Round 11--Firestone Indy 400

[mlittle]

And the train just keeps on a-rollin....

Round 11 of the 2005 IndyCar Series season takes us to the Michigan International Speedway, set in the Irish Hills of central Michigan, for the Firestone Indy 400. The track, a 2-mile asphalt oval w/18 degrees banking in the turns and 12 and 5 deg. banking on the front-and-back straights, will see close "pack"-type racing as cars will fly around 2 or 3-wide through the turns and down the straights. With the exception of Buddy Rice's win in 2004, the five previous races(dating back to 1999 when CART had the race on its' calender) all saw very-close finishes. This year should be no exception. Here are some of the expected storylines going into the weekend....

1}Andretti-Green vs. Rahal-Letterman, Round II? Last year saw RLR's Buddy Rice win in a late-race battle with AGR's Tony Kanaan, which ended when AGR ordered TK to conserve fuel at the end. The two teams battled for supremacy last year, as AGR finished 1-2 in the points last year(Kanaan and Wheldon) while Rice ended the season 3rd. This year should be no exception, as both teams are expected to do well here.

2}Chevy's last hurrah...? With GM expected to withdraw Chevy from the series this year, this, in all likelihood, is the bow-tie brigade's last dance in what is basically their hometrack. Can Panther Racing, the lone Chevy outfit, pull out an upset here? Its' possible; Tomas Scheckter won here in 2002, and has led a resurgent Chevy effort this year w/a win at Texas and a couple of podium finishes. He should be on anyone's short-list of potential winners here.

3}How will the rookies do this week? As the fight for the Bombardier Rookie of the Year award has narrowed, it's become a mano a mano race between Rahal-Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick and Target/Ganassi Racing's Ryan Briscoe. This round, the advantage goes to Patrick, not necessarily because her chances to win are better than Briscoe's but because TGR announced today that they had parted ways effective today w/driver Darren Manning. How this will affect TGR going into Michigan is unknown, but it won't help.

Here is the weekend schedule for Round 11:
Saturday, July 30...PS-1 10 am-11:30 am
PS-2 12:45-2:15 pm
Qual. Session 3:45-4:50 pm
Sunday, July 31....Final Prac. 10:30-11 am
Racetime 3:15 pm(green flag around 3:30 pm)

As always, I'll provide a qual. and race summary, plus commentaries as where appropriate.

[mlittle]

And the free fall over at Target/Ganassi Racing continues....

The team announced Tuesday that they have parted ways effective immediately w/driver Darren Manning following the team's lackluster showing at the Milwaukee Mile last Sunday. In 24 starts for the team, Manning's best showing were three 4th's at Motegi, Nashville and Pikes Peak(all were during the 2004 season). No word as to who will sit in the #10 Target Panoz/Toyota for this week's race at Michigan. And to think, less than a decade ago, this team was at the top of the motorsports world, winning 4 consecutive CART series titles w/drivers Jimmy Vasser('96), Alex Zanardi(97'-98') and Juan Pablo Montoya(99') and then an IndyCar series title in 2003 w/Scott Dixon. What happens next....it's anybody guess, but I doubt it'll be good.

[mlittle]

Panther Racing announced today that Townsend Bell will sub for the injured Tomas Enge at the Firestone Indy 400 on Sunday. Team co-owner John Barnes noted that, "We're thrilled that Townsend was available and willling to re-join Panther Racing this weekend. We are still looking forward to when Tomas Enge gets healthy and can get back in the RockStar car, but Townsend did a great job for us last year and we know he'll be able to catch on quickly and have a great run this weekend in Michigan." Bell echoed those sentiments, saying that "it was great to be back. I hope Tomas (Enge) makes a full recovery , because he has learned what it takes to be competitive in the IRL and I know how badly he wants to get back in this car."

Enge suffered two small compression fractures to the T-12 and L-1 vertebrae back on July 16th during the race at Nashville and is to be evaluated by series officials prior to the Aug. 14th race in Kentucky.

