Chip Ganassi to be Featured Speaker during Online Race Industry Week

 

Chip Ganassi to be 

Featured Speaker 

during Online Race Industry Week

photo courtesy of CGR

Chip Ganassi, one of the most successful as well as innovative race team owners anywhere in the world, has joined the impressive, growing list of featured webinar speakers during EPARTRADE.com Online Race Industry Week, scheduled for November 30 to December 4.

Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) teams have won nineteen championships since 1990 including six of the seven most iconic races in the world of auto racing  - with wins in the Indianapolis 500 (4), Daytona 500 (1), the Brickyard 400 (1), 24 Hours of Le Mans (1), Rolex 24 At Daytona (8) and the 12 Hours of Sebring (1). 

"We are putting together several webinars with subjects about the state of the racing industry today, and we're honored and excited to get the insights of someone like Chip Ganassi for Online Race Industry Week," said Judy Kean, co-founder of EPARTRADE. "This is going to be a jam-packed week for racing professionals!"

There is no charge to attend. Follow this link to register for the week of Zoom meetings: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TdoGM04ZRxq6Ze3MPeInbQ

TEAM PENSKE DISPLAY AT THE ENTRANCE OF PRI 2019

TEAM PENSKE AT PRI 2019 

Team Penske’s display of two championship INDYCARS at the 2019 Performance Industry show in Indianapolis Indiana gave attendees a new perspective on the Chevrolet-powered Dallara DW12 chassis fitted with the UAK 18 universal aerokit.

The neon yellow Menard’s sponsored #22 was driven by Simon Pagenuad during the 2019 NTT INDYCAR season. After he went winless in the 2018 INDYCAR season, the Frenchman swept the races in the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  

Simon passed Scott Dixon and led the final two laps to win the INDYCAR Grand Prix held on May 11 on the Indianapolis road course, then on May 19, he won the Firestone Fast Nine Shootout to capture the pole position for the Indianapolis 500-mile race.  

On May 26, Pagenaud led a race-high 116 laps in a dominant win to record Team Penske’s 18^th Indianapolis ’500’ win.   Pagenaud finished second to his teammate Josef Newgarden in the 2019 NTT INDYCAR Series championship.

The red, white and black Hitachi sponsored #2 was driven by Josef Newgarden during the 2019 NTT INDYCAR season. Newgarden started the 2019 season with a win at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and was in the championship hunt all season long. With three pole position starts, three additional wins at Alabama, Toronto and Mid-Ohio along with eight top five finishes in 17 starts, Newgarden claimed his second INDYCAR championship, as he previously won the 2017 Verizon INDYCAR Series title.

All photos by the author 

INDYCAR Aeroscreen film by Racing Optics

INDYCAR Aeroscreen film 

INDYCAR's Aeroscreen, an advanced ballistic canopy-like windshield, designed to improve the safety for drivers in the event of frontal impacts in the cockpit area, is mandated for use on all INDYCARS on all tracks beginning with 2020 NTT INDYCAR Series season opener. At the 2019 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) Show, Racing Optics showed off their RO Windshield protector   - a multi-layer, removable optical film for the INDYCAR Aeroscreen.

Racing Optics, Inc. is a family-owned business founded in 1999 by Bart, Steve and Seth Wilson with a rich racing heritage as Dempsey Wilson, Bart and Steve’s father, and Seth’s grandfather, began building and racing cars after World War 2.  Dempsey reached the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in 1958 when he qualified for his first of four Indianapolis 500 starts.  Away from the track Dempsey ran "Dempsey Wilson Racing Cams," which manufactured and sold racing camshafts until his passing in 1971.

Check them out at https://www.racingoptics.com

Penske Racing's 3D printing partner 

at SEMA 2019

At Team Penske the phrase "Effort Equals Results" is ingrained in the culture, as evidenced by eighteen (18) Indianapolis 500-mile race pole positions starts and eighteen (18) Indianapolis 500-mile race wins. Remarkable. 

One of the ways that Team Penske has remained on top at Indianapolis is to embrace technology, and an example is the use of Stratasys® 3D printing. According to Team Penske’s Matt Gimbel, they first used 3D printing in the early 2000’s to support their wind tunnel model program, but it has grown into much much more.

