Questions for Michigan Weekend...

[Tim Northcutt]

There are a few things that are/were announced to occur this weekend, and one that has not been announced but might come out as well....

1. Following the Indy 500, Marty Roth had said that he was going to compete at Michigan and California....the IRL site had a story about it shortly after the 500 was over....The reason was because his car has the super speedway package and he didn't want to spend the $$$ to get the needed package for the smaller tracks...

But I didn't see him on the infiniti Pro Series list this past weekend....

Is Marty Roth gone....or will he be at MIS this weekend as an IRL entry in the 400???

(at least we should know for when we make out "Forum Picks"....he'll be the slowest qualifier if he does)

2. On the last two race telecasts, the announcers have said that Chevy has put together an updated engine that would be run at MIS....

Will the new engine, in fact, be at MIS???

Do we know if only one team will get it like last year, with a "staggered distribution" based on the standings??? Or will everybody be running the updated Chevy???

3. Back when the Portland issue came up, the IRL said (on July 16) that they would release their schedule "in a couple of weeks"

This weekend will be "a couple of weeks...."

Does anyone anticipate an announcement by the IRL of the 2005 season schedule at MIS????


Your thoughts????

[Kicking-back]

Question 1 - I hope not. The IRL has moved up a level from drivers of that calibre.

[Tim Northcutt]

Just asking....his name would be worth at least 2 points in our "Forum Pick 'em" Contest (slowest qualifier) and possibly 4 points (if he is 1st car out of the race and slowest in quals)....

The standings are rathr closely constested, and 2-4 points could move someone up 2-3 places in the Season Standings....

[Kicking-back]

True.

I think the lack of any "noise" around the Roth camp suggests nothing will happen.

[Tim Northcutt]

That's my guess as well....

What about the Chevy Plan???

I assume they want to have a good showing on their own "turf," but which team would get the engines if they don't give them to everyone???

None of them have really shown much thus far...except for Bell, and he has been in the car for only a few races....

Barron has shown a few decent finishes, but hasn't been consistent....

Last year, Panther tested the "Chevy-worth" and Sam was the top Chevy team in points....that's the way they rolled out he engines to everyone...by points order...

Will they do that again???


Raises an intersting issue, doesn't it??

[Kicking-back]

Indeed it does.

I suspect we'll see the same policy again.

[Tim Northcutt]

I just looked at the standings for 2004...and it, too, raises some questions:

Barron is the top Chevy driver with 188 pts.

Scheckter is much farther down the list...with 122 points...

Carpenter is next in line in the "bow tie brigade"

Bell has picked up 71 points in just 3 races, and Scheckter has 122 in nine...

Since both Barron and Scheckter are from two car teams now, would it be Barron and Carpenter???? and Scheckter and Bell not getting the engine until Kentucky???

[Kicking-back]

I'd give the engines to Barron and Bell first, then Scheckter, then Carpenter last.

[GP Racer]

I don't have any solid answers for any of your questions, but I can "ruminate"...

No rumblings at all on Roth, can't be a good sign for him. I can't see him just jumping into a car at Michigan with no practise, without killing himself. Like KB said, the series is past guys like that.

No word on Chevy engines either, but certainly Barron has done the most with this dog of an engine, and deserves one first. And even though Bell only has a couple of races under his belt, he is American, and he is showing great promise to be a star. Forget Scheckter right now, he's squandered another year.

I don't think the schedule will be announced until Portland is figured out. That will probably delay an announcement.

No hard facts, just thoughts...

[Tim Northcutt]

Based on race performance, I would, too....

But Barron and Carpenter are both on the same team....as are Scheckter and Bell...

That's why I raised the issue....last year, it was a little more cut-and-dried....

This year, it is not....

I'm assuming that it will be the Team that will get them (both cars) based on where their top guy is in the standings....

Thus Scheckter and Bell would not get them until Kentucky...

But this would depend on how many engines Chevy has given the updates....

If they have enough for four cars, those two teams would get them first, followed by D&R and Patrick at Kentucky....

It'll be interesting to see how Chevy will handle this...

[Snrub]

I don't mean to offend Chevy fans, but don't you guys think it's time they gave up? If you're not going to spend the money of your competitors or you simply are not as good, why continue? They money they're spending does nothing to help GM.

[GP Racer]

No offence to you either snrub, but thats a kind of a defeatist attitude you've got there.

This is Chevies series. It's there game. Honda and Toyota are the new kids in town, and I would be seriously ticked off if Chevy just gave up and bowed out. I'm sure they would here from alot of fans, who are car buyers, that they would never purchase a Chevy again, if they left. It's that important.

