Open Wheel America

While the focus will continue to be on Rubens Barrichello and his potential move to the IZOD IndyCar Series, there is another driver you should be watching.

Luca Filippi was the 2011 GP2 runner up in his sixth and final season. The 26 year old driver caught the eye of IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard last year at Monza during the Formula One race.

Filippi won the GP2 race that day, and Bernard asked if he would like to come out to Las Vegas at the end of the IndyCar season, just to see the environment of the sport.

Bernard had god reason to talk to him, as Filippi not only won his third race of the season that day, but also set the fastest lap and finished in second place in the final standings.

Filippi spent Monday and Tuesday of this week at Barber Motorsports Park, watching the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team test. He told media members that his chances of making it in Formula One were “slim”, but he doesn’t see the IndyCar Series as a second tier sport.

While he could be the future teammate of Takuma Sato, Filippi wouldn’t be doing anything new by coming over to IndyCar.

Most of today’s IndyCar drivers actually have similar paths. Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, Oriol Servia, and (GP2 teammate) Mike Conway have all raced in F3 at some point. Justin Wilson and Sato both dabbled in Formula One before making the transition to IndyCar as well.

Going back even before them, you have CART drivers like Gil de Ferran, Juan Montoya, Alex Zanardi, and Sebastien Bourdais that could also be a part of that list.

In an interview with SPEED, Filippi said; “I really believe IndyCar is the right step and exactly what I want. I’m very glad now I’m in a position to build a career here.”

Barrichello will be doing some additional testing with KV Racing this weekend, and speculation is he has a handshake agreement with the team, but nothing has been finalized. The money should come, and it could be a late deal like Kanaan made just before the start of last season.

While Barrichello spent 19 years in Formula One, it is important to note the difference between that series and GP2, where Filippi made his name. The GP2 series involves a spec car, spec tire, and spec engine. The driver and engineer really make the difference in every race. It is also worth noting that Dallara was the maker of the GP2 car.

Right now it appears that funding and timing are the biggest concerns surrounding a deal between Filippi and Rahal’s team.

For people like Filippi and Barrichello, this is the perfect time to enter the series. All of the drivers will be on somewhat equal footing with the new engines, new chassis, and the new 3.2 mile street circuit in China. The lack of ovals on the schedule could also benefit these drivers.

Randy Bernard said it was important to have the best drivers in the world in IndyCar. This is a great way to start.

The IZOD IndyCar Series will begin the 2012 season in four weeks. While the anticipation and excitement for the new cars and engines is already through the roof, it’s the 2013 season-opening race that has the attention of others.

According to an interview done by SPEED with Honda Performance Development Assistant VP Steve Erikson, HPD plans to build some of their own body kits. While they would like to begin production right away, they need to get the rules before they can get started. Erikson said they have been constantly sending e-mails to Will Phillips, as to when the aero kit rules will be released.

Obviously with the addition of the new engines and all of the teams setting out to get them, the issue of the aero kit rules has taken a back seat. Once those things get settled though, Erikson said he expects the 2013 regulations to be the main topic of concern.

Once Erikson and his team are able to see the rules for the aero kits, they can get to work on producing and testing. Both Chevrolet and Lotus are expected to make their own aero kits.

Both Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball did some oval testing this month at Fontana. Mike Hull said that they were reaching speeds of 210 mph on Thursday, which was pretty good considering the 30 mph wind gusts they had to deal with all day. He expects the speeds to climb fast as testing continues.

Rahal was thrilled with the car, saying; “We made a lot of setup changes, the car reacted the right way to each of those changes and I’m leaving here feeling pretty excited. The rest of the drivers who haven’t been in the car on an oval, I think, are going to be very pleasantly surprised.”

Alex Tagliani, Tony Kanaan, and Ryan Briscoe will be testing at Texas Motor Speedway Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Marco Andretti will be testing at Phoenix on Tuesday for Andretti Autosport. Panther Racing driver JR Hildebrand will join him on Wednesday for some more testing.

This photo from today at Texas Motor Speedway shows TK’s new colors, in his familiar number 11.

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season is just five weeks out, and teams are taking advantage of open testing before St. Pete in late March. From the road/street courses to the ovals further along in the season, teams have been scrambling to get their new machines out on the track. Over the past few weeks, we have been able to see a glimpse of some of the liveries that we will see this season.

While most of these were tests from road/street courses, the look of the oval chassis isn’t that much different. According to reports, the new car/engine is working well for the teams, along with the carbon brakes. The lap times have been much quicker on the road courses, and while the speeds may be a little down in the fall at Indianapolis, I think they will get in the 224 mph range by the time we get to May.

