While talking with Newman/Haas's Brian Lisles about spec cars for the last column, we also got to discussing the thorny conundrum of what the right formula might be for succesful Indy or Champ car oval racing.
The loss of the proper formula - which CART enjoyed for many years through the late nineties - is one of the greatest failures of the CART/IRL war, and is one of the factors in the decline of the Indy 500 and Indycar racing on ovals in general.
The horsepower and aerodynamic restrictions on today's Champ and IRL cars mean they run around in packs on ovals at the bottom of the track with the drivers' right foot planted firmly, pedal to the metal. The drivers don't much like it and, to my mind, it's nothing like as spectacular as ten and twenty years ago when the drivers had to get out of the throttle for the corners and, sometimes, use the brakes as well. There were substantial and exciting differences in performance, making for breathtaking passing and racing.
The outside pass and the ability to work through traffic, sometimes at prodigious rates, like we've seen in the past from guys like Rick Mears,
Mario Andretti, Tom Sneva, Al Unser Jr and Michael Andretti are almost lost arts, as well as lost spectacles, to the fan. Now, the inside line is the fastest and shortest line. The name of the game is to protect the inside line at all costs and to force your competitor high, where it's all but impossible to inch by.
"It's just so easy flat-out," says Paul Tracy, "There's no driving talent at all. It has nothing to do with it. It's about engineering, aerodynamics and reducing the friction.
It's got nothing to do with driving."
On this rare point,
Sebastien Bourdais agrees completely with Tracy.
"You need less downforce so you have to drive the car," the Frenchman commented, "You need something like a thousand pounds less downforce than we ran at Las Vegas last year. Then you would really have to drive it. Sure, it would go a little faster on the straights, but you would have to go slower in the corners. So it would just balance itself and at least you would be driving it. When it's flat, you have to take big chances to make anything happen. It's just about how stupid you're willing to be. You need to lift for the corners. That's the way all racing is supposed to be."
