IRL moves from roads to fast oval at Kansas

April 25, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Racing an oval seems simple enough: accelerate down the straightaway, turn left, do it again.

If only it were that easy.

Oval racing is more complicated, more intense than appears as those IndyCars go round and round on the TV. There’s constant adjustments to the car, handling changing weather and track conditions, dodging other cars, staying sharp to avoid hitting the wall — all at over 200 mph.

Clearly, this isn’t puttering around go-carts at the local family fun center, as Robert Doornbos quickly found out. The former Formula One driver from the Netherlands came away from his first oval testing session stunned at how difficult it was, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

Now, with just one more testing session under his belt, Doornbos gets a chance at his first oval race this weekend in Kansas. Excited? Sure he is. A little nervous? Well, that, too.

“It sort of looks fun if you’re in traffic and you’re passing people,” Doornbos said Friday. “I’m sure it has a bit of a scary touch to it, too, because it’s new. But if the car’s good, it looks fun.”

Doornbos should get plenty of practice.

After opening the season at road-course races in Florida and California, the IRL shifts Sunday to the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas Speedway, followed by the Indianapolis 500 on May 24 and four more oval races after that. In all, 10 of the 17 IRL races are at oval tracks, so drivers who don’t do well going in circles don’t stand a chance at winning the series championship.

Maintaining speed is the key to tackling the ovals.

Drivers on road courses are constantly shifting, braking, accelerating around the corners, turning hundreds of times — in both directions — during a race. They might shift 20 times just in one lap.

On the ovals, it’s all left all the time, one, maybe two gears per lap. The goal is to go flat out as much as possible, even in the corners. Lift off the pedal to avoid traffic or regain control of the car and the engine will bog down. Cars will pass like you’re standing at a bus stop.

“Oval racing is very different,” said Venezuelan driver E.J. Viso, who got his first taste of ovals last year. “When you’re on an oval, you’re thinking about saving fuel, having conversations with the team and engineer to make car faster, adjusting bars for the stiffness of the car, the tire pressure, downforce levels. Do all that and you’ll have a pretty good car.”