Indy Racing League Preview- New Engines, New Chassis, New Faces, New Attitude

As the first major racing series to begin competition in the new century, the Indy Racing League (IRL) will combine some exciting new components while welcoming back a link to the glorious past of the Indianapolis 500.

A new chassis, combined with a 3.5L, normally aspirated engine, will help lead the IRL into the 2000 season and the future. The chassis and engine rules will remain consistent for the next three seasons.

Also new to the IRL in 2000 is a race driver who certainly isn't new to the Indianapolis 500-Al Unser Jr. joins the IRL, which will allow the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner to compete in the legendary race for the first time since he won it in 1994. Unser was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1995 but became the first defending winner ever to fail to make the field the following year. Unser has been unable to compete in the Indianapolis 500 since teams in the rival CART series decided not to participate in the race after it became the cornerstone event in the Indy Racing League.

Now entering its fifth season of competition, the IRL has proven that the series is here to stay, and features some of the most competitive racing in the world.

"The Indianapolis 500 is an event that has played an important role in my life and family history, and I am thrilled to compete in it again," Unser says. "I'm just really excited about it. It's the oldest race in the world; it has the most tradition. hatever they run there on race day, more than 400,000 fans will show up. It has a strong tradition and a strong heritage, and I definitely want to be a part of it. That's one of the strongest reasons we are doing what we are doing.

"We're going to try to bring some excitement to the Indy Racing League, and if we can do that, it will be great."

A Rookie AgainUnser originally raced for team owner Rick Galles in the early '80s and then from 1988-93, during which time he captured his first Indianapolis 500 victory in 1992. He will drive a G Force/Oldsmobile/Firestone combination in all 10 IRL races in 2000.

"I am really excited to be back with Rick Galles," Unser says. "Rick gave me my first ride in the Indianapolis 500 in 1983, and we have won every championship title we have ever gone after. Rick operates a first-class organization, and I know his system well.

"I won my first championship with him and my first Indy 500 with Galles Racing. We are so excited, we signed a five-year deal together. That makes us believe in each other very much."

Unser's arrival in the IRL has been met with open arms by his fellow IRL competitors.

"The first thing that comes to my mind is that we should welcome him home," says '98 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever. "This is where he needs to be. The Indianapolis 500 needs to have all the Unsers participating in it that are available. Little Al is uniquely qualified to race in the Indianapolis 500. He has won it twice. He comes from a family that you would have to say is the Royal Family of American Open Wheel Racing. I'm looking forward to beating him."

The 38-year-old Unser also sees potential in the IRL because of its competitive form of racing. Now that a marquee name from CART has joined the series, Unser may also help fill the stands at IRL events.

"The IRL has definitely developed into a strong, competitive series," Unser says.

In preseason testing in the IRL car at both Phoenix International Raceway and Walt Disney World Speedway, Unser quickly adapted to the IRL combination.

"It felt real good in the G Force," he says. "We ran some real competitive times almost right away. The car ran flawlessly. The crew has done a fantastic job in preparing the car. Allan Mertens, my engineer, and I are back together for the first time since 1993, and it was like getting back on a bicycle. We are really working well together. We know each other through thick and thin. Everything is repeating itself, and I'm very, very happy about it.

"The differences that I have felt are, I tested here in a CART car last year during the wintertime, and that was with the little wing on the 1-mile oval. The IRL car has quite a bit bigger wing on it with a little bit less horsepower from the CART car, but really not that much from what I've felt so far. These Aurora engines, when you stand on the gas, it will put you back in the seat.

"The real difference is in the cornering speeds. The IRL car has quite a bit more cornering speeds, which to me will allow some different lines. I'm running much different lines and still coming up with some real quick times."

Unser openly admits to being excited about a new direction in his racing career in the IRL.

"Heck yeah, I'm going to be 38 years old, and I'm a rookie," Unser says. "I'm really excited about it."

Unseating The ChampionWhile Unser's arrival should spark some much-needed interest in the IRL, the driver everyone is out to beat is defending champion Greg Ray. The driver from Plano, Texas, came of age in the IRL last season by winning three races and the series title with Team Menard. Ray returns with the powerful IRL team owned by John Menard, which will be sponsored this season by Conseco.

Ray competed in his first Indianapolis 500 in 1997, the first year of the 4.0L, normally aspirated engine with the first phase of the G Force and Dallara chassis. Also throughout that year, engine failures and development problems plagued the IRL.

But the series continued to forge ahead and has presented a much more professional lineup since then.

"The motors were new, the chassis were new, and you had a lot of new drivers that didn't have experience there," Ray says of the Indianapolis 500. "There were a lot of question marks. There were new teams and new engineers that hadn't worked together. Anytime you start with a bunch of new things like that, it takes a while to hit your stride.

"Now, you have some teams and drivers that have really established themselves, and sponsors, engineers, and teams that have established the IRL. It has set a competitive level that is second to none in any racing series on the planet."