[mlittle]

Indy Racing League president Brian Barnhart announced in a morning press conference today that the three co-owners of Andretti-Green Racing, Kevin Savoree, Kim Green and Michael Andretti, would be fined an "undisclosed" amount for pulling their drivers out of last Friday's autograph session at the Milwaukee Mile. "Autograph-Gate" began last Friday when AGR objected to series officials who, in an effort to expedite the throngs of people who wanted an autograph from series rookie(and fan favorite) Danica Patrick, set up a separate line for those fans while keeping everyone else in another line entirely. The team pulled its' four drivers out of the session, giving out autographs at the team's paddock space inside the track. This wasn't the first time series officials had to do this, mind you, but AGR didn't pull their drivers out at Texas the first time this was done. Why the separate line?

Well, ever since her 4th-place finish at the 89th Indianapolis 500, Patrick has become, essentially, the series' most-popular and most-visible driver, and every fan, it seems, wants her autograph. Back at Texas, fans waited upwards of 3-4 hrs. just to get that autograph, thus the reason officials separated those fans from the others wanting autographs of the other drivers. Barnhart noted that the autograph sessions are to help increase accessibilty to the series and the drivers, and that pulling the drivers from the series-mandated autograph sessions is a "serious violation" of league rules. He also noted that future infractions of this sort would result in stiffer fines, or worse, loss of championship points.

Under IRL rules, Andretti-Green Racing can appeal the penalties to series officials, who can choose to either lower the fines, increase the fines, or do nothing other than what has been does. My question on this is...will this have any effect on the upcoming race in Michigan Sunday. All I can say is...we shall see.

[mlittle]

Since it is a two-day weekend for the IndyCar Series this week, here's a by-the-numbers look at MIS.....

1}12 first-time winners. In the 37+ yrs. of races at MIS, 12 racers have won their first-ever Indy-style win. The list consists of: Ronnie Bucknum[1968], Gary Bettenhausen[1970]-200 mile race, Bill Vukovich[1973]-150 mile race, Tom Sneva[1975]-150 mile race, Danny Ongais[1978]-150 mile race, Pancho Carter[1981], Emerson Fittipaldi[1985], Scott Goodyear[1992], Scott Pruett[1995], Tony Kanaan[1999], Patrick Carpentier[2001] and Tomas Scheckter[2002]-400 mile race. Can any of the drivers yet to win their first race put his or her name on the list?

2}6 Indy/Michigan winners. In the "modern era" of Indy-style racing, dating back to 1979, 6 drivers have won both the Indianapolis 500 and a race at Michigan in the same year. On that list: Johnny Rutherford[1980], Gordon Johncock[1982], Bobby Rahal[1986], Rick Mears[1991], Juan Pablo Montoya[2000], and Buddy Rice[2004]. With his win at the 500, can Dan Wheldon add his name to this list?

3}Back-to-back Michigan wins. Only two drivers are on this esteemed list: Bobby Unser won here in July/Sept. 1979, and Mario Andretti in July/Sept. of 1984. With his win in 2004, can Buddy Rice repeat and add his name to this list?

[mlittle]

In a surprise move, Target/Ganassi Racing tapped veteran racer Jaques Lazier to replace the recently departed Darren Manning in the #10 Target Panoz/Toyota. No word was mentioned as to whether this is a one-off ride or a full-time seat, but it appears as though, as least on the IRL side of the ledger, that "silly season" has begun.

[mlittle]

Quick, name the Andretti-Green racer who's on the pole for Sunday's Firestone Indy 400....no, not Wheldon...no, not Franchitti....naw, wasn't the current series champion, Kanaan. No, it was their "Invisible Man", Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda), who took top honors in qualifying, posting a time of 32.856 secs.(219.141 mph). His time, amazingly, held up as the other 19 drivers in line behind him tried to best Herta's time, but couldn't. Sitting in the second position will be a familiar sight--Tomas Scheckter(#4 Pennzoil Panther Dallara-Chevy) w/a time of 32.862 secs.(219.100 mph). However, the second row could be labeled "Surprise City" for the two who qualified there...Rahal-Letterman's Buddy Rice(#15 Argent/Pioneer Panoz-Honda) and Target/Ganassi's Scott Dixon(#9 Target Panoz-Toyota). Right behind them will be the series' "elder statesmen", Scott Sharp, and Buddy Lazier. Rounding out the top ten will be Dario Franchitti, Danica Patrick, Vitor Meira, and Townsend Bell.

