2011 Izod IndyCar Season Review

            After all was said and done Sunday afternoon, Dario Franchitti was the only winner. The Scotsman won his fourth IndyCar Series Championship over runner up, Will Power. Franchitti won four races over the entire season, two on road courses and two on oval tracks. Power actually had six wins but was never able to finish in the Top 5 consistently.

            
            The rest of the IndyCar Season was way more exciting than Dario getting another championship. There were eight different winners on the 17-race schedule (originally 18 but the Vegas race was cancelled after the wreck) including first time winners Mike Conway and Ed Carpenter. Marco Andretti got the second win of his career and Hunter-Reay got his third. Dan Wheldon won the Indy 500. The rest of the wins were split between Franchitti, Power, and Scott Dixon.

            
            There were plenty of great races in the 2011 season. I can think of about five that really stick out to me as having great finishes. My favorite though was the Kentucky race a few weeks ago. For the entire duration of the race cars were racing side-by-side and the drivers never giving an inch to anybody. 
            With 10 laps to go, Ed Carpenter pulled alongside Dario Franchitti where the two would remain, side by side, for the rest of the race. It was incredible watching the two go all out while remaining just feet away from each other. Soon there were just five laps to go, then two, and then the white flag was out. The two continued to race next to each other as they came off of Turn 4. Then Carpenter, on the high side, somehow pulled ahead of Franchitti by just mere inches and crossed the finish line first. The win by Carpenter was the first of his career and the first for his team owner, Sarah Fisher. Needless to say, it was a very emotional winner’s circle, and a win that everybody in IndyCar could be happy for.

            
            For all those great finishes, there were some really low lows. IndyCar chief steward, Brian Barnhart may have one of the toughest jobs in all of racing. He’s basically the head umpire. He’s the one that has the final say on all rules and punishments, and he’s the guy fans and drivers blame if you have a problem with a rule or punishment.

            There are several different rules that have several different punishments for “aggressive driving”. Several of these rules require a judgment call that forces Barnhart to make a decision almost immediately. Unfortunately, some of his decisions were questionable. Just looking at the schedule, I can think of at least one of these instances occurring in almost all the races. 
            The worst of all these calls came at New Hampshire. It’s a situation that would take way too long to explain, but basically Barnhart gave the thumbs up for a restart while the race track was slick from a light rain. When the restart came, cars went sliding everywhere and the race was red-flagged and ended. For a week after, drivers Oriol Servia and Ryan Hunter-Reay argued about how each deserved the victory. Eventually Hunter-Reay was declared the winner, but many fans considered this incident to be the last straw for Barnhart.

Final Standings for the 2011 Izod IndyCar Series Championship

1) Dario Franchitti

2) Will Power

3) Scott Dixon

4) Oriol Servia

5) Tony Kanaan

6) Ryan Briscoe

7) Ryan Hunter-Reay

8) Marco Andretti

9) Graham Rahal

10) Danica Patrick

11) Helio Castroneves

12) James Hinchcliffe

13) Takumo Sato

14) JR Hildebrand

15) Alex Tagliani

16) Vitor Meira

17) Mike Conway

18) E.J. Viso

19) Charlie Kimball

20) Simona de Silvestro

21) Ana Beatriz

22) James Jakes

23) Sebastien Bourdais

24) Justin Wilson

25) Sebastian Saavedra

26) Ed Carpenter

27) Alex Lloyd

            A few notes:

How about Oriol Servia finishing 4^th? Where did this guy come from? I had never even heard of him before this season, but apparently this was his third season in the series. Hopefully he can build on 2011 and win some races in 2012.

Rookies Charlie Kimball and JR Hildebrand really appear to be the future of the sport. The two finished 12^th and 14^th respectively, and floated around the Top 10 in every race.

If IndyCar really wants to become popular, it needs its American drivers to start competing for the Championship. The best finishing Yankee was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 6^th. Finishing behind him in 7^th and 8^th was Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal.

