Chassis

[marcus]

Im a bit confused as to who is running what chassis this year.

Ive done a quick search and havent turned up much.

Could someone please give me a quick run down on who is running what for 06?

[Kicking-back]

Everyone's with Dallara except Rahal, pretty much.

Ganassi are still using Panoz for the road courses though.

[luke]

Yup, which Dan says he has problems with as he can't see out of the cockpit as much as he could in the Dallara. The G-force is better looking though IMO.

[drdisque]

Scott Sharp is also using a Panoz on the road courses

Several part-time teams (C+S, Luyendyk, Playa Del, and Ganassi's #33) will be using Panozes at Indy.

[Seoigh]

Originally Posted by drdisque

Several part-time teams (C+S, Luyendyk, Playa Del, and Ganassi's #33) will be using Panozes at Indy.

..but aren't they primarily 'The Grid Fillers'?

[drdisque]

C+S and the #33 will likely be top 15 quality cars.

[jethro10]

I asked this exact question just before homestead.

If RLR are the only ones generally on a chassis are they getting an advantage or a disadvantage?

It seems if everyone prefers the other chassis then RLR will struggle?

Jeff

[climb]

Dallara Chassis have proven better on ovals, that's why everyone, except for Rahal, which seemingly have a spare dealership agreement with Panoz, run them on speedways.
On road courses Panoz and Dallara are more or less the same in terms of performance, Ganassi run Panoz just because a lack of testing experience, during the winter, on Dallaras; I wouldn't be surprised however if they switched 100% to dallara by the end of the season, also because of the mentioned Wheldon's unsatisfaction about Panoz.

[luke]

I remember at Indy Penske a few years back used to run both chassis, incase there was an advantage and Roger wanted Sam to run on the G-Force in his first Indy for Penske but he prefers the Dallara to he races with that.

[Tim Northcutt]

Although the "wisdom" seems to indicate that the Dallara is better on ovals, I'd like to point out:

1. A Panoz Chassis has won 2 of the last 3 Indy 500s, and the one that they didn't win (2005) there would have been 3 Panoz chassis in the Top Five if Bourdais wouldn't have hit the wall in the final laps (Meira 2nd and Danica 4th).

2. A Panoz chassis also has won the past two races at Kentucky Motor Speedway, and last year's race had a Panoz 1-2 finish.

3. In 2004, when Rahal's cars were competitive, the Panoz won a number of races and that season Adrian Fernandez won 3 of the final 5 races of the year in a Panoz chassis. Both teams had down years (especially Rice), but Sharp did win at Kentucky....I think that Dallara dominating last year was due more to AGR's stellar season than it was to the Panoz chassis not being as effective on ovals.

BTW, Luke...Gil De Ferran drove Team Penske's Panoz/G-Force in his 2003 Indy 500 victory.

But that is my opinion

[luke]

Yep, I thought it was either Castroneves or Gil. Then I remember The G-Force Panoz winning that year and that was of course de Ferran...

Just out of interest, who feels that the cars need to have better vision, especially racing at those speeds. Many people are saying that they cars are even 'dangerous' and need better vision for the driver. Also many drivers who have made the switch from Champ Car tend to say this...

[climb]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Although the "wisdom" seems to indicate that the Dallara is better on ovals, I'd like to point out:

1. A Panoz Chassis has won 2 of the last 3 Indy 500s, and the one that they didn't win (2005) there would have been 3 Panoz chassis in the Top Five if Bourdais wouldn't have hit the wall in the final laps (Meira 2nd and Danica 4th).

Panoz won 2002 Indy because (twas very clear) of a team order; in 2003 Rice won under yellow flag with a broken engine, and a few more laps at 60 mph would have been fatal, then the officials stopped the race, to grant themselves an american driver's victory .

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

2. A Panoz chassis also has won the past two races at Kentucky Motor Speedway, and last year's race had a Panoz 1-2 finish.

