Background
Since rear engine (technically mid-engine) cars replaced front engine cars at Indianapolis in the early sixties, and road races replaced dirt tracks on in what was known as the “Championship” schedule (i.e. Indy car racing) by the end of the sixties, fewer and fewer American midget and sprint car drivers got an opportunity in Championship racing because their experience didn’t include rear engine cars or road racing.
Several people (including Walt Boyd) had built rear engine sprints and midgets, but USAC (United States Auto Club) which was the sanctioning body for Championship racing, as well as a major sanctioning body for Sprint car and Midget racing, outlawed rear engine sprints and midgets.
Around the same time, SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) canceled a successful class called Formula 5000 (apparently because they thought it was detracting from their Can-Am class) which was a potential source of talent for Indy car racing. (Walt Boyd, in the late 1960s, had built a car which could—and did—compete as both a F5000 car and as a sprint car).
Same car as a f5000
same car as a sprint car
The vacuum left by these decisions (which in hindsight were not good for open-wheel racing) was filled by a Road to Indy “ladder system” that consisted of USF2000, Indy Pro 2000, and Indy Lights (renamed NXT). There have been some changes, but they still exist, and SCCA has a couple of developmental class as well.
The problem with all the developmental classes is that the costs are not within the means of ordinary middle-class people. The truth is that if you don’t come from a wealthy family, or have extraordinary connections, there’s no way you can work toward developing the skills or recognition needed to get to the top echelon of open wheel racing.
In its current state, the ladder system presents:
- The initial cost of the racecar and spares is high.
- The initial cost of support equipment is high.
- Maintenance costs are high.
- Crash repair costs are high.
- Tire costs are high.
- Entry fees and license fees, etc., are high.
- Travel expenses are high.
- If you work for a living, the time needed away from work is prohibitive.
- To be competitive, you need a full-time team - i.e., employees.
And even if you can afford all that, it’s very difficult to race often enough to develop the skills needed to attract current Indy NXT or NTT IndyCar Series team owners.
Walter Boyd’s solution was to develop a concept that included a car that was less expensive to produce and thus to buy, a lot less expensive to race, and a whole lot less expensive to repair; a concept that included an entirely new racing class that would enable a driver to race often and on a wide variety of racetracks.
One main delivery of Formula RPD is that it can provide more young drivers the opportunity to race wheel to wheel, to be seen and chatted about - at much lower cost – and be recognized by IndyCar team owners. If they see some raw talent being exhibited, the team could sponsor the driver into the current ladder system ranks.
Young aspiring drivers need to concentrate on learning their trade: Learning how to drive, how to race, and how to fine-tune the chassis set-up, not being saddled with searching for a sponsor who’ll give a pile of money to an unknown driver.
Formula RPD makes racing affordable:
- A major factor in the RPD concept is the use of a “super-bike” engine and gearbox (in this case a Kawasaki ZX14, but it could be other brands). But the ZX14 engine/gearbox cuts about 40% of the initial cost of a comparable racecar with a conventional racing engine and gearbox (if you think a racecar with a motorcycle engine is not a serious racecar, check out micro sprints and the Tulsa Shootout, or F1000, a popular open-wheel, single seat SCCA road racing class).
- Being able to run on all the available tracks in any given predetermined area can drastically reduce travel costs (fuel, lodging, meals, etc.). Reducing travel costs makes it possible to hold down a full-time job and still race almost every week, eight months of the year.
- The rugged tube frame construction of this car—needed for the rough-and-tumble short-track world—compared to the monocoque construction of most rear-engine cars, makes repairs much less expensive.
- The ability to run the short-tracks is key to being able to make money - or at least offset costs because “Saturday night racing” on the short-tracks brings paying spectators, which is why the short-tracks always have a purse. Road racing attracts fans too, but only at major events.
- The spectators at the short-tracks are also why it is much easier for racers to get sponsorship. Short-track fans are a demographic that is easy to cater to.
If Indy car racing is where you want to go, Formula RPD is where to start.