Round 13--Honda Indy 225

[Julian Mayo]

Is there a piece of wall that Briscoe is not on first name terms with?

[mlittle]

Apparently not...but it's not all his fault. His team(Target/Ganassi) is in a free-fall(why he came to the IRL w/those geniuses is beyond me... ) and he needs to be with a better team. Come to think of it, maybe Rahal-Letterman'll hire him, giving them a fourth car for 2006 and finally challenging that behemoth(a/k/a Andretti-Green Racing) for Honda supremacy on this side of the pond next year.

[mlittle]

With round 13 now in the books, here's some observations to chew over, so to speak...

1}It's official. This week, General Motors confirmed that its' racing program will not be returning to the IRL in 2006 and that they will not be allowing Cosworth to use its' Pontiac 'badge' on their engines. So what should they do? Here's my two cents on this. First, keep Honda after 2006, whatever it takes to please Robert Clarke and HPD, George and Co. should do it. Second, try to convince either Cosworth or Ilmor to build purpose-run Indy V8 next year on in 2007. Granted, this would break with the time-honored tradition of only having engine manufactuers in racing, not engine builders, but right now, what choice do they have. Finally, they should try to convince Mazda, which already has an established engine-program in both Star Mazda and the ALMS, to come aboard and supply engines after 2007. There's just one little problem....they still haven't said what their 2007-engine specs' are, yet.

2}Ganassi to leave IRL? Sources inside the IndyCar paddock are saying that Target/Ganassi Racing may bolt from the IndyCar Series and return to ChampCar, maybe as early as next year. Why? Ever since Oct. 2003, the team has been in a virtual free-fall that hasn't stopped, beginning with the death of racer Tony Renna in a testing crash at Indy, and their fall from the top has not been pretty. Last year saw 2003 series champion Scott Dixon lead a grand total of 3 laps, and this year's seen them fire driver Darren Manning(who's likely headed to ChampCar in 2006), replace him with ringer Jaques Lazier(who crashed out at Michigan the very next race) and now they're bringing in ex-F1 racer Giorgio Pantano(good luck, Giorgio, 'cause your gonna' need it). This should be an interesting story to follow the rest of the year.

3}Where'd she come from today? They say you can't race 4-wide at Pikes Peak, let alone make a 3-car pass there. Apparently, someone forgot to tell series rookie Danica Patrick about that, cause she managed to do just that. After three sub-par finishes, the sometimes roller-coaster season she's had(4th's at Motegi and Indy, DNF's at Homestead, Milwaukee) might be on the upswing again. Couple that with the fact that, A)she led the combined practice charts Saturday, B)she didn't fall back right at the beginning, as has been the case most of the year since Indy, and C)was fast and consisant the entire race, and the conclusion is that she's finally gotten used to these short-ovals that had been bedeviling her all year. 8th-place isn't a bad finish for a first visit to the high-altitude of Pikes Peak, and, once again, she finished ahead of the team's "standard-bearer", Buddy Rice. All-in-all, it was a decent performance, one that, hopefully, she can build on in the future.

4}Congrats, Honda! With Dan Wheldon's win today, Honda clinched the engine manufacturers' title for 2005. How dominant have they been since entering the IRL in 2003? Well, in 2003, Wheldon won the rookie of the year honors. In 2004, Tony Kanaan was the series champion, while Kosuke Matsuura won rookie honors. This year, it looks to be the "Dan and Danica" show, as Wheldon looks set to win the series title, while Patrick, barring any disasters in the last 4 races, should win rookie honors this year.

[Julian Mayo]

How many times has Danica beaten her team-mate fair and square?

[mlittle]

Three times this year:Richmond, Kansas and Pikes Peak. A more telling stat, though, to consider, is how many times either's finished races this year, julian. Danica's made it though 10 races this year, while Rice's finished 7 races. But neither of them's done as well as the third member of Rahal-Letterman Racing, Vitor Meira; he's got the best record of the three. But they've also had sometimes just awful luck at the track this year....another couple of inches to the left at Homestead, and Patrick doesn't clip Carpenter's wheels, and go flying into the turn 2 wall, for instance. Most years, that team should have a couple of wins total by now, but I wouldn't worry; they've still got a lot of fight in them yet, and there's four races left(including 2 road courses) so anything can happen.

[mlittle]

Here are the top-10 and rookie points standings following the Honda Indy 225....

1}Dan Wheldon 505 pts.
2}Sam Hornish, Jr. 408 pts.
3}Tony Kanaan 385 pts.
4}Dario Franchitti 371 pts.
5}(tie)Helio Castroneves 348 pts.
Scott Sharp 348 pts.
7}Vitor Meira 327 pts.
8}Bryan Herta 321 pts.
9}Tomas Scheckter 303 pts.
10}Patrick Carpentier 287 pts.


R-1}Danica Patrick 259 pts.(11th overall)
R-2}Ryan Briscoe 208 pts.(t-15th overall)
R-3}Tomas Enge 178 pts.(21st overall)