Shaking up the Indy 500

May 26, 2010
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Maybe the new blood at the Indy Racing League will restore some of the interest in the Indianapolis 500 that’s been lost in recent years.

Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard, the guy who ran the Professional Bull Riders circuit before joining the IRL in March, is pushing to take the 500 back to its roots as a lab for innovation, IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle wrote in this week's paper.

Looser rules undoubtedly would push up the price of putting cars on the track. But a shakeup also could bring back some cachet the race surrendered after former Speedway head Tony George separated from Champ Car in 1996 to try to rein in costs and give American racers a better chance.

What do you think about giving teams more options for engines and chassis? Is innovation, or lack thereof, the IRL’s root problem?
 

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  • loosen rules!
    TonyMay 26, 2010 2:44 PM
    The IRL and the 500 need the diversity that was found in racing 25 years or more ago. I long for the days of going to the track and hearing the roar of privateer Phil Krueger's Chevy V8 going all of the way around the track. The Menard Buick V6's pushing the speeds ever higher. Different chassis and engine combinations that created real interest on the part of fans. It is still exciting to see fast cars going around the track, but what the sports is missing is competition to innovate and develop something better. Or, perhaps a privateer that doesn't have access to the latest Honda powerplant, but has something else (within specs) that can power a carbon fiber tub around the track at 225 mph. The romance has long gone from the track and a loosening of rules and widening of specs to allow new innovations will go a long way towards bringing real interest back to a very compelling sport.
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  • INDY 500 Back to 70's-90's
    HarryMay 26, 2010 2:45 PM
    When you can't distinguish a car or favorite drivers' car only by its paint-job that is a problem. Through the years as I was growing up the sponsor, the engine, the chasis, the body style was all the drivers persona... it was who he/she was!!! The car body style was as different from the other cars, as where the drivers. All the difference and pushing of changes made up what the Indianapolis 500 was all about... you saw the state-of-art designs, engine performance, chasis concepts that you didn't see anywhere else. You didn't have 33 cars that looked exactly alike, with the same engines all qualifying at the same speed. That is what you have now, everybody is the same!!!??? The reasons for - costs, race in the driver's hands, etc. But that is what the INDY 500 is about a "team concept" - it was the innovation, the team, the car, the engine the whole package - who could produce the best package!!! Believe me I have love the Indianapolis 500 and all it represents for 45 years, but stop going about 10 years ago because the individuality was not there anymore! Thanks
    PLUS -- Bring back a form of the SNAKE-PIT!!! I am family man and understand the reasons why it is gone... but man that was a Marketing faux pas!!!!
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  • make the change
    DonSMay 26, 2010 3:02 PM
    If the indy 500 was run in the past like it is today would you have rear engine cars, wings, or had the Turbine or the Nova? I say if you want to strap a guy onto a jet engine and roller skates - go for it! If you can make the turns and last 500 miles, you win!

    That's what I think of for the 500. Speed and Endurance and balancing the two on top of Safety to be the best. yes, make the change and bring on the innovation.
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  • IRL is the problem
    ChiefMay 26, 2010 3:59 PM
    The IRL itself IS the root problem. Unload it and Bob Jenkins and Jack Arute and then you'd have the makings of restitution. Yep, open them rules so old cars can race with stock blocks etc. That will get r done.

    In essence, rewind 15 years and start it all over again. Can you imagine a 209ci rule back again or stock block rules when the engine might eclipse for practice and qualifying the mighty Honda spec engine? That would be exciting.
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  • Money and Team Size
    FredSMay 26, 2010 5:22 PM
    I attended my first Indy in 1963 and saw an additonal 13 in person. When I could not get to Indy in May, I watched it on TV or listened on the radio until about 1990 when I lost interest. In my early years the drivers and cars were the show. I saw Jim Clark com as a part of the Lotus invasion but I also sat with Smokey Unick in his garage while he and AJ discussed how to get additional hp out of his chevy block. Turbines, Offenhausers, Turbine, Chevy, Lotus,front engine, rear engine, all were racing against each other. Penske was just beginning to build an empire but most enteries were just a bunch of guys who got together and built a car for Indy. Open the rule book, reduce the purse, limit teams to no more than two cars, and perhaps provide some additional compensation for single car teams and I believe you will regenerate fan interest.
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  1. liek the rest of America

  2. These quaint,obsessed musings by the stalkers are certainly entertaining, but I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, all the yelping below has to do with Zak Brown.

