A: Yes. Rules as they apply to general technical specifications for the 1996 Indy Racing League series were announced last March when the League issued a statement that 1995 USAC chassis and engine rules will apply to the 1996 IRL Season. That means, technical rules in effect for the 1995 Indianapolis 500 would apply to the entire 1996 IRL season. For the IRL's four 1996 short track events, chassis rules will conform with 1995 PPG Series regulations. Monitoring compliance will be the responsibility of the United States Auto Club (USAC), sanctioning body of the IRL. USAC's 1996 IRL Rule Book is currently undergoing final edits and will be available in the next four to six weeks.
A championship scoring system that rewards performance and participation has been put in place by the Indy Racing League (IRL), which launches its first season on Saturday, Jan. 27, 1996, with a 200-mile race on the new one-mile tri-oval at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
At the same time, IRL executive director Jack Long disclosed that the new league's season schedule would end annually with the Indianapolis 500. Both car entrant and driver championships would be determined after that race. A new season would begin with the next race which in 1996 is a 200-miler at New Hampshire International Speedway on Aug. 18.
The oval track auto racing series opens with an abbreviated three-race season in January with races at Orlando, Phoenix International Raceway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. New Hampshire will kick off the first full five-race season that concludes with the 1997 Indianapolis 500. Also included will be the 200-mile race at the new Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 15, 1996 and then Orlando and Phoenix in early 1997. Long said additional races may be added for the 1997-98 season.
IRL's championship points system, which Long describes as a special adaptation of formulas used for other classes of motor sports, will determine both team and driver standings. Standings for both categories will be calculated on an identical basis. A first-place finish will be awarded 35 points. Second place would receive 33. The scale would then descend by one point per position down to 34th and 35th positions, should a starting field ever involve that many entrants.
To recognize consistent competition in the series, Long explained that after the first race of the season, base points earned in each event would be multiplied by the number of races run by the car entrant. The same system would apply to driver point standings.
Long added that the new scoring system is especially significant in order to implement the league's unique qualifying incentive for staring positions to the top 75 percent of the car entrants in league standings.
For example, according to Long, in a 24-car field that would apply to the leading 18 entrants in IRL points rankings. At the Indianapolis 500, the top 25 in IRL entrant points could be assured positions in the 33-car field.
"Of course, those cars must attain a minimum average qualifying speed which will be established by the sanctioning United States Auto Club (USAC) and will be based on an evaluation of track conditions and safety at each venue," Long said.
The IRL pattern for scheduling a single season of racing over parts of two calendar years was adopted to allow the league to end its championship competition at its premier and crowning event, the Indianapolis 500. "While new to racing, it is not unusual among other sports, such as pro football, basketball and hockey," Long commented.
Long predicted the IRL's approach to qualifying and awarding points will attach more significance to car entrant standings. "Fan interest and attention to season positionings of cars as well as drivers will be greatly heightened," he said. "This will create two simultaneous races' among teams and drivers for championships within a single season, a pattern well-suited for league competition, which is the very essence of IRL's format."
The following tables provide specifics and examples of how the system works.
IRL Points by Finishing Position:
Pos. Pts. Pos. Pts. Pos. Pts.
1 - 35 13 - 22 25 - 10
2 - 33 14 - 21 26 - 9
3 - 32 15 - 20 27 - 8
4 - 31 16 - 19 28 - 7
5 - 30 17 - 18 29 - 6
6 - 29 18 - 17 30 - 5
7 - 28 19 - 16 31 - 4
8 - 27 20 - 15 32 - 3
9 - 26 21 - 14 33 - 2
10 - 25 22 - 13 34 - 1
11 - 24 23 - 12 35 - 1
12 - 23 24 - 11
Season Points Scenarios (finishing positions, base points
awarded and multiplier totals):
The following table illustrates how the math works. Base
points are added together after each race, and then
multiplied by the number of IRL races run. Teams A, B and C
could be any three teams:
Disney Phoenix Indy
Team A 1st (35 pts) 10th (25 pts) 10th (25 pts)
Base Points 35 + 25 = 60 60 + 25 = 85
Multiplier 2x60= 120 pts 3x85= 255 pts
Team B 2nd (33 pts) 2nd (33 pts) 2nd (33 pts)
Base Points 33 + 33 = 66 66 + 33 = 99
Multiplier 2x66= 132 pts 3x99= 297 pts
Team C 22nd (13 pts) 14th (21 pts) 8th (27 pts)
Base Points 13 + 21 = 34 34 + 27 = 61
Multiplier 2x34+ 68 pts 3x61= 183 pts
Season Total: A=255pts, B=297pts, C=183pts
The preview is being presented by Walt Disney World, ABC Sports and IMS Events, Inc.
