Midseason Report Card--2005 IndyCar Series

[mlittle]

Now, this thread's similar to the half-year awards thread, except that I'll be looking at the teams rather than at specific racers or moments during the first 9 rounds of the season. If anyone wants to comment, feel free to do so. (Don't forget to visit the Open-Wheel Trivia Quiz thread, the first round of questions are posted and if anyone wants to take a shot at 'em, PM your answers to me and we'll see who wins!)

Now, the teams as they should be ranked:
1}Andretti-Green Racing
2}Marlboro-Team Penske
3}Rahal-Letterman Racing
4}Panther Racing
5}Fernandez Racing
6}Red Bull/Cheever Racing
7}Target/Ganassi Racing
8}(tie)Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Vision Racing, A.J. Foyt Racing, Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing

Here's the reasons for each....
1} 6 wins(4 by Wheldon alone), plus 1-2-3 in overall standings(Wheldon, Kanaan and Franchitti)
2}2 wins(best of the Toyota gang), plus 4-5 overall(Castroneves, Hornish)
3}has top series rookie(Patrick), several top 5 finishes(Meira 5th-St.Pete and 3rd-Kansas; Patrick-4th's at Motegi and Indy), plus one pole(courtesy of Patrick)
4}1 win for the bow-tie brigade(Scheckter-Texas), 3 poles(also, Scheckter-Homestead, Texas and Nashville)
5}resurgent squad w/veteran driver Scott Sharp still looking for team's first win of 2005(compared to three w/Adrian Fernandez in 2004), always competitive at each race
6}2 podium finishes(Carpentier-Richmond and Nashville); unlike Penske, they have to lease TRD-supplied engines and have not been very competitive in 05'
7}TRD-suppplied team that has had awful luck this year(all three drivers/Dixon, Manning and Briscoe, have had a couple of DNFs this year)
8}the forgotten backmarkers...combined, they might challenge for last but that would take some effort which they've yet to show

Current stats....as of 18 July 2005:

WINS:Wheldon-4, Hornish-1, Castroneves-1, Franchitti-1, Kanaan-1 and Scheckter-1
POLES:Scheckter-3, Herta-2, Hornish-2, Patrick-1, Kanaan-1

Notes of interest....
1--With eight races left, Dan Wheldon can equal and/or surpass the series record for most wins in a season, currently held by 2-time series champion Sam Hornish, Jr.(5 total in 2002)
2--By winning the pole position at Kansas, Danica Patrick became only the second true rookie driver to win a pole position in series history, joining then-rookie Tomas Scheckter, who won three poles in 2002.
3--With Franchitti's win Saturday at Nashville, Andretti-Green Racing became the winningest team in series history w/16 total, passing Panther Racing which had 15 wins total.