IndyCar Series Feels Good About Itself

By SHAV GLICK

Feb. 28, 2003 12 AM PT

The Indy Racing League will start its eighth season Sunday with the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, but open-wheel racing fans could be forgiven if they unconsciously refer to the series as CART. The official name is IndyCar Series, new this season.

Eight of the 19 non-rookie entries were in CART two years ago and two of the three engine manufacturers -- Toyota and Honda -- were in CART last year.

General Motors, first with Oldsmobile, then with Chevrolet, dominated the IRL’s first seven seasons by supplying 90% of the engines but will have only six of 22 Sunday, the Japanese engine manufacturers having invaded the series with impact.

Sam Hornish Jr., a surprising two-time defending champion from Defiance, Ohio, and his Panther Racing team have stood pat with their Chevrolet-powered Dallara against the newcomers. Also sticking with Chevrolet are the Lazier brothers, Buddy with Hemelgarn Racing and Jacques with Team Menard.

“To go for three in a row will be no different than what we faced at this time last year,” said Hornish, 23. “It will be tough again, especially with four or five more drivers coming over from CART.”

Sarah Fisher, voted the IRL’s most popular driver, and her teammate, Robbie Buhl, are also back with Chevrolet power. During the off-season, Fisher was honored as motor racing’s “Discovery of the Year” at the Festival D’Automobile in Paris.

Michael Andretti, a former CART champion and the winningest open-wheel driver still competing, heads a Honda group that includes not only his teammates, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan, but also former Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack of Team Rahal.

The race will mark Andretti’s debut as a team owner as well as driver.

“After all the work that we have done over the past few months, I’m glad to see that it’s just around the corner,” said Andretti, who formed Andretti Green Racing in partnership with Kim Green and Kevin Savoree last December. “Everyone has worked so hard to this point and now we get the chance to see how well we’ve done our jobs. It’s my first one as a team owner and I would really like to see one of our cars in victory lane.”

Toyota’s entry into the IRL prompted Roger Penske, the most powerful team owner in racing, to make his fourth engine switch in seven seasons. He dropped Mercedes for Honda in 1998, then in 2001 he moved to Chevrolet when he took his team from CART to the IRL, but when Toyota announced it was going to the IRL this season, Penske was one of the first in line.

Gil de Ferran, who won the CART championship in 2000 and 2001, and Helio Castroneves, winner of the Indianapolis 500 the last two years, are back as Penske’s drivers.

Two other prominent teams, Kelley Racing and Target Chip Ganassi, also moved to Toyota. Al Unser Jr. and Scott Sharp drive for Kelley, Scott Dixon and Tomas Scheckter for Ganassi.

“The competition level this season is going to be so close,” said Sharp, co-champion in IRL’s first season.

“The cars are all comparable, so it will be splitting hairs to find an advantage.”

A.J. Foyt also followed the trend, signing with Toyota to power his two cars, driven by Shigeaki Hattori and A.J. IV, Foyt’s grandson and winner of the inaugural IRL Infiniti Pro Series last year. Foyt, American Roger Yasukawa of West Hollywood and Scott Mayer of Franklin, Wis., are the only rookies.

In reality, every engine and every chassis is new.

Honda and Toyota, which produced turbocharged engines while with CART, have developed normally aspirated V-8 power plants for the IRL. Both manufacturing facilities are in Southern California, Honda Performance Development in Santa Clarita, and Toyota Racing Development in Costa Mesa.

GM, which won seven manufacturer’s titles in a row with the IRL, has produced a narrower, shorter and lighter 3.5 liter Chevy engine for this year.

“We have had a great relationship with GM and we don’t want to change that,” said John Barnes, co-owner of Panther Racing. “It’s going to be interesting. It will be the first time GM will be racing head to head against either Honda or Toyota.”

New chassis regulations required Dallara and Panoz G Force to create new designs, most changes in the areas of safety. The third chassis builder, Falcon, has no entries in the season opener.

The Toyota Indy 300, first of a 16-race schedule, will be 200 laps around a 1.5-mile oval.

The entries, by car number: 2. J. Lazier; 3. Castroneves; 4. Hornish; 5. Hattori; 6. De Ferran; 7. Andretti; 8. Sharp; 9. Dixon; 10. Scheckter; 11. Kanaan; 12. Tora Takagi; 14. Foyt; 15. Brack;, 18. Mayer; 21. Felipe Giaffone; 23. Fisher; 24. Buhl; 27. Franchitti; 31. Unser ; 52. Buddy Rice; 55. Yasukawa; 91. B. Lazier.

Prominent among the missing are Eddie Cheever, an IRL pioneer; Jeff Ward, a winner last year at Texas; Greg Ray, 1999 IRL champion; Billy Boat, Curb-Agajanian’s driver; and Alex Barron, a winner last year at Nashville and fourth-place finisher in the Indy 500.

“It is with a great deal of pride that I can state that never before in the history of American racing have we had an open-wheel, oval series with celebrated drivers, the established owners, the significant committed players from the auto industry and all the groundwork ... that the IndyCar series will have in 2003,” IRL President Tony George said.

“When the league had its first race in January 1996, it was the realization of a vision to create a series where competition is close, costs are controlled, the same quality of equipment is available to all and where teams and sponsors can afford to compete.

“Eight years later, we are realizing that dream.”

Sprint Cars

Perris Auto Speedway will run an intriguing sprint car doubleheader Saturday night, featuring Sprint Car Racing Assn. and Ventura Racing Assn. cars. The SCRA uses 410-cubic inch engines, the VRA uses 360-cubic inch power plants.

Several drivers will do double duty, including Steve Ostling, 40, winner of the 2002 Jack Kindoll Classic; Josh Ford, 20, winner of the VRA season opener on Feb. 8, and Jimmy Crawford, 34, defending VRA champion.

Also racing on the half-mile dirt oval will be SCRA champion Richard “Gas Man” Griffin, former Oval Nationals champions Tony Jones and Rickie Gaunt, 2001 SCRA champion Cory Kruseman, and current points leader Troy Rutherford.

Qualifying will start at 4 p.m.

Not a Good Idea

Bill Shulman, in the Sporting News, questions the practice of many Winston Cup drivers dropping down into Busch Grand National races to cherry-pick a win or two during the season.

“I don’t see Barry Bonds playing Class AAA ball,” Shulman wrote.

Last Laps

World of Outlaws driver Tyler Walker, 23, of Santa Clarita, will drive a U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown car this year for Roger Johnson. The Silver Crown season opens March 23 at Phoenix.... Lloyd Mack, of Chino, whose brother George drove last year in the IRL, will make his IRL Infiniti Pro Series debut Sunday at Homestead-Miami. Like his brother, Lloyd’s background is in karting.

The 44th annual March Meet will open the Goodguys Rod & Custom Assn. vintage drag racing season March 7-9 at the legendary Famoso Raceway, north of Bakersfield.

This Week

NASCAR WINSTON CUP UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400

When: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, 3 p.m.); Sunday, race (Channel 11, 11:30 a.m.).

Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (tri-oval 1.5 miles, 12 degrees banking in turns).

Race distance: 400 miles, 267 laps.

2002 winner: Sterling Marlin.

Next race: Atlanta 500, March 9, Hampton, Ga.

BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL

Sam’s Town 300

When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, 1:30 p.m.); Saturday, race (FX, 1 p.m.).

Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.