Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior
While I think it would be great to see companies becoming more involved in the sport from a supplier standpoint (as a sponsor, we actually had one of our divisions develop a wheel nut for Team Rahal which wouldn't cross-thread and was claimed to shave several tenths off of each pitstop), these days, they're trying to keep the series as "spec" as possible. It doesn't seem that the league wants a variety of suppliers, because that would mean a variety of opportunities for teams to find an advantage over other teams.
And when it comes to certain items, while one might be able develop and produce a version of the item, depending on what it was, there would likely be patent issues if it represented something the company was going to use in OEM applications.
I just don't get the feeling that most of these teams have enough money to do much besides buy a spec chassis, buy some spec parts and show up for races (with ride buyers). The ones who do have the money (Penske, Ganassi, maybe Andretti) have already established a gap between themselves and the rest of the field. If they could develop (or buy) custom mods, I think the gap would just get that much wider. And since outside makers would need extensive R&D (wind tunnels, shakers, on-track testing, etc.) to even have a basic idea of whether or not their parts were effective vs. other parts, we're talking about money that does not exist in this series at the present. Either that or the teams would have to use the old shotgun approach/try it til ya get it right and waste even more money that they don't have.
But still, it's a nice thought. Back in the CART days it was fun to see people at the track who worked for automotive aftermarket suppliers who were trying to dip their toe in the water. It added more to the buzz than people realize. But what we have now is more like an Americanized version of GP2. Where once companies proudly proclaimed that they made spark plugs, air filters, wheels, brakes etc. for Indy/Champ cars, only a hardcore fan could tell you much more than the engines are Hondas, the tires are Firestones and they run on ethanol now. Steve Horne attended the last Champ Car race in Cleveland and noted how sad it was: it had become so GP2 like (his words). IMO, the same now applies to the IRL, so that's why I used that phrase. Where did the buzz and excitement go??? It's not just the parts suppliers, technical partners and associate sponsors who could bring some buzz back. It's the parts suppliers, technical partners, associate sponsors and 50 other things.
I like where you're coming from. But it's like a guy with bad credit who needs to refi his mortgage. If he could refi, that would certainly help him. But the fact that he has bad credit prevents him from getting that help. The IRL needs to prove to sponsors and suppliers that it's worth the risk. If you owned a machine shop or a fab shop, would you make Indy car specific parts, thinking that you would make any (real) money, or even get paid on time? I wouldn't. I'd do what a friend of mine does: make parts for stock cars and rake in a comfortable six figure income.
