This new format for the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn’t quite working out. The new schedule would be fine if the weather was reliable. However this is Indiana…the weather is never consistent. Instead of teams moving in on May 1, they were delayed two weeks—back to May 15th. In doing so, it cuts practice time in half which will hurt the smaller teams.
Currently, every team is hurting for money and sponsorships in this economy. Teams are scrambling for last minute deals, some just to have a ride at the world’s most famous racetrack.
21 year-old Graham Rahal is one of those drivers. Just this week he announced a last minute deal with QuickTrim as a primary sponsor for his Indy 500 car. A proven driver with tremendous potential and upside has found himself without a fulltime ride this year. After an agreement fell through before the season, other teams had already filled up vacancies leaving Rahal in the dust. He was able to drive for Sarah Fisher Racing for three races. However this young talent isn’t settling for a temporary ride.
Although his resume continues to improve, he has proven himself much more than other drivers including rookies Ana Beatriz, Sebastian Saavedra, Bertrand Baguette and Mario Romancini.
Conquest Racing features two rookie drivers in Baguette and Romancini, as well as a young team who doesn’t have the experience of previous races at this track. Entering 2 cars per driver, Conquest Racing may not be here come the close of the weekend. Team Penske and Ganassi Racing will put their experience and deep money on show the next couple of weeks with developing and varying conditions.
Other veterans that struggle to find full time rides include Paul Tracy and Will Power. Tracy came within two-hundredths of a second from winning at the Brickyard. Will Power leads in points and only raced a partial schedule last year for Team Penske.
This shortened month leaves unproven teams and drivers with less room for error and little time to make adjustments to their car.
The weather continues to fluxuate day in and day out. One day it is cold and clear, another day is warm and sunny. We have already lost two full days of track time to rain. And this weekend for qualifying may be different conditions all together. Meteorologists are calling for high temperatures, sunny and humid. Yet teams have only practiced when it was cold and cloudy.
This can result in less grip and even more uneasiness. Rahal said, “It’s tough. We need to run as much as we can, learn as much as we can but (the weather) is so different than what we’ll see in a couple days’ time.”
Some are quick to judge the new format like Dan Wheldon. Whereas Danica Patrick, who didn’t even know points were awarded for qualifying, will wait to criticize the new format until going through it this weekend.
I can’t say I like this new format. Less practice, less days at the track. It’s off track from tradition.