  3. It's evident that Moffett was pushing the right buttons and corporate America is now trying to squash him. He just wanted to withdraw the free pilot services provided to the company by the pilots to try and put some pressure on a company that has not been interested in negotiating a contract in over 5 years. The company does not provide a contract because not having one has saved them a bundle of money. Shame on any Republic pilots not standing behind their union leader just because things are getting tough, can you not see such strategic moves by the company as putting the last union president in a corporate position and into THEIR pocket. Do you really believe the last union president is so appalled at the attempts by Moffett, do you not remember his oppositions to the company? We stood behind him. It has been proven over and over again for thousands of years without fail, a man cannot serve two masters. Anyone that believes people vote contrary to their paycheck and livelihood deserve to be taken advantage of, the recent statements by the former union president are laughable as he denounces the current union president from his new corporate position. Have you ever seen a drafted sports player score points for his previous team, it cannot be done, he is not on the pilots side anymore, he gets his money a different way now than you and I do, and he should not be allowed to remain on the seniority list. A drafted player brings strength, credibility, tactical knowledge, and a strategic advantage to his NEW team, he would not be drafted or paid were it otherwise. We are all forced to choose only one side to play for and support, not doing so has many references in life such as insider trading and shaving points, all illegal for good reason. This basic fact is why corporate moguls, scientist, and engineers all sign non-discloser agreements and non-compete clauses, as protection in case they are lured into switching sides as our former union president has done. No NFL coach ever drafted a player so that both teams could benefit and better understand each other, they are recruited to win the game against that former team, period. Likewise the company does not recruit the former union president by accident or mutual understanding, its strategy. Don't confuse playing the game with good sportsman-like conduct in support of common business and prosperity goals, with the requirement to only play for one side. Good men we all love and favor fall subject to this manipulation, often without their knowledge, and it is not a betrayal of their friendship to oppose them when they switch sides. If we did not love and trust them, they would not have been chosen and lured to the other side in the first place. The deception by the drafted player is not made at a conscious level, it's just human nature and it's all about money and power which corrupts our ability to be objective and loyal to two masters. This is why our court system created the defense attorney, and why our military created counter intelligence. Its strategy and its propaganda, and it works, and that's why the "powers to be" manipulate the chess pieces by sometimes changing their colors. Some players know they are being manipulated when their color is changed, but it brings them more money and power so they do not care. The rest have good intentions but do not even realize they are being manipulated. This tactic is also known by another name, Divide and Conquer. In battle sending an imperfect message with an imperfect team is obviously not ideal, but it's still being sent by YOUR team, your union leader, a leader that has common goals and common rewards with you, they are the best, because we have elected them to do a job for us. If you are not backing Moffett but believing the spin by those that have recently switched sides, you are taking food out of your own mouth. Showing unity and backing an imperfect situation still results in taking just as much ground, it's about unity and bargaining power. It's not necessary to wait around for that perfect attack because it will never come, the company will spin and attempt to destroy anyone that gets in their way. Ultimately it's not about any specific attack anyway, ASAP or whatever it makes no difference, it is and always has been only about power. If this company cared about safety it would not build pairings with 8 hour overnights, come on, are you that naive? Besides, do you really think Hoffa cares, no, he got a call from corporate America and was squeezed into denouncing Moffett. If he didn't they would spin the safety card against him and the Teamsters National with implication for truckers, future contracts, insurance rates etc...saying something like the Teamsters use safety as a bargaining chip, blah blah blah... Do you really think any pilot is going to do something unsafe for the contract, absolutely not, the only ones threatening safety here is the company with reduced rest, fatigue, and poverty. Do you not find it odd that Hoffa and the Teamsters are opposing a Teamster president publicly? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and work with one of their own? Why did they not sit down and help him strategize, correct any mistakes, and charge ahead? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and leverage a contract for all those pilots that have been paying Teamster dues, isn't that why we have all been paying Teamster dues in the first place? I sure haven't been paying dues so that the Teamsters National could come along and write this kind of an article undercutting our union leader and our unity. Whose side is the Teamsters National really on, it's obviously not the Republic pilots side.

  4. No matter what Moffatt does the company is going to spin it like he is the terrorist and brainwash people like you into believing it, wake up, back your players that are trying to change things for you and your livelihood. Where has Hoffa been for the last 6 years, except collecting our dues. Seriously, do you really think an FO going for upgrade, signed off by a checkairman ready for the upgrade, who then fails, is not even capable of returning as a First Officer.

  5. whoa!

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