News Odds & Ends

There have been a number of developments in the IndyCar world over the past week that are worthy of a quick mention, so I am going to briefly run them down for you collectively in this one article.

Drivers to speak with one voice

Since mid-March, Andretti Autosport's Tony Kanaan had been floating the idea of an 'organization' - it has no formal name as of yet - that would represent the views and interests of the drivers in a unified way when dealing with the IRL officals on such matters as safety concerns and the rules of competition (which would seem especially pertinent after what happened at Edmonton). Finally, at Mid-Ohio, the first meeting took place.

“I think it’s a fabulous development,” IRL president of competition, Brain Barnhart said. “I’ve always tried to have an open relationship and be accessible to any of the drivers for any issues they raise. It is their livelihood and anything that can be done to present it in a more organized fashion I fully support."

Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Justin Wilson will be the drivers who will take the drivers' concerns to the league officals.

Carpenter returns

Since the closing of Vision Racing prior to the start of this season, Ed Carpenter has only been able to raise the funds to race in the Indy 500. Now he has secured sponsorship help from Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka (who funded his Indy effort), and will return to race a second car for Panther Racing in the three remaining Us oval events in 2010; Chicagoland, Kentucky and Homestead-Miami.

Fuzzy's is owned by pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller.

Improved safety signals at Sonoma

As the drivers of the IndyCar Series head into their final road/street race of 2010 this weekend at Infineon Raceway, they can hopefully rest assured that there will be no repeat of last year's incident that sent two drivers to the hospital. Will Power slammed into the car of Nelson Philippe, which was stalled on-track over the crest of Turn Three where the Aussie could not hope to see it in time to take evasive action.

In co-operation with track management, the IRL has doubled the count of strobe lights and added a whole separate set of LED lights in the area leading up to the hill to ensure that drivers will be fully aware on any problems just beyond their field of view.

Power was one of several drivers who attended a test session at Infineon over the past week, and was very complimentary in his views on the improved warning system.