May 25, 2008
Weather Headed Danica’s Way?
Long known for fickle changes in weather because it sits on an open plain, Indianapolis is about to undergo a radical change in the conditions that will affect the 90th running of the Indy 500. It will be hot and humid during Sunday’s race, radically different from the cool, damp weather during practice and qualifying earlier in the month of May.
That’s good news for Rahal Letterman Racing and for Danica Patrick. Unable to give chase to the fastest teams owned by Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti, Rahal Letterman Racing had to hope changing conditions or race circumstances would bring its team back into the frame. With a hot track sloppy with oil, tire rubber and humidity anticipated, all teams will have to re-think their cars’ suspensions and aerodynamic settings for Sunday. Some will guess right, others will not and that opens a new window of opportunity for Patrick.
Patrick was cautious about predicting that hot weather may bring better options after qualifying tenth last week. “Let’s hope its’ not something else we’re up against this month,” she said on Thursday. The team’s speed deficit results from a desultory Panoz chassis, one so discouraging that Rahal Letterman has already received new Dallaras at its shops in Ohio and will switch chassis next month prior to the Indy Racing League event in Texas. Not enough time was available to make the change at Indy, where it won with the Panoz in 2004 with Buddy Rice at the wheel. Last year, Vitor Meira (second) and Patrick (fourth) showed well aboard the Panoz chassis.
This year has been far more difficult in the run-up to the race versus the fast speeds (including Rice’s pole) in the previous months of May in 2004 and 2005. Clearly, a new underwing design allowed by IRL officials for 2005 continues to hamper the Panoz chassis, which has a small window for its maximum performance due to balance issues when teams adjust the aerodynamics. While Dallara has proved faster and better to adjust on the big superspeedway, the Panoz has not performed as well and has less information for its engineers due to only one team running its cars.
The aerodynamic problem also makes it difficult for drivers to control the Panoz if it gets out of kilter, i.e. it breaks loose quickly if it loses traction. (One reason why rookie driver Jeff Simmons has had four crashes since joining the team as a replacement for the fatally injured Paul Dana and why Buddy Rice crashed once again this year at Indy during practice.)
Relaxed and engaging during Thursday’s media meetings, Patrick talked about her approach for Sunday’s race. “Success will be for me to get the most out of the race car and the most out of myself,” she said. Patience, she added, will be her best ally.
“The most important thing to do is be patient and don’t do anything stupid on the first lap or in the opening laps or even in the first 100 laps. The first 250 miles means you’re still only half way.”
The strategy? Stay with the leaders at Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. If that’s not possible? “We might try something a little different if we’re off,” said Patrick. That means radical chassis adjustments on pit stops, or an alternate pit strategy for track position and perhaps another fuel mileage gambit like last year.
