Jim Ayello | IndyStar

Clark Wade/IndyStar

Denny Scott/For IndyStar

INDIANAPOLIS -- They hate hearing that word. In fact, some inside the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports garage won’t even say it. To them, it’s a dirty word. It’s a word that kills progress and stifles innovation. It stands in the way of evolution and slams the brakes on potential.

The word? Tradition.

“We hate using that word around here,” SPM Team Manager Taylor Kiel said. “IndyCar is very a much place where people say, ‘Well this is how we did it in the past.’ Well, name another sport or business where you can just rely on what you did yesterday. You can’t if you want to be successful.”

IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway could learn or thing or two from Kiel and SPM. When it comes to the practice of bumping at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, tradition is standing in the way of logic. And tradition simply is not a good enough reason to take the risks they’re about to take on Bump Day.

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For the first time in years, there’s positive momentum in IndyCar. The series’ ecosystem is growing. After years of struggling to draw interest and attract sponsors, there are more cars, more teams, more money. But that ecosystem is fragile, in its infant stages, and Bump Day is threatening to nip IndyCar’s delicate progress in the bud.

There are 35 willing, paying entrants but two of them are going to be sent home. Who will it be? Who knows? That’s the drama, right. That’s the thrill of Bump Day.

I understand that. Emotions could run high and hearts might race if a popular driver is on the brink of missing the show Saturday.

But how dramatic, how thrilling is it going to be when the sponsors of a one-off entry vanishes after he/she falls short -- and who could blame them after their car is sent home without a spot on racing’s grandest stage? From then on, that driver might struggle to attract enough funding, or worse, might not even try. Then IndyCar is back where it was the past couple of years -- struggling to fill out a field of 33.

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Photos from Fast Friday practice for the Indy 500

That's bad enough for a one-off driver or one-off team, but what if one of those cars belongs to one of IndyCar's fledgling full-time teams? After years of trying to inject new blood into the series, what if it’s a Carlin, Harding, Juncos or Shank car that misses the show?

“That could have major financial implications,” a visibly shaken Trevor Carlin confessed Friday. “It doesn’t change what happens this year, but it obviously could affect what happens next year. It wouldn’t be good.”

It’s not just the new teams that’d be affected either, Tim Cindric said. Missing the show would be a big blow even for Penske, the team president said.

Still it’s the smaller teams that are at the most risk.

“Lots of things happen 50 years ago, and we’re smart enough to change them,” Andretti Autosport COO Rob Edwards said. “We’ll see how it pans out, but I’m concerned. Not for ourselves, but right now, we have 24 regular-season strong entries, and it took a number of years for us to turn that dwindling car count around. I’d hate to see bumping at the speedway be the thing that means the car car count in 2019 or 2020 is back to 20 or 19 in IndyCar. I think that would be a backwards step.”

IndyCar and IMS must remember this isn’t 50 years ago when entrants flocked to IMS from the world-over to try their luck at the most famous racetrack in the world. They can’t anymore. It’s too expensive. Indy 500 stalwart owner Chip Ganassi said recently it costs around $1 million to run a competitive program at Indy. And that’s for a team with an established infrastructure. For those who need to buy new equipment and hire personnel, costs can skyrocket.

Those costs are the biggest reason IndyCar has struggled the past few years to entice 33 willing entrants to the speedway come Memorial Day weekend. Notice the use of the word willing and not “competitive.” A quick glance at the past few entry lists, and there are a handful of drivers who barely had a shot at finishing the race, much less winning. And for some of these entries, IndyCar helped pay for them to make the show, simply to ensure the sacred tradition of 33 was upheld.

Now there are 35 willing entrants -- most of whom should be considered competitive.

But two are going home. Two teams, two drivers and their sponsors, who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars -- if not millions -- are going home. Why?

For one day of drama? Because that’s the way things have always been done? In motorsports’ fragile economic times, those aren’t good enough reasons anymore.

Don’t take my word for it. It’s IndyCar and IMS that have preached cash over custom in recent years. The IndyCar Grand Prix is a testament to the track and series wisely trampling tradition due to the constraints of modern motorsports. Most in Indianapolis believed any racing outside the oval was sacrilege. Yet, Mark Miles and company didn’t care. They needed to bring more money to the series, increase attendance at IMS and educate the local public about IndyCar racing. So they implemented a road course race -- and have reaped the benefits.

This modern way of thinking needs to be applied to the 500. And there might be a way to do it without totally eliminating the drama of Bump Day (though that's the worst idea).

Lock in the full season entries. They’re the ones who take on the responsibility, financial and otherwise, of making sure there’s a show for fans to see at the series' 16 other races.

Longtime IndyCar fans know this isn't a radical idea. In fact, it was quite a controversial one when Tony George proposed it for the 1996 Indianapolis 500. However, that was at the peak of tension between of contentious Indy car factions and eventually helped lead to "The Split."

That was two decades ago, and there's nothing like that going on in IndyCar now. In fact, the series is growing, and that growth should be protected.

"The series needs to recognize franchise teams -- the 24 regular season cars," Edwards said. "If we’re going to bump, we need to protect the 24 regular-season entries. (A new team getting bumped) is the one of the worst-case scenarios. We need those new teams. For so long, it’s been the same eight teams running one more or one less car at the 500. Now we have four new teams. More teams is how we grow and get stronger. Losing them is my concern for sure."

In a scenario where full-season entries were locked into the 500, added Edwards, teams are actually incentivized to join the series. Instead of getting a litany of one-off entries, maybe one or two of them join the series and it continues to grow.

"I agree with Rob," said SPM General Manager Piers Phillips. "It's not fair that they could bump a car that supports that rest of the series. ... When you’re grinding it out week in and week out, I think it’s a very valid idea. Honestly, I'm fairly certain you could start 36 cars quite easily without any safety issues. As long as the show is still good, why not? It’s all part of the show. The tradition is 33. Who cares? Maybe 36 is a better show."