Surprisingly, Marlboro-Team Penske had an off qualifying session as their drivers, Sam Hornish, Jr.(#6 Marlboro Dallara-Toyota) and Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro Dallara-Toyota) will start 13th and 16th each. But don't put too much stock in where everyone qualified; Michigan, like Indy and Fontana, are "aero" tracks where the emphasis isn't on horsepower alone but on minimizing drag and unnecessary downforce. The teams who find the balance between the two will be the ones fighting for the checkers on Sunday afternoon.

[mlittle]

Paging the Andretti-Green drivers, the autograph session begins in 30 minutes......

Now, that little joke above is a reference to "Autograph-Gate", when the team pulled its' drivers from a league-mandated autograph session back in Milwaukee(for more info, read my posting from 28 July 2005). There was an autograph session in nearby Jackson, Mich. on Friday night, and all four AGR drivers were present. Now to the observations....

1}Where have you been all year? For most of this year, Rahal-Letterman Racing's Buddy Rice has not has the best of seasons, but he showed that experience counts as he'll start third, while his two teammates, series rookie Danica Patrick and veteran racer Vitor Meira, will start 8th and 9th. But Rice knows that where you start isn't important, its' where you finish. He should know, for he has 1 win here and 1 2nd-place finish.

2}Welcome back, gentlemen. The series saw the return of two veterans, Jaques Lazier and Townsend Bell. Lazier was tapped by Target/Ganassi Racing to replace Darren Manning while Townsend Bell is subbing for Panther Racing's Tomas Enge, still recovering from injuries suffered in Nashville a few weeks back. For Bell, its' his second stint w/Panther; back in 2004, he drove for them after the team fired then-rookie driver Mark Taylor midway through 2004.

3}Who will win on Sunday? That depends. If last year's race is a guide, then expect at least two racers from both AGR and RLR. Throw in Penske's pair, plus Scheckter, and maybe his teammate Buddy Lazier. Then again, this is Michigan, so maybe its' best just to watch the race and see who does win.

As for the race...ABC Sports(domestic US television) will broadcast beginning at 3 PM EDT(19:00 UTC 31 July), with radio coverage on the IMS Radio Network and XM Satellite Radio. As always, I'll provide a race summary, w/observations as well.

[mlittle]

Once again, Andretti-Green Racing proved to be the kings of the blacktop, but this time it was their "Invisible Man", Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda), who took top honors at Michigan today. When the race began, both Herta and Tomas Scheckter(#4 Pennzoil Panther Dallara/Chevy) took off and were soon joined by Herta's teammate, Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 Dallara/Honda), who would fight Scheckter for second the first 30 or so laps. Scheckter would take over the lead on lap 38, only to have to suffer a drive-through penalty for exceeding the pitlane speed limit during his pitstop. Herta would retake the lead, stretching it out to 7.4 secs. over Kanaan by lap 66.

When the next round of stops began, Herta went in for tires and fuel on lap 75, giving up the lead to Kanaan, who would pit along w/the carsof Wheldon, Franchitti and Hornish. While they were in, the lead passed to Kosuke Matsuura(#55 Panasonic ARTA Panoz/Honda) but for only 1 lap, as Herta retook the lead upon Matsuura's pitstop. By lap 90, Herta seemed to have the lead locked down, leading Dan Wheldon(#26 Jim Beam/Klein Tools Dallara/Honda) by 5 secs. on lap 80, 7 secs. by lap 90 and nearly 9 secs. on lap 95. Meanwhile, some of the front-runners began dropping from the race...the first to go was Rahal-Letterman's Vitor Meira(#17 Johns Manville/Menards Panoz/Honda) w/electrical problems; Meira would later retire on lap 185 w/handling problems.

By lap 110, Herta had extended his lead over Wheldon to 12.4 secs. It lasted, even through a series of pitstops cycled all the cars around. The lead still was around 12 secs. Then, the first caution on lap 121, as Ed Carpenter stopped off-track due to an engine failure; it wouldn't be the first failure seen on the day. The woes that had settled over Rahal-Letterman Racing continued, as Buddy Rice(#15 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda), the 2004 race winner, retired due to a driveshaft failure, marking his 6th DNF of the year on lap 126. When the green fell a few laps later, Wheldon made a low-side pass on Herta and captured the lead, only to lose it back to Herta a couple of laps later. Then the #6 Marlboro car of Penske racer Sam Hornish, Jr. took the lead from Wheldon, only to see the AGR cars of Kanaan and Wheldon pass by. Hornish then retook the lead, only to see Kanaan steal it back.

