IRL sees mix of old and new at Homestead

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Tony Kanaan immediately noticed the difference in the IRL IndyCar Series when he drove onto pit road at Homestead-Miami Speedway after Friday’s opening practice.

“The huge impression was when I came into the pits and I saw that the pit lane was full from the first box coming in to the last box coming out,” the former series champion said. “I’m the third pit out, so I had to drive through all the teams and I was just smiling big-time inside my helmet.”

Kanaan also saw another difference on the track, where he and the other IndyCar veterans had to be extra careful when driving near the newcomers on the 1.5-mile oval.

It was just part of the new reality in the wake of the recently announced unification of America’s two open-wheel series as practice began for Saturday night’s season-opening Gainsco Indy 300.

With nine cars entered by teams from the now-defunct Champ Car World Series, there were 25 cars on the track, the most at an IndyCar event other than the Indianapolis 500 since 2003.

The solid field, with the prospect of even more entries later in the season, had a lot of people smiling Friday. But the spate of Dallara Hondas on track also brought with it some trepidation, particularly about the newcomers with little or no oval racing experience.

“They don’t have enough experience on the ovals and, if the car isn’t good on the ovals, it can be dangerous just because of the cars, not because of you,” Kanaan said.

“Running together with them, their cars are not very well set up yet,” the Brazilian driver added. “Running in traffic with three cars in front and two cars in back, they don’t know what to expect when you get behind somebody. They’re washing out and you’re right beside them, but they never experienced that. So they can’t anticipate something that they haven’t gone through.”

Kanaan said everyone — newcomers and IRL veterans alike — was being extra careful.

“We were giving each other a lot of room, which is not going to happen in the race,” he noted.

Through the first two practice sessions of the season — a total of about 2½ hours — there were no crashes. In fact, the only wreck since the former Champ Car teams began testing their new cars came here last Tuesday when 19-year-old Graham Rahal tore up his Dallara.

With spare parts hard to come by and little time for repairs, the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team was forced to withdraw Rahal’s entry for the weekend, instead concentrating on getting the car ready for next weeks road race at St. Petersburg.

Friday night’s qualifying produced two more crashes, neither involving the former Champ Car teams.

Tookie Jay Howard slid backward into the wall and Dan Wheldon, the winner of the past three IndyCar races at Homestead, also hit the concrete barrier.

X-rays on Howard’s aching right knee were negative, but he will re-evaluated by doctors on Saturday and could start the race if he is medically cleared and his team can repair his battered car. Wheldon was not injured and will start at the rear of the field in his repaired car.

For Brian Barnhart, vice president of competition for the IRL, it’s so far, so good.

“I think it’s a daunting task for them,” Barnhart said between practice sessions.

“It is a challenge in a lot of ways out there, and especially with 25 or 26 cars. It’s going to be a new experience in learning the tendencies of other drivers. The people that have historically been in the IndyCar Series had a comfort level knowing what the driver next to them is going to do. … Now a third of our field is completely new at this, so the regulars are going to be learning a lot about what they’re doing.”

Barnhart said he harped on the inexperience level and preached patience during his meeting with the drivers before the opening practice.

“I think it will come,” he noted. “They’re very good teams, they’re very well engineered, they’re good drivers. To see the increase in improvement from Monday evening (when the Homestead test began) to this afternoon shows that they’re going to adapt to it very well.”

Bruno Junqueira, one of only two former Champ Car drivers with extensive oval experience, said he doesn’t expect the former Champ Car teams to be very competitive — for a while.

We are competing against very good teams that have had this car for five years,” Junqueira said. “So to have three weeks with the car, we’re going to be behind. I think we’ll catch up and be really close the second half of the season.”

Will Power, preparing for his first oval race, said this week is like a long test session for the former Champ Car teams and drivers.

“It’s going to be a test session for the first half of the year on ovals for us,” the Australian driver said. “It became quite evident at the end of the two days of testing here that we’re lacking quote a bit of speed in comparison to the (IndyCar) guys.

“We’re going to try and be really strong on all the road courses and get as many points as we can. On the ovals, my plan is just to finish the race, get as many miles and understand the car as much as possible.”

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