And the future’s so bright, Oh Never Mind!
Was going to pontificate upon IndyCar’s
bungling of its T-Shirt fiasco prior to the Indianapolis 500. But I’m certain
that Bud Denker, Mark Miles and All of the top Braintrust at Starship Penske would
tell us Thars’ nothing to see here. All the suites were sold out for Detroit.
We’ve had more sponsors sign up, ticket sales are up and everybody just loves
IndyCar, Spew!
IndyCar’s
‘One Nation, One Race’ controversy is no surprise amid its rightward drift
Yeah, I realize after this year’s race and the
amazing finish, my topic will probably be moot to many. Wallowing in
Felix-the-Cat’s comments following His monumental victory; “I’m not thinking
about Detroit right now!”
Nor am I still thinking about it. Being an Uber
good weekend to step away from the All consuming keyboard and go for Walkabout’
in Mother Nature, thanks to Tacoma Bureau chief Mary Ellen…
Nevertheless, I’ll still briefly try tackling
what’s been on my mind during this Month of May, until race day. When Mother
Nature was “Tops of the Pops!” Although allowing us to run all 200 miles…
Yet I’m sure many have thought about preceding
the race. That being the lack of bumping this year, and how “Quite” this made
qualifying.
What I still don’t understand, albeit having
guessed that Andretti Global was loathe to give-up its fourth Honda engine
lease for fear of loosing it permanently? Is the fact that there was a spare
Honda lump’ available this May.
So why couldn’t Bryan Herta and Andretti Global
have run a fourth car program with Stefan Wilson, who reportedly had the
necessary budget?
Although in hindsight, the three Andretti
Global entries didn’t exactly light up the field during qualifying…
This led me to pondering if both Chevrolet and
Honda were required to field 18 engines apiece, meaning we’d have 36 entries
and three drivers going home. Would this be beneficial sporting-wise?
And who’d make up these three entries? Since
today, almost the entire field is comprised of current IndyCar teams fielding
extra entries, with the exception of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Abel
Motorsports this year…
As Geo. Phillips of Oilpressure fame, Ye
“Oldest” IndyCar blogger has already opined. We need a third engine
manufacturer a la Buick to ease the load upon Chevy and Honda. Although they
seem content having a stranglehold upon IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500…
Yet I’m guessing this option’s already been
taken away from us with the highly cough-cough! Anticipated Dallara IR28
chassis and 2.4-litre V-6 twin turbo hybrid lumps arriving for 2028. When
IndyCar becomes a completely “closed Shop” with two final charters going to the
engine suppliers, and 27 charter entries being the maximum grid allowance. With
the exception of the Indy 500.
Obviously, the main obstacle is cost, since
there hasn’t been a third OEM engine supplier since the perpetually
underperforming Lotus by Judd lumps’ Wayback in Gory 2012, Yikes!
And I can only Arse-sume that nobody has found
the return on investment (ROI) to be enticing enough to join IndyCar, El
Correctomundo?
Also, I’m not an Engineer and don’t know if
technically possible or not? But why couldn’t a “Boutique” manufacture of high
performance Supercars engine be allowed. Say something from Koenigsegg, Glickenhaus,
Isotta Fraschini, Vanwall, etc. Since for instance, the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6
uses a 3.0-litre hybrid V-6 twin turbo produced by HWA.
As perhaps I’m wrong? But it really seems like
IndyCar has made it virtually impossible for a third engine manufacturer to
ever enter the series, which is a shame! Along with presumably Andretti Global
and Honda not willing to allow the likes of Stefan Wilson to enter this year’s
Indy 500.
Since after all, isn’t the Indianapolis 500 supposed to be all about having the fastest 33 racers in the field?