Then the yellow came back out, as an engine failure took out another front-runner...this time, it was the third member of the Rahal-Letterman Racing stable, as series rookie Danica Patrick(#16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda) saw a top-10 finish go up in smoke. She would finish in 20th, her worst showing of the 2005 season. As the laps wound down, Herta retook the lead, only to see it vanish as a 4-car accident in turn 1 bunched up the field for an eight-lap sprint. Prior to the restart, IRL race control warned both Herta and Wheldon; Herta was warned not to restart too slowly, while Wheldon got a warning for blocking Scheckter prior to the last caution. It wouldn't matter, as Herta took hold of the lead, and took hold of the victory, beating Wheldon and Scheckter to the line. For Herta, it was his second career IRL victory, his first since Kansas '03. For Wheldon, he stretched out his pts. lead to 78 pts. over Sam Hornish, Jr., 79 pts over Kanaan and 84 pts. over AGR teammate Dario Franchitti. Herta jumped from 9th to 5th, but is 126 markers back.

Meanwhile, we have a points battle for the Bombardier Rookie-of-the-Year standings. Patrick's 20th place finish, coupled w/Ryan Briscoe's 10th, means the pts. gap narrowed from 50 to 42 pts. With Enge still out, it pretty much is a two-horse battle, and it is anybody's game now.

The series takes a week off and will return to action Aug. 14th w/the Amber Alert Portal Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway, then heads to Pikes Peak for the Honda Indy 225 on Aug. 21st, followed by the series' first-natural terrain road course race, the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway Aug. 28th. Observations to follow shortly.

[mlittle]

1}Six times this year, Bryan Herta has visited victory lane, albeit to celebrate his teammates' wins. This time, he got to be the center of attention, as he celebrated his second career IRL victory, his first since Kansas 2003. It wasn't easy, though, as had to hold off teammates Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon, plus Marlboro-Team Penske's Sam Hornish, Jr. and Panther Racing's Tomas Scheckter. As it stood, it was a good day for Andretti-Green Racing. On the other side of the coin, it was not a decidely good day for Rahal-Letterman Racing, as mechnical and engine woes felled their three drivers. First, Buddy Rice saw his day end w/a driveshaft failure. Then series rookie Danica Patrick, who had been running in the top-10 all day, saw her race end when the engine blew up a-la's Scheckter's at Nashville and stranding her at the end of pit road. Finally, Vitor Meira's day came to an injurious end when the handling on his car disappeared, putting him on the sidelines. I suspect there will be some very long nights at the team's Ohio headquarters as the engine and mech. techs try to figure out what happened.

2}More blocking, again? Back at Richmond, Panther Racing saw their chances at a podium end when Tomas Enge got caught "blocking" another driver. This week, Tomas Scheckter was repeatedly "blocked" by pts. leader Dan Wheldon, who finally got a waring from race control to not do it again. It wouldn't have mattered, for Scheckter never got around Wheldon, blocking or not.

3}Attendance was up this year. Unofficially, the figures were around 40,000, a good number of whom were probably there to watch Patrick, who is almost a lock for the series' most-popular driver award. Regardless, they saw a good race, and even if it was dominated by Herta(who led 159 laps today, one of the more dominating performances by a racer at MIS), it was still a good race. Hopefully, the IRL's scheduling geniuses will keep this race on the schedule past 2006.

[mlittle]

Here are the updated pts. tables for both the overall and rookie stdgs, following Michigan.

1}Dan Wheldon 417 pts
2}Sam Hornish, Jr. 339 pts.
3}Tony Kanaan 338 pts.
4}Dario Franchitti 333 pts.
5}Bryan Herta 291 pts.
6}Helio Castroneves 286 pts.
7}Scott Sharp 276 pts.
8}Tomas Scheckter 275 pts.
9}Vitor Meira 257 pts.
10}Patrick Carpentier 249 pts.

