All American Visionary: Dan Gurney
by Marshall Pruett (SPEEDTV.com) … The biggest affront Gurney sees with the current version of an IndyCar is the singular thinking that goes into its design. Open competition has become a thing of the past, but as Gurney tells it, if it is embraced once again, the fans will come back with it. “I’m not a spec formula kind of person. I can only tell you what my own perspective is. And I think most of the fans, and I include myself as a fan of what used to be IndyCar racing, we were excited because we didn’t have any idea whether somebody was going to come up with something new each year that would change the sport. And that was a big element of the unknown that I think fans still want to look forward to. …So you need to have as few rules as you possibly can and open it up for the innovation and clever thinking and all kinds of good stuff can happen.”
“…When the Indy 500 circuit was first laid out it was intended to be a testing ground for the motor car industry. Later it became a racing circuit. Times have changed. Maybe it would now be time to return to the original idea.”
“…I was thinking, well, why not have an event that would be an efficiency competition for cars. You could have it be a 48-hour race there and you could have one driver for 12 hours, another in there for 12 hours, and so on to get to the 48 hours. Everybody gets the same amount of fuel and ballast the weight for people so they’re all the same, and then just see who goes the longest distance with their different cars and engines? Imagine the country looking at Indianapolis again for being more than just a race.”
“…We don’t know today what a really efficient road car will be in the years to come, but racing should reflect the future. If you could cut everybody loose, whether it’s the tire company or the wheel bearing company or the aerodynamic guys or the light weight structures guy, and used all those things, would 40 miles to the gallon at the Indianapolis 500 not be wonderful? …That would be a benefit to the car industry and to the Average Joe.” READ MORE
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