I have put together a collection of some of the shots from the teams of their new machines. They all look very sleek, but the Panther Racing National Guard livery is the best of the bunch in my opinion. I am still hunting around for more, hoping to get a look at the Andretti Autosport cars soon. Enjoy.

Yesterday was a day of looking back, reflecting, and recognizing the outstanding achievements of the drivers and teams in 2011. Today we looked toward the future, which was being shaped right before our very eyes.

There were many changes for the upcoming 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season that were announced today. Most of these changes I picked up courtesy of Curt Cavin; All the credit goes to him.

IndyCar Race Director Beaux Barfield said that most tracks will stick with the double-file restarts. Three tracks though, (Indianapolis, Texas, and Fontana) will go back to the more traditional single-file restarts.

The race at Iowa will take a different approach as far as the qualifying format goes. There will be qualifying races after practice sessions. From what I understand, the top ten drivers in practice will be locked in the race. The remaining drivers will be separated into two “heat races” to determine the rest of the starting order.

The DW12 car passed all of the impact tests. The rear, side, floor, and nose tests have all been performed, tested, and passed.

There will be a new IndyCar feature for Smart Phones that will be known as “Cosworth Live on Air”.

Will Phillips believes there will be 28 cars this season. His breakdown looks like 12 for Chevrolet, Ten for Honda, and Six for Lotus.

While there will be damage to the rear of the DW12 on contact, there will be no more launching-type accidents. Jeff Horton added that it will be very difficult to get wheel-to-wheel interaction.

The back of the cockpit has three inches of foam (before the seat is added) which is more than there has ever been.

While the speeds haven’t quite been up where they expected at Indianapolis, they have been much better on the road/street courses. They are expecting to be about 1.5 seconds quicker per lap on such courses.

If a team has an unapproved engine change, they will lose ten starting positions for that race. If they have a second change, they will be penalized for the next race.

There will be no overtake assist to begin the season. It may be brought back later in the season if it is needed.

Engines will be limited to 12,000 RPM, with a minimum weight of 248 pounds. They will also feature anti-stall, which should reduce the amount of down time following a spin or run off.

I have to say from the people I have talked to so far, most are happy about these changes. I would have like to have seen them keep the double-file restarts on the ovals, and the few road/street courses where it was not a big problem entering turn one. I was, however happy to see the overtake assist get the stiff arm, even if it is just for the time being. All in all, a big thumbs up in my opinion.

It was a busy Monday for those involved with the IZOD IndyCar Series. The much-anticipated State of IndyCar event got underway at 5:30pm in downtown Indianapolis. There were many exciting announcements, and even more that we learned prior to tonight’s event.

Earlier in the day, Ed Carpenter Racing announced that they would be using Chevrolet powered engines for the 2012 season. His sponsor, Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka, was also announced to be the Official Vodka of the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. Fuzzy’s is now the signature cocktail of IndyCar, and will be featured at all events.

There were other announcements that CEO Randy Bernard was finally able to let loose. The series has new commercial sponsorships with LIDS, Fuzzy’s, Discover Network and First Bankcard. Verizon is also going to be launching a new mobile app for their customers that will be available on the iPhone and iPad devices. The IndyCar website is also going to be getting a face lift, in two separate phases.

The biggest announcement of the night probably belonged to Firestone. To the delight of everyone, it was announced that Firestone will remain the IZOD IndyCar Series’ Official Tire through at least 2014, with contract negotiations for beyond 2014 already underway.

Keeping Firestone in the sport was huge for the Series, and the fans.

Another big announcement was the re-branding of the VERSUS network, which is now the NBC Sports Network. They will televise ten of the 16 races this season, while the other six will be televised by ESPN on ABC. Those races include St. Petersburg, Detroit, Milwaukee, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, and the Indianapolis 500 of course.

The NBC Sports Network will also introduce “INDYCAR 36″, a 30-minute show featuring 36 hours in the life of an IndyCar Series driver. This show will go behind the scenes during race weekends from the first practice through the end of the race.

There were plenty of exciting announcements made, but there was also plenty of hardware to hand out. Drivers and teams received their awards from their performances during the 2011 season. Just recapping how last year went, the anticipation for the 2012 season is through the roof. While much of Monday night’s buzz was about celebrating the 2011 season, Tuesday should provide us with more news about the 2012 season.

