Cleveland Considering Combo Oval/Road Race Event

[bblocker68]

Suprised this hasn't been brought up. Forgive me if it's on the boards already!

I think this would be epic!! I loooooooooove Cleveland. It's my favorite rodie!!

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-miller-says-cleveland-considering-combo-oval-road-course-event/


INDYCAR: Cleveland Considering Combo Oval/Road Race Event
Written by: Robin Miller
05/17/2009 - 08:59 PM
Indianapolis, IN

How about an IndyCar doubleheader on an oval and a road course -- on the same weekend at the SAME TRACK?

That's an idea currently being kicked around between promoter/car owner Mike Lanigan, IndyCar's John Lewis and the folks at Cleveland's Burke Lafefront Airport.
It's been run at night, during the day, and now, possibly, both night and day in the same weekend, says Robin Miller. Brilliant. (LAT) » More Photos

Lewis. the vice president of marketing and league development, was looking at putting Cleveland on the 2010 schedule as an oval instead of its traditional road course configuration. Lanigan wanted to stay with the old airport circuit that produced great racing in CART for three decades and Lewis is trying to wean the IRL off all the cookie-cutter 1.5-mile ovals.

So John Griffin, vice president of public relations for IndyCar, tossed in an idea: why not run the oval on Friday night, come back Saturday on the road course with an Indy Lights show, IndyCar qualifying and a fireworks show. Then have a road race on Sunday afternoon.
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"I'm all for it, I think it's a great idea," said Lanigan, who promoted the Champ Car races at Cleveland in 2006 and 2007 and who co-owns the cars of Graham Rahal and Robert Doornbos with Carl Haas. "There's never been anything like it to my knowledge.

"There a lots of things to be addressed but we're taking a serious look at it."

Lewis has discussed a possible doubleheader with Honda, Tony George and Cleveland's Chuck Kosich.

"We think it's a good idea and we're all approaching the project with an open mind," said Lewis. "There are some challenges, would we have enough cars, engines, finding a date, how does it work with television.

"We all think it would be a cool event for the fans."

Cleveland, which hosted CART from 1982-2007, hasn't hosted a race the past two years but has received lots of support from fans to return.

[SarahFan]

I expect Cleveland to be on the 2010 schedule.... but only as a road/airport coarse

[nigelred5]

What next, heat racing, the A main and a last chance qualifyer?

Not that I think that's necessarily a bad thing, but more in tune with a change NASCAR needs to make, not the IRL.

[garyshell]

While I doubt it will ever happen, I think it is a GREAT "thinking out of the box" idea. It shows someone somewhere is actually trying to dream up ways to get Indycar racing back in to the heads of more racing fans across the US. Think of the PR this would generate.

Like I said I doubt it will happen, but I sure as hell wish it would!

Gary

[NickFalzone]

I watched the NASCAR All-star race on Sat night. While there's a lot of things NASCAR does wrong, there's more things (more important things) that it gets right. IndyCar to me feels stuck in the past and is not making enough of an effort to offer what the modern day American sports fan is looking for. The energy at something fun and competitive like the All-Star race is what's missing entirely from IndyCar. And it's not a lack of money, because it's not money that can bring this sort of energy, it's just simply creativity from those in control. I feel that upper management is content for things to stay status quo. Only when they are pushed by severe financial issues do they try thinking out of the box. I think the Versus production has been a step in the right direction, but much more needs to change IMO.

[Chris R]

While I doubt it will ever happen, I think it is a GREAT "thinking out of the box" idea. It shows someone somewhere is actually trying to dream up ways to get Indycar racing back in to the heads of more racing fans across the US. Think of the PR this would generate.

Like I said I doubt it will happen, but I sure as hell wish it would!

Gary

Well said - I think this is potentially a great idea - however it is potentially a disaster as well....

[SUBARUTEAM]

I say do it!!! if it is possible, lets do it. Indycar needs to do things to make it a unique product. This idea has all the boxes ticked!!

Now, please excuse my ignorance but how would they make an airport into an oval? I guess it would obviously be a wide open flat oval with really long straights and reasonable tright turns that would require heavy breaking - therefore lots of passing opportunities??? sounds good to me.

[call_me_andrew]

I imagine it would look something like this.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m315/mustang6172/cleoval.jpg

[jimispeed]

It's definitely a unique idea. A road course oval??

I say do it!! But , not if it means taking away the airport road course at Cleveland.

Qualifying for the oval in Friday day. Oval race on Saturday day.

Qualifying for the Airport road course on Saturday night. Airport road course race on Sunday night.

[Chamoo]

It's definitely a unique idea. A road course oval??

I say do it!! But , not if it means taking away the airport road course at Cleveland.

Qualifying for the oval in Friday day. Oval race on Saturday day.

Qualifying for the Airport road course on Saturday night. Airport road course race on Sunday night.

I think if you can light up the track, you run that oval on friday night. This gives us plenty of chance to crack a timeslot Nascar doesn't run. You know that if we run an oval on a saturday afternoon, so will Nationwide series, just to compete with us. So let's try to run it on a friday night, then hold practice and qualifying saturday for the roadcourse.

[bblocker68]

I think if you can light up the track, you run that oval on friday night. This gives us plenty of chance to crack a timeslot Nascar doesn't run. You know that if we run an oval on a saturday afternoon, so will Nationwide series, just to compete with us. So let's try to run it on a friday night, then hold practice and qualifying saturday for the roadcourse.

