How is it possible?

[tillyvick14]

After at least 5 years of running the dallara chassis at Indy for Penske and 7+ years for Andretti how is it possible for them to struggle so much? Shouldn't the set ups, etc. be exactly the same as in prior years? I can't understand why they would roll of the truck so far behind the competition this year.

The one silver lining is that hopefully the owners of these two teams will see the benefit in having aero kits available next year. I bet both of them would have loved to be able to switch to a secondary aero kit to at least have another option to try this year. The owners need to wake up and understand that the fans are sick and tired of spec racing, stop being spoiled, and learn to truly compete once more.

[nigelred5]

small guys starting up front. hmmmmmmmmm. in the 100th anniversary race.......confuscious say,,,, some ting smell rotten" ... ;)


They both certainly have plenty of data, but IMS changes fairly dramatically with weather changes, and neither team is what I would call chock full of oval aces outside of Helio, who is not exactly having a good year. Maybe neither are getting that friendly bump from Honda in the engine room these days. I also won't underestimate the significant decrease in both team's budgets in the past two seasons.

[Anubis]

Is there a possibility that smaller teams with less setup data actually benefited from the variable conditions? If you have reams of data for every possible weather condition, you're going to spend way more time chasing things to the point where you end up with "paralysis through analysis", whereas if you have less data, you just have to find the best compromise and roll with it. If you have less data, you almost have less opportunity to screw up, as you have fewer things to get wrong in the first place. If the bigger teams don't hit that killer setup, your average one just might work out better.

[Marbles]

Ganassi was right there except for the fuel screw up in the final. Helio is having a bad year and Briscoe had a big shunt that morning. Tagliani had a handle on Indy last year as well. If your pursuing the conspiracy theory I'd have to look at Foyt's team being uncharacteristically dialed in.

[chuck34]

Andretti struggled last year. Helio's off his game. Briscoe had a big wreck, probably shook his confidence a bit, as well as destroying his "special" car (nothing sinister, they all have specially prepared cars). Nothing to see here really. Just the way the thing played out.

[Wilf]

After at least 5 years of running the dallara chassis at Indy for Penske and 7+ years for Andretti how is it possible for them to struggle so much? Shouldn't the set ups, etc. be exactly the same as in prior years? I can't understand why they would roll of the truck so far behind the competition this year.

The one silver lining is that hopefully the owners of these two teams will see the benefit in having aero kits available next year. I bet both of them would have loved to be able to switch to a secondary aero kit to at least have another option to try this year. The owners need to wake up and understand that the fans are sick and tired of spec racing, stop being spoiled, and learn to truly compete once more.

Andretti Autosport didn't have it together last year and this year is a continuation of last year's struggles. The weather prevented them from having the time to stumble onto the setup this year. The weather played a part in Helio's qualifying. He went out with a conservative set up with the idea of getting one on the books and then would do a flier later after some adjustments. The rain prohibited another run.

Allen McDonald is the reason that Alex Tagliani, Townsed Bell and Dan Wheldon are three of the first six. He is one great engineer. Having four Indy 500 Champions in the first three rows is pretty impressive.

Have another aero kit available wouldn't necessarily have helped Penske or Andretti. You can be sure that when it is learned that one kit has an advantage over the others, there will be an exodus to that kit and they are back where they started, having to compete against similarly equipped cars.

It will be interesting to see if the Sam Schmidt pit crews can perform throughout the race the way the Penske and Ganassi crews can. Buddy Rice, starting on the inside of the third row could be the bust out driver to let John Barnes and the Panther team finally taste the milk following three straight bride's maid finishes in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The third row is the best of the eleven with two champions and one oval specialist who can be quick when given good equipment.

It has an excellent chance to the one of if not the best ever.

[tillyvick14]

Luckily the current proposed rules will prevent everyone from flooding to one aero kit should it be more successful than the others unless it is the Dallara kit.

Every team will have access to the Dallara kit as it comes with the new chassis. Each team will then have access to the kit provided by their manufacturer (Chevy, Lotus, Honda if they all decide to make kits). However a Chevy engined team cannot run the Lotus aero kit for example.

Thus in order to preserve maximum diversity we must hope that:

1. The aero kits are allowed in 2012 in the first place
2. That the Dallara kit is not superior to the others as all teams will be able to run it if that is the case.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I am just glad we are seeing the big teams starting to miss on occasion. Indy is such a fluky place for qualifying that it can happen. However, come race day, I look for Helio to be up there, I look at the Ganassi guys to be up front; and I think a few experienced old hands with lesser teams will compete. Paul Tracy always runs decent at Indy, but never seems to buy a break. Maybe this year he gets one..and I like the way Tags has flown all month; and I don't see him running like dog do on Sunday either....