Helio Castroneves finishing 11^th? He can do better than that. He never seemed competitive in any race this season. He even struggled in the Indy 500, which is his favorite race and has won three times.

            There are so many questions heading into the 2012 season; a lot of questions that nobody will know the answer to until the first race of the season in March.

 Here are some of the questions heading the off-season.

How will the teams adjust to using the new 2012 car? There will be three new engines in those cars too that are made by Honda, Lotus, or Chevrolet. Testing will continue through the winter but nobody will know how they cars will react in race conditions until the first lap in St. Petersburg.

Will Penske Racing remain intact? Rumors have been circulating all season about Penske cutting down to two drivers, or replacing one. Everybody knows that Will Power will stay, but who could be released? Ryan Briscoe or Helio Castroneves? There aren’t many adequate replacements for either of those drivers.

Who will fill Danica’s spot? This is a literal and figurative question. Danica Patrick is leaving IndyCar to pursue her interest in NASCAR. Dan Wheldon was supposed to take over her spot, but now that won’t happen. In a figurative sense, will an American or women driver step and become the face of IndyCar?

How many oval races will there be? The number of oval races has already declined to around six because tracks don’t make money from hosting IndyCar. This leaves 11 road courses and six ovals. Will Whledon’s accident decrease the number of ovals further though?

Will changes be made after the Wheldon crash? IndyCar has to do something to prevent what happened at Vegas to ever happen again. The biggest, and easiest change, is to limit how many cars can race on 1.5 mile tracks like Vegas. If you limit the car count to 26 or 27, you can get rid of drivers that aren’t as skilled and are more prone to crash.

            
            It will be a very exciting and busy off season for everybody involved in IndyCar. Drivers and teams will have an all new car to test and learn how it will perform at each track. Teams will be swapping and picking up new drivers so they will have to get accustomed to their new homes as well as the new cars. As soon as any of these questions are answered, or new questions arise, I will let you know!

- I apologize for the second half or so of this post being sloppy. I had a hard time getting what I wrote in Microsoft Word to fit into where you post a story at on this blog. If that sounds complicated, it's because it is. All those indented sentences are supposed to have bullet points next to them and the final standings are supposed to be two columns. Obviously, that isn't how it came out.

Missed Opportunity

            I just found out that not only was the new Izod IndyCar racecar testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was testing on the road course! (That marks the first time an open wheel car has gone clockwise at IMS since Formula 1 was here.) I had read that there was going to be a test session on Wednesday and Thursday (Aug. 28^th and 29^th), but since I heard no engines I assumed I read wrong. I heard no engines because the car was on the road course and not going as fast as it does in the oval.

            
            What makes this all the more saddening is that the media was not allowed to take pictures or video of the event. That means the only evidence of the event even happening was captured by amateurs. So instead of being able to show you pictures of the 2012 Izod IndyCar all I can do is give you a few paragraphs about how I don’t have any pictures.

            
            I did have some success in the IndyCar world though. I e-mailed Indianapolis Star writer, Curt Cavin to inquire about the new car.

My question: So what’s the deal with the new cars? Am I the only one confused? I thought the new cars wouldn’t be here until 2013. You and other questionnaires make it sound like there will be new cars next season. Will there be new engines, just not new bodies?

Curt’s answer: Yes, there will be new cars in 2012, but it’s the unique bodywork kits that were delayed until 2013. You’ll also have additional engine manufacturers for next year.

           

            What I get from this is that there will be new cars next season with new engines but they will not have the different body shapes until 2013. That makes sense, I guess.

            
            By the way, the IndyCar Series only has four races left in the season.

Sept. 4^th- Baltimore

Sept. 17^th- Motegi, Japan

Oct. 2^nd- Kentucky

Oct. 16^th- Las Vegas

            
            Dario Franchitti is the points leader and Will Power is 25 points back. Franchitti’s teammate, Scott Dixon is in third place. Oriol Servia (where did this guy come from??) is in fourth and Power’s teammate, Ryan Briscoe, is fifth.

