The IZOD IndyCar Series isn't normally covered by the grassroots media, but it's Mid Ohio event is arguably the highest profile racing series that visits Ohio, although hot rodders will argue the NHRA's event at Norwalk is bigger. And it's hard to disagree.

But many of us grew up with the Indianapolis 500, and many of us have seen in person the brutal beauty of the IndyCar at Cleveland and Mid Ohio during the time CART ruled the sport. And we still keep track of the latest Danica soap opera. Whether we want to or not...

Since the "retirement" of IRL boss Tony George, new CEO Randy Bernard has been saying all of the right things in righting American Open Wheel racing after almost 20 years of civil war. Every decision made perfect sense, and with the new title sponsor IZOD and the coming announcement of the new car and engine package for 2012, the future seemed bright.

Full details can be found in the car builder Dallara's magazine at the link listed below.

First, the good: From the sounds of the article, the "aero kit" concept was required by the specs and not a Dallara idea "accepting the competition in aerodynamics". Whoever came up with it, I think it's an excellent idea. It's impossible to have innovation and cut costs. But this idea comes very very close. Reducing the risk of tire-tire impact is great. They call it wheel to wheel, but it's the tire to tire contact between the road surfaces that they're preventing.

The bad: Maintaining the same performance level "around 225" at Indy. B O R I N G. "For the road courses, the goal is to improve performance by about 2%". Don't bother. That's 1.3 seconds at Mid Ohio. Still far from CART levels, still "just a tick" off of ALMS. And that's all IF IF they can reduce the drag enough to offset the 70hp reduction in power AND increase the performance. Without reducing downforce to the point of making them slow that way. B O R I N G.

Very good ideas in the car. I don't fault the car. It's the engine specs. You can easily write in more power for the flat ovals and road courses, while maintaining safe speeds at the high banked ovals with aero or engine regs. Open wheel is mind numbing speeds. Not speeds a full bodied car can do What's the point? Anyone old enough to remember those words "It's a new track record" knows what I'm talking about. We'll never hear those words again with this setup.

In the end, it seems like they did a nice job of polishing a turd.

Copy and paste this link to read the whole article by Dallara.

http://www.italiaracing.net/mag_dallara/201006/index.asp

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Yes, SpeedwayOhio is back in business.

I had this (and several other columns) canned up and ready, then lost it all to a virus. I should have just reformatted, but you know guys, we gotta see if we can fix it first. Lug wrench, Phillips screwdriver, and oil can full of used motor oil are no match for computers when they're sick.

Anyway, my predictions haven't changed since watching the first few races, so this column still works.

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Now that the dust has settled on the 2009 season, and the snow is settling, it's time to reflect on the racing season in the best state in the nation.

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I spend a lot of time at tracks, on forums, and in other places talking to race fans. And one topic keeps coming up over and over.

A "stock car" is suppose to be stock.

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We are looking for columnists and drivers or pit crew

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Welcome to SpeedwayOhio, your guide to oval track racing in Ohio. This website will soon be the home of the most fanatical racing junkies anywhere.

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