Arie Luyendk, Johnny Unser and Gary Barnard will now serve as Race Stewards in support of Race Director Beaux Barfield. While Luyendyk may be the most well-known of the bunch, it is Unser and Barnard who have more experience. Unser was Race Director of the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in 2008, while Barnard was a race steward in CART, and has more than 15 years of experience in Race Control.

Bernard put together a great closing speech. He summed it up nicely by saying; “Sit back, buckle up and hold on because the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season promises to be one hell of a ride.”

Being a huge fan of oval races, I was excited to hear that Milwaukee was officially confirmed today to the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule. Also being a new father this year, I was happy to see the race is being held on the day before Father’s Day, on Saturday.

Michael Andretti owns Andretti Sports Marketing Wisconsin, which will promote the Milwaukee IndyFest on race weekend, which is June 15-16. In addition to the main event on Saturday, there will be a Firestone Indy Lights race on Friday.

The Milwaukee race has always been a fan favorite, and even the drivers love racing there. Perhaps no one loves it more than Michael Andretti himself, who went to victory lane eight times, five as a driver and three as an owner. Now his marketing team will headline the race, which will easily be one of the five best races of the season.

The famous one-mile oval has so much history and tradition, it would seem like just having the two races would bring fans in from all across the country. They see it as being much more than that, as concerts and other entertainment are in the works for the Milwaukee IndyFest.

They should see much more success this year after last season’s race saw one of the smallest crows of the season. The weather didn’t help any, as well as the fact that it was held on Sunday, which was Father’s Day. This year the race will be held on the Saturday before, and is scheduled to begin at 12:30pm local time.

The Milwaukee Mile has held auto racing events since 1903. Even though it hosted NASCAR races from 1984 to 2009, it is most closely linked to IndyCar racing. The addition of Milwaukee gives the series their 16th official race, and their much-needed fifth oval race of the season. Just as important, keeping the history and tradition of one of the most famous races in IndyCar alive.

Practice and qualifying for the IndyCar race, as well as the Firestone Indy Lights race will be held on Friday. Another interesting aspect of the date is that the series will have five consecutive races beginning with the Indianapolis 500 on May 27. The next four will be Detroit on June 3, Texas on June 9, Milwaukee on June 16, and finally Iowa on June 24.

For most years starting in 1949, Milwaukee hosted the first race following the Indy 500. From 1947 to 1982, the track hosted two races, one in June, and the other in the fall. Just looking at the drivers who have won at Milwaukee (AAA, USAC, and CART) tells you all you need to know about the history of this place.

This list includes drivers such as Ted Horn, Johnnie Parsons, Jim Rathmann, Rodger Ward, Lloyd Ruby, AJ Foyt, Jim Clark, Parnelli Jones, Gordon Johncock, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva, Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser, and Sebastien Bourdais. Current IndyCar drivers Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Scott Dixon have also added their names to this list.

While tickets to the Milwaukee event go on sale March 1, you can find more information about the weekend events by visiting www.MilwaukeeMile.com

IndyCar President of Competition and Race Director Beaux Barfield decided against re-wording the blocking rule for the 2012 season. This was a hot topic today, just days before next week’s State of IndyCar address. While he acknowledges that the blocking is open for interpretation, he said that he will make sure the drivers and teams understand the rules going into each race.

The rule states that; a Driver must not alter his/her racing line based on the actions of pursuing Drivers or use an abnormal racing line to inhibit or prevent passing. Barfield said that he didn’t feel a wording change was necessary, but added that he was going to make sure everyone understands the rules before the drivers meeting is over at each event. It had been proposed by some to have lines painted around the track to help drivers better understand what constitutes blocking.

On Tuesday, teams were given the new rulebook for the 2012 season. The new book had been formatted for easier understanding, yet didn’t feature any major changes for the upcoming season. The most significant change was the discretionary power that was removed from the Race Director’s position.

Barfield said that he will dive deeper into the rulebook at the State of IndyCar next week in downtown Indianapolis. He said he also plans on introducing the Race Control team during the event, which will be open to the public at Hilbert Circle Theater at 5:30pm.

Barfield referenced the contact between Will Power and Dario Franchitti in Turn 3 of the Honda Indy Toronto last season as an example of moving forward in regards to blocking and contact.

Though drivers and officials usually disagree on many of these blocking situations, it was important to have some driver input in the discussions. Obviously everyone is concerned with the safety of everyone involved, and being able to create a good product on the track is Barfield’s job. While that is one of his primary assignments this year, he is also willing to listen to concerns about racing issues by the drivers and their teams.