IndyCar Debacle

            Oh IndyCar, you make it so hard to be a fan of your league. Just when you think IndyCar is taking a step forward, it takes two back, literally. On Sunday, it was announced that the new cars planned to debut in 2012 will have to wait until 2013. Then on the same day, the race at New Hampshire Speedway ended in complete chaos.

                
             IndyCar President Randy Bernard said the reason for the delay of the cars is money. Numerous team owners have said that they will not be able to afford enough cars to run next season. In a recent vote to decide if the cars should be used next season, owners voted 15-0 against using them. Bernard said “…we don't want to go from 27 or 28 cars (in the racing field) to 16 cars because it's cost-prohibitive. If we'd have had 16 cars, (the kits, or cars) would have been the excuse. It could have been the demise of our sport." I understand the move but it’s disappointing to have to wait another year to see the new cars in action.

                
            The part I don’t understand is how Indianapolis Star writer Curt Cavin says “Every team will have new cars; the Dallara prototype debuted last week at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course…” Every team will have new cars? Will they be new cars but with the current body? Chevrolet and Lotus will also be a part of the series next year, but again, I’m not sure how.

                
            Now, to get to the actual on track action. The race at New Hampshire was dominated by points leader Dario Franchitti until about halfway through the race. Franchitti and Takuma Sato made contact after a restart and caused Dario to crash. After that it was a three-way battle for the lead between Servia, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Scott Dixon.

                
            With 10 laps (Lap 218) to go the cars were preparing for a restart.  Several of the drivers were pleading with their spotters and crew chiefs to let IndyCar officials know the track was had moisture on it and was too slippery to drive on. The chief official, Brian Barnhart, said he never knew about the drivers wanting a red flag thrown. So the green flag was waved and cars went everywhere. Danica Patrick immediately lost control and slid into Will Power, and then Takuma Sato and Ed Carpenter crashed into Will Power. After Will Power got out of the car he flipped the double bird, on live TV, in the direction of where Barnhart was stationed at above the track. After the crash IndyCar decided that the track was in fact too wet and the race was red flagged.

Will Power in all his glory

               
            After the damage had been done, IndyCar decided they would revert back to the results before the caution came out. That meant the winner was Ryan Hunter-Reay but Oriol Servia took issue with that because on the restart on Lap 218 he had gotten by Hunter-Reay before the caution was thrown for all the spun-out cars. Scott Dixon said after the race “I was thinking Oriol won the race, Ryan Hunter-Reay deserved to win the race, but if you go by how we normally race he didn’t win. I’m not racing USAC or racing on the dirt… the caution laps count”.

               

                
            It’s safe to say that Sunday was the worst day for the IndyCar series this season. Dedicated fans to casual racing fans to newcomers had to be disappointed by the delay of the new cars. Then those fans had to be even more disappointed to see their league act like it doesn’t know its own rule book and doesn’t respect the opinion of its drivers. There have been several instances this year that have brought into questioning of how the officials of IndyCar handle situations and penalties. After this season rules need to be created, eradicated, or be made clearer so the drivers, teams, and fans can all understand what is allowed and what isn’t.

This picture taken during the race at New Hampshire was symbolic of the weekend IndyCar had. IndyCar race cars crashing in front of a NASCAR banner.

2011 Indy 500: Post-race

Start of the 2011 Indianapolis 500

 The 100^th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 may have produced the best finish of any 500 ever. It may have been one of the best finishes of a race ever. It was definitely the best Indy 500 I have ever watched.

                

            Besides the first double-file restarts in the 500, there was little to be desired during the first 100 laps. Ganassi teammates Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon traded the lead back and forth the entire time. Pole sitter Alex Tagliani led some laps too, but later hit the wall coming out of Turn 4 and ruined his race.

                

           The excitement began when Ryan Briscoe crashed on lap 168 and brought out the yellow flag. All cars would have to pit just once more, but just Dario Franchitti and J.R. Hildebrand came in and pitted.