They've lit the track with Musco Lighting before, so they can do it again. If they do the oval configuration from above, I'll get flashbacks of Greg Moore passing Zanardi around the outside at the Rio Roval. It's not the same, but it's nice to see an oval with a twist.

Good times!!

[SarahFan]

They've lit the track with Musco Lighting before, so they can do it again. If they do the oval configuration from above, I'll get flashbacks of Greg Moore passing Zanardi around the outside at the Rio Roval. It's not the same, but it's nice to see an oval with a twist.

Good times!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGX-mdm6ZD4

[SarahFan]

the comment from 7 months ago (below the video)about a race in Brazil is interesting....


then theres the point about 4 minutes in when Sullivan references the final braking point .....turn 4

[PA Rick]

It would be a blast to invite local short track asphalt teams to put on a show. Lighting might be expensive but the local interest would be worth it. The normal three day weekend could be expanded to add a Thursday night late model and modified card. You could make about a one mile flat oval by running the original start/finish line (reverse flow left to right), turn left at the original turn four (the barriers would be left off until Friday), back to turn three (oval turn two), the back straight and the gradual turn two (oval turn three) , and the oval turn four would be the road course turn one, the 120 degree left hander. wow!
Thursday night would allow teams who run friday/saturday/sunday to participate. I'd bring the family and friends for the whole weekend.
Does anyone know what a typical purse would be for the late models or modified? I'm guessing 20K would attract a good turnout and could be mostly recovered with sponsorship.
Maybe I need a new project........

[champcarray]

The ideas being bounced around have a lot of merit from a fan perspective. My fingers are crossed.

[garyshell]

Is the airport still in full operation as it was the last time there was a race there? What hours was the airport shut down in the past? These may all be factors in how many hours of operation racing might be able to garner from the airport for these proposals.

Gary

[dataman1]

Gary,

If my memory serves well, jimispeed jump in here if I am wrong, the airport closed around 4 - 6 PM on Thursday evening and reopened around 6 PM on Sunday when CART ran races on Sunday afternoons.

Don't know how much it is used today.

[jimispeed]

Gary,

If my memory serves well, jimispeed jump in here if I am wrong, the airport closed around 4 - 6 PM on Thursday evening and reopened around 6 PM on Sunday when CART ran races on Sunday afternoons.

Don't know how much it is used today.


You may be right. I don't recall.

I think the airport road course, or airport oval would be nice to run on a Sunday night!

[PA Rick]

You may be right. I don't recall.

I think the airport road course, or airport oval would be nice to run on a Sunday night!

The only time they ran at night was a Saturday when July 4th fell on a Sunday. It was neat watching the brake rotors glow as they came in to the pits. They had the race and fireworks afterward and I had time to make the 4th of July picnic back in Pennsylvania.

A sunday night in my opinion would not work because most people would need Monday off if they were more than a few hours fromk home.

I think it cost mucho bucks for all of the lights. At that time it was the largest temporarily lit event ever.

[SUBARUTEAM]

The only time they ran at night was a Saturday when July 4th fell on a Sunday. It was neat watching the brake rotors glow as they came in to the pits. They had the race and fireworks afterward and I had time to make the 4th of July picnic back in Pennsylvania.

A sunday night in my opinion would not work because most people would need Monday off if they were more than a few hours fromk home.

I think it cost mucho bucks for all of the lights. At that time it was the largest temporarily lit event ever.


The other thing that i would suggest is that all the cars should run the same setup for both the oval and road course. the cars could even be locked up over night so that the teams can't change the setup. This would stop the big budget teams from turning up with two different cars that have been set up for the oval or the roadcourse.

actually, i not sure if the setup would be that different between the two would it???

[SUBARUTEAM]

I imagine it would look something like this.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m315/mustang6172/cleoval.jpg

thanks for the pic.

i imagined that the track would us two 90 degree exits from the main runway, so the track may be moved to the right (as we look at the photo). that last left hander looks way to tight for my thinking.

[Chamoo]

actually, i not sure if the setup would be that different between the two would it???

I don't know if it would be safe to have one car with the same setup on it for both.

[SUBARUTEAM]

It would also be interesting on how the pit stops would be run. That configuration would require a 90 degree right turn, after slowing on a straight, then a 90 degree left to enter the pits. And exactly the reverse re entering the track. The re entry would be done onto the middle of a flat out straight from the 90 degree right -- very interesting merge issues. All this assumes the pits are in their usual position. Should the pits be moved elsewhere, then where would they be for the road course? If you move the pits and you could open up the "oval" by using the runway which used to be part of the track and the pits.

if they use the 90 degree exits, it will be hard on brakes. it will require real driver skill to not flat spot the tyres.

[call_me_andrew]

I don't think pitting would be that difficult. If we're running that configuration counter-clockwise, we can put the pit enterance at the 45-degree left (normally turn 1 on the road course) and pit exit at road course turn 8, which will be oval turn 1.

[SarahFan]

Correct. But you do realize how far it would be from pit in to pit out?

it would be the same for everybody.... i say 1/2 the size of the tank so they would need 5 or 6 pitstops and the oval thing might just be interesting... instead of a sideshow...which is exactly what it will end up being

[call_me_andrew]

Correct. But you do realize how far it would be from pit in to pit out?

About 4,000 feet. But that's not so bad considering we don't need to keep the cars at pit road speed for the entire distance.