Two of IndyCar’s staple franchises have forged a technical partnership, with the effects coming into play as early as this weekend’s race from World Wide Technology Raceway.
According to reporting by RACER, AJ Foyt Racing, which has struggled to be competitive in recent years despite its storied history, will begin working closely with Team Penske in order to boost the performance of both outfits.
Foyt will take advantage of Penske’s extensive development of dampers and their application on the track, which will be of particular use this weekend due to the Penske’s dominant oval performance of late.
What Penske will gain from the alliance is more data points to build setups from, which will be helpful during short weekend schedules where the team may not have had a chance to test.
The powerhouse team will also gain ability to use the Foyt team as a proving ground for young crew and engineering staff, and even a starting point for young drivers that have come through the feeder series ranks.
“We had seen those relationships happen in IndyCar whether it was Shank and Andretti, or we obviously have our relationship similar to that concept in NASCAR with the Wood Brothers,” said Team Penske president Tim Cindric, speaking to RACER.
“And we’ve used it as a training ground for people, whether it’s drivers or crew or engineers or whatever else, as long as we can control the IP or kind of have some direction on where it all goes, but still have a good relationship.
“I’ve known Larry [Foyt] and A.J. Foyt forever. And just before Iowa, Larry called me up and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you’ve open to revisiting it, but would you be interested in trying to try to help us in some way and maybe working together in a way that you and Scott [Harner] had talked about?
“I said, ‘I’m glad you called because, I’ve been thinking about something like this, and maybe not this year or next year, but at some point in time, if we’re helping guys like Myles Rowe, as an example, who we’re helping to come up the ladder system, and if they win the Indy NXT championship, what are we going to do with them?’”
Team Penske historically shies away from hiring unproven talent into its ranks, choosing instead to grab drivers and crew members that have already shown they are the best of the best.
Having a relationship that allows it to have something similar to a junior team for young promising drivers will potentially keep rival teams from scooping up the best talent.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the alliance is that it shows Chevrolet-powered teams are now more willing to work together.
Although specifics are rarely discussed, it is generally acknowledged within the paddock that Honda-powered entries have a slight advantage on most race weekends due to a combination of raw engine performance and the application of that power.
With a larger set of experienced engineers working together, extra performance could be squeezed out of the mature Chevy engine to allow those involved to be more competitive against their rivals.
It remains to be seen how this latest partnership will translate to actual results, and it will likely take some time before all the benefits are realized.
