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 We'll Be There.....Somewhat (5/21/03) --“We’ll Be There.”Yeah, we’ll be there alright. When it comes to Chevrolets 2003 Indy Racing League power plant, this can only refer to the back of the field. “We’ll Be There…..about five seconds after the Japanese engines.” For those of you who don’t follow the IRL, the three engine manufacturers are Toyota, Honda, and Chevrolet. Last year, with competition only from Nissan’s Infiniti line, Chevy dominated the IRL scene, winning all but one race. This year? Heading into today’s Indianapolis 500, the fourth race of the season, a Chevy has yet to lead a lap. “We’ll Be There…..just not on the lead lap.” For those of us who like our things Americanized, seeing the Chevy get beaten is painful. It would be one thing if it was a close fight and the Japanese engines were edging Chevy out. But if Toyota and Honda are Florida State, Chevrolet is Bethune-Cookman. This is a hands-down, take-them-behind-the-woodshed, demolition. Chevy can’t even come close to competing with the other two under qualifying conditions. In the Indianapolis 500, Helio Castroneves has put his Toyota-Powered Dallara on the pole at a speed of 231.725 MPH. Tony Kanaan is right behind him in his Honda-Powered Dallara at a speed of 231.006 MPH. The highest Chevy? That would be Sam Hornish Jr. in his Chevrolet-powered Dallara, which clocked in at 226.225 MPH. (To be fair, the fastest Chevy was a Dallara piloted by Vitor Meira on Bump Day which averaged 227.158) That might not seem like a lot at first, but those numbers are staggering. Whether you consider Meira’s or Hornish’s time to be the top Chevy score, it really doesn’t matter. No matter how you look at it, the interval is a solid 4-5 MPH between the manufacturers. At Indianapolis, the cars will be running almost flat out all day long. There won’t be a lot of braking into the corners, so the Chevy’s will consistently buried, unless the teams can come up with some clever strategies and get a generous tow. “We’ll Be There…..hoping for a lot of luck!” Sam Hornish Jr. is the two-time defending IRL champion. But with the Chevrolet dead weight behind him, he has yet to lead a lap this year, which got me thinking as to how I could compare Chevy’s outright FAILURE in the Indy Racing League this year to other sports. - After putting up just one loss in the past two seasons, Miami finds itself playing on a 130 yard field this fall, while their opponents are playing on an 80 yard field. - The Los Angeles Lakers find things to be a lot harder for them as the hoop is raised to 18 feet on their end, while their opponents shoot an 8-foot basket, complete with trampoline. - The Detroit Tigers have to play with a miniscule payroll while the New York Yankees are able to spend the GDP of six Eastern Bloc countries………oh wait - After winning the Super Bowl, the Buccaneers are forced to bring Mark Vlasic back in as quarterback. Did I hear somebody say, “Pickle Man?” This Chevy collapse is like the dismantling of the Marlins in 1996, only unintentionally. While Wayne Huizenga made the conscious decision to have the Marlins suck, GM unwittingly dropped the ball. Chevrolet deserves all of the blame for this mess and I feel bad for the teams that are putting in immense hours to squeeze any life they can out of this dud. I really hope that Chevy can put things together as my favorite drivers run their engines and they are an American-built piece of machinery in a League that has seen a bit of a foreign invasion as of late. It doesn’t reflect well on them to have the two new big dogs come in and embarrass them. Hopefully they take it as a challenge to improve and not as a challenge to bail on the IRL. “We’ll Be There…..in NASCAR, that is.” Indianapolis 500 Predictions With Indy later today, I figure I better put my predictions down so I can gloat afterwards. Winner: Tony Kanaan 33rd: Shigeaki Hattori Top Toyota: Gil de Ferran (3rd) Top Honda: Kanaan (1st) Top Chevy: Sam Hornish Jr. (8th) Top Dallara: Kanaan (1st) Top G Force: de Ferran (3rd) Castroneves Finish: He won’t Dark Horse: Al Unser Jr. Enjoy the race; it comes but once a year. Kind of like Christmas, except with less presents and a big, shiny, face-covered cup. |
Dedicated to The Stick