Opinion: A Quantum Leap Back Towards Legitimacy

Those of you lamenting the recent unqualified ride-buyer trend in the IZOD IndyCar Series, take note.

IndyCar's TEAM program - which allocates about $1.3 million to full-time teams in lieu of purse money in 16 of the series' 17 events - has been restructured to accommodate 22, instead of the previous 24, teams.

Those sitting on the sidelines? The second cars of Conquest Racing - which saw five pay drivers take the reins this year - and Dale Coyne Racing, who employed the relentlessly mocked and embarrassingly slow Milka Duno.

With that single step, IndyCar drew a hard line in the ground between who deserves to be there and who doesn't.

Granted, the reality is slightly more complex than that for Conquest. They started the season with Mario Romancini and added Bertrand Baguette in a second car after missing the series' first two events. As the season went on, Romancini yielded to other drivers with more money, and Baguette became the team's lead driver, the two cars' numbers - 34 for the lead car, 36 for Baguette - swapped in reflection. But in the end, the 34 (now Baguette's team), the more deserving team, got paid, and the 36 didn't.

Of course, it seems like a slap in the face to longtime owners Dale Coyne and Eric Bachelart, ex-CART drivers and Champ Car owners. And in a way, it is. These guys have their own side of the story - neither are big-time owners with multi-million dollar sponsorship contracts like Chip Ganassi or Michael Andretti. Neither can afford to employ too many drivers that don't bring at least some money with them.

But, at the same time, they chose to bring on drivers who were clearly miles off the pace. Duno drew the ire of competitors for her consistently slow times, as she has since joining the series. Meanwhile, Bachelart brought on the previously unknown Francesco Dracone, who wasn't much faster in his brief audition with the team, and followed him with Tomas Scheckter and Roger Yasukawa.

Understanding that drivers like this weren't going to cut it if IndyCar ever wants to approach NASCAR again in legitimacy, Randy Bernard and Brian Barnhart had to act quickly. They started by putting Duno on probation over the summer and threatened not to renew her license for 2011; she's not likely to be back. Now the TEAM parameters have been adjusted to penalize the two owners most guilty of hiring unqualified talent last season.

Don't think the rest of the sport isn't taking notice.

While Jimmy Vasser is attempting to retain all three drivers from last year's horror show at KV Racing Technology, he's also talked enthusiastically about putting Paul Tracy, the 2003 CART champion, into a full-time ride after two years of limited schedules. Panther Racing is looking at J.R. Hildebrand, the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion, for their lone seat. Chip Ganassi appears poised to start a two-car satellite team out of ex-drag racer Don Prudhomme's shop with young American standouts Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball.

And perhaps best of all, after a dismal 2010 that saw the team suffer through poor runs with Hideki Mutoh and only employ Rahal for five races - a long way to fall from their seventh place performance in 2009 - Newman/Haas Racing is testing 2010 Lights runner-up James Hinchcliffe and longtime Champ Car stalwart Oriol Servia at Sebring International Raceway in mid-December with the intent of bringing both to the series in 2011.

There's not a single driver on that list that doesn't have the confidence and respect of the majority of the IndyCar paddock. Most have taken victories in IndyCar, Champ Car, or Indy Lights. The only one who hasn't, Kimball, had four runner-up finishes in Lights this year.

That's a huge jump forward from Duno, Dracone, and Mutoh, and an even bigger jump forward from past backmarkers like Marty Roth, Kosuke Matsuura, and Enrique Bernoldi.

It also puts potential sponsors in a bit more of a pressing position. It's still a free market, under which they can shift money to whomever they please. But in order to tap into IndyCar's highly populated markets, desirable fan demographic, and recent positive momentum, and to make sure that the team they work with gets paid at the end of the season, they have to hire a driver with the chops to put on a good show and not stink up the back of the grid.

And, like it was in the sport's heyday, the only ones lamenting will be the ones who aren't fast enough to make the cut.

IndyCar Race Preview: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of the most prestigious events in all of North American open wheel racing. Having hosted Formula 1, CART, and Champ Cars in the past, it is now under its second year of IZOD IndyCar Series sanctioning. Last year's running was won by Dario Franchitti, for his victory after a year in stock car racing.

