Category: Featured Other Series

AJ Foyt Racing announced on Tuesday, May 5 that 2011 Indianapolis 500 Pole Sitter Alex Tagliani will drive the No. 48 Al-Fe Heat Treating Honda-powered Dallara for AJ Foyt Racing in the Indianapolis 500 later this month. Tagliani will join AJ Foyt Racing full-time drivers Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth.

“Dad has a long tradition of adding extra cars at the speedway, and although we hadn’t originally planned on it, when the opportunity came, it made good sense,” Larry Foyt, President of AJ Foyt Racing. said. “It was important to have a driver with the ability and experience of Alex, so adding him to our lineup is a great fit. I’m looking forward to see this special livery racing alongside our ABC Supply machines. Al-Fe Heat Treating and the Westmans have been wonderful associates—and friends–of the team, and I’d like to thank them for making this third entry a possibility.”

Tagliani’s last IndyCar start came in last year’s Indianapolis 500, where he finished 13th for Sarah Fisher Racing. The Canadian has over 200 career IndyCar starts, including six past starts in the Indianapolis 500. In those six starts, he has finished in the top-13 four times with a best finish of 10th in 2010. Tagliani left full-time open-wheel competition to run the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series full-time.

“I want to thank Al-Fe Heat Treating, Sexton Properties, ABC Supply, and everyone at Honda Racing and HPD for their hard work and support in making this opportunity happen,” Tagliani said. “I am really excited and honored to be part of the AJ Foyt Racing organization because driving for A.J. at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is something really, really special.  Having the chance to contribute to the Foyt family legacy at the Speedway is my mission for the month of May.

“I am thrilled to be part of honoring Dan Gurney by driving a car in his livery. Bringing the Gurney Eagle’s vintage look to the new Honda Aero kit car is for sure going to be a crowd pleaser. As a new dad, sharing this unique tribute with my family and the Foyt Family is very special. Taking the Dan Gurney No. 48 Al-Fe Heat Treating machine to Indy’s victory circle would be awesome, and we’re aiming to do just that.”

The livery, designed by Ryan Westman (Regional Salse Manager for Al-Fe Heat Treating Inc) and Jason LaFrenais, and car number is a tribute to Dan Gurney’s No. 48 Eagle IndyCar. Foyt goes a long way back with Gurney as the pair win the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1967 together.

“My good friend Dan Gurney used to run that number and he’s supposed to be back at Indy this year so I thought it would be a great way to honor him. And he had some good runs with that number,” Foyt said.

“I am deeply touched by my old friend and team mate A.J. Supertex Foyt to be honored in this way and I will be rooting for Alex Tagliani in “48” with a big smile on my face,” Gurney said.

Al-Fe Heat Treating is entering it’s fifth year as a partner of AJ Foyt Racing; the company began as an associate sponsor in 2011.

“This year’s Indy 500 marks Al-Fe Heat Treating’s fifth year as an associate sponsor with A.J. Foyt Enterprises and what better way to celebrate that milestone than to sponsor Foyt’s third entry into the 99th running of the greatest spectacle in racing: the number 48 Al-Fe Heat Treating Special,” Kurt Westman, Founder and CEO of Alfe Heat Treating, said. “One of the most memorable times of my childhood was to attend the Indy 500 time trials and the race with my family. My brother and I would spend hours standing at the fence line along Gasoline Alley trying to catch a glimpse (and photograph) of the cars and drivers–A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney to name a few.

“It’s almost impossible to explain the excitement and pride I feel in being able to be part of one of the most famous race teams in the world, and more so this year by sponsoring the A.J.’s No. 48 Al-Fe Heat Treating, Dan Gurney-tribute car driven by Alex Tagliani.”

Over the course of the weekend, Chevrolet unveiled their brand new superspeedway aerodynamic kit that combines a reduction of drag to increase speed while maintaining a significant amount of downforce.

“Innovative designs were used to develop the right combination of downforce and drag, along with the engine performance,” Chevrolet IndyCar Program Manager Chris Berube said.