This competition is good for Chevrolet, like competition is good for everything in life, they know now that they have to step-up their game and compete. Without it, you have mediocraty, no advancement, and no new technology.

[Tim Northcutt]

Chevy is the only one of the three that has not signed an extension to their IRL engine agreement....

I would think that they would want to continue in the Series....

but it makes you wonder if they will....

But if they don't, if I were the IRL, I would be calling up Judd to run their engines in the IRL...

They have a "badging" agreement with MG, and MG supposedly has plans to come back to the North American market within the next two years...

Sounds like a good business deal for both parties, if you ask me....

But back to Chevy....

They get lots of benefits from being in the Series....the safety trucks, Pace cars, and all of the courtesy vehicles are all Chevy....

Thus they get plenty of exposure for thier models that they sell in the showrooms at every race track where the Series runs....

I think they will stay the course....but I'm an optimist....

GM pulled the plug on Cadillac's sportscar effort just when it was beginning to show some results....

Hope that doesn't become the case in this instance....

[Team Owner]

Chevys agreement is thru 2005 not 2004 like some have posted on other forums. They could stop the manufacture backing after this year but probably won't. I understand that they may have a little more horsepower coming but it is in improved cams and injectors. Chevy will not release a new engine like they did last year (with the Cosworth) It would not be permitted this year. All the manufactures will submit changes for next year but no major changes untill 2006.

Marty Roth sold his IPS equiptment and thinks he's an Indycar driver now so he won't run the IPS anymore. He only has 1 employee fulltime and as of this posting is not on the entry list for Michigan. Things change quickly so it's still a remote possibility that he could show up.

As far as the schedule is concerned it was ready for release this week with Nazareth and Texas II being dropped and Watkins Glenn and Sears Point being added but I understand that there is some last minute talks going on that could delay the announcement.

[BootsOntheSide]

I think (and hope) we've seen the last of Marty Roth's little dream.

From a logistic perspective, it'd be easier to give 2 new engines to one team, but choosing which would be tricky. Panther have had a lot of success with them in the past so there's a loyalty aspect. Barron and Carpenter are ahead of the Panther drivers, and Cheever have scored more total poitns than Pnather, but Panther are more competitive now that Bell's in the team.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by Team Owner
Chevys agreement is thru 2005 not 2004 like some have posted on other forums. They could stop the manufacture backing after this year but probably won't. I understand that they may have a little more horsepower coming but it is in improved cams and injectors. Chevy will not release a new engine like they did last year (with the Cosworth) It would not be permitted this year. All the manufactures will submit changes for next year but no major changes untill 2006.

Marty Roth sold his IPS equiptment and thinks he's an Indycar driver now so he won't run the IPS anymore. He only has 1 employee fulltime and as of this posting is not on the entry list for Michigan. Things change quickly so it's still a remote possibility that he could show up.

As far as the schedule is concerned it was ready for release this week with Nazareth and Texas II being dropped and Watkins Glenn and Sears Point being added but I understand that there is some last minute talks going on that could delay the announcement.

Some Questions for you, Team Owner:

I was aware that the changes had to be internal and are restricted to certain areas as you have noted, as opposed to having a whole new engine coming out....

My question really was directed at whether or not they had these updates on enough engines to supply them to all of the teams this weekend at Michigan (which is where the TV announcers for the IRL have said these updates would show up on the track) or will it just be with a couple of them....

Also, are the "lats minute talks" you have referred to directed at the possibility of running at Portland????

Just wondering.....

[climb]

I do hope Chevy will catch up, no doubt IRL need it, no matter how they do.

[Snrub]

If it was Honda or Toyota in the same boat as Chevy I might not suggest "give up". For Chevy I see it as a real downer to see them always lose. To me the failed racing ventures simply remind me of GM's chronic failure as a company. For the last 25+ years they've lost a percent of market share per year and gone from the world's largest company to far less. There seem to be some people at GM that are capable, but the management and culture problems kill it. GM and Ford are the only companies on the planet who's passenger car operation I would actually view more favorably as a result of racing success, because the problems that prevent them from succeeding in racing are also present in their other ventures. Until they are able to succeed I find it hurts them a lot more than it could possibly help them. GM is also always well behind on the technological scale. The only exception is the Corvette, which makes the likes of Ferrari look silly. I really don't see any racing technology going into GM cars. Honda on the other hand might not see a direct ROI on all their racing, but they do use it in their cars. The most technologically advanced car on the road is the Honda Insight. I think much of what made their incredible 1L 3-cyl engine happen came from racing technology. eg. With it's stratified fuel mixture charge, the thing can run A/F ratios as lean as 22:1! (some diesels run richer!)