Louis Schwitzer Award For Engineering Goes To Pratt & Miller Team

The Pratt & Miller aerodynamics design team with the Louis Schwitzer Award.   [Photo by Allan Brewer]

Indianapolis—The 2015 Louis Schwitzer Award goes to the Pratt & Miller aerodynamics design team that worked in collaboration with Chevrolet to develop the new aero kit that put Scott Dixon on the pole for the 99th Indianapolis 500.

Individually they are:

• Charles Ping, Project Manager, Race Operations, Pratt & Miller Engineering
• Chris Berube, Program Manager, Chevrolet Racing
• Arron Melvin, Chief Aerodynamicist, Pratt & Miller Engineering
• Mark Kent, Director of Motorsports Competition, Chevrolet Racing.

Among the notable advances the Pratt & Miller team accomplished was a much smaller rear wing on the Dallara IR12 that generates an equal or greater amount of down-force, but with less drag than the previous rear main plane. The new wing is adjustable to permit aero-trimming of the race car for qualifying or race conditions.

Working with Chevy the engineering team from Pratt & Miller also fabricated an exotic front wing main plane, and end-plates, to direct air from the front tires to the sidepod air intakes along the chassis. The result is improved airflow to the radiator and over the body components astern of the driver.

Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon has demonstrably benefited the most of the Chevy teams using the new aero package, turning his advantage with the package into a $100,000 gain and his second start on the pole of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

“The good thing is the car is now more tunable for qualifications versus the race,” he said after a few days testing the new aerodynamics configuration.

Perhaps his Chevy peer at Carpenter/Fisher/Hartman Racing said it best, though: Josef Newgarden described the Pratt & Miller design as “sexy” in its various iterations of liveries in this year’s field.

About Schwitzer: although he is not as well-remembered as first Indianapolis 500 winner Ray Harroun, Schwitzer actually preceded the Mormon Wasp driver in Victory Lane at the Speedway. Schwitzer won the first-ever race at the track, a five-mile, two lap affair with an average speed of 57.4 mph on August 19, 1909.

He became an important figure in Indy 500 history as the maker of super-chargers and turbo-chargers, and reached a peak of notoriety in 1952 when his company Schwitzer-Cummins put a diesel-powered car on the pole for that year’s 500.

He died on May 7, 1969; and was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1970.

The 49th renewal of the award was present on May 6th at a ceremony here in the facilities of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Pagoda Plaza.

The several criteria that describe and are fundamental to the prize (from the Indiana Society of Automotive Engineers website) are:

• The award specifically relates to cars conforming to IndyCar Series specifications entered in the Indianapolis 500-mile race. The cars must pass technical inspection and must meet all supplemental regulation at Indianapolis for that year.
• The award honor engineers selected for their innovative design and engineering excellence.
• The award distinguishes the engineers most responsible for the actual design and development engineering.
• The award acknowledges engineers with the courage and conviction to explore and develop new concepts in racing technology.
• The award specifically rewards functional and recent permutations that increase performance, safety, or energy efficiency. Innovations may apply to engineer, drive train, profile, or chassis emphasizing competitive potential along with future automotive industry possibilities.
• The award specifically recognizes new concepts; however,experiment with ideas arising out of previous awards will be considered if the engineering development has improved on the original idea.

Allan Brewer

Allan Brewer covers IndyCar and other racing series for RacingNation.com. Allan is a fixture at the race track, armed with keyboard and camera, eager to take you inside open-wheel sport where the news is being made. He comes to RacingNation.com with multiple professional awards from the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AWWRBA). He began his motorsports writing career at FastMachines.com; and solely published IndyProRacer.com and A1GP.com, two award-winning websites for open-wheel racing’s junior leagues, prior to becoming IndyCar correspondent at Motorsport.com. He has also covered Formula 1, NASCAR, Formula E, the Indy Lights Series and its predecessor Indy Pro Series, NHRA events and major auto shows. His major interest outside of competition is automotive technology and its application to the cars we drive every day on the public highways.

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