Team Penske signed a multi-year partnership with Stratasys in 2017 to further the advancement of additive manufacturing into their racing programs. Penske is not alone, as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Andretti Autosport also use Stratasys® technology and equipment for prototyping.  

3D printing allows Team Penske to update cars as fast as possible with multiple iterations of new ideas. According the Tim Cindric, “Stratasys® helps us get to the next solution quicker.”  An example is the fueling probe handle for INDYCAR that debuted in 2017.  

photo courtesy of Stratasys

The 3D printed carbon fiber fueling handle improved on the former all-metal design and Team Penske believed that it shaved a couple tenths of a second off the refueling time -  critical at Indianapolis where the cars travel at over 300 feet per second.  

For the probe handle project, Penske printed the master pattern tooling for the composite components using Ultem™ 1010 resin high-strength high-performance thermoplastic and ST-130 soluble material for the sacrificial tooling core to laminate the housing structure, and Nylon 12  to make a connector housing on the probe handle frame.

Team Penske uses both Stratasys® FDM® and PolyJet™ technology to produce smooth, accurate parts, prototypes and tooling. PolyJet™ additive manufacturing provides microscopic layer resolution and accuracy down to 0.014 mm, and can produce thin walls and complex geometries using the widest range of materials available with any technology.

FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), which Stratasys® invented more than 20 years ago, uses specialized 3D printers and production-grade thermoplastics to build strong, durable and dimensionally stable parts with the best accuracy and repeatability of any 3D printing technology to build parts layer-by-layer from the bottom up by heating and extruding thermoplastic filaments.

Stratasys' Amy Teal poses with the F370 printer 

Stratasys® had a top-of-the-line high-capacity F370 Industrial FDM printer on display at the 2019 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show. This printer which supports a build size up to 14 inches by 10 inches by 14 inches, includes support for TPU-92A elastomer and PC-ABS, ABS-M30 and PLA thermoplastic materials with tolerances of .002 inch. The cost of the printer is around $50,000.

For more than 25 years, Stratasys Limited (https://www.stratasys.com/) has been an innovator and dominant player in shaping the way things are made. The company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota has more than 2,700 employees with over 1,200 granted or pending manufacturing patents.

Photos by the author except where noted 

BorgWarner boosts every INDYCAR®

The BorgWarner booth at the 2019 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) trade show in Indianapolis featured the NTT Data – sponsored Dallara INDYCAR® driven by rookie Felix Rosenqvist in the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series shown in the road/street course configuration.

Owned by Chip Ganassi Racing, the Dallara is powered by the Honda Indy V-6 double-overhead camshaft all-aluminum engine which displaces 134 cubic inches fitted with twin BorgWarner EFR (Engineered for Racing) turbochargers. Boost pressure is regulated at 18 PSI (pounds per square inch) on super speedways except for 20 PSI boost is allowed for Indianapolis 500 qualifying. 21 ½ PSI is allowed on short ovals and road or street courses, and the push to pass feature temporarily increases boost pressure to   24 PSI for 15 to 20 seconds depending on the road or street course.

As the exclusive supplier of the NTT INDYCAR® Series, BorgWarner EFR 7136 turbochargers boost every car on the starting grid. Each EFR 7136 features gamma titanium turbine wheels with mixed-flow blade design and forged milled compressor wheels contained inside a stainless steel turbine housing. The dual ceramic ball bearing cartridges ride in aluminum bearing housings, and the turbochargers include integrated high-flow waste gate with boost control solenoid valve and compressor recirculation valve.

Information provided by BorgWarner

Please click to enlarge 

Felix Rosenqvist scored six top-five finishes in 17 starts in 2019, with one pole position start at the 2019 INDYCAR® Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Felix a native of Sweden wound in sixth in the end-of-season drivers points tally and was named the 2019 NTT INDYCAR® SERIES Rookie of the Year.

All photos by the author 

INDYCAR clutch

For the 2019 NTT INDYCAR series, there are only two clutch assemblies approved for use – SF and AP.  ZF Race Engineering of Northville Michigan, a division of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, showed off their INDYCAR Modular Racing Clutch System at the 2018 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show.