-This was something that I didn’t understand. Why not pit now? I knew at this point that it would either be Franchitti or Hildebrand that would win.

                

            With 20 laps left, Scott Dixon came into pit road and surrendered the lead to Danica Patrick, with Tomas Sheckter in 2^nd, Ed Carpenter 3^rd, Bertrand Baguette in 4^th, Marco Andretti in 5^th, Franchitti 6^th, and Hildebrand 7^th.

                

            15 laps left and Danica still lead, but was being caught by Bertrand Baguette. Baguette took the lead over with 12 laps left. At this point, Sheckter had made his pit stop, so Andretti moved up to 3^rd; Franchitti was 4^th, and Hildebrand 5^th.

                

             10 laps left and Baguette still lead the race. Patrick and Andretti came in for their pits stops, which meant Franchitti was in 2^nd and Hildebrand was 3^rd.

-At this point you could actually hear that Franchitti was running about half throttle. I told my brother that Hildebrand was catching up and running full out, which you could see and hear. I knew that all Hildebrand had to do was pass Franchitti and he would win. We were both ecstatic.

                

             5 to go and Baguette still lead, with Franchitti in 2^nd, but Hildebrand was right behind him.  Hildebrand got around Franchitti right as Baguette came into pit.

                

             4 to go, 3 to go, 2 to go, and finally the white flag. The 300,000 thousand fans in attendance were about to see history be made. JR Hildebrand drove his car around Turn 1, then Turn 2, then onto the backstretch, with the crowd going crazy. He dove into Turn 3 and came into Turn 4 on the high line to pass a slower car. Then WHAM!

                

             Hildebrand was in the wall. Hildebrand was had crashed in Turn 4. For just those few seconds as the thousands watched, there was a humongous “gasp” and silence. Then Dan Wheldon, who had come from nowhere, crossed the finish in 1^st place. He had won the 2011 Indianapolis 500.

                

            Hildebrand’s car slid across the finish line in 2^nd place. He climbed out of his wrecked car and just sat on the ground. It’s impossible for me to imagine what was going through his mind. He could see the checkered flag, he could see the $2.5 million paycheck, and then he saw it all disappear.

               

For two hours after the race, race officials met and talked about the finish of the race. They finally declared Wheldon the official winner, but it would have been kinda awkward to take the victory away after he celebrated. The controversy was that Hildebrand’s crash could have, and maybe should have, brought out a caution immediately. Instead, Wheldon passed Hildebrand, and then the caution flew.

In my opinion, the IndyCar officials let the finish play out, and threw the yellow flag when Wheldon passed Hildebrand. I’m not sure what would have happened had the yellow been thrown immediately when Hildebrand crashed. He still would have crossed the finish line, but not much besides that. I think the right decision was made though, Hildebrand made a mistake, and Wheldon capitalized.

                

           The victory was Wheldon’s second Indy 500 victory and the first for team owner Brian Herta.  Wheldon said after the race, "It's obviously unfortunate, but that's Indianapolis”. Truer words have never been said. It is Indianapolis, where the unexpected always happens.

Dan Wheldon passes JR Hildebrand

Teams Penske and Ganassi had complete opposites of days. Ganassi drivers Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, finished 12^th and 5^th, respectively, and lead for a combined 124 laps. Ganassi-affiliated drivers Graham Rahal finished 3^rd, and lead six laps. Charlie Kimball finished 13^th.

                

            No Penske driver finished in the top 10, and led no laps. This had to be the worst 500 for Penske ever, except the year none of his drivers made it into the race.

It turned out to be a decent day for Andretti Autosports, which only had four of its five drivers in the race, one of which was in a car owned by another team. Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick finished 9^th and 10^th, respectively. John Andretti finished 22^rd, and Ryan Hunter-Reay 23^rd.

          Tony Kanaan was the sole bright spot for his KV Racing Technology team. Kanaan finished 4^th, but his teammates finished 32^nd and 33^rd.

