INDYCAR ON THE EDGE.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. There are two prevailing schools of thought about the MAVTV 500 IndyCar race that was run last Saturday at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. One perspective suggests that it was one of the best Indy-type car races in history, with lead changes galore and enough edge-of-the-seat excitement to last a lifetime.

The other perspective was that it was as if everyone had collectively forgotten what happened at Las Vegas Motor Speedway four years ago when “pack racing” cost Dan Wheldon his life in a horrific crash that could have easily caused multiple fatalities and in hindsight, was eminently preventable.

As if I needed to mention it again for those who have read this column over the years, I happen to loathe restrictor-plate racing in NASCAR. I think it’s senseless, beyond stupid, and it is only pure luck that more drivers haven’t been severely injured – or worse – since NASCAR started playing that game.

But what went down at the Auto Club Speedway last Saturday was much worse, achieving a level of absurdity that I find to be almost incomprehensible (despite Ed Carpenter’s vehement dismissal via twitter of those who deigned to question the validity of that type of racing).

Mr. Carpenter is entitled to his opinion, but IndyCar better get real and listen to its core group of drivers, who to a man suggested that what was going on during that race was the motorized version of Russian Roulette.

It’s one level of stupid to drive around in a “stock” car for 500 miles in a pack of cars that could, at any moment, dissolve into chaos and carnage. It has become a sick ritual in NASCAR that leaves the drivers just shrugging their shoulders, as if powerless to do anything about it. (They’re not powerless, but dealing with NASCAR’s incredible inertia is too debilitating to contemplate for most of them, apparently.)

But careening around Auto Club Speedway in a pack of open-wheel machines - even with aero “spats” partially shielding the rear wheels - is an entirely different dimension of stupid, a Twilight Zone of nonsensical absurdity that pretty much defies all rational explanation.

Don’t get me wrong, I love high-speed racing on the superspeedways as much as anyone, when it has at least a shred of a viable context (I cherish my many visits to Michigan International Speedway back in the day of big horsepower Indy cars). But throwing a blanket of aero restrictions on open-wheel Indy cars and expecting it to all work out just fine is a level of wishful thinking that I find to be incomprehensible.

I am not going to go over the litany of incidents that occurred during last Saturday’s race – needless to say, Ryan Briscoe was lucky to escape without injury – because there were so many close calls on every lap that I lost count.

Yes, of course, on one level it was exciting – akin to watching a plane crash-in-the-moment-before-impact warped kind of way - but that feeling was fleeting at best, because when I listened to Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya and Will Power after the race, I was immediately jolted back to a grim reality.

When Montoya, one of my all-time favorites and someone who is tough as nails on a racetrack called it “stupid,” it was sobering. But when I listened to Tony Kanaan, who made a point of suggesting that anyone who “likes” what they saw in that race has no clue as to what it’s like in the cockpit and how absurd it really is, that validated my thoughts and was enough for me.

I am a very vocal proponent of less down force and more horsepower when it comes to Indy cars. It’s what many drivers, past and present, including none other than Rick Mears – one of the sport’s all-time greats - have suggested. And I wholeheartedly agree with them. The cars need to be harder to drive because running around in packs is just an accident - and severe injury or a fatality - waiting to happen.

Yes, you can say what happened on Sunday was a great race on a certain level, but for most of the drivers behind the wheel that day it was a total crap shoot and a careening dance of survival. And it simply doesn’t have to be that way and shouldn’t be that way.

And spare me the argument that “racing is dangerous so get over it” blah-blah-blah, because of course it is. It always has been and always will be in fact. But what went on at California was simply inexcusable, especially given the context of what happened in Las Vegas, and I have no doubt in my mind that IndyCar got away with one on Sunday.

Balls-out Indy car racing is sensational, there’s really nothing like it for the truly knowledgeable racing enthusiasts who have been following the sport for years. But configuring the current spec-racer Indy cars for high downforce on superspeedways so that they run around in wheel-to-wheel packs for three hours is simply unfathomable and unconscionable.

Having said that, I was extremely happy for Graham Rahal, who drove a great race (see more coverage in “The Line” –WG). And I am relieved that I do not have to write about injuries or death today.

The racing at the California Speedway wasn’t the only thing on The Edge for IndyCar last weekend, however. It’s clear to anyone with a modicum of intelligence when it comes to this sport that the entire IndyCar series is in serious jeopardy.

After seeing those drivers take tremendous risks on every lap and realizing that there were 3,500 fans – at best – at Auto Club Speedway to witness it, it is incomprehensible to me that the sport can continue on its present course. It doesn’t make sense for the drivers, the team owners, the manufacturers, the sponsors or the television partners because as I’ve said repeatedly over the last several years, it is simply unsustainable.

I cannot fathom why the IndyCar team owners haven’t taken control of the sport at this juncture, because it’s clear that IndyCar CEO Mark Miles is not only completely over his head, he’s in danger of running the entire series right into the ground. (Watch Robin Miller, this country’s dean of open-wheel motorsport journalism, go off on Miles in his post-race comments from California here.)

The problems facing IndyCar are daunting. The artificially abbreviated schedule is totally ridiculous, the array of tracks that IndyCar runs on – or doesn’t run on as the case may be – is borderline nonsensical, the demonstrated inability to come up with a viable, competitive racing package that appeals to the drivers and fans, the fact that other than the Indianapolis 500 the sport is completely off of the mainstream media radar screens, etc., is enough to give anyone pause. The sport is on life support, and too many key people involved refuse to acknowledge the facts.

It doesn’t take a seer to understand that if this trend is left unchecked, we will witness the complete dissolution of the sport. And I for one would hate to see that happen, because even though IndyCar’s problems are daunting, they aren’t insurmountable.

The team owners in IndyCar are smart people, racers who have put their money on the line to see that this sport survives. But they know full well that mere survival isn’t going to cut it going forward. It is going to take visionary thought, real courage and direct and immediate action to save the sport.

The IndyCar owners need to band together, take control of Indy car racing and do what’s best for the sport before it’s too late.

It’s that simple.

Editor-In-Chief's Note: Read more about what Rick Mears thinks about dealing with IndyCar's "pack racing" dilemma in Gordon Kerby's piece in MotorSport magazine here. -PMD

Editor's Note: Many of you have seen Peter's references over the years to the Hydrogen Electric Racing Federation (HERF), which he launched in 2007. For those of you who weren't following AE at the time, you can read two of HERF's press releases here and here. -WG

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Photo courtesy of the Ford racing Archives)

Indianapolis, Indiana, May 28, 1978. Al Unser (No. 2 Chaparral Racing 1st National City Travelers Checks Lola-Cosworth) qualified second and led 121 of the 200 Laps on his way to winning the Indianapolis 500 that year. Pole-sitter Tom Sneva (No. 1 Penske Racing Norton Spirit Penske-Cosworth) finished second and Gordon Johncock (No. 20 Pat Patrick North American Van Lines Wildcat-DGS) came in third. It was the third win (of four) in the Indy 500 for Unser. Later that summer he would win the Pocono 500 and California 500, the only driver in history to sweep the “triple crown” in Indy car racing in the same year. The 1978 Indianapolis 500 was the last “500” at The Speedway before the formation of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART).

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD