north american road racing
Let’s start in open-wheel racing where,
for the first time in more than a decade, a
functional, multi-tier ladder system will
soon be in place with modern equipment
to offer the next generation of IndyCar
Series champions and Indy 500 winners.
The first two floors on the Mazda Road
to Indy, USF2000 and Pro Mazda, are the
healthiest among the three-tier training
series, with the final step, Indy Lights, at its
lowest point in terms of field size since its
formation in the mid-1980s.
Having recently closed its second
season with the turbocharged Dallara
D W12 package, the IndyCar Series has
moved on from rows over spare parts
prices and turbocharger housings that
sullied much of 2012, but it continues to
face a bigger problem: escalating budgets.
The price to stay at the front continues
its exponential trend as teams dedicate an
increasing portion of their budgets to
research and development. Like a gold
mine that’s revealed most of its riches, the
big performance nuggets have been
unearthed, leaving the fractions of a second
needed to win hidden in the tiniest of veins.
And the costs to find those granules of
speed will continue to skyrocket as the law
of diminishing returns kicks in ever harder.
Take a look at what it takes to race in the
four elite open-wheel categories in North
America, then compare the costs to what
sports car racing entrants are faced with
in their world. Where is the best value
to be found? That’s down to opinion.
NORTH AMERICAN OPEN-WHEEL RACING
North America’s oldest racing series is
also among the most expensive to field a
potentially winning entry in. It’s a
contradiction of sorts, due to every chassis
and drivetrain item (barring the choice of
engine) being a spec component. A new
Dallara D W12 chassis sells for $349,000
and another $50,000 can easily be spent
on miscellaneous items. Add in the
required engine mounting kit, the cost of
engine ancillaries, the time and labor to
massage everything together, paint and
graphics and some of the driver-specific
items to the cockpit, and it isn’t hard to
cross the $600,000 threshold.
An engine lease at $695,000 for the
19-race season is exceptionally cheap –
Chevy and Honda reportedly subsidize
each lease to the tune of $500,000 to
cover the costs that go beyond the
series-mandated price. A one-year lease
from Firestone is $538,000, and then
you have the costs to staff the team,
the cost for a shop to house that team,
entry fees, travel and accomodation
costs, the cost to feed the team at each
race, the corporate hospitality trailer or
suite to entertain those who fund the
program, the expenses involved with
track testing, wind tunnel time, seven-post
rig and simulation costs, insurance bills,
health care costs, the cost to lease tractors
and trailers, the spare parts and pieces
for the cars, the pit equipment, and even
something as mundane as the dry
cleaning bill for crew shirts and firesuits.
A driver salary could also be part of the
budget. Driver salaries have fallen
significantly since the open-wheel racing
merger in 2008, with few commanding a
million bucks or more. Some surprisingly
talented and successful drivers are in the
$300,000-$500,000 range, while others,
including those who bring their own funding
to a team, are left to negotiate a salary that
fits their status or sponsor-hunting abilities.
Among the annual budget figures, the
biggest bargain that’s been reported for
a full-season entry this year is one for
$3.5 million, which is about half of what
a top team requires. Most teams won’t
start talking with a driver unless they have
something close to $5 million to start – and
even at that level, fears of losing money
would be prevalent. Between $6 and $7m
is the sweet spot for a championship-caliber
entry, and at least one team is said to be
over the $10 million mark for a single car.
INDYCAR SERIES
