Bennett Has Dual Role on Penske Race Team

As chief designer of Penske Racing, I direct the design team whose assignment is to create the fastest and most competitive car possible.

This weekend in qualifying we can test the outer limits of our abilities to make a race car go fast.

The other half of my responsibility is to convert the theory into reality in my role as race engineer on Danny Sullivan’s Miller car.

(However, a crash in practice on Thursday is expected to keep Sullivan from attempting to qualify for the race this weekend.)

Our Penske PC18s are the result of nearly 100 days of wind tunnel experimentation and combine the best that our designers, model builders, aerodynamicists, engine builders, mechanics and fabricators can produce.

Thanks to our Prime Computer CADDS system, we have cut the time it takes to design a car in half. That leaves us much more time for research, testing and refining our cars.

The cars which Penske Racing will present for qualification this weekend will have undergone literally hundreds of design changes since they were first sketched last summer.

Each change, no matter how small, is the result of a bit of testing, research or experience.

Seemingly tiny changes all add up, and that is part of the reason for the terrific speeds here at Indy.

With straightaway speeds in excess of 230 m.p.h., the cleaner we can make the car aerodynamically, the better we like it.

If that means using thinner decals on critical areas of the car, we do it.

Basically, the cars are going faster because they stick to the track better. In simple terms, we’ve taken the design of an airplane wing and turned it upside down. The lift that helps an airplane take off, and every airplane I know of will take off at 230 m.p.h., is instead used to push the car down on the track by creating downforce rather than lift.

The Penske team has enjoyed great success on pole day here, winning eight poles and last year taking the entire front row with Rick Mears, Sullivan and Al Unser.

Obviously, we would have been delighted to repeat that performance this year. However, with the crash, that is now impossible. It would have been exceptionally tough to repeat competition is quite strong and several more cars are in position to claim a front-row spot.

For qualifying, we want the car right to the edge, but comfortable. We would like to use as little wing angle as possible to limit drag. But we must keep enough downforce to make the car stick to the track.

Qualifying at Indy is a four-lap average speed and a driver simply cannot “carry” a poor-handling car to a peak speed for four laps. The car must be right.

We will carry only enough fuel to complete the warm-up laps and four-lap run. The Penske crew will seal any gaps in the bodywork which may permit wind to seep in at speed and add drag.

At our current speeds, it requires more than 10 additional horsepower to achieve a one m.p.h. gain in straightaway speeds, so mechanical speed is difficult to find, hence the premium on aerodynamics.

Penske Racing is blessed with the finest tradition, mechanics, drivers and sponsors in Indy-car racing. My responsibility is to provide a race car worthy of their record.