It's Chassis D (Decision) Day -- But Don't Hold Your Breath

The decision on the 2012 IndyCar was supposed to be made by today, June 30. IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard has said recently that the decision might be made by today, but the announcement won't be for a week or two.

UPDATE: Indy Star's Curt Cavin reported Wednesday afternoon the announcement will be on July 14.

The contenders are Dallara, DeltaWing, Swift, BAT and Lola. Check many posts on them all here.

Hope springs eternal for a multiple-chassis ruling, but several chassis makers have said unless they can have the economy of scale of supplying the whole field, they can't afford to offer a chassis at all.

My favorite remains the Swift, strictly based on aesthetics and promises of close racing. As a fan, I care little about how it works and mainly want it to go fast, look good and allow for close racing. Swift has also done the most fan outreach of the contenders.

If I had to bet, I'd probably put money on Dallara. Their 14 years of working with the league are going to be hard to overcome. 

DeltaWing has been an interesting case study in this whole process. They came busting out of the gate early, unveiling their radical new design with a lot of fanfare at a Chicago car show.

Reaction was immediate in both directions. Some loved the ideas behind the design and its radicalness. Some hated the look. The consensus behind the DeltaWing, it seems to me, has gone from initial "the hope for any kind of future in IndyCar" (I am paraphrasing here) to "love the theory behind it" to "can't get past the look of it" today. Some I've talked to would be OK with having it selected -- as long as it's one of several selected.

I love the courage of Ben Bowlby and the DeltaWing posse to come forward with a truly radical new idea, but for me the tricycle-like nature of it was a deal breaker from the first. 

The good news is, this decision is moving forward. IndyCar cannot afford continued delays in establishing a new engine and chassis spec. The "bad economy" excuse wore out a couple years ago. I would recommend the league start thinking about its NEXT car, maybe set to come out in 2015 to 2017, the day after it announces its 2012 spec.

And kudos to the current Dallara, much maligned as it sometimes is, for lasting as long as it has. Designed to race on ovals for three years, it has raced on ovals and twisties for 10, with another year to come. The fact that the Dallara is as old as it is and still performs as well as it does is a tribute to the people who designed and built it. 

No matter what the decision, I'm impressed that the ICONIC panel of experts was formed to (theoretically) work through the proposals from each maker and come up with a recommendation. An orderly, methodical, plausibly objective approach to issues is always a good idea.

We shall see what that decision is.

Comments

[The American Mutt]

Didn't I read that the DeltaWing requires a 300 hp engine. That's half the engine recommendation. Hasn't it been ruled out for weeks? Or did I dream that the delta required 300hp?

[pressdog]

I think I read somewhere that Bowlby said the bigger engine was not a deal killer. Others have wondered if the bigger engine would allow the DWing to be modified to be more rectangular since you now have more HP to overcome the front wheel drag. I will agree, though, that the engine spec seemed to be a strike against the DeltaWing.

[Dylan]

Well according to what I read from Robin Miller, and someone else, who's name I've forgotten, Miller said "fan's will be pleasntly suprised". That says, to me, it's not Dallara, which Miller hates. Fans tend to like Swift, so that's good news. But concerningly, he answered someone who wanted to see Delta wing vs Dallara by saying the same thing, that they'd like the chassis option. Which means A. it might not be spec, or B. Delta Wing hasn't been elminated. i hope it's not Dallara, because they had some of the least inspired desgins of anyone.

[redd]

My bet is on Dallara. Their years of partnership with series and their very good safety record (at least recently) give them a huge advantage to begin with. Their new designs were interesting and I think they said they'd build 'em in Indiana, right?

I just can't see them picking more than one chassis at this stage in the development of the series.

I just wish they'd pick a car that allowed the old Dallaras to compete against for a few years. It just seems like such a waste of money to throw all those tubs away.

[Oilpressure]

Don't heap too much praise on the current Dallara. Since it is only competing against itself and very few chassis are still original from 2003, they could just keep cranking them out so long as nothing new would come along to compete against.

That is why I am so adamant on multiple chassis, even if it is only two. Competition is the core of this sort - not sameness.

[Tom G.]

I think that Bernard is smart enough to wait for the appropriate "stage" to make the announcement. As much as I am dying to know the answer, I hope they don't leak it out beforehand (like Bruton Smith did with the $20 Million prize)

I'm just wondering, what is happening "in a week or two" that will get them the proper media attention to make the announcement?

[Savage Henry]

I have your answer, Tom G! NASCAR has the weekend off July 17. The following race is the Brickyard 400. Could there be a better opportunity for a huge announcement the week after the 17th? All fo the racing press is going to be in Indy anyway. It will also be a chance to steal some of NASCAR's thunder (no pun intended).

Additionally, NBA free agency will be over. The British Open for golf is July 8-12. Football training camps don't open for another couple of weeks. Baseball's all-star game is on July 13th. There is literally nothing going on in the sporting world going on the weekend of July 17 and the following week leading up to the Brickyard 400...except the high-concept glitz and glamour of the announcement (and hopefully unveiling of) the multiple Indycar chassis for 2012.

