IRL

IRL

A couple of days ago I wrote that I thought Ron Hemelgarn would be good for a car or two in the 500. Apparently I was mistaken. Hemelgarn announced late Tuesday that he would not only be skipping the 500, but would most likely go to the rival OWRS.

As you might imagine over on Speednet there is quite a lively debate about this announcement. IRL haters are talking about how TG has turned his back on the little guy in lieu of Penske and AGR. Mind you, some of these are the same people who mocked a small budget operation like Hemelgarn. The IRL fans are making excuses why Hemelgarn is not making it in the IRL. Mainly they use the economy and walk lock step with TG over the issue. But I think there is more to it.

I admit, I don’t know a lot about Ron Hemelgarn, but he has always been at Indy and has usually found enough to run more than one car. Before the split the team usually ran one car in the CART series, but not always. They were always down on the food chain though. Then when the IRL started it seemed like a perfect fit for a guy like Hemelgarn. Capped costs were just the beginning. When the league struggled early Hemelgarn was most likely, and by all accounts, given subsidies by TG to increase his IRL and Indy 500 presence.

Fast forward to 2003. Instead of the Aurora and Infiniti engines, the Aurora is reborn the Chevrolet and Honda and Toyota come on board. TG basically tells the teams that his subsidies will end. After all, the league is entering its 8th year and the teams should be stable. What is really happening though is the influx of former CART teams who are stable and bring big sponsorship money. Along with this the Toyota and Honda engine programs are lease programs and they are quite costly. Naturally chassis costs rise as well. To further exacerbate the situation, the lower cost Chevrolet engine is a downright dog. Not even Sammy is able to do anything with it.

So you have a Ron Hemelgarn at the crossroads. His driver brings some Coors money, but not like Miller and Budweiser bring. The team’s main sponsor, Delta Faucet, is a small outfit located in Westfield, IN. Good company, fine fixtures, but not a lot of money for a race team. Hemelgarn really has no choice but to run the Chevy engine and thus is uncompetitive. In fact they are one of the last teams to get the updated “Chevworth” engines later in the season.

Now it is 2004. Hemelgarn seemingly wanted to run the IRL, but he just doesn’t have the money. The Chevworth package is as much as the Toyota or Honda, plus the fact that by Indy, a $100k upgrade package will be needed to convert the 3.4L engine to a 3.0L. The team has no driver bringing in money after canning Bubby last year and Delta’s money is nowhere near enough to run Indy, let alone the IRL season.

Hemelgarn waits, and probably asks TG for assistance (I don’t know this, just that it makes sense if you look at the timing of everything). When no assistance is forthcoming Hemelgarn has serious choices to make. He has entered 2 cars in the 88th 500, but again he has not signed an engine deal, nor does he have a driver. At this point it will cost about $600k for just a car and engine. That is no crew or any other expenses. He need a driver that can bring at least that much money, but who in their right mind would do that. Buddy would probably come back, but he doesn’t bring enough. Hemelgarn knows he is unlikely to make more than $300k on the race. You do the math.

So, Tuesday’s announcement comes as no real shocker to the world. What is the shocker is what team manager Lee Kunzman says next. Not only will the team not be in the 500, but they are working on a deal to go OWRS racing. On the surface this seems ridiculous. In fact my friend Scott wondered about it.

Well it is simple. You see, the Three Stooges aka, Kalkhoven, Gentilozzi and Forsythe (sorry if I misspelled them but I don’t care enough about them to check) are now subsidizing cars to keep OWRS afloat. The rumor is that Forsythe has offered to lease 2 cars to Hemelgarn for $1. Yes that is ONE DOLLAR! Now Hemelgarn would be an idiot not to take the offer and run with it. By doing this he really doesn’t have to sign a money driver, but can take a chance on a young talented driver who has shown some skills. He still will have the Delta money which he can use to travel from event to event and pick up some prize money along the way. Plus, if his cars are out on the track he just might pick up some added sponsorship money.

I certainly do not blame Hemelgarn for doing this. I doubt if the press or other teams will be very receptive to him, but if he can make it financially I doubt if he cares. What gets me goes back to the message boards. The subsidizing of teams by TG was wrong according to the CARTers, but what the Stooges are doing goes unchallenged. What gets me is that these are team owners who are running the show. This is ultimately what did CART in, but these boobs don’t see it. From the IRL standpoint, fans are calling Hemelgarn a sellout, but they loved him when he was getting those same subsidies.

I for one wish Hemelgarn good luck. I don’t see any future in OWRS, but when they fold hopefully there will be a spot for a guy who seems to just love racing.