INDIANAPOLIS -- The rules makers can cut the fuel, limit the
horsepower and tinker with the downforce all they want.
The only sure way to slow the cars at Indianapolis in the long
run is to post a speed limit and station a cop with a radar gun at
each turn. As a desperate measure, they could always put a speed
bump across the strip of bricks at the start-finish line.
It seems that no matter what is done to control speed for
safety's sake, the engineering geniuses will find a way to make the
cars go faster, and the teams and drivers will continue to push the
limits.
It's why they race.
"I remember a few years ago, they knocked us down to 212, 213
(mph) when they went to a different spec," driver Robby Gordon
said. "By last year, we were already back up to the 230s again."
"With the engineers and the technology that IndyCar racing has,
the IRL will slow us down, and we'll go to work to figure out how
to go faster."
That's the way it's always been.
The first Indianapolis 500 was in 1911, and the day after the
race a newspaper questioned whether the speeds were already too
fast. Mind you, Ray Harroun won that race at a then-fantastic
average of 74.6 mph.
"It is to be hoped we have seen the last of these 500-mile
contests," read The Indianapolis News editorial. "The winning
driver said that the limit had been reached and that the strain on
the participants was far too great. ... So it seems we have gone
too far in this form of sports."
Too far?
At last year's pole speed of just under 232 mph, Helio Castroneves could have completed three laps in the time it took
Harroun to drive just once around the same 2½-mile oval.
The speed climbed steadily and was nearing 150 by the early
1960s, when the front-engine roadsters gave way to a rear-engine
revolution of speed and technology. By the end of that decade,
speeds were up to nearly 170, and it took just four more years to
reach the high 190s.
The deadly 1973 race, when two drivers and a crewman were
killed, prompted another effort to cut speeds, but by 1977 they
were just under 199. The next year, Tom Sneva became the first to
qualify at more than 200, and over the next 18 years the pole
speeds rose to Arie Luyendyk's record 236.986 mph.
The IRL, which began operation in 1996, introduced new chassis
and non-turbocharged engines in 1997 and reduced speeds almost 20
mph. But once again, it didn't last long.
By 2002, the top cars were over 230 mph again, and the field
averaged a record 228.648 in qualifying. Last year, the average was
227.125 mph, but Castroneves won the pole at 231.725 -- the fastest
since Luyendyk set the record.
This year, with an engine reduction from 3.5 liters to 3.0, new
restrictions on fuel and another change in the aerodynamic package,
speeds were expected to be cut by about 10 mph. The fastest laps
during open tests last week were more than 220 mph by Castroneves
and Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr.
"This track is so hard to pass," Hornish said. "It's always
been about keeping your momentum up and keeping your moves at the
right time.
"This year, it's going to be even more about that. You get
behind the slower car, it's going to be real hard to get by."
Castroneves, who won the race in 2001 and 2002 and was second to
former teammate Gil de Ferran last year, said the difference in
speed is most noticeable coming out of the pits into the warmup
lane before getting back onto the track.
He isn't sure how much faster the cars could go in the weeks
leading up to the race May 30.
"I think probably a little faster," Castroneves said. "I'm
predicting 225 would be the fastest. Hopefully, it will be me."
Scott Dixon, the defending IRL champion, had a lap just under 219 last week in windy conditions.
"I'm happy with what we've done so far, but there's a lot of
time to improve things," Dixon said. "The track is getting faster
and faster, and we should pick up more speed by the time qualifying
rolls around."
The track opens for practice Sunday, with qualifications set for
May 15-16 and May 23.