Arrow McLaren SP unveiled some liveries. James Hinchcliffe posted a video that told us nothing. Simon Pagenaud has his name on the car. Felix Rosenqvist's car is black and blue. Formula One is having some scheduling issues should the Chinese Grand Prix not be able to take place on its scheduled date. NASCAR is back on track in Daytona and Erik Jones won the Clash, a horrendous race. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. won the Daytona 500 pole position on debut with JTG Daugherty Racing. They were setting records from JFK to Heathrow. IndyCar has a test schedule this week at Circuit of the Americas and that is where we will start. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
IndyCar's Driver Licensing System – Where Is It?
IndyCar testing begins this weekend and there are a few new faces participating.
Scott McLaughlin is coming over from Australia and McLaughlin has already announced he will be competing with Team Penske at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May.
Álex Palou, Dale Coyne Racing's new full-time driver, will get some seat time as Palou transitions from Super Formula and Super GT competition.
Oliver Askew is moving up fresh off his Indy Lights championship to join Arrow McLaren SP. Rinus VeeKay was runner-up to Askew and he will be full-time with Ed Carpenter Racing. Askew and VeeKay are the only Indy Lights drivers getting some testing time in. Dalton Kellett will be with A.J. Foyt Racing.
We have a few drivers coming from different disciplines and there could be more drivers coming to IndyCar in 2020 that raced in other series than the ones listed above.
It is great to see IndyCar attract drivers from a diverse set of series but it does bring me back to something IndyCar brought up at the end of the 2018 season and that is a driver licensing system.
Similar to the FIA Super License points system used for drivers hoping to enter Formula One, this proposal was a system to set criteria for drivers hoping to join IndyCar. Certain drivers, such as those from Formula One and NASCAR, would automatically qualify, but for drivers coming from Indy Lights and other forms of racing around the world there would be an approval process.
A simple way to get approved was to run Indy Lights.
"We want to focus this process and use Indy Lights as a training ground, where necessary, to get drivers ready for our diverse set of tracks and challenges in IndyCar," said then-IndyCar competition director and now IndyCar president Jay Frye. Frye also said each case would be taken on an individual basis.
A simple overview of the proposed system would allow Formula One and NASCAR drivers to automatically qualify, a driver in the top three of Indy Lights from the year before to qualify, a driver who has been in the top five of Indy Lights for two consecutive seasons to automatically qualify and then drivers from the remaining series around the world would have to accumulate enough points over a two-year period to qualify. A points system was never announced.
The system was to benefit IndyCar in terms of making sure the most prepared drivers were able to participate and Indy Lights was hoped to benefit, as it would possibly funnel drivers to a series struggling to get ten entries on a full-time basis. With no system announced, IndyCar is walking an unmarked path but hoping to pave a super-highway and with that we have no guidance of who is allowed to drive an IndyCar.
This could be a pipe dream and there is nothing wrong with those. It is an idea but one that IndyCar cannot entirely see out. There has to be some requirements of what it takes to be an IndyCar driver but those requirements cannot be as strict as IndyCar thinks they can be.
There is not a long line of drivers trying to get into IndyCar each year. IndyCar does not have a problem where it has to separate the haves from the have-nots. IndyCar teams do not have the luxury of picking whatever driver they want to drive the car. Teams need funding and drivers bring funding. In some cases, teams cannot have IndyCar turn drivers away because it might the only serious shot at funding.
When looking at the drivers that are coming into IndyCar, it is hard to gauge who is ready and who is not just based on where they are racing. McLaughlin has won the last two Supercars championships but we do not see Supercar drivers get into single-seaters that often. Most of these guys ran single-seaters while young and then moved to Supercars because that is the line of progression in Australia or somebody went abroad, ran single-seaters in Europe and then returned to Australia when the path to Formula One ended.
If you were to ask a year ago whether McLaughlin, Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergern or Chaz Mostert were ready to run an IndyCar race I think it would be understandable if anyone said no. McLaughlin tested for Team Penske at Sebring, ran respectable and the team will run him at Austin ahead of his debut.
To 99% of the IndyCar fan base, Super Formula means nothing but that doesn't mean Palou is not qualified for IndyCar.
While this system was intended to help bolster Indy Lights, the one thing we must remain critical that Indy Lights is not the only option and it is not necessarily the best option. IndyCar has to look out for its ladder system but there are plenty of talented drivers from all over the world and some of those are more talented than every driver in Indy Lights. It cannot put too much of an emphasis on Indy Lights otherwise it runs the risk of stunting IndyCar in the process.
It is going to be near impossible to force drivers from the likes of Super Formula, Formula Two, IMSA and so on to run Indy Lights if they want to run IndyCar. If that was the case those drivers would choose to bypass IndyCar altogether. If Felipe Nasr wants to run IndyCar, he should not be detoured to Indy Lights. If a driver that was in the top five of Formula Two has interest in IndyCar that driver is most likely prepared for the series. It is one thing if a Formula 4 driver or ARCA driver is all of a sudden on the horizon or if a Formula Two driver that made 24 starts and never finished better than 15th and never qualified better than 17th.
I think the best licensing system might just be a common sense approach. Look at past results, look where a driver was racing, who that driver raced against and other drivers to come out of that series and that will tell you if a driver should be allowed to compete in IndyCar or not.
Even if a full fledged driver licensing system is not possible, IndyCar still has to vet the drivers hoping to join the series and it cannot be afraid to tell a driver he or she is not ready to compete. There are plenty of testing sessions where drivers get a chance to showcase their abilities. The officials within IndyCar have an eye for who is ready and who is not and if any competitor has a concern over a potential driver those should be expressed and that driver's concern should be noted.
IndyCar has to look out for the series and making sure it has the most qualified grid it can assemble but it cannot dissuade potential drivers from looking to the series with unnecessary hurdles especially when those drivers could lift the series to a higher level.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. but did you know...
Cooper Webb won the Supercross race from San Diego, his first victory of 2020.
Liam Lawson won the first and third Toyota Racing Series races from Pukekohe Park Raceway. Jackson Wells won the second race.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Daytona 500, but first, there will be two qualifying races on Thursday.
Formula E is in Mexico City.
The Asian Le Mans Series has its penultimate race of the season at Sepang.
The World Rally Championship is going to try and race in Sweden.
Supercross heads east to Tampa Bay.
The Toyota Racing Series concludes with the New Zealand Grand Prix from Manfeild.
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