2013 Road to Indy (Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, USF2000)

[NaBUru38]

The full Road to Indy is racing at St Petersburg this weekend. Practice results are:

A healthy grid of 31 cars at USF2000:

1. Scott Hargrove, Cape
2. Neil Alberico, Cape
3. Wyatt Gooden, Afterburner
4. Stefan Rzadzinski, JDC
5. Danilo Estrela, Belardi
6. Jake Eidson, Afterburner
7. Luca Forgeois, ZSports
8. Michael Epps, PRL
9. Florian Latorre, JAY
10. Garett Grist, Andretti
11. Peter Portante, Belardi
12. Jason Wolfe, Pabst
13. Dalton Kellett, Pabst
14. Jeroen Slaghekke, Cape
15. Matt McMurry, Belardi
16. RC Enerson, ZSports
17. Michael Johnson, JDC
18. Daniel Burkett, Belardi
19. Jesse Lazare, Pabst
20. Arthur Oliveira, JDC
21. Brandon Newey, Afterburner
22. Felipe Donato, ArmsUp
23. Timothy Paul, ArmsUp
24. Scott Rettich, Alliance
25. James Fletcher, Cape
26. Austin Cindric, Andretti
27. Clark Toppe, JDC
28. Andrew Hobbs, ArmsUp
29. James Dayson, ArmsUp
30. Ryan Verra, Alliance
31. Henrik Furuseth, PRL

A weak grid of 12 cars at Star Mazda:

1. Matthew Brabham, Andretti
2. Shelby Blackstock,Andretti
3. Petri Suvanto, Pelfrey
4. Nick Andries, JDC
5. Spencer Pigot, Pelfrey
6. Juan Piedrahita,a JDC
7. Diego Ferreira, Juncos
8. Scott Anderson, Juncos
9. Kyle Kaiser, World Speed
10. Zack Meyer, JDC
11. Lloyd Read, JDC
12. Juan Acosta, M1

A worrying 9-car grid at Indy Lights:

1. Gabby Chaves
2. Sage Karam
3. Carlos Muñoz
4. Jack Hawksworth
5. Juan Pablo Garc�*a
6. Zach Veach
7. Peter Dempsey
8. Jorge Concalvez
9. Ethan Ringel

[gomick]

Poor numbers for Pro Mazda & Lights

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by gomick

Poor numbers for Pro Mazda & Lights

That's an understatement.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Indy Lights what a joke.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Indy Lights what a joke.

The delay with the new car doesn't help.

[NaBUru38]

But the USF2000 grid gives me lots of hope. It's a generation thing: there's a lack of North American drivers aged 18-21, but lots of teenagers.

[NaBUru38]

I've just found this presentation. On page 10, it says:

o- Nine chassis manufacturers submitted bids
o- Seven engine manufacturers submitted bids
o- Announcement in Fall 2012
o- Display model by May 2013

So that was Randy's plan. Well, not anymore

[NaBUru38]

Marshall Pruett has written this beautiful article about the Road to Indy program. It's true: one or two drivers have climbed each of the past few years. Old guys will eventually retire: Franchitti, Castroenves, Kanaan, Wilson, Tagliani, Serviá. IndyCar must keep investing in the ladder, so young drivers keep filling the vacant spots.

[Fan]

Interesting to see that ESPN in the UK are showing extended highlights of each Indy Lights race, hopefully for the full season.

[HJJ]

The Indy Lights Series is dying, and here's why!

by Stephen Cox
Monday, May 13, 2013

Imagine you’re in a McDonald’s restaurant. You order a Big Mac. The cashier plops your sandwich on the counter and says, “That’ll be six hundred and twelve dollars, sir.”
“Uh… excuse me. Did you actually say six hundred and twelve dollars?”

“Yes, sir. Our Big Macs come with special sauce, lettuce and cheese. They’re really good.”

You would probably respond, “They’re not that good!” and walk out of the restaurant.

I was recently offered a sponsorship package for the Indy Lights series. My sponsors were willing to spend $50,000 as an associate sponsor in four or five races. But it soon became apparent that no other sponsors were willing to chip in on the deal.

No problem. My sponsors are reasonable people. They reduced the expected number of races to only two… the Freedom 100 and any other race of choice. And I had specific offers from three teams. But the sponsorship necessary to support a two-race deal ranged from $92,500 to $160,000.

