Grand Prix of Indianapolis Preview

Josef Newgarden leads a group including Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Carlos Munoz during Indianapolis road course testing.  [Photo by: Chris Jones]

For the first time in the modern era, a new Indy car event will be run this month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

And for the first time since 1970, multiple Championship/Indy car races will be held in the Indianapolis metro-area this year.

The inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis will take to the reconfigured infield road course to kick off activities leading to the running of the 98^th Indianapolis 500.

For several years internet sites have buzzed with suggestions that the IndyCar Series should run a race on the infield track that was initially designed for Formula One racing and later hosted MotoGP and sports car events.

In 2012, consultants suggested that Hulman & Co. should explore the possibility of the facility hosting such a race.

IndyCar and IMS ran a successful feasibility test in September, 2013, and an inaugural race was announced in October; to be held in May, 2014.

The $5 million reconfiguring of the course began that same month to make it more suitable for IndyCar competition. The track was repaved, turns were revised to make for larger passing and braking zones and grass berms were expanded to provide for better spectator viewing areas. A limited number of oval track grandstands (6) outside of the oval will be available to provide over-all views of the action.

An open test was held on April 30 with 25 drivers trying to learn the unfamiliar track.

“I don’t think I heard from a single driver that did not have fun on the track,” noted 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan. “I have to say I had some reservations early-on because the corners are very tight, but the grip more than makes up for it. The new asphalt is very; very grippy…it’s a challenging track. I see some passing areas.”

Dale Coyne Racing’s Justin Wilson was also enthused: “There are quite a bit of high-speed corners, medium-speed corners and a lot of braking which is going to be good for racing. I think the rhythm of the track is enjoyable.”

The new course also proved to be competitive as the first 19 cars were separated by less than one second after the five-hour practice session.

 RACE NOTES:

• Twenty-five drivers are entered for the Grand Prix. Drivers making their first season appearance are: Franck Montagny (Andretti Autosport #26) and Martin Plowman (AJ Foyt Racing #46).
• The Indianapolis Grand Prix will be run clock-wise on the circuit (opposite of the 500), and will feature a standing start.
• Projected attendance for the Saturday race has been put at +/- 50,000.
• The ABC Network will telecast the race at 3:30 E.T. The IMS Radio Network will broadcast on Sirius (Ch.213) XM (Ch. 209).
• Speeds on the revised road course ranged from 196mph on the front straight, to 184 mph down Hulman Blvd during practice in April.
• Will Power holds an 18-point lead over Ryan Hunter-Reay for the Verizon Series’ championship as the early-season schedule ends its string of four road course events before moving to the oval at Indianapolis. Simon Pagenaud (-33), Scott Dixon (-38) and Mike Conway (-43) round out the top five.
• Power, Conway and Hunter-Reay have been winners so far in 2014, leaving the likes of Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe and Justin Wilson without a victory lane appearance.
• Chevrolet leads the Engine Manufacturers Championship (266 points/two wins) vs. Honda (220 points/one win). Listen for an announcement sometime during the season regarding a new engine supplier for the 2015 or 2016 season.
• There will likely be a woman driver in the Indianapolis 500 this year as Pippa Mann has been entered in a Dale Coyne Racing Honda sponsored by the Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization. The car’s livery will be the group’s symbolic pink.

Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

racingnation.com

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