Another topic of concern that Barfield tackled on Wednesday was the drivers’ displeasure with the double-file restarts at Indianapolis. Last season was the first time they were used at the world’s most famous race venue, and drew criticism from all different areas. Not only was it difficult for the series to police, but even when they did get them lined up correctly, there always seemed to be contact somewhere.

The idea of throwing the double-file restarts out the window were quickly diminished, as Barfield said he didn’t think that it was executed by the officials very well last season. He would like to give it one more try in 2012 before completely scrapping the idea too early.

When asked if double-file restarts will still be used in the Indy 500, Barfield said “it’s under consideration.”

There was a lot of missed communication between race control and the drivers last season under former race director Brian Barnhart. The blame for most of that goes to a complex rule book which gave him too much power in too many officiating decisions.

Barfield said the rule book used last season had more than 90 instances where the discretion of the race director could be applied. Drivers and teams were not happy about that, which was part of the reason why Barfield is in the position he is in now. Barfield says that number for the 2012 season has been reduced from 90, to just six.

Some changes to the rule book have already been announced:

• The use of an instant messaging system between race control, officials and race team managers in which Barfield can communicate track conditions, warnings, penalties and other information. Barfield said he used the system, which will complement radio communication, at ALMS and it’s “new to IndyCar, but late to IndyCar.”
• Standard INDYCAR tech bodywork parts must be able to fit a team’s car during technical inspection.
• A minimum of two track condition radio steering wheel lights will be standard, and act in unison with dash lights and complement audio and trackside visual caution warning systems.
• Manufacturer points will be awarded on a race-by-race basis and added throughout the season to crown a champion between Chevrolet, Honda and Lotus. The highest-finishing engine manufacturer earns 9 points; the second highest-placing manufacturer earns 6 points and the third-highest manufacturer receives 4 points.

There will also be an open test for March 13 at Texas Motor Speedway to complement the private test set to take place February 19. The first test will consist of three drivers (one from each manufacturer) to help with the aerodynamic packages for the race at Texas in June. The second test will be open for any and all teams.

While Paul Tracy can’t officially announce his plans on where he will drive this year, he did say that the 2012 season will be his last in the series.

Last weekend Paul said that he has been working on a deal with Michael Shank Racing. They are trying to secure a sponsor and finalize an engine package. The first-year team, which is co-owned by NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger is riding some serious momentum coming into the IndyCar Series.

The 2012 season will be Tracy’s 22nd overall in the sport, and while he says it will be his last in this series, he doesn’t plan on getting too far away from racing. He said that he would like to concentrate on more sports car racing, something he just did recently at Daytona in the Rolex 24 race.

While everyone expects his deal with MSR to be finalized within the next week, he said he does have plans if it falls apart. Those plans would include shifting to sports car racing full-time, immediately. He labeled that as the “next phase” of his career. He realizes that winning with a smaller team in IndyCar would be more challenging than winning in a good sports car. He won’t have the same equipment as the top teams, and won’t have as many testing opportunities.

After spending 17 years in CART, then moving to the IndyCar Series, Tracy was able to run six races last season. In those races, his best finish was 12th at Texas. His last victory came at the Grand Prix of Cleveland in 2007.

One of the most interesting situations lies within the choice of an engine program for MSR. The team announced awhile back that they would be partnered with Lotus for their engine program. Tracy has longstanding ties to Honda Canada, maker of the Honda Performance 2.2 liter single turbo V6 engines. Landing Honda engines would provide a significant boost in competition as well as sponsorship money.

Michael Shank is trying to keep his 2012 success going, and signing the 2003 Champ Car Champion would be a great move. Last weekend he and his teammates won the 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. He announced last October that he would be bringing his upstart team to the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012.

While the off-season was full of rumors of Tracy going to Rahal Letterman Lanigan and Dale Coyne Racing, Tracy said that the desire and effort that Shank shows him is one of the big reasons why he is choosing them. They have known each other for a long time, and he said he wants to be with a team that will give “110 percent” during his “farewell tour” season.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan officially signed Takuma Sato on Friday to pilot their number 15 car.

While Tracy’s career in this series may not end the way many of us thought it would, it’s hard to argue it has been anything but amazing. The Canadian driver has championships in the American Racing Series and the CART/Champ Car World Series. He will also tell you that he won the 2002 Indianapolis 500, one of the most controversial finishes in the history of the 500.

Paul always found his way into the middle of controversy. There was the Alex Tagliani and Sebastien Bourdais incidents in 2006, and The 2002 Indianapolis 500 to name a couple. Despite that, Tracy will forever be known as one of the most talented drivers in the history of open wheel racing. Going back to his Can-Am Series days in 1986, Tracy has amassed 41 career racing wins to go along with 34 career poles.

