Miller: multiple chassis and manufacturers "very likely"

Some of this is rehash from what he said on WT last night...

Miller said on Indy local radio this afternoon, that its "very likely" that there will be 2 or 3 chassis and 2 or 3 engine manufacturers when all the smoke clears.

Mentioned Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, Honda and "a big manufacturer overseas" as being very interested. Talked about people "coming back" to Indy Cars and the Indy 500 again. That screams "Ford" to me.


Said there will be "different looking cars" at the Indy 500 again. But no Delta Wing. Will be MUCH cheaper and many different folks "could" get involved again. They stole many of the thoughts that Bowlby had and transferred them to what will be announced on Wednesday.

Bernard attended his first ever USAC sprint car event at Kokomo on Sunday and "was blown away" with the horsepower the cars have and with the crowds (4 to 5 thousand in attendance) that were there to support different drivers. He now understands first-hand the disconnect that exists between that portion of AOW and Indy Cars and now "wants to get them back". Smart man, since that portion makes up the vast majority of AOW.

Interesting, if true. I did not expect this to happen, fully expected the new car to be another spec Dallara/Honda with maybe a 2nd engine manufacturer. This is great news though if it pans out. If it does, I would put money on the fact that it is basically a hail mary for the series. They can clearly see that what they are doing now is just not happening with the casual fanbase, and the hardcore fanbase is shrinking. Multiple manufacturers both engine and chassis will bring a lot of fan talk and energy back into the series. It may or may not ultimately work out, but I think that doing essentially what they've been doing for the last decade has not worked out, so in spite of some likely internal disagreement about how to go forward, this was the most logical way to go. The series was more popular back when there was technical development and competition, so why not try going back to that and see if it gets the series going again in terms of popularity.

Also, I haven't been following all the rumors closely, but is the concensus now that we'll have new engines for the 2012 season, and the new chassis's by 2013?

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Originally Posted by NickFalzone

Also, I haven't been following all the rumors closely, but is the concensus now that we'll have new engines for the 2012 season, and the new chassis's by 2013?

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I don't know the answer to the question, but that scenario doesn't make sense to me. If they introduce the engine first, there would seem to be a significant cost to retro fitting the new engines and all the components into the old Dallara. Just to use it for one year. Then bring in a new chassis the next year? Seems like in the long run that it would end up costing more than introducing them together.

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Originally Posted by DBell

I don't know the answer to the question, but that scenario doesn't make sense to me. If they introduce the engine first, there would seem to be a significant cost to retro fitting the new engines and all the components into the old Dallara. Just to use it for one year. Then bring in a new chassis the next year? Seems like in the long run that it would end up costing more than introducing them together.

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I agree. Unless what Scott says above is true, which is that the current Dallaras will be an option for teams to use in 2013 along with whatever the other chassis' are out there. So in that case, the engine(s) need to be fitted to the Dallara anyway, and that will be one retrofit out of the way before 2013. My guess is that they will try to standardize the engine fit across all chassis' as well so it is not as much of an issue.

As far as I have learned from all the rumors flying around for months, it will likely not be a fixed number of manufactures kind of competition of chassis, it will rather be a set of rules around which any willing participants can build their car, and thus far we have 3 makers already which is good.

Next we need to get Bernard to the Knoxville Ntls.
And anyone on here who does not know what they are really does not know motor racing.

I've only heard Dallara and Lola definitely being there, and DW definitely not being there. Are BAT & Swift going to show up?

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Originally Posted by Scotty G.

Bernard attended his first ever USAC sprint car event at Kokomo on Sunday and "was blown away" with the horsepower the cars have and with the crowds (4 to 5 thousand in attendance) that were there to support different drivers. He now understands first-hand the disconnect that exists between that portion of AOW and Indy Cars and now "wants to get them back". Smart man, since that portion makes up the vast majority of AOW.

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Wait, isn't that what the "vision" was all about??

I'd be surprised if VW and Audi were in given they're the same parent company and Audi is very much the LMS brand for VAG, while SEAT is the touring car brand. "Big overseas" is more likely to be Toyota now it has an engine factory in Germany sitting pretty empty.