Closed IndyCar Butt Bumpers stop cars from flying

The Butt Bumpers are now sealed per Cipolloni's recommendation

Unlike the Indy 500 where the Chevy cars would immediately take off as soon as they got backward, that did not happen Saturday in Fontana. The problem was identified immediately by engineer Mark Cipolloni of AR1.com, including the solution to fix the problem. It took a week or so but IndyCar finally mandated that the Chevys remove the sloped surface inside their Butt Bumpers that was causing the lift. He recommended that they be removed from the cars or completely closed off to prevent airflow inside that was causing the lift.

The following two videos show the Chevys of Helio Castroneves (3:10 mark) and Will Power getting backwards at over 200 mph Saturday at Fontana and the cars remained planted to the ground. And before you ask, what about Ryan Briscoe getting airborne, it happened when the car hit the grass and was traveling sideways, not backwards when liftoff occurred. No one has asked Cipolloni to solve that problem for IndyCar….yet.