Now, I’m sure you are all wondering how my predictions went.

I had picked Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Alex Tagliani to win. Well obviously that was a bit off. But those three combined to lead 144 laps and were running 1-2-3 for awhile.

I guaranteed no Penske driver would finish in the top 5, and that was right.

In my list of 8 drivers (excluding Ganassi or Penske) that had the best chance of winning, I failed to mention: JR Hildebrand, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan, Bertrand Baguette, Tomas Sheckter, all finished in the Top 10.

2011 Indy 500 predictions

Artist Thomas Kinkade's rendition of 100 years of the Indianapolis 500

           Since 1970, the winner has started pole position 13 times, and the winner has started 2^nd or 3^rd a combined nine times. Going further, the winner has started outside the top 10 in only seven races. That means in the past 29 races, the winner has started in the top 10 23 times. So what does all that mean? I’m not sure, because statistics don’t mean much to me. I just looked all that up to impress you and your friends.

Alex Tagliani starting on the pole has me thinking this might be the year somebody other than Penske or Ganassi gets the win. Most people will have him as an underdog pick, and maybe as the favorite. If you’re making a sensible pick though, you have to go with a driver from one of the two most successful IndyCar teams ever, Penske or Ganassi.

The Penske drivers are: Helio Castroneves, #3, and a three time winner; Will Power, #12, no wins on an oval course; Ryan Briscoe, #6. Castroneves is starting way back in the field, but he’s Helio, and I have confidence that he can win from anywhere. Ryan Briscoe is starting 27^th, and I’m guaranteeing he won’t even finish in the top 5.

The Ganassi drivers are: Dario Franchitti, #10, a two-time winner; Scott Dixon, #9, a one-time winner. Both drivers are starting in the top 9, and have a far better chance of winning than the Penske drivers.

So besides those five drivers, who has the best chance of winning? For me, there are several drivers that have great chances at pulling an upset. They are in order of who I think has the best shot at winning.

Alex Tagliani- #77. Starting 1^st. Obviously has a quick car.

Vitor Meira- #14. Starting 11^th. Finished 2^nd in two Indy 500’s.

Dan Wheldon- #98. Starting 6^th. Former Indy 500 winner.

Danica Patrick- #7. Starting 26^th. Indy is definitely her best track.

Oriol Servia- #2. Starting 3^rd . 3^rd in the IndyCar Championship.

Ed Carpenter- #67. Starting 8^th. Has been fast all month.

Marco Andretti- #26. Starting 28^th. Lost the 2005 Indy 500 by less than one second.

Buddy Rice- #44. Starting 7^th. Former Indy 500 winner.

My three picks for the winner of the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500:

Dario Franchitti, Alex Tagliani, Scott Dixon

-Yes, I picked three. I’m allowed to do that, it’s my blog!

Comment and let me know who you think will get to drink the milk after 500 miles!

2011 Pole and Bump Day

 Pole Day and Bump Day have been staples of the Indianapolis 500 for over 50 years. The two days, which are now on the Saturday and Sunday before the race, are always filled with drama. This year was no different.

           

On Pole Day, everybody expected the two heavyweights of the IndyCar series to duke it out for the poles position like last year. Neither Penske Racing nor Ganassi Racing though, was able to claim the top spot. Instead, the field will be led by Alex Tagliani, driver for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Tagliani had a four lap average of 227.472, which was good enough to start position one. Also starting on the first row will be Oriol Servia, part of Newman/ Hass Racing, and Ganassi driver Scott Dixon.

-By the way, for the Indy 500, the cars start 3-wide.

           

                                     - Alex Tagliani and car owner, Sam Schmidt
                                                      
             There is only one Penske driver starting in the Top 9, that being Will Power. His teammates Helio Castroneves will start on the inside of Row 6, and Ryan Briscoe will start on the outside of Row 9. Will Power is the IndyCar series points leader, but has never won a race on an oval.