The new kit combines what they learned from their road/street course and short oval configuration and what they learned about superspeedway aerodynamics.

“Sidepods and the engine cover carry over, and they optimized for Indianapolis efficiency targets,” Chevrolet Racing Chief Aerodynalisist Arron Melvin said. “The wheel wedge is a carry over, although different add-ons are used with the wedge.”

The wheel wedge configuration is adjustable, providing various levels of downforce while being designed to reduce drag. The low-mass rear wing plane and pillar will be unique for the Indianapolis 500.

On the front wing, the surface will serve two purposes – the inboard section directs air to the radiator inlets to enhance engine cooling, while the outboard section creates airflow around the front tire.

“Downforce contribution required from rear wing is generally reduced compared to the Dallara IR-12 aerodynamics,” Melvin added. “Design is more efficient, event at the same wing force level. Lightweight design was important to us.”

The new kit proved to be fast as Chevrolet driver Juan Pablo Montoya led the first day at testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.  

On  Thursday, April 30, Honda unveiled their “super speedway” aero kit that will debut in the 99th Indianapolis 500 in May.

“We’re excited to unveil our Super Speedway aero kit, the newest element in this era of enhanced manufacturer competition in the Verizon IndyCar Series,” Art St. Cyr, president of HPD, said.  “Coupled to our proven Honda Indy V6 engines, these aero kits are the products of thousands of hours of research, development and testing, as we seek to give our drivers and teams the tools they need to win the race that Honda holds as its most important goal each season:  The Indianapolis 500.”

The kit, produced by Honda Performance Development, adds aerodynamic upgrades and components to the already strong Dallara chassis.  It was developed using the latest in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technology, then validated using Driver-In-Loop (DIL) Simulators. The kit then went through full-scale wind tunnel testing to allow the aerodynamic performance characteristics and aero maps to be confirmed. The kit then went through a final on-track test earlier this year.

“I expect an increase in speed (in practice and qualifications), but I won’t say how much,” Honda Performance Development COO and vice president Steve Eriksen said.

The front wing of the kit features fewer components than the original Dallara chassis and the road course kit to reduce drag, whle the rear wing element is wide. Also, the ring wing main plate has “swan neck” supports that Honda has carried over from their sports car program, saying that those helped with air flow over the rear wing. The new kit will allow drivers and team a range of configurations to tune the cars to the characteristics that they prefer.

“One of the great things about IndyCar is that this aero kit has to operate over such a diverse range of circuits, it’s unlike any other racing series, and it’s a real challenge to make a kit that is going to work on every track well. But we welcomed it and have enjoyed doing it,” Eriksen said. “The process really started with us looking at what has made us successful. The Indy 500 wins that we’ve had we look at and say, ‘What did we do well and what could we do better in the future.’ We wanted to build on that experience to build the best kit possible, and I think we’ve done that.”

INDYCAR opened up the competition box this year, allowing each manufacture to develop an aero kit that was unique to themselves within certain rules developed by the series. Each manufacture developed a road/street course kit and an oval kit. So far, it seems as though Chevrolet has the upperhand having won three of the four races so far this year on the road/street courses.

The new super speedway aero kits will make their public on-track debut on May 3 during an open-test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Three races into the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule, and the focal point has been the speed shown by both Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing – along with a touch of strategy leading James Hinchcliffe and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to victory at NOLA Motorsports Park. Based on that fact, it’d mark no surprise if that trend continued this weekend.

In five events at Barber Motorsports Park, Team Penske has scored the victory on three different occasions with a pair of drivers. Helio Castroneves won the inaugural event in 2010, with defending series champion Will Power winning in 2011 and 2012. Castroneves enters the weekend with momentum on his side, having finished in the runner-up spot the past two weekends. He also has three top-fives and four top-10s.

“I really feel that a win is just around the corner for the No. 3 AAA Chevrolet team,” he stated. “We’ve started the season with three top-five finishes and have been in contention to win each weekend. As a driver, that’s really all you can ask for. Barber has been a very good track for me in the past. One of my favorite racing memories was winning the first race there in 2010. If we take care of business, like we have to start the season, we should be fine and have a real shot at winding up in Victory Lane again on Sunday.”

