Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Indianapolis Motor Speedway going soft for 500

Wednesday, May 1, 2002 | 9:44 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials have begun installing energy-absorbing soft walls in the outside corners of the 2.5-mile oval and the material is expected to be in place when practice opens Sunday for the May 26 Indianapolis 500.

The Indy Racing League, which developed the soft-wall technology with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has scheduled a press conference today to announce the new safety device. NASCAR president Mike Helton also is expected to take part in the announcement.

Brian Barnhart, vice president of operations for the IRL, said in an interview last month that the Speedway would need to install about 4,500 feet of padding to cover all four corners.

The new soft-wall technology, which is designed to limit the impact a driver sustains in a crash, is an improvement over the earlier version installed at IMS in 1998. Arie Luyendyk crashed into the wall during an IROC race and his car bounced back onto the racing surface -- a problem that led Speedway officials to take down the wall.

Barnhart also said the new soft walls reduce the possibility of a car being caught up in the material and creating a potential of further injury to a driver because of sudden deceleration.

"The barrier that we're currently working on, we're now at a point where we're comfortable we've addressed the issue of snagging and pocketing," Barnhart said. "The coefficient of friction of concrete is one of the big advantages that concrete has out there; the car slides along the concrete.

"The design that we currently have, we've addressed that issue, and we feel very comfortable that (snagging and pocketing are) not going to be an issue if we go forward with the soft wall."

In addition to the annual Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway also hosts NASCAR's Brickyard 400 in August and Formula One's United States Grand Prix in September.

IRL tests of the new soft-wall technology have included stock cars in addition to IRL cars and it is believed the new padding will remain on the walls for the Brickyard 400.

Jones will drive the team's No. 2 Dallara/Chevrolet as a teammate to Robby Gordon in the Indy 500. In addition to stints in CART driving for team owners Dan Gurney and Pat Patrick, Jones has driven in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Busch Series.

Although Papis has made 102 career starts in the CART FedEx Championship Series, he will be considered a rookie for this year's 500.

Dorricott won Indy Lights championships in 1999 and 2000 with Oriol Servia and Townsend Bell as his drivers.

The Indy Lights series was dissolved following the 2001 season and Dorricott moved the team to Toyota Atlantic, where Luis Diaz won the pole and teammate Jon Fogerty gave the team its first victory in the season-opening race in Monterrey, Mexico.