By Kirby Arnold, Special Contributor
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Since the NTT IndyCar Series last raced at Phoenix Raceway eight years ago, the start-finish line has moved to what was the backstretch, Turns 1 and 2 are now 3 and 4, and the grandstands are as nice as any major sports venue.
Same place but a different, better feel.
The great hope this weekend as IndyCar returns to the desert mile is that the racing has transformed as well.
Last time the series raced here, the cars were lighter and faster, drivers rarely pulled their right foot off the throttle, and Sebastien Bourdais’ pole-winning speed was 188.539 mph — on a one-mile bullring! But in the race, passing could be as difficult as finding a friendly rattlesnake.
When the Indy cars roll out Friday for practice and qualifying for Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250, the aeroscreen and hybrid units now on the cars have added weight, and speeds in an open test two weeks ago were down about 14 mph.
That could be good, says Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Graham Rahal, one of five in the field who raced here in 2018.
“The last couple of times we were here, there were some massive crashes,” Rahal said. “With the aero kit cars, we were seeing 5½ Gs in Turn 3 and 4. I remember it was the same week I flew with the (U.S. Air Force) Thunderbirds. Then I came here and was like ‘Woah!’
“(Flying) was totally different from the way you feel the load (on track), but it was a lot. Back then, it was like how crazy are you and are you going to stay flat? Are you going to hang on and wait for the collision to happen?”
Two days of testing last month showed that drivers needed to lift entering the corners, especially into the tighter Turn 3. Alexander Rossi recorded the best one-lap speed of 174.542 mph.
“I feel like the driver has a little more control now, and I enjoy that aspect of it,” Rahal said. “I think it’ll be better for everybody.”
Whether that makes the racing appreciably better remains to be determined. It’s still unknown whether a second lane will become raceable; a high-line practice is scheduled after qualifying on Friday with hopes of adding more grip.
“The second-line practice is going to be important,” Rahal said.
Tire degradation could be a key to passing.
“I think you’re going to pass if the tire deg gets bad,” Rahal said. “It looks like the stints are quite long, so the deg will deteriorate the tire quite a lot. We didn’t see a lot of marbling at the test, which is a positive. Fingers crossed; we know that it needs to be a good show.”
The weather will be appreciably warmer this weekend, afternoon temperatures near 80 for the race, than during the test when highs were in the 60s. Unlike eight years ago when drivers could circle the track flat out, there was noticeable lifting during the February test.
“In qualifying you’ll probably be flat or close to flat in 1 and 2,” Rahal said. “And in 3 and 4, you’re going to have to lift; it’ll still be 60 to 70 percent lift. So, it’s still quite a lot of lift down at that end, downshifting and so-on.
“But the racing here is so much different than what qualifying is going to be. With 25 cars, it’s a small track and we’ll be right on top of each other.”
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