To the big teams go the spoils… or something like that. Close and competitive racing has been a common theme in the IndyCar Series, but the end-of-year results always seem to favour the usual suspects.
Chip Ganassi Racing wrapped up its seventh title over the last 12 years in North America’s premier open-wheel championship, with Team Penske having captured it the other five times over that span. The last time a team other than those two dominant forces won the championship was in 2012 when Andretti Global (then known as Andretti Autosport) won all with Ryan Hunter-Reay at the helm.
Excluding the Champ Car era that was dominated by Newman/Haas from 2004-07, the most recent titles won by a team not named Andretti, Ganassi, or Penske came over two decades ago in 2002, courtesy of the long-since-defunct Panther Racing.
The combination of elite drivers, personnel and resources are, obviously, all large parts of why the same powerhouse teams are constantly fighting for wins and titles. However, another element that comes into play is how much testing they are able to complete compared to the smaller teams.
Sharing his thoughts on the topic with Autosport, Gavin Ward, team principal for Arrow McLaren, widely considered the other member of the ‘Big Four’ alongside rivals Andretti, Ganassi and Penske due to its depth of resources, conceded: “It is ridiculous.
“IndyCar needs to take a look at itself with regard to competitiveness, as they claim to be a great competitive series. We can put on competitive races, but you can’t deny that in the last 20 years, three teams have won championships, and only one outside of Penske and Ganassi.
"In that time, every time there’s a new aero package, every time there is a tyre test, who gets favourability? The teams that are winning.”
That was certainly the case during the early phases of the hybrid unit. When the current 2.2-litre, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine was initially paired with hybrid power in August 2023, it was Penske and Ganassi that were leaned on heavily by respective manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda. Andretti and Arrow McLaren received their turns in October of 2023. Over the introductory three months, the four teams - stretched across 13 drivers - logged a total of 15,256 miles.
It wasn’t until late March of 2024 that the remaining teams - AJ Foyt Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing - were provided with their first on-track outing with the hybrid, ending up with nearly 2,000 miles combined over two days of running.
“We’re somewhere in the middle because we got to do some testing that other teams didn’t get to do but we certainly didn’t get to do near what Penske and Ganassi were able to do,” Ward said.
The benefits also extended to tyre testing, with Penske and Ganassi getting the chance to log laps at Milwaukee in October 2023. How it played a vital part, according to Ward, is in allowing the teams to return with data to bolster setups when there was a series-wide hybrid test back in June.
“Even this year, Penske and Ganassi got to test at Milwaukee last October, so they showed up at the Open Test having done a seven-post [sim] session, built the track, optimised the dampers and they’re one test ahead of everybody else because they could do that,” Ward said.
“Now, the rules say they can only do one tyre test burned. We go to Nashville. Arrow McLaren and Andretti go to Nashville. I have a tyre failure (with Pato O’Ward), come back to Nashville and who do they invite? Penske and Ganassi. So, where’s our advantage? Where’s the equalisation? It doesn’t make any sense. Invite Coyne. Invite Carpenter. Invite Rahal for crying out loud.
“Meanwhile, you look at last year with the hybrid system, we got the advantage of doing some testing. You know where we tested? Sebring and Homestead; two places we don’t race. You know where Penske and Ganassi tested in addition to those places? Gateway, Barber, Road America. IndyCar has a testing equality problem, and I’ve told them that before.”
Chris Simmons, Director of Performance at Chip Ganassi Racing, had his own counterpoints on why the smaller teams should not be the ones leaned on, specifically for tyre testing.
“To be honest, what we see with this is those teams show up to do a tyre test and not push the tyres as hard to the point there could be reliability problems,” Simmons told Autosport.
“I think you want the teams that are pushing the tyres to the limit during the test, otherwise you end up showing up to a race weekend and they’re not in the load range that was predicted for the tyres and then you end up with problems across the board from the aero-spec, tyre-spec, everything.”
Simmons stressed the testing is “very limited as it is” and noted it is part of the reasons first-year drivers have a tendency to struggle in IndyCar.
“Even for the rookies, it might be a way for them to have a chance of catching up,” Simmons said. “We don’t have enough tyres to run. It’s tremendously difficult to come in as a rookie and be on pace, whether that’s the team or the driver. The teams that have the resources to do those tyre tests have the drivers to push the cars are probably the ones that should be setting what spec compound it should be.
"Everybody who doesn’t get to test is always going to be upset, I get that. Everybody is always pointing fingers at everybody else thinking they got the advantage. I think the really important thing is that we end up with the right tire-spec and the right aero-spec to put on the best show we can and let the teams go race for it.”