Though this will be his final season in IndyCar, there is no doubt that the “Thrill from West Hill” will always have the desire to get behind the wheel, no matter what type of car.

I am often asked what makes a race team popular. Obviously winning takes care of most of that. There are other things in addition to that, like what Team Barracuda – Bryan Herta Autosport did this past week that really make fans get behind them.

On Monday, the team held a Social Media Kickoff event that gave away prizes to their followers on Twitter and Facebook. For anyone following the team on Twitter @BHA or was a fan of their Facebook page, they were entered to win one of ten amazing prizes. They said their goal was to show people that Team Barracuda – BHA is their go-to source for an insider experience with a race team for the upcoming season.

Some of the one-of-a-kind prizes were a pair of signed racing gloves by driver Alex Tagliani, a Barracuda Networks golf bag prize pack, a Dan Wheldon Limited Edition die-cast car, a pair of Gatorz Special Edition Alex Tagliani sunglasses, as well as an autographed shirt, visor, cards, and calendar.

While giving away these incredible prizes to the fans is nice, they didn’t stop there. Alex Tagliani played a major role in the event by signing nearly every prize. He and Bryan Herta did a live chat on SPEEDtv.com where fans could interact and ask them questions. Tagliani also did a fabulous intro video for the fans that everyone should watch.

Alex knows how important it is to connect with the fans, and he really does enjoy doing it. Through social media, he is able to show more of his personality than every before. Fans that have known him for a while realize his great character off the track, and his immense talent on it. Through these types of events, more and more people are able to see it as well.

While it was a fantastic event for the fans, it is only the beginning. They are planning on giving away many more prizes during the 2012 IndyCar season. They are focusing their attention on a variety of promotional products and fan engagement opportunities that are tied to Team Barracuda – BHA, Alex Tagliani, and IndyCar. They also want to hear some suggestions from their fans.

You can find more information about the team and their products by visiting their websites at www.BryanHertaAutosport.com and www.BarracudaNetworks.com.

It’s important to have positive fan interaction, and the team understands that. They are making all of the right moves on the track with their drivers, and the same holds true off the track with their fan base.

Giving people a chance to feel connected to the team provides a strong relationship that can last forever.

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar season will be here before we know it. Team Barracuda – BHA is working hard to win some races in 2012. Their fans though, are already winning.

The question being asked by many people over the past week is; would Rubens Barrichello joining the IndyCar Series be a positive or a negative? To me, that is a rhetorical question.

The former Brazilian Formula One driver will be testing for KV Racing next week, and the speculation is that the ride could be his if he wants it. While he hasn’t expressed any interest in racing on ovals, everyone can agree that he would be a fierce competitor on the road and street courses.

Barrichello will be at Sebring International Raceway driving a Dallara DW12 for KV Racing as part of a two-day test starting Monday. The fit would seem natural; given his potential teammate would be his long time friend and fellow Brazilian, Tony Kanaan.

Barrichello has spent the last 19 seasons in Formula One, but was replaced in early January at Williams by Bruno Senna. He is an 11-time winner in the series, and recorded 68 podium finishes in his career. He finished runner up in the Championship twice, in 2002 and 2004.

In the past, he has said his wife would not let him race in the IndyCar Series, because of the high-risk speeds on the oval tracks. While understandable given the recent tragedy of Dan Wheldon, there are many reasons why he would be an ideal fit for the IndyCar Series.

The oval thing is being blown way out of proportion. The 2012 IndyCar Series schedule only has four ovals (counting Indianapolis). Why any driver in the world would not want to race at Indianapolis is beyond me. It is the greatest race in the world, and is far more popular globally than the Daytona 500. The event itself is even bigger than Monaco.

Now looking at this from the other angle, you have the majority of the schedule comprised of road and street courses. Obviously the 19 years in Formula One will give him the experience he needs to find his way around the course. Learning the layout of each track will require extra preparation, but it isn’t that big of a deal.

Of course Barrichello has no experience driving this new Dallara DW12, but who in the series does? Honestly, he is in the same boat as all of the other drivers in the series.

Having Barrichello in the IndyCar Series in 2012 would undoubtedly bring more attention to the sport both nationally and globally. KV Racing would definitely benefit from his knowledge and ability to gather information about the car.

Seeing him on the road/street courses battling Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Scott Dixon, and Justin Wilson would be a treat for everyone watching. I can only imagine the frenzy that we would see at the Sao Paulo race in Brazil.

When you look at it big picture, it really would be a win-win for everyone involved.