Still, I was not dissuaded. I sent my resume to IndyCar and they approved me for the Lights series. A two-hour visit to the friendly folks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s infield medical facility got me through my physical with no problems. The IndyCar staff helped me plan my initial testing.

But money was still the issue. So I called the Indy Lights series directly to check out prices for myself. Turns out that engine leases are $10,000. And that only gets you a used motor that cannot be raced without a $17,000 rebuild. You are not allowed to buy an engine or build your own. You must lease and rebuild through the series, which owns all 50-some-odd engines.

Tires are $2,700 per set. They’re mandated, too. And constructed from a soft compound that burns up quickly. The series also prescribed two preliminary test sessions. Track rental, tires and travel expenses racked up a $25,000 bill for testing alone.

The $50,000 budget I was given would not even pay for an engine lease and the mandatory tests.

So I did the obvious. I asked my sponsors for more money. They are fair people. They looked at the series, the exposure, attendance and the television package and their response was simple and honest – “This series doesn’t return enough value to justify more than a $50,000 investment.”

Nay-sayers will indignantly claim that big time racing costs big time money. That’s all well and good. But two weeks later the Firestone Indy Lights Series opened the 2013 season in St. Petersburg with nine cars.

Reality stinks.

At the end of the day, the market says that the Indy Lights series is not worth fifty to eighty thousand dollars per event.

You can argue till you’re blue in the face, but corporate America will not pay six hundred and twelve dollars for a Big Mac and they are walking out of the restaurant.

It’s simply not worth it.

The Indy Lights series is set to introduce a new chassis in 2015 in the hopes of getting rich European bankers and South American oil tycoons to spoil their children by writing seven-figure checks to buy their way into IndyCar.

Okay, that’s a fair plan. But how’s it working out so far? Fan Force United has cars for sale. So do Younessi Racing and Andretti Autosport. Two other cars are rusting in a Texas warehouse. Conquest’s car is ready to race but has no driver. Bryan Herta’s team told me they were already spread too thin and would rather park the car than risk losing money on engines and tires.

Is seems there are more available cars than rich kids to drive them.

Dallara told me they have stacks of spare parts in their Speedway warehouse but no one to sell them to. Genuine, cash-paying sponsors have no interest in the series. And fifteen months from today, every Lights car in existence will have the approximate value of an 8-track player.

As business plans go, this one is only slightly better than the White Star Line’s idea for a new ocean liner.

I certainly have no bitterness against the series. On the contrary, the entire IndyCar staff could not have been more helpful. They openly wanted me in the series and did everything in their power to promote my program. They are fantastic people and I support them and the series wholeheartedly.

But like it or not, one of three things is going to happen to Indy Lights:

1. The series will return vastly more value to its teams and sponsors.
2. The series will slash operating costs to a small fraction of their current levels.
3. The series will cease to exist.

There are no other alternatives. The writing is on the wall, and I hope someone reads it in time.

Stephen Cox

.

[gomick]

Thats a good read...

[NaBUru38]

Milwaukee - qualifying results:

1. Sage Karam, 146.7 mph
2. Zach Veach, 146.7
3. Peter Dempsey, 146.0
4. Carlos Muñoz, 145.8
5. Jack Hawksworth, 145.7
6. Juan Pablo Garc�*a, 144.9
7. Gabby Chaves, 144.5
8. Jorge Goncalvez, 143.1

[gomick]

Matthew Brabham wins at Milwaukee, his 5th win of 2013...

Pro Mazda Points...

Matthew Brabham - 184
Diego Ferreira - 135
Shelby Blackstock - 118
Spencer Pigot - 111
Scott Anderson - 95

[NaBUru38]

Indy Lights race at Milwaukee:

1. Sage Karam
2. Carlos Muñoz
3. Zach Veach
4. Gabby Chaves
5. Juan Pablo Garc�*a
6. Peter Dempsey
7. Jorge Goncalvez
8. Jack Hawksworth

Standings after Milwaukee:

1. Carlos Muñoz, 207
2. Sage Karam, 189
3. Gabby Chaves, 171
4. Peter Dempsey, 168
5. Jack Hawksworth, 156
6. Zach Veach, 146

[TheMightyM]

Gordon Kirby interviews Derek Daly and Jeremy Shaw on the health of America's open wheel ladder system. It’s an extremely interesting — and long — read. A sample:

"When you take a driver through the Road to Indy program and become intimately familiar with how it works you get a different view," Daly remarks. "I think there are some glaring weaknesses in the system that hampers the development of world class driver development. There are nothing but good intentions behind the Mazda program but if you look at the return on investment, what is Mazda getting out of it and how many drivers might become true stars because of it? It's a serious and a scary question that I'm sure will be asked very soon, if it hasn't already.

