Oilpressure

According to an article posted last week on Racer.com, Marshall Pruett is reporting the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (DRR) is strongly considering a return to being a full-time participant in the NTT IndyCar Series. With a new chassis and engine formula promised for the 2027 season, they figure that will be a good time frame to shoot for, when teams are on more even ground with little to no data to go on.

Of course, that is dependent on the promised timeline. I have seriously lost count of how many times a new chassis and/or engine has been promised, only to see it pushed back. By then, this chassis and engine formula will have been around for fifteen full seasons. Just yesterday, Penske Entertainment shared a proposed design from Dallara. Reports are that it shares many of the design components of the current car, as they are attempting to hold costs down by utilizing many of the same pieces. Some owners were apparently not thrilled with what they saw, saying it was too close in appearance to what we are accustomed to seeing. They say it lacks "wow-factor". Others, noting that this was just a concept and is not carved in stone, seemed to like the only slightly changed version.

When the DW12 made it’s debut in the spring of 2012, we were so relieved to finally get a new chassis. We considered it absurd at the time that the Dallara IR-03 ran for nine seasons from 2003 through 2011. The lifespan of the current chassis is promised to exceed the IR-03 by at least six seasons – and that’s if the current projected timeline does not get altered again. Does that mean we need to count on a new chassis lasting at least twenty years? If that’s the case, then this will probably be the last new chassis I’ll live to see – unless I live into my 90s. Anyway, I digress…

DRR has what is now a long involvement in IndyCar racing. They are one of only three teams who were around back in the old IRL days. Arrow McLaren draws its rots from Sam Schmidt Motorsports, which was founded in 2001; and Ed Carpenter Racing was originally Vision Racing, which was founded in 2005. DRR was founded in 2000, and still carries its original Dreyer & Reinbold name. All of the rest of the grid originated from CART or USAC (Foyt, Penske).

They are not known for their performance in IndyCar. In thirteen fulltime seasons from 2000 to 2012, they amassed one IndyCar win (Robbie Buhl) , four IndyCar podiums and two IndyCar poles. While their lack of tangible results is not impressive, they have rarely been a bottom-feeder. They almost always had a reputation of having well-prepared cars, and were more mid-pack. Until Dale Coyne Racing won their first race in 2009, I would have ranked DRR far ahead of Coyne and Foyt in performance.

Unfortunately, the team ran out of money early on in the 2013 season. After some decent runs with Oriol Servia, which included a sixth-place finish at Long Beach and a fourth-place finish at São Paulo – DRR made it be known if they found no more sponsorship, the Indianapolis 500 would be their last race of the season. Servia finished eleventh in the 500 that season, but their predictions came true. That race would be the last for DRR until the Indianapolis 500 the following year. Since then, they have been an Indy-only team, with the exception of the 2020 season, when they also ran the three races on the IMS road course. In the COVID-altered 2020 schedule.

In recent years, they have had some decent runs in the 500. Two years ago, Ryan Hunter-Reay gave the team an eleventh-place finish. Last year, Hunter-Reay qualified in the Firestone Fast Twelve and was having a good run, before being squeezed by Scott Dixon. Conor Daly finished tenth last year.

For next year, Hunter-Reay will return for his third 500 with DRR and Jack Harvey has been named as his teammate for 2025. With their partnership with Don Cusick, the future looks bright for this team in upcoming 500s.

But what about 2027, when Dennis Reinbold plans to return his local team to fulltime status? Things look a little more murky with the new charter system in place. This is what I feared, when the charter system was first conceived and ultimately put into place a few months ago. I feared it would discourage new teams from entering the series. Teams that have no charters will have to qualify their way into every race. Charter teams are guaranteed the first 25 spots on a grid that will be limited to 27 starting spots. PREMA will already be an non-chartered team trying to make each race in 2025. DRR in 2027 will make things even more crowded.

One thing I was unaware of until I read the Pruett article – teams without a charter must seek permission from Penske Entertainment to try and qualify for each race. You can’t just enter ad show up as you could last season.

I am still perplexed how series officials expect to grow the series with a charter system in place. The series is not flourishing to the point that they can afford to turn away teams that are wanting to race in their series. I’m sure I don’t fully understand the concept, but if a team with a solid history like DRR wants to expand to fulltime – they should be allowed to without so many restrictions. How are they expected to secure sponsorship, when their ability to participate in every single race is a huge question mark. Is the series really so flush with cash, that they can afford to send cars home on Saturday?

I am thrilled that DRR wants to expand into fulltime IndyCar racing. I hope that somehow the hurdles can be cleared where they can make the grid at every race. However, under the current structure – I’m not sure that’s possible. I see that as a huge problem that needs fixing.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on December 11, 2024 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.