 

 

Shown fitted to a Chevrolet (Ilmor) Indy 2.2-litre direct-injected twin-turbocharged V-6 engine, The ZF clutch part number 883082002617 is a three-disc 115 MM (4-1/2 inch) unit that uses carbon/carbon friction technology and can transmit up to 531 foot/pounds of torque.     

Photos by the author

Danica Patrick to join NBC Sports for the 2019 Indianapolis 500

NBC Sports announced that Danica Patrick, an eight-time starter in the Indianapolis 500-mile race, will join the NBC broadcasting team for the 103^rd running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Ms. Patrick will be paired as a studio analyst with veteran broadcaster Mike Tirico and will provide pre-race, in-race and post-race commentary for NBC Sports’ first broadcast of the Indianapolis ‘500.’

During a Wednesday press conference, Sam Flood, NBC Sports’ Executive Producer & President, Production, in his introduction stated that Ms. Patrick “was fearless in the car and will be fearless in her commentary.” Referring to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ms. Patrick stated, “that the moment I drive into the facility, I’m flooded with positive emotions.” She related that she “feels deep respect for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway” and the Indianapolis ‘500’, as it was where it all started for me.”  

She stated that her favorite memory of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway came with her first ‘500’,’ which she described as a “magical month” and a “transformative time as an athlete and a brand.”  In her rookie year of 2005, Danica qualified fourth fastest and finished fourth after she led nineteen laps. She stepped away from IndyCar after the 2011 season to concentrate on NASCAR Cup Series racing, though she returned to Indianapolis for a final run in the ‘500’ in 2018. Danica qualified seventh fastest and crashed out on lap 67 and was scored 30^th.

Ms. Patrick said she has been traveling and working on her businesses, and that she doesn’t miss racing.  In interviews after her last race, she did not rule out a potential broadcasting opportunity, but in today’s press conference, Danica stated that she is not looking for a broadcast career, that she considers this as a single event. She said she is looking forward to seeing the build-up on race day and that it will be “a cool perspective,” as when she raced at Indianapolis she avoided the build-up and focused on the race.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series continues March 24 with the INDYCAR Classic at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app. The 103rd Indianapolis 500 will air on NBC at 11 a.m. ET Sunday., May 26^th.

IOWA SPEEDWAY ANNOUNCES

2018 SEASON TICKET PACKAGES



 

 

 

Ticket packages start

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INDYCAR DRIVERS GOT AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT THE NEW PHOENIX RACEWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT  

 

On Friday April 28, Beach Whiskey Outback Steakhouse Qualifying Day, the stars of the Verizon IndyCar Series which included Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan got an up-close look at the Phoenix Raceway Project Powered by DC Solar. Phoenix Raceway President Bryan R. Sperber and the drivers had the opportunity to “test drive” prototypes of the new grandstand seating and helped celebrate a key milestone in the construction process which broke ground in February 2017..

 

 

Helio Castroneves

Scott Dixon

Tony Kanaan

 

The entire Verizon IndyCar Series field for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix signed the first 30-foot steel beam that will be used in construction of the new grandstand. Fans have been the foundation of racing at Phoenix Raceway and an integral part of the modernization project and to ensure that fans are forever a part of the history at Phoenix Raceway, they signed their names on the steel beam next to their favorite driver’s signatures throughout the weekend

Information and photos provided by Aimee Dulebohn, Senior Manager of Communications at Phoenix Raceway

High-tech inspection at PRI 2016

Approved body components specified under the INDYCAR aero kit rules are off limits to alterations by the Verizon Series teams, but if you are at all like the author you have wondered “how do officials know what is legal or not?”

 

Online Resources Inc. demonstrated the system on the PRI show floor

using Ed Carpenter's Fuzzy's Vodka DW12 INDYCAR

 

At the 2016 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis, Online Resources Incorporated demonstrated their Creaform Handyscan 700 scanner, Surfcam and Geomagic software which is used to create a 3D model as an inspection and quality-control service for INDYCAR.