R-1}Danica Patrick 221 pts.(11th overall)
R-2}Ryan Briscoe 179 pts.(16th overall)
R-3}Tomas Enge 131 pts.(21st overall)

[Bundy]

1}Six times this year, Bryan Herta has visited victory lane, albeit to celebrate his teammates' wins. This time, he got to be the center of attention, as he celebrated his second career IRL victory, his first since Kansas 2003. It wasn't easy, though, as had to hold off teammates Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon, plus Marlboro-Team Penske's Sam Hornish, Jr. and Panther Racing's Tomas Scheckter. As it stood, it was a good day for Andretti-Green Racing. On the other side of the coin, it was not a decidely good day for Rahal-Letterman Racing, as mechnical and engine woes felled their three drivers. First, Buddy Rice saw his day end w/a driveshaft failure. Then series rookie Danica Patrick, who had been running in the top-10 all day, saw her race end when the engine blew up a-la's Scheckter's at Nashville and stranding her at the end of pit road. Finally, Vitor Meira's day came to an injurious end when the handling on his car disappeared, putting him on the sidelines. I suspect there will be some very long nights at the team's Ohio headquarters as the engine and mech. techs try to figure out what happened.

2}More blocking, again? Back at Richmond, Panther Racing saw their chances at a podium end when Tomas Enge got caught "blocking" another driver. This week, Tomas Scheckter was repeatedly "blocked" by pts. leader Dan Wheldon, who finally got a waring from race control to not do it again. It wouldn't have mattered, for Scheckter never got around Wheldon, blocking or not.

3}Attendance was up this year. Unofficially, the figures were around 40,000, a good number of whom were probably there to watch Patrick, who is almost a lock for the series' most-popular driver award. Regardless, they saw a good race, and even if it was dominated by Herta(who led 159 laps today, one of the more dominating performances by a racer at MIS), it was still a good race. Hopefully, the IRL's scheduling geniuses will keep this race on the schedule past 2006.

Mfer you will be proud....i watched some of this race last night...wasn't too bad. I must admit i'm not a real fan of the oval track races. It was a shame danica struggled like she did. after qualifying 8th (i think) she had huge grip problems and was running around 20th for most of her race before climbing to around 15th.

What happened to briscoe? By the time i started watching (around lap 120ish) he was already out & i never heard what happened to any retiree other than danica.

herta deserved the win after leading for most of the race. he had some luck after he pitted around lap 160 (i think) and managed to get out without being lapped as the yellow flag came out due patrick's retirement.

I will be watching again

[mlittle]

3-part posting, bundy. BTW, congrats on watching the race.

1....It seems as though it's been an up-or-down year for Patrick. Half the time, her car runs as if it's on rails(like at Motegi or Indy), and half the time, her car runs as though it's a wounded duck(like at Kansas or Michigan). But she held her own, until the engine went kaput. You were right about her qual. start, it was 8th.

2....Briscoe made it the entire way, finishing 10th, one lap down, but he made it through. Considering how his two teammates did, I'm surprised. Of course, watching Manning get the axe earlier in the week probably motivated him some, I'll bet.

3....Everything just went Herta's way yesterday. He's lucky, though, in exiting pit road when he did...but in the end, nothing stopped him, though. He earned that win, and deservedly so.

[Bundy]

Briscoe finished 10th...thats not bad. The only person outside the top 5 you got an update on was danica which is a bit frustrating if you follow other drivers.

Its the same with the golf as well. If you're not tiger, phil or vijay you don't get mentioned. robert allenby had a hole in one on sunday but shot of the day went to tiger with a short chip in (& it wasn't that hard a shot).

They only follow who the majority want to watch & bugger the rest which is ashame.

But like I said, i quite enjoyed the race & will be watching the next one for sure.

[mlittle]

Now you know how the mainstream(i.e. non-sports) media treats auto racing in North America. After Indy, everybody started asking, when is she going to win her first race? I know everybody at work asked me that question enough times to where I simply said, "she'll win when she wins, not a moment sooner." Everyone outside the sport forgets that it is very hard for a rookie driver to win. In the ten years of the IRL's existence, only three drivers have won in their first full season, and two of those were in 1996 and 1997. It's especially tough when you take someone like Danica, whose racing resume is almost entirely road-course oriented, and run them in a primarily-oval based series. If the racing gods were completely fair(and when are they ever ), she would've been in San Jose(at the ChampCar race) rather than in Michigan because that's where her career was headed(until Rahal switched series in 2004). She's a good racer, and she'll get that first win in due course. Unfortunately, this year, the whole Rahal-Letterman team's just been snakebit at times; this weekend was an example of it.