INDIANAPOLIS -- Whether it was the 50-mph wind gusts that shut down action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or just political smoke blowing out of the Honda and Chevrolet camps, it was difficult to get an accurate read out of this week's Verizon IndyCar Series' aerodynamic safety test.
The test was intended to evaluate new components designed to keep Indy cars on the ground when they enter a state of yaw (spin, in layman's terms), including a domed skid plate at the bottom of the chassis and NASCAR-like rear flaps.
Of course, as with any pieces designed to work in the event of an accident, you can't really test them unless there is an actual accident. Thankfully, that didn't happen Wednesday at IMS, despite the tricky atmospheric conditions.
But half a day of testing did nothing to put an end to the controversy over the domed skids, which IndyCar says are being implemented to improve a car's yaw/spin characteristics and minimize the incidence of the car becoming airborne.
The rear-end flaps, even more of a worst-case scenario, were tested in wind tunnels at General Motors and Texas A&M University but have not yet been subjected to a real-world deployment.
The focus on the way Indy cars behave when spinning or traveling backwards was fueled by a series of airborne crashes in May 2015 at Indianapolis involving cars with the Chevrolet aero kit of wings and other body parts.
The crashes led to IndyCar forcing all competitors to qualify with lower-than-planned turbocharger boost and with the additional downforce they would use in the race. Honda believed the changes hurt their chances in the 500, which was subsequently won by Juan Pablo Montoya in a Team Penske Chevrolet.
However, Honda's cars were clearly often at an aerodynamic disadvantage throughout 2015 and not just at Indianapolis. Honda successfully lobbied for the ability to make additional changes to its aero kit outside the regulations, but after the first two races of the 2016 season, it appears to continue to lag behind Chevrolet on street courses and short ovals.
So when Honda drivers said their cars felt unstable in speedway trim using the domed skid plate in early 2016 at Auto Club Speedway and confirmed it Wednesday at IMS, the Chevrolet camp immediately accused them of trying to gain additional aerodynamic dispensation.
"It's for safety and it doesn't affect the car that much," said 2014 IndyCar Series champion Will Power of Team Penske. "Obviously Honda is looking for every little bit it can get right now, so I'm not sure they want the domed skid but it's the same for everyone. They obviously are looking for downforce, I guess."
"You feel it," confirmed four-time champion Scott Dixon, who pilots a Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. "But if you came here and just ran it straight out of the box and you weren't doing back-to-backs, you probably wouldn't feel it that much.
"If you go from a car last year, it's probably going to slow it down a bit and it's probably going to feel a little worse," Dixon added. "But the advantages of it on the safety side, it's hard not to look at it. I think you've seen more of a political battle going on where people should be looking out more for safety."
The Honda camp, led by James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti, argues that a stable car is a safe car. And to hear them tell it, the domed skid plate is making their cars unstable.
Certainly the feeling existed in May 2015 that the Chevrolet aerodynamic instability was a problem of its own making, a suspicion partly confirmed by changes to Chevrolet's 2016 speedway aero package. The Chevy kit is still notable for having no rear wing end fences, though winglets have been added to the pods behind the rear wheels in an apparent attempt to create more downforce.
Andretti claims Honda's problems with the domed skid plate don't involve downforce and said he's worried that if the cars are forced to race as is, the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 could end up as a disappointment.
"They call it a safety thing, right?" he asked. "But if we're going to raise the ride height 10 flats (approximately 0.4 inch) and the cars are going to be crashing, it's not safe. The only way it's a gain is if you're spinning, you get that help from the [domed] skid.
"It's not a big deal about nothing," Andretti added. "I heard the Chevy drivers in particular talking about 'There's not much downforce lost.' Well yeah, but we're raising the car 10 flats. You're losing a lot of mechanical grip and you can't ignore that. We're just trying to make up for that and I think definitely the only way the Hondas can run is with more underbody downforce like we have [in 2015 specification]. Without it, we'll be horrible."
Part of the challenge Wednesday was dealing with the weather, which was not as cooperative as it could have been. Although it warmed into the 60s by noon, there was a 25-mph headwind down the main straight and a brief shower soaked the track during the lunch break.
Then the wind really picked up in the afternoon, making it essentially pointless to run.
"It's definitely hard in all the wind to get an accurate read because the car does something different every time," said Power. "At these speeds you can definitely feel it. You moved around and it can catch you out, but we're running plenty safe at the moment."
Honda runners weren't shy about saying they believe their Chevrolet competitors were sandbagging on Wednesday. Andretti turned the fastest lap of the day at 223.427 mph, more than 2 mph faster than the best Chevrolet lap (Simon Pagenaud, 221.293 mph).
IndyCar is unlikely to back track on the domed skid, given the series of spectacular accidents that occurred last year at Indianapolis and the lingering memory of Justin Wilson's freak fatal accident in August at Pocono Raceway.
Still, the series can't lose track of the fact that a stable car is a safer car. If Honda is struggling as badly as it sometimes appears to get a handle on its aero kit, IndyCar needs to know why.
In any case, the current aero kit era, now in its second season, continues to create more problems than it is probably worth.
Honda's revised 2016 road course car looks a lot like the 2015 Chevy, and it looks like maybe the 2016 Honda speedway car could need the same kind of makeover. Visual differentiation between manufacturers was an important factor for all of the constituents, but when one brand's wings and widgets are significantly faster than the others, it's suddenly a problem for everyone.
"That's what happens with aero wars," said Power. "You take ideas from the other manufacturer and mix and match and eventually the cars will look identical.
"On road-course trim they look very similar already and it's a lot of money spent for cars to end up looking the same."