Spain is world champions. Marc Márquez won his seventh race in 2019 and this one came after the lead switched three times on the final lap between him and Fabio Quartararo at Misano and that wasn't the only last lap change of the lead at Misano. History has been made in Australia involving one of Roger Penske's drivers. Speaking of Team Penske, the team is already winning silverware in Laguna Seca a week before the IndyCar finale. The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship fight is over! The World Rally Championship title fight might be getting interesting. NASCAR ended a regular season, started a playoff and ended a playoff round this weekend at Las Vegas. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Sweep Away
When watching nearly a dozen previous IndyCar races from Laguna Seca during one of the races the marbles developing off line were mentioned and it was noted how the marbles would make it difficult for a car to make pass.
This has been a problem for a while and there is no simple solution. You could develop a tire that does not wear but that can lead to a dull race. With no tire degradation you do not see cars coming and going. A caution could be thrown every ten laps to sweep the track but nobody wants race manipulation at that level. People also don't want a race being delayed for a significant chunk of laps because of sweeping. We saw it at Gateway. On an oval, about two laps after pit stops are completed people start to get impatient. On a road course, anything more than five laps under caution turns the oldest fans into children.
What if there was a way to have the track swept during the race?
It is a difficult proposition. There was a time when safety vehicles were constantly on track when the race was going on at speed. There was a time when corner workers would be on the edge of a racetrack while cars whizzed by, albeit at a slower speed with a local yellow but 50% of 120 MPH is still 60 MPH, a lethal speed to any bystander.
You cannot have people go out on the track and sweep in the brief moments when cars are not going through certain corners. There is too much risk there and no series or track would take it but what if there was a sweeper that could be on the track at all times? What if there was a sweeper that could keep up with the pace and make more of the track surface usable for longer periods of a race?
My idea is IndyCar has at least two cars in each race and the purpose of those two cars is to run off the racing line. Those cars are not competing for points or position but are simply there to run off line and pick up marbles on a road/street course and on an oval the purpose is to develop a second line.
It sounds crazy but let's walk through it. You cannot have men with brooms or one of the hulking sweepers on the track when the cars are going at racing speed but a race car can do the same thing. The tires can pick up the marbles, clear a line and make a passing zone on a road course usable or at least make it more enticing to faster drivers.
These cars can run at race pace. They would not be running at unsafe speeds. Even better, the driver of these cars would know where to drive and know what other drivers are looking for. If you had two cars those drivers could work in tandem and clear the line into a corner and 30 seconds later the leaders could be coming through and a pass for position may be more likely to occur.
It is not unheard of for sporting events to have competitors competing but those competitors not actually be competing. Track and field, distance running and cycling all use competitors in a support role to the race.
In middle- and long-distance running events a pacemaker is used to keep the pace up and prevent tactical races. The goal of the pacemaker is to run at a reasonable pace and force the leaders to match it. Pacemakers can also be used for world record attempts, running at the pace necessary for someone who is looking to break a record. Pacemakers do not necessarily complete a race but run until the agreed upon distance and then either drop out or drop the pace significantly and let the leaders complete the race.
In cycling, a team employs a domestique. This is a rider that is not competing for race victory or a stage victory but whose role is to support the other riders on the team. A domestique can be used for drafting purposes but can also be used to transport water and food to other riders on the team and will help out if a teammate suffers a mechanical issue. Some domestiques will give up their bike to a fellow teammate to allow that rider stay in the race while the domestique waits for the replacement.
How could any motorsports series, not just IndyCar, employ sweepers?
There are plenty of drivers. It would not be a case of not having enough available hands. The problem would come in getting the equipment.
It is not cheap to run a race car. This isn't something that would only cost a couple thousand dollars to do. It is hundreds of thousands of dollars each time.
Then there is where the race cars come from. There are teams out there with equipment that is not being used but if those teams are already not out there competing then why should we think they will be able to take to the racetrack in a support role?
Here is how I think it could work: This is something IndyCar would have to pay for but it could use the real estate on the cars for series sponsors. The cars would be purely billboards. IndyCar would have to use part-time teams, Juncos Racing, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, DragonSpeed, etc. You could not employ a car from an existing team due to conflict of interest. You need cars out there without any teammates that way this role could not be exploited for a gain in race results.
These teams would basically be doing a test program. They wouldn't need the same amount of tires and they would not be running the same number of miles as the teams competing.
These teams would not start the race but come on when the track is clear after about five or six laps. The main goal would be to run off line and keep the track clear. When faster cars are coming the goal would be to stay to the edge of the racetrack or come down pit lane to get out of the way. The cars could go out and run ten laps at a time then pit, let the race continue and then come out and do another 15-20 laps before coming in again and seeing how the race develops before being deployed one more time and then with about ten laps to go the cars could be removed for the track and that would be the job done for these drivers and teams.
In theory, these teams would not need more than a set of tires and they might only need a tank and a half of fuel.
