Road Course Specialists, Or "Ringers"

[GP Racer]

Most of the present IRL driver's have alot, or at least a decent amount of road racing skill's, picked up while they raced in other series. There are a few however, such as Ed Carpenter, and AJ Foyt IV, for example, that come from almost exclusive oval backrounds.

So now that the IRL is going road racing, do you think we'll see "ringers", or road course specialists do one offs, to replace an IRL driver during a road racing event? I'm thinking of a Pruett, Papis, or Said for example.

Also, do you think some of the larger teams might add a car for a ringer?

Both of these things are done in NASCAR, and I'm wondering if it could happen here?

[gttouring]

nope i bet it won't happen as open wheel driver in the IRL all came from a road race open wheel background, alll the oval openwheelers from USAC are going to NASCAR.
coming to think of it all the IRL on road courses will be a huge hit with everyone,and it will really elevate the league is road america and VIR far behind? and Mont tremblant? and... can Champcars really hold this off as it gets momentum?

[Kicking-back]

Very much doubt it.

Teams will stick to their usual line-up I suspect.

The vast majority of IndyCar drivers have road-racing experience.

And there would be no point in jeopardising your championship position by missing races.

[gttouring]

i am not doom saying! i have grown to love them both, but a superseries is the best answer, not 2 but here we go again....

[macdaddy]

Reunification threads have long-been forgotten, gt.
It's a great topic that deserves to stay on-topic, no?

[climb]

We have to consider that an IRL team's budget is peanuts compared to Nascar rich cousins'.
Therefore the hypothesis of spot-hiring drivers is not very realistic, cos it would increase costs some way.

[N I Tram]

I can see top teams like Penske or Rahal running an extra car for a road-course driver, as their budgets are pretty high. It could be a good option for drivers who are looking to break into ChampCars to show their talents off in the US.

[luke]

What I'm relly looking forward to the most is seeing how Sam Hornish Jr. does on the road courses. Many have compared him as the most promising oval racer since Rick Mears and wouldn't I argue about him being one of the best oval racer currently in the IRL.I belive he hasn't had much oval exsperience.

[luke]

I belive he hasn't had much oval exsperience.
__________________

Typo ,I meant
I belive he hasn't had much road racing experience.

[gttouring]

but all the IRL drivers have been waiting for road courses
except AJ the IV...
everyone of them i can think of is a road racer/ open wheeler who fell into the IRL for sponsors, engine suppliers, team moves or both. not because they said it sounds like a great idea for an open wheel series... the onl y one team i can thing of are AJ foyts team, and menard...
so Road course ringers, nah, it may be aexpended as said above to raod course extras. it would be great to see the likes of Vasser at the Glen in one of Chips Target cars again, after all everyone knows he can bring it home in one piece.
Newman/Haas guys might come over and do a spin as well- i mean a race (no pun intended)
but no driver or team would replace their regular drivers for these events, it just wouldn't make sense, it is almost like the road courses have been the big carrot for keeping lots of these guys content ina series they all speak of with a reverential fear, it is so fast so cool, and the wall and other tyres are inches or millimeters away.
I can't wait to see hornish on the roads again, and shekter for once, and helio back in the place he belongs, and kanaan, and fernandez and the list goes on and on. maybe they'll snatch a mexican race next?

[climb]

It's gonna be curious, dear gttouring, to see how the introduction of roads will influence the drivers' market next winter.
Some drivers could become much more appealing than they were during the all-oval era.

[Kicking-back]

Sam Hornish was never much cop on road courses in Toyota Atlantic.

[GP Racer]

One worrisome problem, maybe the fact that AJ Foyt says he won't go road racing at all. He's worried about the safety factor, which I think is amazing, considering that doing ovals in these cars has to be the most dangerous form of racing out there.

But if he weren't to go, would the other, stronger teams put extra cars out there to keep up the count? With the right incentive, meaning money, I think so. Or at least I hope that teams like Penske, Cheever and Rahal for example, would step up and put some quality cars out there, with some quality drivers. We may wind up with some pretty big grids for the road races.

The possibilities could be interesting...

A question for NI Tram, why would a driver come to the IRL, to break into CC? The future with road racing, put's the IRL in a stronger, or at least equal, position as CC, IMO. So why wouldn't they stay right here?

[climb]

If just one driver withdraws, there should be no need to keep up the count, i reckon

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by N I Tram
I can see top teams like Penske or Rahal running an extra car for a road-course driver, as their budgets are pretty high. It could be a good option for drivers who are looking to break into ChampCars to show their talents off in the US.

Definitely Rahal with Danica Patrick...and I could see Ganassi possibly doing it as well with Luis Diaz...one of his pilots in Grand Am who also took an IRL ROP test in late April before Indy got underway, and at one point I beleive he was in the Infinit pro Series lineup...

[Tim Northcutt]

On AJ Foyt...

I take his comments in context....

Remember that he almost lost both of his feet at Elkhart Lake when his throttle stuck and he shot through the Armco barriers there at full tilt....

The fact that Watkins Glen has those same barriers and not a lot of runoff room (at least for now, anyway, prior to possible changes requested by the IRL)is surely at the forefront of his thinking on this issue...

[BootsOntheSide]

Remember that these 2 races are towards the end of next season - a lot of drivers will already be out of the championship hunt so it'd make enough sense to replace them, people will be looking for 2006 rides - all factors which could elad to extra or changed entries. I can imagine smaller teams (if any are left) skipping those races, this happens in the much-richer NASCAR.

[GP Racer]

I can't really see why the smaller teams would sit out the road races.

By the rules, they've already put out the money to make there cars road ready, and I imagine the purses will be similar to any other race, so I would think they'll race no matter what.

Now which driver they go with, is another matter...

[sgw2]

IRL doesn't have a winners circle payout system or qualifying exemption rule for team like NASCAR. Therefore there is zero incentive to find a better road driver. Besides most of teh drivers have road racing backgrounds.

Just for arguments sake, look at Sam Hornish for example. He is not a proven road racer. (Mind you, like DE2 he'll surprise people on these circuits, much as Rick Mears did a two decades ago.) No way would you take him out, even if he struggles, because he is in a points chase.

Other drivers who might be weak on these circuits bring money or have sponsors that expect them to race, so they wont be replaced.

When you get right down to it "ringers" are most likely to be brought in for a small team that is always at the back of the grid. But I think you'll see this no more often than CART did in the early 1990s, which is almost never.