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IRL Notes: Engine manufacturers’ summit today; Kanaan stays with AGR

Will round table talks help gain another manufacturer?

We’ve known this day has been coming, but now that it’s here, we also finally know which engine manufacturers will be chatting with the IRL today in a meeting at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

According to Robin Miller of SPEED Channel, we know that former engine supplier General Motors, current supplier Honda, builders Ilmor and Cosworth, and plenty of newcomers (Audi, BMW, Mazda) are expected to be represented in this function — which may serve as the first step toward getting Honda some competition in future IndyCar Series seasons.

I’m hoping this is also the first step in a sea change of rules for the IRL. If a manufacturer enters into the League at its current state, Honda would wipe the floor with them and probably continue to do so even if the newcomer figures out what works at each track. Not only that, manufacturers and sponsors want bang for their buck and they want to see a return on their investment sooner rather than later.

That’s why we need to see multiple manufacturers; I’m not sure if the IRL should go the “free-for-all” route that Anne Proffit from PaddockTalk seems to espouse in terms of engine formulas/sizes/etc (mainly because I’m not a gearhead), but we both agree on the theory that the league is stronger with more than one engine supplier. Again, turbo-charged or normally aspirated formulas mean nothing to me save for aesthetics.

It also strengthens the league as a whole on the marketing side as well. With several brands of power, the IRL can play into the NASCAR mentality.

Even though all the cars are the same now, NASCAR’s four brands (Chevy, Ford, Dodge, and Toyota) still carry their own loyal groups of fans. Don’t bother trying to tell them otherwise. They’ve subscribed to being part of a “tribe.” Why can’t the IRL make their own “tribes”? I’d love to see Chevrolet and BMW fans razz each other at the track (“Eurotrash wannabes!” “Dirt-poor townies!”). Rivalries = goodness.

The press will be closed off from this meeting, so unless I can find a man on the inside in the next couple of hours, all of us bloggers and newspapermen will have to wait a while for some news to come forth. We hope for the best — I like Honda, but they could use a rival.

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Kanaan ain’t going nowhere

Expected to be the top contender for the IndyCar Series championship, Tony Kanaan has instead gone off the pace of points leader Scott Dixon.

His crash at Iowa in the final 50 laps didn’t drop him from fourth, but now he’s 100 points back of Dixon. The Brazilian driver is winless so far this season and he’s had some calamities befall him while leading races as well (see Homestead and the Indy 500).

With AGR no longer looking like their old, happy-go-lucky selves, some — like ESPN.com’s John Oreovicz — wondered if their team leader was going to leave for another IndyCar team or maybe head to NASCAR. Rumors of the latter were fueled when he was spotted hanging out with old teammate and current stock car neophyte Dario Franchitti at the Sprint Cup race in Michigan earlier this month.

But no worries for fans of TK — he’s told Autoweek that he’s currently trying to nail down another three-year contract with AGR. And despite his dust-ups this year with teammate Marco Andretti, he’s still trying to make it work, telling the motorsports magazine:

“We do have our problems, but we work together 24/7. We race together…It’s not [always good with teammates], but you don’t just break up because of it.”

It also goes on to say that Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon (who once had a major league hankering for a NASCAR ride) are also negotiating multi-year deals to stay with their respective IndyCar teams.

All of this is great news for IndyCar fans and officials, who now appear on their way to having a long-sought-after core nucleus of drivers for their series’ future.

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IRL looks to ditch yellow-flag finishes

Looks like Jeff Olson’s pleadings for “proper” finishes are going to go unheeded. According to Curt Cavin of The Indianapolis Star, the IRL is looking to find a way to ensure green-flag conclusions of its races.

However, the NASCAR “green-white-checkered” finish format is not being considered. What’s more, their plans depend on getting ESPN to broadcast the entire IRL event instead of throwing the closing laps to another one of their networks in favor of scheduled shows. Better break out the checkbook, Mr. George.

Personally, I don’t want to see any contrivances in the matter of how a race ends. But the “green-white-checker” format has created a belief that all races should — must — end under the green. It’s a rather strange theory to push forth and quite frankly, it’s disconcerting to see some fans get petulant (not just annoyed) over seeing the caution flag at the finish. Yes, they suck. But guess what. This stuff happens.

But I also know that as a business, you give the people what they want. I feel inclined to remember some of Olson’s words back in 2006, which you can find in this article I posted after Sam Hornish and Tony Kanaan’s pit road throwdown at Watkins Glen last year.

Sad to say, but in a sports world where we demand instant gratification, yellow-flag finishes are now considered a “complicated product.” Blame NASCAR for that, blame the never-ending news cycle, blame whatever. It’s just the way it is. Fans want a fight to the finish. Is it the IRL’s obligation to give them one? No. But that may not matter anymore.

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All quotes have been attributed to their proper writers/organizations. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 9:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.