On 5/30/2016 12:47 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 05/30/2016 01:00 PM, Micky wrote:
On Mon, 30 May 2016 10:11:44 -0700, Don Y
wrote:

There's a "push to pass" button that gives them a bit more power to
edge by a competitor ahead of them.

Why don't they run at that speed all the time?

You can't win if you don't finish. It's not a drag race where you can rebuild
the engine after a quarter mile (or 1000' these days).

Blowing the engine is probably less of a concern than running out of
fuel. The more fuel you *carry*, the more weight you have to transport
around the track. The less fuel you carry, the more often you have to
come in to pit.

Indy car racing is more a question of resource management than "who can
drive the fastest".

(I'm sure someone has measured how long each pit operation takes
and can tell you where the tradeoff lies regarding fuel economy
vs. performance, for any given car/driver/race conditions. There's
a reason they have those crews tuned as finely as they are!)