "could" win! As usual, that number dwindled as the race went on. Some had engine woes, like Buddy Lazier and Robbie Buhl! Jaques Lazier had both crew and driver induced problems. Team Cheever suffered the indignity of having the rookie take out the team owner while damaging his own chances as well. Kelley Racing, mainly funded by Delphi, the electronics arm of General Motors, had an electronic induced failure in Al Unser JR’s car and a reported fuel pump failure in Sharp’s Dallara! That accounts for seven of my dozen!


I discounted Donnie Beechler as a contender, better suited for the 1.5 mile "cookie cutters!" Beechler took himself out on contention and the race also on Friday, in a single car crash! Donnie’s replacement, Airton Dare, was at Homestead to finalize plans with Pennzoil Panther for a two-car effort, at least for Indy! Dare was more then equal to the challenge! The Panther Racing announcement never happened and stock in Dare is on the rise. Dare got a call from Foyt when it became evident that Beechler wouldn’t be cleared to run! Airton had never driven a Dallara and hadn’t been a car since last October. Without the benefit of any practice, Dare waved off the green flag in an untested backup on his "Q" run and came back later for a run lap run of 196.385, 21st on the grid! Tomas Scheckter also had wall contact Friday morning, Thomas, until then at the head of the class in IRL Racing 101, quickly learned about crosswind and cold tires while working up to speed in the last practice before qualifying! The lap before Tomas ran only 148 mph! The car was done but Tomas wasn’t. Unlike Dare, Scheckter took out the untested backup and warmed up at 196 mph, on the way to third place start at 201.868 mph! Brave stuff, if not questionable!


As mentioned before, attrition helped, but nothing helped more then the bonehead move of Tomas Scheckter in taking out Cheever and causing his car to fall almost three laps behind. Scheckter was my pick to win, he and Cheever were the only others, in my opinion, able to run faster then Sam Hornish. Tomas threw away his shot at the pole too! Scheckter will have to learn that testing and uncontested passing is easier then real racing! The best thing he could have done in the race was follow Eddie until the first pit stop, unless Eddie proved to be holding him up too badly! Some are saying that Scheckter will be fired but not I. There is a shortage of well-funded IRL teams, but if Cheever were to let him go someone will put him in a car! If I were Cheever I would rather race against him as a teammate!


I also learned that there were some preparation and mechanical issues that caused Jaques Lazier’s troubles, not all that happen was Jaques’ fault! The Menard team has a history of that, they were supposed to have put that all behind them… How long has it been since we have seen as poor an effort by B. Lazier/Hemelgarn… Kelley will have to kick it up a notch too, if they want to keep up! Penske, Ganassi/Ward, Team Cheever and Pennzoil Panther have raised the bar to a height that may be out of reach to them… There is a problem with the new Chevy blocks; they flex! New blocks are being cast!


As it turned out, there was really only one possible winner, Sam Hornish JR, who won everything, the pole, he lead the most laps and the race! Hornish’s win was rarely in question, but there were other questions to be answered and lessons to be learned, IRL Racing 101, class is in session!






One of the reasons for the Ganassi/Ward full-season IRL attempt is to prove the value of the second generation G Force chassis and gain feedback for the next batch, in 2003. Ward finished forth, but that isn’t indicative of how well he ran, in fact he posted the fastest lap in the race, on lap 183! After Rick Treadway’s crash on lap 30, everyone pitted except Ward. Jeff then led until being passed by Hornish in traffic, one lap before pitting under green on lap 64! Four laps later the caution came out and the entire field came in, from then on Jeff was in the catch up mode!


I don’t know often Team Penske is taken to school, but Saturday they learned that an old fable is sometimes wrong, in the IRL the tortoise doesn’t always beat the hare! They learned that lesson more then once, and in the end learned another, that in future races they will need the extra 18 HP they spotted the #4 in using the engine now referred to as Chevy I; as opposed to the Chevy II used by Hornish and Ward. The Chevy I is actually the Aurora engine of 2001, but that word is forbidden! Team Penske may also have learned to respect the engines built by Speedway Engine Development! Most of the teams using Ilmor built engines were running the 2001 engine (Penske, Nunn and possibly Kelley, they were practicing with both). After everyone had pitted on lap 63 some teams fell into a fuel conservation mode, Dare, in second, fell back in a tight draft of de Ferran, Hornish continued a torrid pace! Sam opened up a gap of nine seconds until the rest of the field got caught in traffic. Before pitting on lap 123 Sam had a lap on the whole field! First "name" to fall a lap back was Helio Castroneves, riding in about ninth. Just before pitting on about lap 120, Dare passed de Ferran, Team Penske was about to learn another lesson! Sam went in for fuel and tires on lap 123 and returned to the track with the hammer down! Meanwhile, de Ferran, stretching his fuel and reporting his car "sliding all over the place," stayed out five laps more. Gil lost further ground to Hornish and Dare, who was also running at top speed after pitting just before Sam did.


Now it was time for Team Penske to teach the IRL teams a lesson. The caution came out again on lap 163 and everyone but the two Penske cars came in. Those two cars were still a lap down and had stayed out a few extra laps before the previous stop, maybe that wasn’t as bad a move it had looked? The IRL has a rule that allows all the cars a lap down to pass the leaders with one lap to go in the caution period, if they had not pitted! When the race was restarted, the two Penske cars were back on the lead lap! In order for that tactic to become the ‘"brilliant" strategy that it turned to be, the Penske team was in dire need for a caution within the next 15 laps. Hornish meanwhile, was putting additional distance on the two cars! Scott Sharp provided the caution that Team Penske needed and preventing them from finishing more then two laps down, as far back as seventh and eighth! The Penske team got the needed fuel and tires, at the expense of being mired in traffic. Even when they were clear of traffic and on fresher tires, Hornish was able to increase his lead!


I had mentioned my concern about how well CART invaders Alex Barron/Larry Blair would do, well they did fine for their first effort, finishing tenth! John de Vries’ qualifications were questioned and he did crash, but it was late in the race and he was only one lap down!


There may be a time in the IRL when the fuel conservation and "pit window" practices of CART may work, but not as long as there are drivers like Sam Hornish JR, Buddy Lazier, Jaques Lazier and I suspect Tomas Scheckter; along with the teams they drive for! The fact is that Team Penske, even in finishing in second and third, got a spanking they aren’t used to getting! You it will be a long time until you see HCN riding around in mid-pack in a car that was running fine. Fuel conservation is history too, I won’t say that Hornish/Panther gave them a wake up call, but they opened their eyes a little wider! At one time someone was quoted on TV as saying, "look at him go!"


There are those who say that the attendance was poor at Homestead! I disagree and someone I know that was there does too! Most of the tracks the IRL races on were built for or increased to a number seats required only by NASCAR. TV, for the most part, showed people in the forth turn section of the stands. After the Treadway crash the center section of the stands was shown, nearly full! We can only wait until Robin Miller provides us with his count; he is the official expert on IRL attendance! When he shares his count with us, double it, you will be close!

[macdaddy]

No, Team Penske doesn't get "taken to school" often. But they have, and they will. But I'm not worried. They're fast learners. Maybe soon they'll be doing the teaching.

Not to take away from the Hornish drive. Spectacular.