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photo: IMS photo

2003 Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran has been tossing around the idea of an IndyCar Series program. He would not be entering as a driver but as an owner.  Since Audi and Peugot pulled out of the ALMS Series for the rest of 2009, Honda/Acura have expressed that they have no desire to compete against no one according to Robin Miller.  If Gil de Ferran wants to continue racing he might be making the move over sooner rather then later.  Here is what Gil de Ferran had to say:

We are investigating growing into IndyCars.  It would make sense, because having two programs would bring economies of scale. It would also help us grow as a team in every respect.  We are having a serious look at it, but we would only do it if it makes sense for us and we could put a strong team together. 

Gil de Ferran has made it clear that he would not be driving and that he would be entering the IndyCar Series as a team owner. Word is traveling that serious work is going into making preparations for this year’s Indy 500.

The IRL is getting some more help from mechanical manufacturers.

XTrac, the company that produces gearboxes for the IRL is reducing its cost to help ease current financial troubles. This is good news after the IRL recently announced that the usual three year engine cycle would be extended to five years to help out finances. Financial help usually never comes from outside a company no matter what line of work one could be involved in, the IRL needs all it can get.

“We have been a part of the IRL formula since 2000 and we are willing to share in the pain of the economic crisis,” said Peter Digby, Xtrac’s managing director. “In some cases, we will be offering savings of over 15 percent plus reduced AGS service costs and intervals. This is a big step.”

The combination of saving money on engines and gear boxes will give the IRL a chance to adjust to the hard economic times.

Without the help they have received I wonder how the IRL and its teams would be holding up. Teams should be counting their lucky stars.

“I think it shows what a great partner the Indy Racing League has in Xtrac,” said Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations for the sanctioning body. “In these economic times, to help reduce the costs of participation in the IndyCar Series is quite a gesture on their behalf.”

The IRL has announced thats its usual three year engine cycle will be delayed. It comes to no surprise that economic trouble is to blame.

Honda has been the primary source of horsepower for the IRL since 2006.

League officials have not announced the specs for the new engine design. However, several new ideas are being thought of in order to benefit the league as a whole when it comes to financial trouble.

The league has thought to replace the V8 engine with four cylinders to cut back on fuel mileage and the purchase of ethanol. Stretching out engine agreements to lower costs on research. Also the addition of turbo engines. This would enable teams have better control of power on different type of courses. This would lower the amount of funds put towards redesigning engines for the different types of courses the IRL has.

Five automotive manufacturers including Audi, Fiat, Honda, Porsche and Volkswagen have showed interest in making engines for the IRL in the neat future.

“The fact that we’ve got five [engine manufacturers] involved in this global economy, I think, speaks volumes about the interest in the IndyCar series,” IRL president of competition Brian Barnhart said. “We’re not going to get all five of them, but if we get two, to go along with Honda, we’d be thrilled.”

This is an excellent move for the IRL. With no increase in sight when it comes to finances, it makes sense to level out rather than hitting rock bottom and wondering what happened in the first place.

It would seem that the driver pool is not the only thing growing.  Mechanics, crew workers, and strategist alike are being let go at an alarmning rate.  Just a few days ago Rahal Letterman racing announced that they would be more than likely not be running an IndyCar program in 2009, but to not count them out of the month of May.  Just this Friday, KV Racing let go of roughly 18 employess from their Indianapolis based organization.  This was the crew for the second car. When jimmy Vasser was asked about the recent cut he stated

It was a very difficult thing to do because we have a good family atmosphere built up here but were past the date on our budget to carry the compliment of people for a two-car team. Those are just the facts.  Last year we had no engine lease so it’s $2 million more we’ve got to come up with and we’ve got less money.  I’ve never seen anything like this economy in my lifetime and it’s tough but we’re fighting and we’re doing everything we can.

KV Racing along with Paul Tracy have submitted a budget to Monster Energy Drink to run the complete 2009 season as well as just running the Indianapolis 500 and are still waiting on an answer.

David Letterman will have more to worry about than just what his top 10 jokes will be on his daily weeknight telecast. Rahal-Letterman racing is going to sit out the 2009 season due to the lack of a sponsor.

Rahal Letterman racing has come to a screeching halt despite having above average production in the last couple of years. The team celebrated an Indianapolis 500 victory in 2004 with Buddy Rice. They brought in Danica Patrick, possibly the league’s most well known driver commercially. Also upcoming driver Ryan Hunter-Reay won his first race last season and was a constant competitor both on the oval and road/street courses.

It comes with no surprise as financial troubles have struck the racing world in the last year with several teams having to cut back due to sponsorships being in real trouble due to poor economic situations in the United States.

With well known names in racing and show business it’s rather surprising, to me at least, that they are willing to sit this season out. I’m not a finance major but really sitting out…wow. It makes me think with the economy headed into no-mans-land and no way out in site will we see racing in two or three years? Will we see more teams drop out and do the same thing?

Will I have anything to write about?

I certainly hope not, but unfortunately it looks that way.

UPDATE:

Bobby Rahal recently issued a press release stating the following.

As I said in the quote from the story, as of this time we do not have any sponsorship that will allow us to compete in the IRL in 2009, but by no means does that mean that we are giving up. We are continuing to search for sponsorship to run the 2009 season and to run in the Indianapolis 500 and we feel that there is still time for us to put something together that will allow that to happen.

Here’s to the hope that they can sort out some sponsorships and get back in the race.