{"id":512,"date":"2013-12-09T16:10:13","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T21:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/?p=512"},"modified":"2013-12-09T16:10:13","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T21:10:13","slug":"2014-series-preview-indycar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/2014-series-preview-indycar\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 Series Preview: IndyCar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter\u2019s not a great time to be a racing fan.\u00a0 Tracks go quiet as cars are retired to their team headquarters, while engineers dream of new aerodynamic improvements.\u00a0 To keep us all entertained while we wait for green flags to start waving, I\u2019ll be writing season previews for some of next year\u2019s most entertaining racing disciplines.\u00a0 First up: the IZOD IndyCar<\/a> series.<\/p>\n

\"IndyLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is it?<\/h3>\n

Easily the most recognized form of open-cockpit racing in the US, IndyCar takes place on a variety of oval tracks, temporary street circuits, and permanent road courses.\u00a0 All drivers use the same core chassis, with a choice between Honda and Chevrolet engines.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to the teams to adjust the cars\u2019 aerodynamic and mechanical setups to adapt to the demands of each race.\u00a0 A team can employ multiple drivers and send multiple cars to the grid, but only one driver can win the championship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why should I care?<\/h3>\n

IndyCar is an extremely competitive sport.\u00a0 During the past few seasons, the championship has been so close that the winner wasn\u2019t decided until the final race.\u00a0 There\u2019s an international cast of extremely talented drivers, many racing for teams with decades of rivalry between them.\u00a0 Because everyone is using the same cars, any team that gets their setup right has a good shot at winning a race.\u00a0 There\u2019s a wide variety of tracks, with the Indy 500 standing out as the most famous and prestigious race on the calendar.\u00a0 The rules and technology are far less complicated than those in Formula One, making IndyCar the easier of the two open-wheel series to understand.<\/p>\n

\"indy500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s new this year?<\/h3>\n

2014 won\u2019t see any major rule changes in IndyCar, but there are a handful of big stories as far as the tracks and drivers go.\u00a0 Last year\u2019s double-header races will return, as will the fascinating triangle circuit at Pocono.\u00a0 The Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit will come back into use, with the infield track hosting a race two weeks before the Indy 500.\u00a0 The sport will gain a famous driver in Juan Pablo Montoya, but will unfortunately lose another with the retirement of Dario Franchitti.\u00a0 The \u201csilly season\u201d of drivers changing teams isn\u2019t quite over yet, so we may still have a few surprises before the first race on March 30th.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who\u2019s going to win?<\/h3>\n

Honestly, I haven\u2019t got a clue.\u00a0 Between past champions and talented up-and-comers, at least half the drivers in the sport have a shot at winning the title this year.\u00a0 If I were a betting man, my money would be on Simon Pagenaud, the increasingly impressive French driver with a background in endurance racing.<\/p>\n

\"PagenaudResized\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How can I watch it?<\/h3>\n

Much like last year, coverage of the 2014 season will be split between NBC Sports and ABC.\u00a0 Of course, since the entire season takes place in the US and Canada, you could also just go watch a race in person, you lazy bum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pit Box One is written by Paul Jensen. You can follow his thoughts on video games and motor racing on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter\u2019s not a great time to be a racing fan.\u00a0 Tracks go quiet as cars are retired to their team headquarters, while engineers dream of new aerodynamic improvements.\u00a0 To keep us all entertained while we wait for green flags to start waving, I\u2019ll be writing season previews for some of next year\u2019s most entertaining racing [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}