Power, meanwhile, is entering the weekend coming off a poor finish at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. He finished the event in the 20th spot after a poor qualifying effort, and then stalling as he came on pit road. This would be the perfect track for Power to turn things around, though, as he has never finished outside of the top-five at Barber Motorsports Park.

“After a weekend like we had at Long Beach, I want nothing more than to get back to the racetrack as quickly as possible,” Power said. “It’s never fun having to go through a weekend like that. Luckily for our No. 1 Verizon Chevy team, they don’t happen very often. We had back luck in qualifying and it just snowballed from that point. However, all that adversity makes me very motivated to make up for it over the next couple of weeks, starting with Barber this weekend. We know that we can run a quick pace and challenge for the win there because we have done that on multiple occasions in the past.”

The Team Penske driver to watch this weekend, though, maybe Juan Pablo Montoya. He enters this weekend as the points leader following a three top-fives to start the season, highlighted by a win in the season-opener. He’ll be certainly looking to improve on the 21st place finish that he had last year, and should based on the experience that he has under his belt since then.

“Honestly, I couldn’t be prouder of my No. 2 Team Penske Chevy team for the way we have started the season,” he commented. “We’re the only team to start the season with one win, two podiums and three top-five finishes in the first three races. Those stats are really a testament to the team and how hard they have worked since the start of the 2014 season. It’s one thing to go through a rough start to a season – like we did in 2014 – and not learn anything, but we definitely used those experiences to make ourselves much better. You saw that in the second half of the 2014 season and we have carried that over to this season. Hopefully we can see the same speed in the Hawk Performance car this weekend at Barber.”

On the flip side, Chip Ganassi Racing has yet to reach victory lane at Barber, but comes into the weekend with momentum after Scott Dixon scored a dominating win at Long Beach. Dixon is another driver that has yet to finish outside of the top-five on the 2.3 mile, 17-turn road course.

“We’ve had some great racing over the past few years at Barber,” he commented. “I think I’ve finished on the podium every time and never won there. I think it might be all second places and one third, so I think we are due for some success in the Coke Chevrolet this weekend. It’s a really crazy racetrack with lots of elevation and lots of high-speed grip. It’s very beautiful in terms of the landscape. Hopefully I can try to move up and to get to that top spot at Barber. I love going there and we’ve always qualified and raced well. Hopefully this year could be the year.”

Kanaan has been fast this year so far as well, but hasn’t been as consistent as his teammate through the years, posting three top-10s at Barber.

“I’m looking forward to heading to Barber this weekend, especially after getting some great data from the open test in March,” he said. “NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing has been really consistent so far this year and we have a lot of momentum coming off of our fifth-place finish at Long Beach. I always qualify fairly well at Barber, but I’ve never been able to finish higher than sixth. I’m definitely ready to make something happen this weekend, and with how well the car has been running and how great of a job my crew has been doing, I think this is the year to do it.”

While the focus is on these pair of teams, Andretti Autosport shouldn’t be counted out of the occasion despite only posting a single top-five in the first three events, with Simona de Silvestro at NOLA Motorsports Park. The organization has won the event the past two years with Ryan Hunter-Reay at the helm. Hunter-Reay enters this weekend after a solid start to the year that has featured top-10s. Perhaps this is the weekend that he finds that extra bit that has been missing to crack the top-five.

“The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama has certainly been a special event for me and the team,” he commented. “Bringing that No. 28 Honda to victory lane last year started the momentum we carried to Indy to win the 500. As back-to-back winners of the event, we’re looking to return with a strong result and continued progress on working with the new aero kit. We’re dealing with a completely different car this year, so we’ll face some new challenges in a relatively short race weekend, as a three-car team, we’ll be working closely together to make the most of the short amount of track time.”

Though while the big three look to steal the headlines, there is a pack of hungry dogs chasing them that may pull off another upset, just like Hinchcliffe did a couple weeks ago.