Credit to Wikimedia Commons: 2022 Bommarito Automotive Group 500
Ask an ordinary racing fan the differences between Formula 1 and Indycar and they would struggle to tell them apart. Die hard racing fans will notice the same chassis and body shell spread across all cars and a windscreen instead of F1’s halo scheme. But the shape is distinctly an open wheel car which people always associate with Formula 1. Ordinary people will always value the exquisite nature of an F1 car and the technology behind it and whether it’s Indycar, Formula E or Super Formula, the end result is people always see these series as a lesser product compared to Formula 1 by being more simplistic and basic. Truthfully, the Indycar is much less technologically advanced than an F1 car but its simplicity creates its greatest strength. Being less specialised and more versatile makes the Indycar more adaptable to any track environment you place it in. They don’t adhere to the Grade 1 requirements of F1 and means you can take an Indycar and race it virtually anywhere. Go beyond analysing just the picture of an Indycar and you see where this series truly distinguishes itself from Formula 1.
Indycar has always been about racing on the most diverse circuits which challenge the adaptability of a racing driver. The series hosts the most varied selection of tracks ever seen compared to every other racing series on the planet; combining F1’s road courses, FE’s street courses and NASCAR’s oval courses into one complete package. Extracting lap time on a road course is vastly different to that of a street course. When the open miles of gravel or grass runoff is replaced by a giant concrete wall, a driver's reference point and flow is suddenly changed. No longer is there room to go wide and explore track limits. If you go beyond the limit on a street course, you wreck the car and your day is done. Switching between the two requires two different styles of racing. Suddenly a road course driver can’t just throw caution to the wind with a dicey pass on the inside. The grip is non-existent off line and the track surface is extremely bumpy so car control is suddenly much more difficult and passing is more tricky with such a narrow course. These two styles of circuit racing both demand a different mentality and driving style and highlight the adaptability needed to exceed in Indycar. Yet open wheel cars on a circuit still draws the eye of being similar to F1.
So what makes Indycar really unique? You have to look no further than with oval racing. Suddenly all of the high downforce aero is taken away and the speed is cranked up to the max. You have two flavours; short track racing and super speedways. Short track racing consists of short mile long oval tracks whilst superspeedway racing takes place on much longer and faster tracks ranging from a mile and half to two miles. Short track racing keeps the traditional aero parts from the road and street courses on the cars but the superspeedway racing trims the vehicle aero to its bare minimum. They’re basically paperweights just taped onto the cars to minimise as much downforce as possible. Cars are incredibly loose, the speeds are insanely high and the wheel to wheel racing is insanely close. Yet an outsider would view this as a really basic form of racing. Just turn left then and you’re good right? Well it’s not so simple. With the grid consisting of 27 cars, lapping and navigating traffic becomes a real strategic element in these races. Because of the high speed generated from this form of racing, lapped traffic becomes common when strategies differ so cutting through and lapping the pack adds extra suspense to a drivers race. Pit cycles can place cars more than four laps down on the pack and if drivers are going for long runs on tyres and fuel, you need to clear cars quick enough before your nearest rival behind attempts to take advantage of the slow traffic and make a pass. You can also run many different lines on an oval from the lowest point of the track to riding right up to the wall on the outside so drivers have diverse lines of attack. All of this delivers an entertaining racing package that can’t be found anywhere else in motor racing. This is Indycar’s trump card.
And here we are in 2024 with the new calendar and there only exists one superspeedway event, the Indianapolis 500. Texas Motor Speedway is off the calendar after a scheduling conflict with Nascar and the Olympics. Even if it was kept, that’s only two events total. Pocono was discarded after 2019. Fontana got culled after 2015. Eurospeedway Lausitz, Twin Ring Motegi, Nazareth and Michigan are relics of CART’s past. Superspeedway racing is disappearing and after gushing over it in the previous paragraph, why? We still have short tracks on the schedule so oval racing is still here to an extent. Iowa and St Louis return alongside the return of the Milwaukee Mile so short track racing is well catered for. But street and road course racing dominate 2024. Superspeedways are really what put Indycar a world apart from any other racing series. The speeds are higher, the racing is close and the spectacle is mesmerising. History has shown what a great oval race provides. Fontata in 2015, Texas in 2023, any race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway! So why the absence?
