The Indy Racing League’s push-to-pass initiative is being met with mixed reviews.
Some team officials said the bigger teams with the ability to study the push to pass and other technical changes announced this week will get the biggest boost.
The Button as it is known in open-wheel circles was tried a few years back by Champ Car, and was instituted by the IRL Tuesday in hopes it would bring about more passing. It will debut (for the very first time in the IRL) this weekend at Kentucky.
The electronic gizmo is activated by a button on the steering wheel, and is said to add five to 20 horse power (depending on fuel mix) and an additional 200 engine revs.
At Kentucky, each driver will get 20 button pushes good for 12 seconds each. There must be a few seconds between each button push, so a driver can’t just blast away on the button for the entire final lap.
It’s all a little too much science fiction for Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage, normally a staunch IRL supporter.
“What’s next, a phaser so you can zap the car in front of you so it disappears?” Gossage said. “I just don’t like it. Let’s let this team outwork that team to win the race. Let’s let the ability to drive a car, to dive into a corner win the race. That’s what brings fans to the races, not pushing a button on a steering wheel.”
Gossage, who is known as an on-the-edge marketer, said he was not consulted before the push to pass initiative was approved by IRL officials, but he's concerned fans at the track and those watching on TV won't know when drivers are pushing buttons and when they're not.
“I understand it’s the simplest, easiest, quickest way to get more passing on the track,” Gossage said. “But I’m old school. I liked it when ingenuity from various teams was the key to winning. The world’s always changing, and I guess I need to get with it.”
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This never heard of the driver before he got his green card, nobody passing anybody, boring parade street races, who cares about the future series is not the IRL.
It's just CART part II. The IRL died when Tony abandoned everything and sold out to Penske and Ganassi.
I have to say I am very disappointed about push to pass. Hopefully this is a short term solution to the passing problem. I hated this with cart and I will hate it with the IRL. There are other things they could have and can do to make the passing problem better. Push to pass is not a good answer. That said, teams with money are always going to have an advantage when any new technology comes in. If they changed wings, side pods weight or whatever, the teams with money can wind tunnel test etc... to maximize their advantage. This has been going on since the first automobile raced another.
Anthony, what are your thoughts on Schumacher coming out of retirement to replace Massa?
9 road/street courses
Richmond and Milwaukee gone just like TG
He is too stupid to get it. Just like Indyboi and Berwickgirl.
I long ago admitted that I was wrong and cart only had two bankruptcies in less than 15 years, instead of 3 as I had said. The 2002 season came close, but they limped along for a couple of years before they finally did. Still a stellar record for a league that, as you guys say, was well run and had everything going for it.
Now it is your turn to admit that you were wrong with push to pass. And before you say prove it, and I will not take Dahooeys tactic of look it up, here is quote and link.
Last but not least, in the latest move copied from the defunct CART/Champ Car World Series, the Indy cars will feature an overtaking function accessed by a button on the steering wheel that temporarily adjusts the air/fuel mixture and the rev limit of the standard 3.5-liter Honda V-8s. Depending on what fuel setting the driver has already selected, the push to pass function will provide a short burst ranging from 5 to 20 extra horsepower.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4368537&type=blogEntry
Again, like most people here, I am really not sure what you are babbling about. I did not complain to Anthony, just asked him to post about Schumacher coming out of retirement to replace Massa. Not really sure how that is a complaint to Anthony, but then again your limited grasp of reality has been slipping for quite some time.
Strange that now Metcalfe (your alter ego?) is bringing up someones cancer. I guess nothing is out of bounds around you guys. But that is to be expected since you guys seem to revel in the thought of race cars crashing and killing drivers and fans. Really sick, but then again, pretty much to be expected from you and your type. Not racing fans, because I do not know any real race fans who take pleasure in crashes, especially ones that cause injury and death. I am guessing you guys are the same type who watch Faces of Death over and over for pleasure and slow down at accident scenes hoping to see blood and gore. Truly sad.
Vs. had a half hour show after the race featuring the biggest HITS of the EarL.
The IRL: Crashes R kewl!
I long ago admitted that I was wrong and cart only had two bankruptcies in less than 15 years, instead of 3 as I had said. The 2002 season came close, but they limped along for a couple of years before they finally did. Still a stellar record for a league that, as you guys say, was well run and had everything going for it.
Now it is your turn to admit that you were wrong with push to pass. And before you say prove it, and I will not take Dahooeys tactic of “look it up”, here is quote and link.
And you are still an idiot because you can't get either one right. Go get an MRI, you may have a brain tumor. I'll type slow so you can keep up, have a friend or family member help you sound out the big words. CART had one bankruptcy and CCWS had a liquidation to help them amalgamate into the doomed irl*. CART had a button to change the rich fuel mapping (probably too technical for your feeble tenderloin like brain) on the 2.65L turbo engine. This was not push to pass, there was no time limit and it only effected fuel mileage. CCWS had push to pass, which they borrowed from Formula Palmer Audi.
again, you seem to think there was some real difference between cart/ccws/owrs. Sorry, same thing different name. I am sure in your fantasy world cart was some magical thing that went away when the name changed. Sorry, ask any racing fan, any sports journalist, hell, ask any racer and the vast majority are going to agree that cart/owrs/ccws was all the same thing with just a name change to try to repackage a bad business plan.
cart/owrs/ccws. Even among racing fans, you would be hard pressed for any of them to recognize a difference. Same animal, different names.
By the way, never said push to pass was the same as fuel mixture.
Thanks for playing.