           

As said earlier, Ganassi’s Scott Dixon will start on the front row. Dario Franchitti, last year’s winner, starts on the outside of row three.

If it seemed like a rough day for Team Penske, it was nothing compared to what Andretti Autosports endured over the weekend. Only one out of the five cars a part of the team was guaranteed a spot in the race, that being John Andretti (nephew of “500” legend, Mario Andretti). Thus on Sunday, the intrigue of Bump Day began.

           Bump Day involved 17 cars all vying for just nine spots (positions 25-33 in the starting grid, the top 24 were locked in on Pole Day). The weather added even more drama to the day, as it rained twice, and took about a combined four hours to dry the track. That allowed only two hours of actual qualifying.

After the first rainfall, Paul Tracy took off to complete his four laps. While on the track rain started to fall, but it held off long enough to all Tracy to finish and get into the race. Waiting to head onto the track though, was IndyCar’s most popular female driver, Danica Patrick.

Patrick had yet to make a qualifying run, so if it rained hard enough and cancelled qualifying, she would not be in the field of 33. Well it did rain hard enough. Every IndyCar and IMS official had to be on their knees praying for sunshine. If Danica Patrick was not in the 500, it would be like Indianapolis without construction, incomprehensible!

           

 Fortunately, Mother Nature let up, and when the track was finally dried, Danica peeled out of pit road and completed her qualifying laps. She will start 26^th, her worst starting spot in the 500 ever.

           

Oh, but the drama did not end there. When Danica made it in, she bumped out Alex Lloyd, which then put Marco Andretti (teammate of Danica) onto the bubble. With only nine minutes left to qualify, Alex Lloyd went onto the track and after finishing his four-lap run, made the field and bumped out Marco Andretti.

            

Now, the climax of the day’s compelling storyline would occur. Marco Andretti would be the last driver to qualify before time ran out. If he made it into the field, he would bump out teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay. If he doesn’t make it in, then the 500 will be without one if most famous names.

            

Andretti averaged a four lap average of 224.628 mph, and did bump out Hunter-Reay. It was a bittersweet moment for Michael Andretti, owner of Andretti Autosports (the team Hunter-Reay drives for). His son will be in the race, but two of his drivers will not be.

            Also failing to qualify was Mike Conway and Scott Speed.

UPDATED STORY (5/23/2011 at 9:43pm)

            

Ryan Hunter-Reay will take Bruno Junqueira’s ride for the Indy 500. Bruno was in the #41 car, owned by A.J. Foyt. The car will now be driven by Hunter-Reay, will still be #41, but will start 33^rd.

             

            
              Starting Lineup for the 100^th Anniversary race of the Indianapolis 500

Row 1

Alex Tagliani-77

Scott Dixon- 9

Oriol Servia- 2

Row 2

Townsend Bell-99

Will Power- 12

Dan Wheldon- 98

Row 3

Buddy Rice- 44

Ed Carpenter- 67

Dario Franchitti- 10

Row 4

Takuma Sato- 5         

Vitor Meira- 14                                                   

JR Hildebrand- 4

Row 5

James Hinchcliffe- 06                       

Bertrand Baguette- 30                             

Davey Hamilton- 11

Row 6

Helio Castroneves- 3***                               

John Andretti-43                                     

E.J. Viso- 59

Row 7

Bruno Junqueria- 41#                        

Justin Wilson- 22                              

Jay Howard- 88

Row 8

Tomas Sheckter- 07                         

Tony Kanaan- 82                                 

Simona de Silvestro- 78

Row 9

Paul Tracy- 23                                         

Danica Patrick- 7                                       

 Ryan Briscoe- 6

Row 10

Marco Andretti-26                              

Charlie Kimball- 83                            

Graham Rahall- 38

Row 11

 Alex Lloyd- 19                                           

Pippa Mann- 36                                        

 Ana Beatriz- 24

*Denotes amounts of 500 wins.

# Driver will be replaced by Ryan Hunter-Reay and will start 33^rd.