With the evening sky clear and the day's memories in full view, here are some post-race observations on the race and the season that was....................
~~Interesting finish to the season............who'd thought it? Less than a qtr.-mile to the finish and Scott Dixon runs out of ethanol, and hands the title to Dario Franchitti, who wins his first career open-wheel title(he tied w/Juan Pablo Montoya back in the 1999 CART season, losing to JPM on wins[Montoya-7 to Franchitti-3].....) and, I suspect, finally can let the memories of that fallen title go([on a somber note, not only did he lose the CART title that year, but he also lost his close friend Greg Moore the same day as well.....
) Congratulations, though, are in order for Franchitti, for winning the 2007 IndyCar Series championship.......
In an historic twist, IMS president Joie Chitwood gave Franchitti a bronze badge dated 1965 w/the number 1127 on it; it was the number of the chassis Jim Clark drove to victory in the 500 and, as an astute student of motorsports history, it had to be fitting for a fellow Scotsman like Franchitti to receive it.
~~Rather than look at the race as a whole, let's look at the drivers and how each of the 22 did in relation to the race.....................(going from 22nd to 1st)
--Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group/C-BOT} suffered suspension failure on lap 35 and crashed; complained of neck pain and was checked at a local hospital(everything was negative BTW); this was his 10th DNF of the 2007 season...........
--Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.} what can anyone say; you try driving an absolute pig of a car at 210+ mph........
--Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost} tire came off early under the first caution period(how does that occur after 35 or so laps.......)
--P.J. Chesson, #76 Dussault Apparel} got parked during the race when both side mirrors came loose after 75 or so laps; managed to get about 93 laps in by race's end.........had one of the better engineers in OWR, Minardi Team USA's Mike Cannon(currently Robert Doornbos' engineer in ChampCar) and if he ever became available, he's the type of engineer a new team like Roth Racing can build on
--Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi} season ended the same as Marco's..........visiting the business end of the SAFER barriers
--Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA/TPR} in what might've been his last ICS race, ended early w/electrical problems
--Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools} they must share the same electrical wirings; he, too, suffered electrical woes
--Milka Duno, #23 CITGO} how she managed to finish 15th w/out Brian Barnhart parking her --- is beyond me........she was not only slow, but didn't get out of faster drivers' way when they came upon her(on two separate occasions, she slowed AND stayed in the middle, forcing drivers around her high and low...........
).......when the race was over, ABC Sports was interviewing Dario Franchitti's wife, actress Ashley Judd when Judd essentially ripped Duno for her driving, saying "I know this isn't very sportsmanlike, but they need to get the 23 car(Duno) off the track. It's very dangerous; when a car's more than 10 miles off the pace its' not appropriate for them to be racing. People's lives are at stake." (mod's note.........spoken like a true Southern belle, Ashley......
)
--Marty Roth, #25 Dussault Apparel} with Milka driving, Marty Roth actually can race a little bit..........on the other hand, he needs to stick to running his team as an owner only
--Dan Wheldon, #10 Target} his post-Kansas meltdown ends for the year as he took a fast car to the front once again, only to run out of fuel w/less than 10 laps remaining
--Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions} for having to drive a pig of a car again, she didn't do so bad; she drove cleanly and stayed out of the way.....hopefully, she'll stay w/Dreyer & Reinbold for 2008
--Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola} ends her 2007 season the way it began.....by spinning on pit-in.
Seriously, though, 2007 was a good campaign for the hometown girl(her hometown of Roscoe, Ill. is just a stone's throw from Chicagoland); she ran consistantly w/the big dogs all year and that first win is coming, like Kanaan told her at Detroit last week; she's also earned the respect of her two veteran teammates, Kanaan and Franchitti for both can be tough-as-nails taskmasters but are very good drivers to learn from. 2008 should be a good season for her.
And now, the top-10....................
10th} A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost} this cat gets' my "Most Improved Driver" award for 2007; he's gone from a backmarker, in-the-way driver to one who can now run with the leaders.......he's also improved his racecraft this year and things can only get better; on the cooldown lap after the checkered flag, he got on the radio and thanked his crew for all their hard work this year and said he hopes to repeat this year's successes in 2008
9th} Buddy Rice, #15 Hard Rock Hotel-Las Vegas} drove a great race for DRR and the team seems to be improving its' superspeedway package far beyond what was expected for this year
8th} Hideki Mutoh, #60 Honda Formula Dream} is this cat for real or what? he mixed it up all day long w/the big dogs, even when a lap down......mark my words; kids like him, Alex Lloyd and a few others currently in IPS or Atlantics are the series' future over the next few years
7th}(R)Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol} ran a steady, strong race, earning the ROY honors despite driving only 6 races this year
6th} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11} saw his trophy dreams end w/a flat right rear, but fought back to 6th
5th} Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila} ended his first year w/Rahal-Letterman Racing in solid shape, continuing his IronMan streak on 138 consecutive ICS starts and it looks as though that'll continue into 2008; on a separate note, reports are that Patron will return w/Sharp as well......as far as RLR's season, could we see 'em mix it up w/Penske, Ganassi and AGR next year?
4th} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske} ran a decent race but got caught on one bad pit sequence at 150
3rd} Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske} same as Helio; ran a decent race and might've won had both Dixon and Dario ran out of fuel
2nd} Scott Dixon, #9 Target} one corner; one corner.......that's all that stood between him, victory and the series championship..........going into 2008, should Franchitti not return to the IRL, the Kiwi's the early favorite for 2008
1st} Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club} what a way to wrap up the year; he wins the race and the series championship.....interesting enough, did anyone notice that as he was crossing the start/finish line, he was pointing skyward in honor of late friend Greg Moore? Dario's a class act and I bet this win and the series title will go a long way to deciding his future plans........