Franchitti will have some work to do to repeat, however, as he starts a dismal 12th, nearly a second off the pole pace.

Instead, the front of the pack will look much like it did in the first two races of the season, with Will Power leading Ryan Hunter-Reay and Justin Wilson to the green flag. All three competed at Long Beach in Champ Car's history, and Power won the final Champ Car-sanctioned event in 2008.

Power's Team Penske looks to continue its three race winning streak regardless of who takes the checkers, however, as teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. Castroneves won last weekend at Barber, while Briscoe challenged for the win at Brazil.

Andretti Autosport also has a formidable trio of cars in the top 10, with Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan in sixth, and Marco Andretti ninth. Andretti cars have led laps in each of the first three races this season, with Andretti having paced the field in the past two. The offseason restructuring has paid early dividends, as three of the team's cars are now in the top 10 and are steadily moving up.

In Firestone Indy Lights, James Hinchcliffe earned his second pole in three races, beating J.K. Vernay, who has been the class of the field in the season's first two races. Vernay's best lap was quicker than Hinchcliffe's, but due to a caution on the track that lap was disallowed.

IndyCar Race Preview: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

The IZOD IndyCar Series runs its first stateside race of the season this Sunday on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be run as an IndyCar event for the sixth time. Ryan Briscoe won the event last year.

Briscoe has been fast in two out of three practice sessions, posting the third-quickest time in sessions 1 and 3. The biggest story of the young season, however, continues to be his Team Penske teammate, Will Power. Power, coming off a win in Brazil two weeks ago, has paced the field in all three practice sessions, and will clearly be fast in the upcoming race. In the second session, his best lap was an astounding seven tenths of a second faster than the next car. Power almost seems like a lock to take home the checkered flag this weekend, based on both practice speeds and momentum carried over from two weeks ago.

Over the three practices, nine cars besides Power's have turned laps good enough to put them in the top five in at least one session. None, however, have been up there in all three sessions, or nearly as consistent as Power. The Chip Ganassi Racing teams, as well as Penske's other cars, have also been fast most of the time. Other than Penske, only Ganassi has had a car in the top five in all three sessions, but neither individual car has been fast in all three.

A surprise towards the top of the charts in the third session was E.J. Viso, whose lap of 1:02.3615 was good enough for second place in the session, about a quarter of a second behind Power. Viso was sixth in the second session as well, a marked improvement from his first session pace, where he was a second and a half off the pace. Viso's best career IndyCar finish came at St. Petersburg in 2008, when he placed fourth.

As for the Firestone Indy Lights cars, Martin Plowman paced the field in the Friday's practice session in preparation for tomorrow's race. He was followed in that session by James Hinchcliffe, who was about .12 seconds off the pace. On Saturday, however, they swapped spots at the front of the field, with Hinchcliffe holding a .16 second advantage over Plowman. Look for the two, widely viewed as the top contenders for this year's Indy Lights title, to battle for the win this weekend.

Barber Test Recaps

The season-opening test sessions have been completed at Barber Motorsports Park for both the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone Indy Lights Series.

The third session in IndyCar testing was again paced by Team Penske, as Will Power, Helio Castroneves, and Ryan Briscoe placed 1-2-3. Power became the only driver to break the 1 minute, 10-second mark, as 14 cars topped the previous benchmark of 1 minute, 11 seconds. Takuma Sato was again the fastest rookie. 20 cars participated.

In the first Indy Lights session, Canadian James Hinchcliffe paced the field, as the only driver to break the 1 minute, 15-second mark. He topped Brit Martin Plowman and American Charlie Kimball, who took second and third, respectively. They were the only other drivers to top 1 minute, 16-second laps. 14 teams participated.

The second session was more of the same, as Hinchcliffe again beat Plowman and Kimball as the only driver to post a lap in the low 1 minute, 14-second range. Only 13 teams participated in the second session, but seven cars broke the 1 minute, 16-second barrier this time.

Click here for the full results of the third IZOD IndyCar session.
Click here for the full results of the first Firestone Indy Lights session.
Click here for the full results of the second Firestone Indy Lights session.