Scott Sharp Tests Indy Car at Richmond

When Tony George announced that the Indy Northern Lights Racing Series would visit Richmond International Raceway on June 30, 2001, everyone wondered how an Indy car would do on the short 3/4 mile oval. After all, Indy cars are used to running on tracks at least one or one and one half miles in length. Could these highly specialized machines be adapted to run on the "short track"?

The question was answered on September 9, as Scott Sharp took his World.com Dallara to Richmond for testing prior to the NASCAR race on that date. Sharp, who said his car was not running at its optimum performance because of gearing problems for the short track, still was able to turn laps approximately 2 seconds faster than the Winston Cup cars who qualified earlier in the day. He speculated that by race day next year, the Indy cars would be averaging 4 seconds faster than their NASCAR counterparts.

According to Sharp, "It's going to be wild. On most of our tracks we run two or three abreast, two and three rows deep. I think it's going to be an exciting track for us." NASCAR fans who were on hand for the testing session and hot laps tended to agree with his assessment. Many were amazed at the speed the Indy car reached during the Saturday runs. It is expected to increase interest in the traditional Southern stock car racing public when the Indy cars arrive for the June race. Richmond, long a stronghold of NASCAR and other stock car racing series, have never been exposed in person to open-wheeled racing of the quality of the IRL.

One thing is certain, when the Indy cars hit the track for official qualifying, track records are bound to fall. Currently the track record is held by Jeff Gordon at 125.558 mph. In fact, probably several cars will better the current track record during IRL qualifying. Race speeds, however, may not be as fast, since if the Indy cars run like their NASCAR counterparts on the short track, the bumping and banging could hold down speeds under racing conditions.

Whatever happens, however, the Indy cars are coming to Richmond and they will put on a great show on one of the legendary tracks of the Southern Racing scene. Those fans who are lucky enough to have tickets will see an exciting race that will hopefully peak the interest in Indy car racing in this region of the country.

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