 

 

“A laser line is reflecting over the car and cameras built into the scanning unit are capturing the position,” said Jay Schaumberg, president of Online Resources Inc.  "The Geomagic Capture compares the scanned results to the files provided by INDYCAR with different colors on the monitor used to represent tolerances accepted or outside the rules."

The laser scanning inspection complements areas measured and weighed during the technical and safety inspection process during INDYCAR race weekends.

 

Learn more at http://new.onlineresourcesinc.com/

Photos by the author

“It’s a new track record!”

A commentary with historical perspective

By now, you have probably heard or read that all the grandstand tickets for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500-mile race on May 29 are sold out. After a week of practice, the entrants will qualify for the starting field this weekend.

It will be interesting to see if attendance at the two days of time trials exceeds the weak turn-out for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis which was run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 14.

The author recalls that during the nineteen seventies and eighties, the crowd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first day of time trials rivaled the crowd for the ‘500’ itself. The likelihood of that happening in 2016 is between slim and none - for one reason: lack of speed due to the stifling of innovation by the current INDYCAR rules package.  

Instead of innovation, INDYCAR established a set of rules to create a level of perceived excitement for time trials by forcing racers to run twice to qualify for the '500.' 

 

 

The qualifying procedure for the 2016 Indianapolis ‘500’ courtesy of the IndyCar website:

Saturday Qualifying – Will determine all 33 positions in the field based on the fastest four-lap averages. All entries are guaranteed at least one four-lap attempt to qualify. The fastest nine entries advance to the “Fast Nine Shootout.”

Sunday Qualifying – Held Sunday early afternoon to determine positions 10-33 in the field based on fastest four-lap average. All times from Saturday are erased and cars will run in reverse order based on Saturday qualification speeds. All cars must complete another four-lap attempt to determine their starting position.

“Fast Nine Shootout” – Held Sunday afternoon after Positions 10-33 have been determined. The top nine cars will run in reverse order based on Saturday’s qualification times. All cars are required to make at least one attempt. At the end of the session, the cars are ranked 1-9 based on their four-lap average during the segment.

 

The current 4-lap track record at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway of 235.986 miles per hour was set by Arie Luyendyk on May 12, 1996. You read that right- the current track record was set over twenty years ago!  There is little probability that the current crop of be-winged DW12 chassis will approach Luyendyk’s record, and that's a problem in the author's view.

The longest previous period between new track records was twelve years during the Speedway’s dark ages of Eddie Rickenbacker’s  “Junk Formula” rules package from 1928 to 1939. There have been four times when four years passed between records being broken- in the immediately postwar period of 1946 to 1950, after the tragic events of 1973, the cars were slowed until 1977, then for another four-year period after Tom Sneva broke the magic 200 MPH barrier in 1978, and four years after Roberto Guerrero set the standard of 232 MPH in 1992.   

Looking back to events of 1996, which was the first year of the Championship Auto Racing Teams CART-Indy Racing League (IRL) split - the CART teams boycotted the ‘500,’ and the new stock-block powered IRL cars were not ready, so teams competed with a mix of older Lola and Reynard chassis.

On the first day of qualifying, first Davy Jones, then rookie driver Tony Stewart broke Guerrero’s four year old track record. Arie Luyendyk then set a new four-lap standard of 233.350 MPH, but his run was disqualified after the track closed when his Reynard 95I was found to be seven pounds underweight.   

Luyendyk returned the next day, May 12, and re-qualified and set a new one-lap record on each of the successive laps with his best lap of 237.498 MPH and a four-lap average of 236.986 MPH in a run that took just over 2-1/2 minutes to complete. Because his run came on the second day, Luyendyk started twentieth, and he finished the ‘500’ in sixteenth place after being involved in an accident.

The current Indianapolis Motor Speedway track record is so old, that all of the drivers in the race, except the 1995 ‘500’ winner Buddy Lazier and pole-sitter Tony Stewart are retired and Stewart hasn't appeared at the Speedway in an INDYCAR since 2001.  

It is past time for INDYCAR to prove how technologically advanced the series can be by opening up the rulebook to innovation, which will bring new track records and big crowds for time trials.