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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Seventh season should be IRL's best ever
By Jack Arute
Special to ABC Sports Online
Never has the Indy Racing League had so much going for it. Never has it had so much at stake.
When the IRL kicks off its seventh season on Saturday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway (ABC, 1 p.m. ET), the open-wheel organization will see the strongest and deepest field of competitors ever assembled outside of the Indianapolis 500 for an IRL race.
|  | | It will be much harder for Helio Castroneves and Penske Racing to celebrate this season in the IRL. |
Penske Racing's move from CART to the IRL this season brought two of the best open-wheel drivers in the world to the ovals-only series -- 2001 Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran, who captured his second consecutive CART FedEx championship.
Penske won't have an easy time in the IRL. Unlike earlier years, depth has found its way to the IRL. Team Menard remains a single-car effort, as does Hemelgarn-Coors Racing. With Jaques Lazier at Menard and Buddy Lazier at Hemelgarn, these two brothers are thought to be the stoutest competition, according to current IRL champ Sam Hornish Jr.
"I know that Jaques is a great race car driver, and together with Menard, they should be able to be a tough competitor this year," explained Hornish. "Buddy is staying with the same combination with the Dallara chassis, Firestone tires and Speedway Engines -- Chevrolets -- which are all the same things we run."
Buddy Lazier cobbled together a series-record four wins in one season, seven top-five and eight top-10 finishes to finish just behind Hornish in the 2001 points chase.
Then there is Kelley Racing. Scott Sharp has a new teammate in Al Unser Jr. Sharp has tested well in the off-season, and has logged a number of test miles readying for his seventh IRL season.
"I've spent so much time in the car the last three weeks," said Sharp. "There've been only a few days in that I haven't been driving in the last three weeks, and I think that's great. It gets you back in the swing; it's where my mind is right now."
Unser on the other hand, hasn't turned a wheel in an IRL car since finishing sixth in the Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in September.
"I told the crew to put four wheels on, and give me a steering wheel. It's nothing but a race car and I'm gonna drive the heck out of it!"
The field includes a number of new faces.
Larry Blair and Alex Barron come to Miami with high expectations. After all, Barron started his Indy car career at Miami.
"My goal for Miami is to get Blair Racing on the podium," said Barron. "My goal for the season is to run strong and win the championship."
2001 Rookie of the Year Felipe Giaffone brings Mo Nunn's Hollywood entry to Homestead and Giaffone says he's planning on bypassing the oft-touted sophomore jinx.
"I always wanted to drive for Morris Nunn, and now I get my chance. Last year, Homestead was only my second IRL race, but we did OK," said Giaffone. "With this IRL formula, we have enough downforce to make good passes out there. I feel good coming back to Homestead with my new team. I have a full year of experience now, and we're ready to push for a win every weekend."
A.J. Foyt expands to a two-car operation with Donnie Beechler joining Eliseo Salazar. Salazar calls Miami home and finished third a year ago.
"Getting out of the gate fast at Homestead with a great result is important to this team in that respect. I want to build momentum early," said Salazar.
Then, there's Eddie Cheever Jr, The cagey veteran has been very busy in the offseason, auditioning drivers for the second seat on his Red Bull team. When the dust settled, Tomas Scheckter, son of former F1 star Jody Scheckter, got the nod.
"Our plan is to take the good aspects of F1 operations and meld them with the requisites of competing in the IRL," said Cheever. "We have made a tremendous amount of progress on the Infiniti engine with a new electronics package and several modifications to help with reliability."
It's anybody's guess who will win the Miami Grand Prix. But whoever does, will be 1/15 of the way towards what will likely be the most hotly contested championship since Tony George started the IRL in 1996.
Jack Arute writes a column every Monday for ABC Sports Online.
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