IndyCar Mulls Options, Nurses Bruises!

IndyCar and Grand Prix of Baltimore officials announced that they’ll install the chicane that was omitted this year, in order to slow the cars down before they hit the railroad tracks. This will certainly slow down the speeds through the bumpiest sections, but won’t eliminate the bumps. The City of Baltimore is working on some surface grinding to address the worst of the remaining bumps.

Meanwhile, the owners and drivers are talking about their experience. Simon Pagenaud, whose car did a 4-tire lift a la Dukes of Hazzard, said that in another car he would’ve been injured by the event. Bruno Junqueira was talking about the old Vegas street course before practice, and had a heckuva headache. Rumor is that Charlie Kimball’s car lost an engine (which is true, he did lose an engine) due to bumpiness, but team and Honda officials won’t comment on that last part. It is true that cars were bottoming out, including the skid plates on the bottom of the motor.

Even the Mazda F2000 and Star Mazda drivers were talking about getting airborne. The first practice for Indy Lights was cancelled, and the second was cut short after an accident that was probably caused by the rough track. The ALM cars were all bouncing around, but seemed to be better equipped to deal with the situation. — Tim Wohlford, reporting from BALTIMORE!!