Chevy Notes for Chicago IRL
Bowtie Bullet Points: Chevrolet Notes for the IRL Delphi Indy 300
Chicagoland Speedway
Round 14 of 16, Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. CDT
TV: ABC (live), 2 p.m. EDT
* Back to the Big Tracks
Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway will mark the return
of the IRL IndyCar Series to superspeedway competition. The final three
races on the IRL schedule will be contested on tracks that reward
horsepower: Chicagoland Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway (site of the
season-ending Chevy 500 on Oct. 12) are 1.5-mile ovals; California
Speedway, which hosts an IRL event on Sept. 21, is a 2-mile track.
"With the final three events of the IRL season on big ovals, the
spotlight will be on engine performance," said Joe Negri, GM Racing IRL
program manager. "Based on the new Chevy Indy V8's results in superspeedway
races at Kentucky and MIS, with a victory and a runner-up finish, we expect
that the new Chevrolet engine will be a strong contender.
"Up to this point, our primary focus has been on converting and
supplying Chevrolet teams with new Gen IV Chevy Indy V8 engines," Negri
noted. "While we are still working hard to fill the pipeline, we are now
turning our focus to development projects. Engine reliability has been
outstanding, which has allowed us to begin work on performance
improvements."
* Leader of the Pack
Chevy Indy V8 engines have led 77 percent of the laps in the last two
IRL superspeedway races. Sam Hornish Jr. led 126 of 200 laps at
Michigan International Speedway on July 25 en route to a runner-up finish
in Pennzoil Panther Racing's Chevrolet Dallara. Hornish started on the pole
and led 181 of 200 laps at Kentucky Speedway on Aug. 17 when he scored his
record ninth IRL victory.
* Seven Chevys for Chicago
PDM Racing will rejoin the IRL series at the Delphi Indy 300 with
a Chevy-powered entry driven by rookie Ed Carpenter. PDM's Metabolife
Dallara will be equipped with the new Gen IV Chevy Indy V8, bringing the
roster of Chevrolet-powered racers to seven. PDM last competed in the IRL
series at the Indianapolis 500, where driver Jimmy Kite finished 13th.
Carpenter completed his rookie test at Kentucky Speedway with a Gen
III Chevy Indy V8, and participated in a successful test last week at
Chicagoland Speedway with the new Gen IV version.
"The first test in Kentucky was to get me comfortable in the car, and
the second test was to get serious for the race," said Carpenter, who will
drive in both the Pro Series and IndyCar Series races at Chicagoland. "We
did 95 laps last week and the new Chevy engine ran strong to the end of the
test. There is a huge difference in speed between the Pro Series and
IndyCar Series cars, and with that speed there is a much greater sensation
of the g forces the car is pulling. The mechanics of driving the two cars
are similar, so it's just a matter of getting accustomed to the higher
speeds."
Carpenter plans to run three races with PDM in 2003, thereby
preserving his rookie status for the 2004 season. He will be the 13th
driver for Paul Diatlovich's IRL team since 1996. One of the PDM Racing
alumnae is two-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr., who made his IRL debut
with PDM Racing in 2000. In eight starts, Hornish had a best finish of
third in Las Vegas and led 38 laps in Kentucky. That performance caught the
attention of the owners of Pennzoil Panther Racing, who signed Hornish to
drive for them in 2001.
"If I can become as successful as Sam, I'll be very happy,"
said Carpenter. "PDM is a great little team, and I'm sure that Sam learned
a lot from them. I'm confident in what we're capable of doing, and I'm
looking forward to getting the job done."
* The Key to Chicago
Chicagoland Speedway is one of six 1.5-mile ovals on the IRL tour,
but each of these tracks has its own personality. With 18-degree banking in
the turns, Chicagoland falls between the relatively flat 6-degree corners
of Homestead-Miami Speedway and the towering 24-degree banked turns of
Texas Motor Speedway.
"You need a certain amount of downforce to get around Chicagoland
Speedway quickly, especially in race trim," explained Kevin Bayless, GM
Racing's aerodynamics and chassis specialist. "The track surface has good
grip, so the setup doesn't require as much downforce as the cars run in
Kentucky, for example. On a superspeedway, you want the car to have as
little aerodynamic drag as possible, but the ambient conditions and the
sunlight on the track will dictate how much downforce is required. At
Chicagoland Speedway, the teams will have to deal with a bump in Turns 3
and 4 that gives the track character."
* Racing Around
Chevrolet raced to a 1-2-3 finish last weekend in the final NASCAR
Winston Cup event on Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway. Terry Labonte
led Chevy's podium sweep, with Kevin Harvick second and Jimmie Johnson
third. Chevy Monte Carlo drivers finished first and second in the
Winn-Dixie 200 Busch Series event on Saturday with Brian Vickers edging
teammate Kyle Busch.
Chevrolet will be represented in all four major motorsports series
racing this weekend in America: Chevy Indy V8s at Chicagoland Speedway,
Monte Carlos at the NASCAR Winston Cup Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond
International Raceway, the Corvette Racing team in the American Le Mans
Series in Monterey, Calif., and Pro Stock Cavaliers at the rain-delayed
NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
Chevrolet is the only manufacturer currently competing in the IRL,
NASCAR Winston Cup, NHRA and American Le Mans Series.
* About GM
General Motors Corp. , the world's largest vehicle
manufacturer, employs 342,000 people globally in its core automotive
business and subsidiaries. Founded in 1908, GM has been the global
automotive sales leader since 1931. GM today has manufacturing operations
in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in more than 190 countries. In
2002, GM sold more than 8.6 million cars and trucks, nearly 15 percent of
the global vehicle market. GM's global headquarters is at the GM
Renaissance Center in Detroit. More information on GM and its products can
be found on the company's consumer website at www.gm.com.
