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by mlittle » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:34 am
In the 10-year history of the Indy Racing League, no driver has ever won the Indianapolis 500 and the series title in the same year. That ended today, as Andretti-Green Racing's Dan Wheldon(#26 Jim Beam/Klein Tools Dallara/Honda) won after an action-packed race, but one marked by a very violent crash early on.
When the green fell, Rahal-Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick(#16 Secret Panoz/Honda) led the field, finally leading the first lap from the green, as the cars of teammate Buddy Rice(#15 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda), Tomas Scheckter(#4 Pennzoil Dallara/Chevy) and Marlboro-Team Penske's Sam Hornish, Jr.(#6 Marlboro-Team Penske Dallara/Toyota), gave chase. By lap 2, Scheckter had taken the lead from Patrick, but he soon had more company, as Wheldon found himself upfront along with Patrick, Hornish, and Rice. As they began lap 20, the five had separated themselves from the field when the yellow flag, and then, the red flag came out for a violent three-car wreck involving Ryan Briscoe(#33 Target Panoz/Toyota), Alex Barron(#51 Red Bull/IZOD Dallara/Toyota) and Kosuke Matsuura(#55 Panasonic ARTA Dallara/Honda). Here's what happened...As the three entered turn 3, Briscoe, having caught the draft off of Barron, attempted to pass Barron but caught his right front tire on Barron's left sidepod, and went airborne over Barron. Briscoe's car caught the catchfencing, ripping the car into three pieces. The rear wing assembly and transmission were in one area, the Toyota Indy V8 engine and back of the chassis were in another(the engine was ripped in half by the impact) and the rest of the chassis(w/Briscoe) was further along the track. He was able to exit the monocoque, but complained of head and back pain and was taken to the infield care center, then airlifted to a local hospital. Neither Barron nor Matsuura was injured.
After a 16-minute red flag period, the race resumed on lap 31, and once again, the lead pack resumed their fight. Scheckter reassumed the lead, chased by Hornish, Wheldon, Patrick, Rice and Castroneves, who took turns trying to pass the South African. By lap 78, the first of the leaders, Wheldon and Patrick, would pit for fuel and tires, handing the lead to Castroneves, who then piited the next lap, handing the lead to Scheckter, who along with Hornish, Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 Dallara/Honda), Rice and Dario Franchitti(#27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda), would pit, and the lead fell to rookie Tomas Enge(#2 Rockstar Energy Drink Dallara/Chevy), who then pitted himself, giving the lead to Castroneves. Then, the yellow flew for debris in turn 3, and, opting to come in, everyone did. As they were leaving, Wheldon was caught speeding on pitroad, and placed at the end of the lead-lap line, dropping him back to 17th.
When the green fell again, the lead pack of Kanaan, Patrick, Hornish, Rice and Franchitti were soon joined by Wheldon and the fourth member of the AGR stable, Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda), and the front-runners began pulling away from the rest of the field. Then, another caution, as TGR's Scott Dixon(#9 Target Panoz/Toyota) ran out of fuel while amking his in-lap onto pitroad. Once again, everyone came in, and when the stops were made, it was a dragrace down the pitlane between Wheldon, Patrick and Scott Sharp(#8 Delphi Panoz/Honda), with Sharp edging out Patrick and Wheldon. Kanaan, however, was the first out, and led the field to the green on lap 126.
It soon became a two-car battle between Kanaan and Hornish as the others slowly reeled them in. As the laps wound down, the lead drivers made their final stops. First Herta, who got fuel, tires and a front wing adjustment. Then Sharp came in for fuel and tires, followed by Hornish and the others. By the time the last of the frontrunners made their stops, it became a full-fledged shootout for the win. The final caution came out on lap 183 as the gearbox on Dixon's car finally froze up and broke, stranding him on the track. Wheldon, who had patiently made his way to the front, led the field to the green on lap 188. However, some in the field were a bit too impatient, as Patrick jumped the gun on the restart(rules prohibit drivers from passing on restarts until they cross the start/finish line) and was ordered by race control to relinquish two spots on the grid. It wouldn't matter, as Wheldon held off the Penske-duo of Hornish and Castroneves to capture his 6th win of the season by 67-ten/thousandths of a second, the 8th closest finish in IRL history. With the win, Wheldon clinched his first series title, while Patrick, who finished 6th, clinched the rookie points title and just needs to start Sept 25th at the Glen to officially clinch the title. Here's the top 10 finishers from today's race....
1st}#26 Dan Wheldon D/H
2nd}#3 Helio Castroneves D/T
3rd}#6 Sam Hornish, Jr. D/T
4th}#4 Tomas Scheckter D/C
5th}#11 Tony Kanaan D/H
6th}#16 Danica Patrick P/H
7th}#17 Vitor Meira P/H
8th}#8 Scott Sharp P/H
9th}#83 Patrick Carpentier D/T
10th}#95 Buddy Lazier D/C
Observations to follow later in the evening.......
Last edited by
mlittle on Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
) wasn't. This year's season finale will be the final show for the IRL at Fontana, which has had pitiful(15-35K people) attendance at their 2002, 2003 and 2004 races. What is expected to replace it? Sources say that Tony George and Normand Legault were seen talking in the paddock area today. This is intriguing, because Legault is the promotor of record for both F1's Canadian Grand Prix and ChampCar's Molson Indy Montreal. Since the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve can only host two races a year(and there's zero chance the F1 race'll be axed....), all I can say is, stay tuned.
