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[h=2]MILLER: IndyCar's desert debacle[/h] Monday, 01 May 2017


By Robin Miller / Images by LAT's Phillip Abbott, Scott Lepage

If the IndyCar paddock could send a message to the few thousand souls who showed up at Phoenix International Raceway or the people trying to watch Saturday night's race on NBCSN, it would be brief and heartfelt:


We're sorry.


"They should refund everyone's money," one prominent driver said afterward.
Because the first oval-track show of 2017 was a 250-lap dud – 90 minutes of running in place where the leader couldn't lap last place because they were both running the same speed.
The only lead changes came on pit stops, and other than Josef Newgarden early and J.R. Hildebrand late, passing was passé. And an untimely caution removed any chance of drama, scrambled the front-runners and gave Simon Pagenaud a stress-free run to the checkered flag.
But the real downer is that it probably didn't have to be a snoozer.


Following IndyCar's return in 2016 after an 11-year absence, it was obvious something needed to be done about the aero package for this legendary, one-mile track that was built for Indy cars in 1964.
Last year's race was a carbon copy of what transpired on Saturday night so IndyCar staged a test last October to come up with a possible solution.

And Ryan Hunter-Reay felt like it was a success. "We tested different downforce configurations while running together and we found a solution," the 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner said.


The eye of the storm, according to the drivers and teams, was the undertray on the Dallara DW-12. Running one without a hole in it allowed the cars to get closer and make passing possible. (And the hole in the under tray is to keep the cars on the ground if they spin and go backward on a superspeedway).


Hunter-Reay lobbied hard for IndyCar to change, but because all of the teams would have had to spend money to fill in the hole, it was decided to stay status quo until the new aero kits in 2018.
After last February's open test at PIR, most of the veteran drivers correctly predicted that Saturday night's Desert Diamond Grand Prix of Phoenix would be a stinker without making that change.
"It doesn't make any sense to come back and put on the same show," said Hunter-Reay.
To be fair, car owners are always bitching about spending extra money with sponsorship dollars hard to secure, so maybe there wasn't a real push to make a change (except by the drivers).
But, looking at the big picture, it could be the death knell to a destination that IndyCar needs to succeed.

There were less people in attendance this year, and the ones who came were put off by 22 laps of caution (why not throw the red flag?) following a first-lap five-car pileup and then by the drudgery of watching cars run in place.
Rookie Ed Jones is good racer doing a damn good job for Dale Coyne, but in his first-ever oval race he managed to keep Dixon, Tony Kanaan and three-fourths of the Team Penske armada behind him for 20 laps.
The magic of a mile oval is traffic and how the leaders deal with it. But that was non-existent again on Saturday night and Firestone's tires seemed to be too good to create any separation.
There is one year left on the Phoenix contract. PIR's Bryan Sperber has embraced IndyCar like few ISC tracks ever have and his relationship with IndyCar's Jay Frye is a big reason why IndyCar is back in the desert where it belongs.
Talk of trying to run Long Beach and Phoenix back-to-back like the old days or possibly even make PIR the season finale is all good. And there's little doubt that next year's aero package will make the racing much better.
But the worry is, how do you get anybody who paid for Saturday night's abysmal show to come back in 2018?
"I think the fans deserve a better show than we gave them," said Tony Kanaan. "I hope they give us another chance."

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'I wanted to embrace the ovals' - Pagenaud

Sunday, 30 April 2017


By RACER staff / Images by Phil Abbott, LAT Simon Pagenaud did a lot of winning en route to last year's Verizon IndyCar Series title, but a couple of key goals remained on his agenda – with a victory on an oval track prime among them. At Saturday night's Phoenix Grand Prix, the Frenchman crossed that one off the list.

"I was very emotional at the end of the race, because I've been running after this – the desire to be good on ovals for me was really strong," Pagenaud said. "I wanted to come to America and I wanted to embrace the sport, embrace the ovals, and show that I could do the job. Obviously, it took a few years."
Pagenaud admitted that the declining frequency of oval events on the IndyCar calendar made his acclimation to them that much more of a challenge: "Unfortunately, we don't race on ovals that much. We only race I believe like five ovals a year. When you don't have any background on oval racing, not even Indy Lights, it was difficult to learn the job and learn what it took to win a race on an oval.
"So understanding the strategy, understanding placement of the car with the turbulences compared to the guy in front of you, is very difficult to understand. The biggest thing I think is to understand what the car needs to be like to be good throughout the race, give you the confidence to attack and be good in traffic."
While acknowledging that the timing of the caution flag that put him in front of teammate Will Power to stay had been a key advantage, Pagenaud reckoned he'd had the car to beat anyway.
"I think today we had a phenomenal racecar, the best out there by far," he said. "The Penske cars I think were the best all weekend, but I think my car, the Menards car, was definitely a step above everybody else. I saw it very early in the race."
"We were able to save fuel being behind Will, behind Helio [Castroneves]. That helped us to stretch our window. We were a little lucky with the yellow that came out, but that's because we were able to stretch it, and it worked for us.
"My car was very good out of [Turn] Four; I was able to keep a very tight line. Obviously, as you saw, we decided to go with a very low downforce configuration to try to pass people. Despite being low on downforce, we were still able to follow really close in traffic. That's how we were able to make some ground.
"A lot of the backmarkers were very cautious today, which helped as well. Overall, the car was just phenomenal all night long. We kept with it as the track changed as well. I think the last restart also, having so many cars between me and Will, helped. With pace, I was just saving the tires at the end."
Pagenaud reiterated that becoming an oval winner was central to his ambitions to be seen as an all-around IndyCar ace.
"Yes, that's my goal, is to be as complete as possible. I also look up to Dario Franchitti, I think was one of the most complete guys. Helio as well. Dario has been a model for me for a long time. Obviously, my mentor Gil de Ferran. I can't wait to see the text I'm going to get on my phone! I'm sure he'll be very proud.
"We talked about Phoenix last week together. It's been a great relationship. He's been helping me to understand this whole deal. Whether you're on speedway or short oval, it's very different. I won a championship without winning on an oval. Now if I can win on oval, it's going to make life different. That's very important to me."