Randy Bernard saw this hole in the sporting schedule and passed out for 2 hours. I guarantee you. The decision has been made. They're just planning how they are going to hype the announcement.

[pressdog]

Makes a lot of sense, Savage.

[Andy Bernstein]

You might want to tune into the race on Friday night. Game changer.

The rendering above is the only picture of the "mushroom buster", from Swift's original proposal. It doesn't exist, according to Swift.

[pressdog]

What race Friday? The crow flies north at midnight.

[Andy Bernstein]

Then the crow is fitted with two aerodynamic elements that actually exist.

So do new chassis, and they will be racing at Daytona on Friday night. In the Nationwide Series, for now.

Apparently without a lot of fanfare, and on schedule, a full field of them. Safer, manufacturer supported and rebodied to suit the fans' interest and sell muscle cars on Monday. Varity and brand identification.

Not being much of a Nascar fan, it was news to me. I think it's relevant if you consider the big picture. It might even have some bearing on the relative value of future events at some venues.

[Hippie]

When the decision is made, I'll be tuning out for about 2 weeks. I don't think I can take 47,897,064,760 articles exclaiming "the demise of IndyCar" when the Delta Wing isn't picked.

*sigh*

[Jeremy from Harrisburg]

This is my wish for this world (since there is no perfect world): Open the engines to multiple manufacturers with fuel-flow as the device to keep different engines equivalent, go single chassis for now, and set a date for alternate chassis manufacturers to come in. Make everything open source and let them rip.

[Dylan]

The Nationwide car is very differant from the new Indycar. Firstly, there's not a lot of fans who really want a new car for Nationwide. Secondly, NASCAR is doing a really dumb thing where they run COT at a few races and the old car at the rest, which really costs teams double to try and keep both cars working.

The only reason anyone cares about the Nationwide car is the hope that pony cars will come over to the Sprint Cup series.

[Andy Bernstein]

Tell you what Dylan, we'll revisit the issue in two weeks and see how little an effect the new Nationwide cars have made.

If this isn't the best place to do it, click on my screen name for an alternate chair to pull up and we'll talk about it.

[Pinkgineer]

Andy, the "mushroom buster" is the name for a concept. The picture above is how we executed the "mushroom buster" concept on our initial designs. The "mushroom buster" concept still exists and is integrated into our designs to provide closer racing on street and road courses.

[Andy Bernstein]

Yes thanks Pink, I understand the explanation of the latest rear wing endplate configuration that Mr. Page provided. I believe he stated on the blog entry that the separate aerodynamic device shown in the original render was eliminated from the concept. The confusion had previously been discussed here, and Bill's posting of the picture was an opportunity to save a thousand words.

[Pinkgineer]

I just wanted to point out to everyone that may not have read our blog post that although the specific added part in the above picture does not appear on our most recent design, we have not abandoned the concept of "mushroom busting." We have integrated the concept so it looks cleaner and there are less parts for the teams (to assemble, break, and buy) and for Swift (to design, make tooling, and manufacture).

[pressdog]

Who knew just putting up an interesting image(selected almost at random) would cause a stir. Ironically I chose that image becuase it didn't show the entire car, so people wouldn't get the idea that that car had been selected. I'd change the image, but then all the comments would seem insane. I seriously doubt having an image of an old version of he mushroom buster will impact the decision even .000000001%.

[Pinkgineer]

I have no problem with the picture! The comments on here were misleading... I feel like I'm on damage control today haha.

[Andy Bernstein]

I don't think any of the public discussion will have affected the ultimate outcome by a percentage that large, Bill.

But it has been a great learning excercise, thanks in large part to the "open source" of information that Swift Engineering has added for the benefit of us all.

[pressdog]

I have no problem with you having no problem ... I'm ready for the chassis derby to be over. I'm rooting for your peeps, Pink, but I'm rooting more for July 14 to get here so we can find out and move on. I'll have the most-recent, external mushroom buster-less version of the Swift 70 ready to go.

[Pinkgineer]

"I have no problem with you having no problem" Hehe classic. Thanks PD, everyone at Swift appreciates all the love you send to us. Girly tears for you.

[Dylan]

Um... Andy, what does that article have to do with the Nationwide CoT???

[Andy Bernstein]

Dylan, I see you have a blog and that's where I pulled up a chair.

[Jim Bob]

I think ICONIC is going to surprise everyone and Indy Car is going to announce that the cars will all be 2 seaters and bloggers will be assigned to each car in the 2nd seat.

My real guess is that there will be 2 chassis companies chosen: Dallara and Swift. Old Dallara's will be grandfathered in, to help smaller teams not go belly-up and to increase car counts (especially at Indy).

I'd look for 2 chassis and 2 engine manufactuerers to be chosen for 2012.

[redd]

I'd be happy with that, Jim Bob. (Not the two-seater part.)