"The root of the problem is that IndyCar gets so little overall media coverage and as a result the ladder system struggles for anything more than the crumbs of media coverage."

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

Gordon Kirby interviews Derek Daly and Jeremy Shaw on the health of America's open wheel ladder system. It’s an extremely interesting — and long — read. A sample:

Good article but it ignores where the rot is and that is the main series. Which no one wants to watch or see out there in the general public, so it's not a Road to Indy, but rather a Road to Nowhere. It's why these series are so badly supported now. There is no point in spending millions to get to indy, when there is nothing there of value or interest.

As an aspiring driver in the USA, you can either take the Nascar path or gamble everything on trying to race in Europe on the slim chance you can make it to F1. That is about it.

[gomick]

What made Indy Car so good in the 80's & early 90's - tobacco dollars?

[NaBUru38]

Money isn't all, but does it help!

(It's a phrase of an Argentine song)

Sure, having lots of money allows teams to develop fast cars and hire the best drivers.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by gomick

What made Indy Car so good in the 80's & early 90's - tobacco dollars?

Good, solid, leadership.

Oh, and realizing there was motorsport outside of the Indy 500. The single groove NASCAR restrictor plate/Hanford device race that is today's Indy 500 is a shadow of it's popularity in the 90s, but even then people that were much smarter than any of us realized how overrated and short-sighted Indy-centric thinking was and how it was not the "Great Cathedral" it was made out to be, and how aging the Indy 500 audience was.

They needed the Indy 500, as does any American open wheel racing series, but they also needed strong events year-round to bolster it.

Ironic that the Indy centric thinking that helped lead to the split has brought the Indy 500 to it's lowest Attendance and popularity in Modern History.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by gomick

What made Indy Car so good in the 80's & early 90's - tobacco dollars?

I don't think it was just tobacco dollars, F1 survived the tobacco ban. I think it was a combination of things. International drivers competing with home grown talent, multiple chassis and engine manufacturers, good crowd attendance and all of this attracting multinational sponsors, including tobacco.

[rwintle]

So... based on those grids posted above... would it make any sense to abandon two rungs of the ladder and put everyone in USF2000? Or is it way too slow to be the last step before IndyCar?

How about consolidating Indy Lights and Pro Mazda?

Just thoughts with no real knowledge behind them, interested in your ideas.

[NaBUru38]

Drivers can't jump from a 180hp USF2000 to a 600hp IndyCar. Drivers need to train for years to increase their strength.

Plus, drivers need to develop their skills: driving, strategy, pitstops, setup. You can't expect drivers to have a decent career with so little training.

Let's see how Dan Andersen rebuilds Pro Mazda, and hope that Indy Lights survives the next year.

[NaBUru38]

Uruguayan 16-year-old driver Santiago Urrutia was mailed from an Indy Lights team to do some races!

[ptclaus98]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Good article but it ignores where the rot is and that is the main series. Which no one wants to watch or see out there in the general public, so it's not a Road to Indy, but rather a Road to Nowhere. It's why these series are so badly supported now. There is no point in spending millions to get to indy, when there is nothing there of value or interest.

As an aspiring driver in the USA, you can either take the Nascar path or gamble everything on trying to race in Europe on the slim chance you can make it to F1. That is about it.

You have to be kidding me.

"The root of the problem is that IndyCar gets so little overall media coverage and as a result the ladder system struggles for anything more than the crumbs of media coverage."

It's right there in the middle of the article.

[gomick]

US Formula 2000 Points after Mid Ohio...

Scott Hargrove - 227
Neil Alberico - 181
Garrett Grist - 151
Danilo Estrela - 138
Florian Latorre - 136
Wyatt Gooden - 130
Henrik Furuseth - 128

Pro Mazda Points after Mid Ohio...

Matthew Brabham - 336
Diego Ferreira - 271
Shelby Blackstock - 247
Spencer Pigot - 221
Scott Anderson - 178
Kyle Kaiser - 171
Zack Meyer - 165
Lloyd Read - 152