Thursday IndyCar notebook

– “We won’t know what we have until Sunday" commented IndyCar owner Kevin Kalkhoven. Kalkhoven went on to say that both the car and the motors have been in a constant state of change over the winter, and no one seems to be sure of what they’ve got. Therefore, Kalkhoven said, anything he said now, “Would be based on nothing."

– The most amazing parts of the new IndyCar might not be the “Kardashian" rear fenders. In person, one is struck by the huge front and rear wings on this car — they might larger than the circa 1972-era wings. Also striking is the new telemetry systems, which have a lot more data than the old system.

– Also back in fashion are covers and blankets over the cars. I tried to take a photo of KV crew members working with the rear cover off, and was strongly encouraged to take pictures of the front end of the car instead (panic in eyes, relief when I deleted that pic, etc). When aero kits are introduced next year, no doubt we see the return of wing covers as well.

– Recession? Hard to get sponsors? Pfffft! This weekend has 26 IndyCar entries, 17 Indy Lights entries, 21 Star Mazda entries, and a whopping 35 USF2000 cars. Oh, and 50 or so Pirelli World Challenge cars, and – get this – 23 Ferrari Challenge cars. A year’s ride in F2000 costs around $200k, a year in Star Mazda goes for around $500k, and Indy Lights around $1 million a year. Therefore, a driver can expect to spend about $2 million to be considered for an IndyCar ride. Tim Wohlford reporting from St. Petersburg