Yes but the resting 11 oval races?

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

3. In 2004, when Rahal's cars were competitive, the Panoz won a number of races and that season Adrian Fernandez won 3 of the final 5 races of the year in a Panoz chassis. Both teams had down years (especially Rice), but Sharp did win at Kentucky....I think that Dallara dominating last year was due more to AGR's stellar season than it was to the Panoz chassis not being as effective on ovals.

You're putting together 2 very different years Tim; actually in 2004 Panoz were extremely competitive on ovals (particularly the superspeedways), but the following winter a new upgrade (on the underwing I suppose) was authorised by IRL, and Dallara reversed the gap. Afterwards, teams who had both chassis, like Penske, have decided to run solely Dallara, and this year Fernandez switched to Dallara for oval races.

[Tim Northcutt]

Just for the Record:

1. De Ferran won in 2003....I was there...and Penske does not do "Team Orders"...especially since Helio could have become the first driver ever to win 3 Indy 500s in a row....
That just did not happen.

2. The 2004 Indy 500 that Buddy Rice won was halted due to rain....NOT because the IMS and IRL wanted an "American" winner....and very severe weather with hail and lightning hit the track shortly after it ended...

the "Victory Lane" ceremonies were moved inside for everyone's safety....Within 5 miles of the Speedway a tornado hit Indianapolis shortly after the race ended...I know...the twister missed my house by less than 150 yards....

On the "Comparing Two Years," keep in mind that AGR had everyone's number last season...they were by far the strongest team....

But out of the Panoz contingent last year:

Scott Sharp finished 5th in the points with 1 win, 6 Top Five finishes and was in the Top 10 in 13 of the 17 events.

Meira was 7th in points with 7 Top Fives (including at least 2 second place finishes I can recall) and 11 Top 10 finishes.

Danica won 3 poles and Briscoe won 1 pole on a road course. Danica also had 7 Top 10 finishes.

Dixon won on a road course and had 5 Top 10 finishes.

Buddy Rice, in a down year, sitll had 2 Top Fives and 4 Top 10s

Based on these numbers, the Panoz Chassis may not have had wins, but they were in the hunt....

and when it came to Dallaras, the AGR contingent was tough to beat, and Penske (despite Toyota power) also was a major factor....

Thus, I stand by my original statements, and I respectfully refute your comments about the 2003 and 2004 Indy 500s.

[climb]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

...
Thus, I stand by my original statements, and I respectfully refute your comments about the 2003 and 2004 Indy 500s.

No problem at all dear Tim, tho you can admit that both races cannot be taken as examples of one chassis' supremacy, since in 2003 Gil and Helio arrived together, and 2004 was conditioned by bad weather (and you have to believe me, Rice's engine was broken)

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by climb

No problem at all dear Tim, tho you can admit that both races cannot be taken as examples of one chassis' supremacy, since in 2003 Gil and Helio arrived together, and 2004 was conditioned by bad weather (and you have to believe me, Rice's engine was broken)

It may have been broken....

But I will say that Buddy Rice drove one of the most outstanding Indy 500s I've ever seen....at one point he was as far down as 16th place and fought his way back to the front...

and he made a couple of the most daring passes I've ever seen at Indy...one is still used in IRL highlight clips when he went right down to the inside wall on the front straight to go 3-cars wide to make a pass for the lead....

To be fair, there has to be a very good reason why teams are racing the Dallara chassis now...they would know better than I when it comes to the particulars....

But I have noticed that from watching them compete, I feel that the Panoz chassis sems to work better in traffic, but the Dallara seems better in clean air overall...

But these are all just my opinions.

[luke]

Rice for me was a worthy winner that year. He was a one of three of the top men that year and it was good to see him do well considering the fact that he was only a substitute driver for Kenny Brack that year at Rahal...

[drdisque]

Ya, he only won the pole, it sure took a screwjob finish to give the fastest car that month the win.