Potential sponsors -- whether they are associated with the event, IRL teams or the league itself -- are being invited to the world-renowned Walt Disney World theme park to see the new one-mile oval race track nearing completion just inside the Magic Kingdom property. The track will be the site of IRL's inaugural auto racing event, the Indy 200 TM at Walt Disney World, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 1996, broadcast live by ABC Sports television and the IMS Radio Network.
"There's nothing like having these sponsors see this new facility," commented Bill Donaldson, president of track constructor and event promoter IMS Events, an affiliated company of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp. "This provides an important first look' at the opportunities at this new venue and all that Disney offers. Plus, it will help orient sponsors to the IRL."
Sponsors interested in spending a day or two at Walt Disney World meeting with various Disney and IRL personnel regarding the new track, travel logistics, catering, entertainment, hospitality, resort accommodations and sponsorship options are invited to contact IMS Events and Marketing in Indianapolis at 317/484-6750 for further details.
To set the record straight: "What is the Indy Racing League all about -- inclusion or exclusion?"
The good news for teams -- and their sponsors -- is that the basic framework of the Indy Racing League has been designed for inclusion. No mystery there. In fact, for the first time in recent memory, a structure will exist that puts the decision in the team's control. It's a matter of participation.
If a team chooses to compete in the IRL -- and the league is open to all who fit its rules -- it can start the season knowing the opportunity is there to virtually guarantee itself a spot in the Indianapolis 500. Or in any other race in the oval track series.
That's a powerful tool not only for attracting sponsors, but in keeping them. They know their market investment is well placed. Teams that participate in the first two races of 1996 at Walt Disney World and Phoenix can assure themselves and their sponsors that they will be one of the 33 cars in the "500" by being among the top 25 point leaders before qualifying starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's an incentive that spells inclusion.
Just this past May we witnessed a team come to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway only to see a frustrating series of problems keep it out of the "500". When a high echelon team with so much resting on its appearance at the Speedway doesn't make the race, then maybe we do need to build safeguards that support entrants who have performed well and made an ongoing commitment to the league.
This way a team, in preparing for a new season under IRL's 1996 qualifying rules, can tell its sponsor that through regular involvement and by being among the 25 top point leaders in the series there's a place for them at the Indianapolis 500. That same assurance is provided at short-track races for the top 18 entrants (75 percent of a 24-car field) in the standings.
Elsewhere in this issue of the IRL Newsletter, the procedure for determining series leaders is outlined. Again, it's a formula based not only on performance, but on consistent participation. Standings of teams are determined by adding together base points awarded for each finishing position and then multiplying that total by the number of race appearances made during the series.
And the "multiplier" can be applied in some cases even if a team doesn't get into the race.
There are times, despite a serious effort, a team doesn't actually reach the starting line. The commitment to the league is there but circumstances prevent a team from racing -- e.g., mechanical problems or a practice or qualifying accident.
In those situations, the IRL doesn't want to penalize a team by withholding the multiple element which is such a vital incentive in striving to get to each race. For example, if an entrant earns points in the season's first race at Walt Disney World in January and then tries but fails to get into the 200 miler at Phoenix in March, the Orlando points will still be multiplied by two to establish the team's position in overall IRL standings.
How do you monitor non-race efforts? Those decisions, of course, will be made by the IRL's independent sanctioning body, the United States Auto Club.
While driver standings will be based entirely on actual race participation, the points formula for this championship area is otherwise identical.
If the 1996 IRL "participation system" had been in place in 1994 among drivers, what would the effect have been on final season standings? Very little actually. The top three positions would be unchanged. The fourth and fifth spots, very close under either rating calculation, are reversed and the sixth-place driver drops to 10th among IRL leaders, mainly due to missing a race during the year. In any case, the title would not be determined until he last race.
Carrying the two systems back to 1993, however, does produce a different champion in a tight season battle mainly because the No. 1 driver that year missed a race. As a result, the No. 2 driver for 1993 would have been the champion under IRL rules that reward participation.
A major difference between the two systems is depth of points allotment. Currently in the series among Indy cars no points are awarded beyond 12th place. In the IRL, next year, all starters will receive points -- from first to last place. It's the participation factor again.
Seems only fair.