Oval racing in an Indycar is the peak of danger; level with racing the Nordschleife and the Isle of Man TT. Racing at beyond 230 miles per hour is exhilarating but when it goes wrong, it goes really wrong. With no downforce, the loose nature of these race cars makes them tricky to control. In the event of being in dirty air, the minimal downforce that was left is now all gone and when the racing is close and side by side, full focus is needed 100% of the time. The Indy 500 in 2023 saw Josef Newgarden overtake Felix Rosenqvist on the outside of turn one and in the event of cutting back in front, Felix lost all of his downforce through dirty air and sailed straight into the turn one barrier with no turning ability. The resulting pile up saw Kyle Kirkwood clip Rosenqvist and send his tyre sailing off into the air and over the catch fence, nearly into the grandstand. Banking on these ovals also messes with driver disorientation. Unlike in F1 when the G Force comes laterally from the corners, the G Force in Indycar oval racing is generated vertically travelling through corners. It’s akin to a fighter pilot pulling straight up in their jet and too much time spent sustaining vertical G can cause blackouts, as seen at Texas Motor Speedway in 2001 where drivers began to pass out mid lap after sustaining vertical G. It requires special focus which unfortunately most drivers outside Indycar fear. Even some drivers within the series struggle to cope with its frantic nature. The feeder series to Indycar don’t focus on this style of driving so rookies are often found struggling coping with the high banking racing and where they can place their car in close quarter battles. One slip of control or one lapse of concentration and your race could end in catastrophe.
Indycar across all its differing organisations has totaled 95 fatalities and above 95% of all deaths were recorded on an oval. Justin Wilson, Dan Wheldon, Paul Dana, Greg Moore, Scott Brayton; all of these drivers died on ovals. Spread out over its 100 year existence it might not seem significant to some but severe injuries are still being witnessed even today. Rober Wickins lost both of his legs in 2018 at Pocono after flying into the fence, Alex Zanardi at Eurospeedway suffered the same fate exiting the pitlane and losing 90% of all blood in his body, James Hinchcliffe had suspension pierce through his legs in Indy 500 qualifying, the list goes on and on. If you want a video example of how dangerous this is though, watch Kenny Brack’s crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003. His crash was so violent that to this day in all human history, he is officially the only man to survive an impact of over 200 g's. But Las Vegas in 2011 really proved to be the turning point in the fate of superspeedway racing in Indycar. The track could realistically only host around 27 entries and Indycar went in with 33 massively exceeding the limit. As a result, an early crash sent Wheldon’s car airborne and due to the open cockpit, his head caught the catch fence and suffered a fatal internal bleeding in the brain. Had the modern aero screen existed, Wheldon may well have been here today but blame was sent the way of the oval and the racing it created. The early pile up was large and the over-exceed number of cars contributed to the severity of the crash so the question of the human cost in racing these banked tracks was seriously questioned and ovals severely declined since.
Of course when the question of safety is raised you always side with safety first but at what point does safety take away the appeal of the sport? Cars can be made as safe as humanly possible but danger can never be fully taken away. And if a driver starts to fear racing then they need to get out. It’s their choice and it’s their life. It’s an extreme sport and viewers and officials need to realise that. When the question of racing and spectacle comes in as well, this is Indycar’s jewel in its crown. What we have left in the Indy 500 is a viewing experience no other race is able to deliver. Long Beach, Nashville and Road America can all be exciting but the side by side high speed nature of oval racing delivers a different kind of adrenaline for the viewers. And if you’re wanting to separate yourself from F1, and even Nascar to an extent, this is the way to do it. Indycar is in a prime position to take viewers away from F1’s current stagnation but seemingly still fears a Vegas style debacle when drivers are clamouring for more superspeedways. Speaking as someone who grew up watching European style circuit racing, Indycar’s oval racing is such a breath of fresh air that can’t be found anywhere on this continent. Skill was once viewed through how a driver controls their braking, how hard they clip an apex and how quick they can apply throttle out of a corner. But understanding the feats to become an oval racer showed how a great driver can be created outside of the traditional racing presented here. It’s one thing to handle a car laden with downforce and a variety of assists but to strip all of that away along with tackling new forces of low drag and vertical G demands so much more. Indycar opened a door into a new world of racing and it’s a series that desperately needs more attention and variety to remain an alternative to Formula 1.
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indycar_1.jpg
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