Indycar News & Rumors.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Looks like Danica may race at Indy next year.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101528

[MagVanisher]

So Danica is confirmed to return in the 500, eh?

Still, am I thinking that NASCAR drug testing is so strict compared to IndyCar? But if A.J. Allmendinger is allowed to compete there at IndyCar, it's gonna be a big boost for the series.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

So Danica is confirmed to return in the 500, eh?

Still, am I thinking that NASCAR drug testing is so strict compared to IndyCar? But if A.J. Allmendinger is allowed to compete there at IndyCar, it's gonna be a big boost for the series.

I don't see it as anything but detrimental.

[Purist]

I'd want to know more specifics regarding A.J., like what the actual drug is. Also, there are some substances, like opiates, that can be/are present in certain foods, which can register on a test without the driver having abused any elicit substance.

BTW, isn't there a certain driver in Grand-Am, at least part-time, who has a record of drug abuse? Of course, this guy has some of the right "family connections", not that that should make it okay.

[Yannick]

Having not followed US open wheel racing whilst AJ Allmendinger was at the height of his ChampCar career, winning several races for Forsythe, I don't know much about the guy and cannot really comment. Earlier this year, though, he seemed rather eager to want to try the "double" of that Sprint Cup race and the Indy 500 on the same day.
I wish him all the best and hope he does not have any addiction problem.

The cases of Jeremy Mayfield and Tomas Enge who were also caught out in such checks are somewhat sad to witness.

What's the point anyway for a racing driver to use substances outlawed by the sporting code, as in motorsports, first and foremost, the car must be fast?

[JohnSSC]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Indycar has to have a good'ol American boy as a role model for the young aspiring fans.

May I suggest Ryan Hunter-Reay? You know, race-winner, consistent, initially brought Izod as a sponsor...

The man gets no respect.

Back in the day I liked Allmendinger, but whatever the circumstances of the testing are, that leaves him rather toxic at the moment. Of course, this IS IndyCar so, realizing they have a spot that they have not yet perforated via gunfire may just make a move to bring him back...

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

May I suggest Ryan Hunter-Reay? You know, race-winner, consistent, initially brought Izod as a sponsor...

The man gets no respect.

Back in the day I liked Allmendinger, but whatever the circumstances of the testing are, that leaves him rather toxic at the moment. Of course, this IS IndyCar so, realizing they have a spot that they have not yet perforated via gunfire may just make a move to bring him back...

I was obviously joking about Allmendinger...

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Purist

I'd want to know more specifics regarding A.J., like what the actual drug is. Also, there are some substances, like opiates, that can be/are present in certain foods, which can register on a test without the driver having abused any elicit substance.

The substance was an amphetamine of some kind.

[Yannick]

Are there any "Silly Season 2013" type of news yet apart from the usual "Danica might run the Indy 500"?

If so, let's please start a silly season thread. Thanks.

[JohnSSC]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

The substance was an amphetamine of some kind.

Looks like AJ will have plenty of time to think about recovery and his future:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/team-ow...3--nascar.html

And yes, it was amphetamines in both the primary and backup sample.

[Purist]

Some good changes being made to the Baltimore circuit.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...ayout-revised/

[HJJ]

The money trail on Indycar funding.

http://www.ibj.com/nascar-in-indy-st.../article/35811

[Yannick]

As the season's end is coming nearer, silly season is about to begin. What about some of the drivers who did not get cockpits this season? I'm talking about those who still have a lot of their career ahead of them, such as Alex Lloyd (ex-Ganassi, Schmidt, Coyne driver), Pippa Mann (ex-Rahal driver), Bia Figuereido (ex-D&R driver), Rafael Matos (ex-Dragon driver), Martin Plowman (ex-AFS driver ... where has he been all year? He was the big surprise at Sonoma last year), Bryan Clauson (Fisher's other driver), Scott Speed (ex-Red Bull darling and Dragon driver)?

It looks like the seasoned oval specialists such as Tomas Scheckter (too many teams to mention), Buddy Rice (ex-Cheever, Rahal, D&R, Panther, Dragon driver) and Vitor Meira will not return to the series due to a lack of ovals.
And it's similarly unlikely for the probably retired Paul Tracy and Bruno Junqueira, isn't it?

Do you think lacking one year of experience with the new car when compared to the drivers with a ride would make it less likely for the teams to choose one of those?

[Matt]

plowman runs in ALMS and the WEC

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by HJJ

The money trail on Indycar funding.

http://www.ibj.com/nascar-in-indy-st.../article/35811

An interesting article. NASCAR certainly know how to market themselves.

[Purist]

Bruno Junqueira, like Martin Plowman, is running in the ALMS.

Paul Tracy ran the Grand-Am race at Indianapolis, and is looking at going full-time in that series.

[JohnSSC]

Originally Posted by Purist

Bruno Junqueira, like Martin Plowman, is running in the ALMS.

Paul Tracy ran the Grand-Am race at Indianapolis, and is looking at going full-time in that series.

Oh goody! Pruett just loves to muscle his way around. I do hope PT gets a ride in a DP car just so I can entertain myself by guessing who will wipe who out first!

A shame though that PT could not get a full time ride in IndyCar.

[Purist]

They'll be using a revised layout at Sears Point in a few weeks. It looks like it will be better than what we have seen them run, but they really just need to find a way to run the original course layout, with no chicane before Turn 10, and the full-length Turn 11.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...ation-changes/

[HJJ]

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012...YCAR/120739955

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by HJJ

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012...YCAR/120739955

I think it's obvious that the cheesegrater fencing is out of date from the 1960's and while it might be fine for a big fat Nascab, a carbon fiber car is going to get shredded to bits if it hits such fencing, as we have seen many times in the irl.

I do believe there are some options, but I don't see the tracks signing onto it because the irl races are usually unprofitable.

[Purist]

The fencing will shred NASCAR machinery quite well; just ask Geoff Bodine about that.

The metal, chain-link stuff is more from the 1980s. Prior to that, if there was anything, it was that orange catch-fencing stuff that was a royal mess to deal with.

The question is, if there are any options available right now, how practical are they (both in terms of effectiveness and cost)?

[bjohnsonsmith]

In that list of fatalities in the article, two of those, Tony Renna's and Dan Wheldon's were the due to the cars becoming airborne, with air getting under the car and flipping it, which was a problem with the old Dallara as it was flat bottomed. Both Ryan Briscoe's and Mike Conway's accidents were also caused the same way and there were others. The new car is ground effect and with venturi tunnels on the underside of the car it won't flip like a flat bottomed car, as was seen in Marco Andretti's and Graham Rahal's crash at Long Beach. A contributing factor was the wheel to wheel pack racing. One car would ride up the rear wheels of another and the air would get underneath. That's now a thing of the past and I think we'll see very few accidents involving catch fencing but that doesn't rule it out. Maybe the solution is to make the safer barrier that much higher?

[HJJ]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...lass-for-2013/

[bjohnsonsmith]

More on Graham Rahal; he could be racing for his father's team next year.

http://blogs.indystar.com/racingexpe...iving-at-home/

[Razzzor]

I think that would be a step backwards for him; Ganassi is a top 3 team, Bobby Rahal's definitely is not. But Graham has really looked average against Scott and Dario this year anyway, I don't think there's been any race this year where Graham was the fastest of the 3.

Dario and Scott won't be around forever, but they're going to be tough to replace. Will Power, currently, is probably the only driver faster than those two. Of course I'd be putting Bourdais in Graham's seat.