IRL expecting wild race at Michigan track
Trust and knowledge of other drivers a requirement at Firestone Indy 400
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BROOKLYN, Mich. - The requirements for racing IndyCars at Michigan International Speedway include a lot more than just driving ability.
“You’d better have a pretty good idea of who that guy is driving next to you,” said Helio Castroneves, last year’s winner in the Firestone Indy 400. “You have to trust them and you have to know how they drive. It can get very, very tight out there.”
Even with speeds down a bit from the old CART days when 225 mph laps were common, it’s still a heart-thumping sight when half a dozen or more IndyCars hook up wheel-to-wheel and nose-to-tail for lap after lap at 210 mph.
“This race is going to produce three- and four-wide racing and everybody just kind of runs in a big pack,” explained Buddy Rice, who won here in 2004 and finished second to Tomas Scheckter in 2002. “The competition’s been so close all year long that I think the pack is going to be even tighter here. You need to position yourself. It’s a chess match. Pit stops and in and out laps are very key. That’s what you have to focus on.”
The classic open-wheel race here was in 2000 when Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Andretti battled side-by-side, swapping the lead at least once on each of the final 17 laps, before Montoya used a tow from a lapped car to barely nip Andretti at the line.
And that was just the duel up front.
The 50,000 or so fans on hand that day stood for nearly the entire 250-lap race as there were more than 170 passes for position.
“I was here and it was great, although I wish dad had won. But the cars are different, the tires are different and it’s not the same racing now,” said 20-year-old Marco Andretti, who will make his second Michigan on Sunday.
“It’s not that I dislike it, but I probably like (this track) least of the circuits we run now because ... we run so close and all of that, it’s like who is going to take the bigger chance instead of timing your passes and stuff like that.
“That was the heyday in 2000. Now it’s just like these cars are stuck together. You’re trying to draft anything that moves — a fly or whatever — down the front straightaway to get ahead of somebody else. Times have changed when it comes to that. The racing used to be awesome.”
It is different, but some people think it still is.
“Our car doesn’t have the slingshot like they did in CART, but you still have momentum,” Castroneves said. “It might be exciting for the fans, but not so much for us because you never know what the guy next to you is going to do. It becomes very slippery out there.
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The speeds and close racing do put a premium on trust and knowledge of the other driver, but Rice said he has both in abundance in the IndyCar Series.
“There’s not too many new people in the series,” Rice said. “The vast majority has been running around each other for years and you kind of know what to expect from each other.”
Sunday’s race could be the last open-wheel event on the 2-mile, high-banked oval for at least a year or two — and maybe longer. MIS and the Indy Racing League have been unable to come to an agreement on a date for next year.
While MIS president Roger Curtis says he would like to get the IndyCars back on track here in 2009, there is nothing from either side to indicate that will actually happen.
“That’s sad because I love coming here,” said Scott Sharp. “Racing here is fun. It’s what open-racing on ovals is supposed to be.”
In comparison with the crowds of 160,000 or more that turn out twice a year for NASCAR Nextel Cup events at MIS, the 35,000 to 40,000 spectators that came out for IndyCar would seem disappointing. But Dan Wheldon, who has finished third, second and third in the last three open-wheel races here, said it’s not fair to make that comparison.
“I think the fans that we do get here are very dedicated to IndyCar racing and we put on a hell of a display for them,” the Englishman said. “And the good thing is the crowd seems to get bigger each year.
“They’ve had amazing races here. Sure, the races would be better here with more cars. But the main thing is we have quality. Certainly, when you’re running as close as we do, you want good quality people and good quality teams out there, which we do.”
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