Leveling The Playing FieldMuch of the reason for that close competition is the engine and chassis rules, which have made the playing field much more level than at any time in Indy car racing's past. Unlike 1997, when the new engines and chassis featured a long development cycle, the next phase went much more smoothly during the first open test at Walt Disney World Speedway in mid-December.

"Throughout the paddock during that first test weekend, there was universal excitement for the new equipment that will be raced in the IRL in 2000," says Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and founder of the IRL. "Our engine and chassis suppliers have worked hard to build these new cars, and the benefactors will be the racing fans. They are going to witness close racing with a new look and sound."

Safety-based changes to the chassis and engines were mandated by the IRL, which called for a new design on the G Force, Dallara, and Riley & Scott chassis in 2000. Beginning this season, the cars are fitted with the new Xtrac gearbox, which includes a sequential shifter. Other improvements to the chassis are a cockpit opening increased to 19 inches wide, which will provide better head protection to the driver through increased headrest thickness, and additional anti-intrusion barriers on the chassis sides to improve side-impact performance.

An integrated SWEMS (Suspension Wheel Energy Management System) with strengthened cables and improved cable attachment points is designed to provide a more effective tethering system and keep the wheels connected to the cars in the event of a crash.

The outer edges of the side pods will be lengthened to lessen the possibility of interlocking wheels. The rear attenuator attachment has been improved, and the minimum side-pod height has been increased from 16 to 17 inches.

"The chassis looks a lot more like modern Formula 1 cars," Ray says. "They are a little bit smaller overall. We have a new sequential gearbox, which is both good and bad."

Sweet SoundThe most noticeable change for the fans, however, will come with the sound of the engines. The 4.0L engines had a loud, throaty roar, which sounded similar to that of a NASCAR Winston Cup V-8 engine. The 3.5L engine will use a 180-degree crankshaft and will run at a higher rpm range, which will return the high-pitched whine or shriek that was heard in the days of the turbocharged engine.

"The engines sound more like what people have become accustomed to in open wheel cars," Ray says. "I've driven Formula 2000, Atlantics, Indy Lights, and the CART cars, so I had established in my mind what a race car sounds like. The first time I got into an IRL car in 1997, I felt like I was driving a Winston Cup car or a Trans Am car by the way it sounded, but with open wheel chassis. The engines had so much more torque down low; it was really different than anything I had driven. To get used to that, and now go back to what I'm used to, was a little bit of a change. I think it will be very welcome to the fans and will not be foreign to them. It's different, but when you are flat out in the corners, it all feels the same, and you get used to it like anything else."

The 214ci engine also features a new firing order. The maximum rpm will increase from 10,000 revs with the 4.0L to 10,700 with the 3.5. The '99 engine had 700 hp, but the 2000 engine will have 650 hp. The bore remains the same on both at 93 mm, but the stroke on the '99 engine of about 73 mm will be reduced to 64 mm in 2000. The maximum piston speed of the 4.0L powerplant was 4,800 feet/minute but will change to 4,650 feet/minute with the 3.5L. The maximum deck height remains the same at 205 mm, but the rod length is 143 mm, compared to 138 mm in 1999.

"It won't have the torque that it did, but we will have the rpm, which is a torque multiplier, so you will be able to pull a little lower gear, and it will give you the same torque at the rear wheels as the bigger motor," says team owner AJ Foyt. "I'd like to see them let us run at 10,800 rpm. I don't want to see them change the rpm in the middle of the year like they did last year. Whatever they do, if it's going to be 11,000 rpm, fine, but I'd like to see it left at that.

"I think it will be a very good engine. The Nissan will be improved, and I would like to see Ford or somebody come into the IRL."

The 3.5L engine should provide more reliability, which could, in turn, lower engine costs.

"We are very pleased with the results we have seen to date with the 3.5L Oldsmobile engines," says Joe Negri, GM Racing IRL/Road Racing group manager. "Several engines have already run more than 400 miles on the track, and that verifies what we have seen in our successful dynamometer simulations of a 200-mile race. We are currently working hard on validating an engine specification for the 500-mile race at Indianapolis.

"We are very proud of how well the Oldsmobile engine builders have adapted to the 3.5L engine formula. They accelerated the development of the new engine package and provided valuable input as we developed our recommended engine specifications."

After spending his entire Indy car racing career with turbocharged engines, Unser is discovering the differences of the normally aspirated engine in the IRL.

"The powerband is a little smaller on the IRL car," Unser says. "When it drops its rpm too much, it has a hard time pulling back to it. The powerband on the Mercedes is all I can compare it to. The Mercedes was a little bit wider than the Aurora is, but once you get it up there singing, it sings pretty well."

Cost containment remains a vital aspect of the IRL engine/chassis philosophy, and that is a goal the series hopes to continue.