There are veteran drivers out there such as Oriol Servià, J.R. Hildebrand, Carlos Muñoz, Stefan Wilson, Gabby Chaves, even drivers that have moved into sports cars such as Ryan Briscoe, James Davison and Katherine Legge, that would fit this role. They would know where to run and where drivers would be looking to set up passes. It could also be a case for some younger drivers to get extra seat time and experience an IndyCar in race conditions such as Kyle Kaiser, Aaron Telitz, Zachary Claman and Matt Brabham.
It is not what any of these drivers want. I am sure they want to be competing but it is keeping a driver in the discussion and if a driver is out there, even if he or she is not competing for anything those drivers would still be getting seat time and seat time is valuable.
There is also the case that some tracks you would not need this role so it would not be something IndyCar would need to bring to all 16 events. It wouldn't be needed in the Indianapolis 500 nor Iowa but it would probably help at Gateway, Texas and Richmond. Will Power was adamant that a second line could develop at Gateway if two or three cars ventured up the racetrack. Here would be the two cars that could focus on running the high line and maybe after 40 or 50 laps of two cars running the top the leaders would be able to venture up there without having a worry.
It would not be needed at Road America, Circuit of the Americas and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It might be something that the drivers would have to be asked about. If the drivers think it is necessary than it will be used. If the drivers think it will be fine without them then IndyCar would not have to worry about getting the cars, the crews and the drivers ready.
This is an idea to make sure we get the most out of the on-track product. No driver or team competing for points is going to sacrifice itself for the sake of the show and run off line. That is understandable but if that is the case then lets use the resources available to put a few cars out there with the hopes of making the race better and do it without having to hope for a caution and then have that caution last 10-15 minutes. Let's be efficient and take care of the track and the marbles while the race is green.
A push back would be understandable because extra cars mean extra risks. You run the risk of these cars getting in the way even if those cars are trying to stay out of the way. The last thing any of us would want to see is one of these cars, cars that are not competing for anything, ruining the race of a leader. This is not as simple as a referee being caught in the middle of the action in a soccer game or hockey game and having the ball or puck make contact unintentionally and change possession.
I would say the risk is worth it and with a system of spotters working with race control this can be done with the cars hardly being noticed. Everyone can work together to make sure these cars are on the opposite side of the circuit from the leaders. These cars will know to get out of the way when other cars are coming through. These drivers will know their roles.
This is motorsports; something can arise and cause a problem when not intended. One of these in-race sweepers could cause a caution that turns a race on its ear. It would not be the first time an extraneous circumstance brought out a caution. We have seen cautions for wild life on the racetrack and fans climbing catchfences. I am sure IndyCar can do the best it can to make sure that doesn't happen and it can also have a fail safe to protect the race from having a problem with one of the in-race sweepers change the outcome.
There is nothing wrong with trying something different and thinking outside of the box. IndyCar has tried a lot of things to improve the racing: Alternate tires, push-to-pass, closing the pit lane under caution, allowing traffic to hold up the leader because of the dirty air, which allows second place to close in and create an illusion of a close race.
IndyCar has done a lot but there are still a few things the series has yet to find a solution for. One of those is marbles and the answer might be to put a few extra cars on the track that are racing for nothing but making sure the race is adequate for the people watching and the track is best suited for the drivers competing.
Champion From the Weekend
René Rast clinched the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship with finishes of first and third from the Nürburgring. Jamie Green won the second race of the weekend. It is Rast's second title in three seasons.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Marc Márquez, René Rast and Jamie Green but did you know...
Augusto Fernández won the Moto2 race from Misano, his second consecutive victory and his third victory of the season. Tatsuki Suzuki won the Moto3 race, his first career victory. Matteo Ferrari swept the MotoE doubleheader.
Martin Truex, Jr. won the NASCAR race from Las Vegas, his fifth victory of 2019. Tyler Reddick won the Grand National Series race, his fifth victory of the season. Austin Hill won the Truck series race, his second consecutive victory and third victory of the season.
The #6 Acura Team Penske Acura of Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya won the IMSA race from Laguna Seca, the team's third victory of 2019. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca-Gibson of Matthew McMurry and Dalton Kellett won in the LMP2 class. The #66 Ford GT of Joey Hand and Dirk Müller won in the GTLM class. The #48 Magnus Racing Lamborghini of Corey Lewis and Bryan Sellers won in the GTD class.
Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin split the Supercars races from Pukekohe Park Raceway. It was Van Gisbergen third victory of the season and McLaughlin's 17th victory of the season, a new single-season record.
Yvan Muller won the first and third World Touring Car Cup races from Ningbo with Norbert Michelisz winning the second race.
Sébastien Ogier won Rally Turkey, his third victory of 2019 and his first since Mexico in March.
Coming Up This Weekend
The IndyCar finale from Laguna Seca.
All three Road to Indy series end at Laguna Seca.
The Singapore Grand Prix.
MotoGP will back in Spain and in Aragón.
NASCAR has a night race in Richmond.
The European Le Mans Series will be at Spa-Francorchamps.
Blancpain World Challenge America will be at Road America.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
