Indy Racing League Picks Dallara

Just the Facts:

• The new IndyCar chassis will be provided by present constructor Dallara.
• A spec tub will be required, but teams will have leeway in the choice of aero packages.
• Diversity will be the word in 2012, with similar openness in the new engine formula.

INDIANAPOLIS — The new IRL IndyCar Series racing car will be based on a spec item provided by Dallara, the present chassis supplier, but teams will have some leeway with regard to treatments for the new tub and rolling chassis.

The new chassis formula was revealed Wednesday in a media event staged at the Indianapolis Art Museum. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels joined IRL officials for the presentation.

Numerous manufacturers, including racecar builders and, the IRL hopes, automobile manufacturers, the aerospace industry and even entrepreneurs, will be encouraged to participate in a competitive market to supply front and rear wings, side pods and engine covers.

Each IRL team will be permitted to compete with two different aero packages, which are expected to produce individual appearances while minimizing costs and ensuring adherence to technical and safety requirements. This fits with the series' previously announced engine formula, which was designed to entice a variety of carmakers to join Honda, which presently supplies all IndyCar teams.

Tony Purnell, a member of the committee that formulated the new rules, summed it up in a challenge to those various participants: "So come on, Ford. Come on, GM, Lotus, Ferrari. Come on, Lockheed. Come on, Boeing. Come on, you engineers working in small technology businesses. We want you to rise to the challenge."

Italy-based Dallara prevailed over four competitors, with the committee rewarding the company's long history as an IRL participant and its commitment to reducing costs (the new car will cost $385,000, $349,000 for just the core IndyCar Safety Cell tub, compared to the $600,000 price tag on the current car).

Incentives for the local economy were also a factor. Dallara pledged to build a facility near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to manufacture the new car and Indiana-based teams will get a $150,000 discount on the first 28 cars they purchase.

Lola, Swift, BAT Engineering and DeltaWing were the other bidders.

Presentations from the five bidders were considered by the ICONIC — Innovative, Competitive, Open-Wheel, New, Industry-Relevant, Cost-Effective — Advisory Committee. Retired Air Force General William R. Looney III headed the committee.

"This decision is one of the most important decisions of the decade for the IZOD IndyCar Series and its future," said Randy Bernard, IndyCar chief executive officer.

The engine formula, announced June 3, will accommodate four- or six-cylinder engines with displacement as large as 2.4 liters — a marked change from the spec 3.5-liter V8 that Honda now supplies to all competitors in the series.

With the new engine rule, IndyCar took a turn away from the pattern still embraced by Formula 1 and NASCAR, where engines are restricted to an all-but-identical size and configuration.

Inside Line says: The IRL is proceeding with a well-conceived and well-executed plan to reassume a position at or near the top of the American and international racing hierarchy. — David Green, Correspondent