Art St. Cyr, President, Honda Performance Development, on Chip Ganassi Racing’s decision to change engine manufacturers for the 2014 IndyCar Series:  

“On behalf of everyone at Honda, I’d like to thank Chip Ganassi and the entire Ganassi Racing organization for their efforts in our very successful, eight-year partnership in the Indy Racing League and INDYCAR, which included four driver’s championships, three Indianapolis 500 victories and more than 40 individual race wins since 2006.   

“It may be worth noting that when our previous – and also very successful – association with the Ganassi organization in Championship Auto Racing Teams competition ended after the 1999 season, Honda went on to win 15 races over the next two seasons, including both the 2000 and 2001 driver’s championship, and the 2001 Manufacturers’ Championship. 

“While this partnership is coming to an end, Honda and Honda Performance Development remain committed to achieving even greater IndyCar success in the future with our continuing and new partner teams.  While Honda and the Ganassi organization are going our separate ways, we remain committed to winning the 2013 Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championships, and our collective efforts for the final three races will be entirely focused on accomplishing those objectives.”

Dario Franchitti came from the rear of the field to win a dramatic Indianapolis 500 Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon to the checkered flag in a 1-2 finish for Honda in near-record heat and humidity. It is the third Indianapolis 500 victory for Franchitti, and the third for Honda with engine manufacturer competition.

After starting 16th, Franchitti was hit during his first pit stop by the car of E.J. Viso, spinning Franchitti around and dropping him to the rear of the field. But he fought back to the front, reaching the lead for the first time on Lap 151 and then entering into a multi-car battle for the victory over the final laps.

Once at the front of the field, Franchitti spent the late laps trading the lead with Dixon, part of a record 34 lead changes during the race; while the Honda Dallaras of Takuma Sato and Justin Wilson; as well as the cars of Tony Kanaan and Ed Carpenter all looked like potential race winners.

Carpenter was the first to fall by the wayside, spinning without contact on Lap 180. On the Lap 184 restart, Kanaan jumped from fourth to the front on the run to Turn One, but the yellow came out again just three laps later as Marco Andretti spun and crashed without injury.

On Lap 194, the green flag waved for the final time and both Franchitti and Dixon passed Kanaan. Sato also was quickly past Kanaan and then Dixon. On Lap 199, Sato moved alongside Franchitti and attempted a last-lap pass for the lead as they entered Turn One. But Sato lost control mid-corner, made contact with Franchitti and then spun hard into the wall, crashing without injury.

Franchitti was momentarily sideways, but corrected for the slide and claimed his third Indianapolis 500 victory, and the 96th IndyCar win for Target Chip Ganassi Racing at the 96th running of the Memorial Day weekend classic. Dixon finished second, with Honda drivers Justin Wilson seventh, Charlie Kimball in eighth and Townsend Bell, ninth.

The IZOD IndyCar Series now enters June with a run of four consecutive race weekends, starting with the June 3 Belle Isle Grand Prix temporary street circuit race in Detroit, Michigan, followed by oval races at Texas Motor Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile and Iowa Speedway.

Dario Franchitti (#50 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 16th, finished 1st, his third Indianapolis 500 victory, 31st IndyCar victory (all with Honda power) and first win of 2012: "I moved over for Takuma [Sato]. I knew he was coming and I moved up the track. I felt it was a good move, but he got loose underneath me. It was the last lap of the Indianapolis 500 and I didn’t expect him to lift. I think he did everything right up until the point he lost the rear of the car. It kind of reminded me of Emerson [Fittipaldi] and Little Al [Unser, at the 1994 Indianapolis 500] at the end there. This means the world. This is Indianapolis.

I also have to say ‘thank you’ to Honda. I have all of my [IndyCar] wins with them and today showed us all exactly why. They worked incredibly hard throughout the event, and never more so than in the week after qualifying. Honda showed us all today what they can accomplish."

Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified 15th, finished 2nd, led 53 laps: "We had the car to win today. Between the efforts of the team and Honda we had the power, reliability and mileage we needed, but at the end it was Dario’s race. He did a hell of a job today, so I’m super happy for him, but super gutted for myself. Still, it couldn’t be a better day, a 1-2 finish for the Target Chip Ganassi team at the Indianapolis 500."

Art St. Cyr (President, Honda Performance Development) on today's Honda victory in the Indianapolis 500: "This is why we go racing. To be able to participate in such a competitive race is one of the most amazing things in my career with Honda. It was an exciting day, and a great race for the fans – but pretty stressful for the participants! Any of several Honda drivers would have been a deserving winner today, but somehow it seemed destined that this was Dario’s day. He drove a fantastic race, never giving up after getting hit during his first pit stop. It was an inspiring drive, and an incredible race, that had all of us riveted throughout. My congratulations to all our associates at Honda Performance Development, who worked so hard to make this victory a reality. What a great day."

Buddy Rice backed up his pole position performance with a dominating drive to win the 88th Indianapolis 500 in what turned out to be a Honda benefit at 16th & Georgetown.

In a race shortened 20 laps by violent thunderstorms, the rain couldn’t deny Rice’s reign, as the 28-year-old native of Phoenix led 91 laps in his Argent/Pioneer G-Force to score Honda’s initial triumph in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” for Rahal Letterman Racing.

So decisive was Honda’s month-long dominance that it swept the top seven spots at Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Bryan Herta, Bruno Junqueira, Vitor Meira and Adrian Fernandez trailed Rice under the checkered flag.

“We were strong all month and we knew it, and I can’t begin to thank Honda enough,” said Rice, who was filling in for the injured Kenny Brack but now has a steady job the rest of 2004. “My car was perfect and Scott (Roembke, team manager) made all the right calls on fuel and my pit crew was fantastic. I thought we had a couple of these deals won but we had little mishaps that weren’t our fault so this just feels great.”

The lone scare of his race came with Buddy stalled on a Lap 94 pit stop and dropped back to 16th.

“We had a little issue on one of the stops but these guys have been fighting hard all year,” he reasoned. “We knew traffic was going to be a problem but there was no reason to panic because we were only halfway through the race so I wasn’t concerned. I knew I had a great car under me.”

He flexed his muscles on a Lap 138 restart by charging from sixth to first in 14 laps. “Once I got back in front, I caught a couple of breaks in traffic. I made a late pass on somebody and that got Tony bottled up and gave me a little cushion,” said Rice, who owned a three-second lead when the skies opened up.

The only other drivers to keep Rice honest all afternoon were Andretti Green Racing teammates Kanaan and Wheldon, but both conceded the right guy would up in Victory Lane.

“Buddy was much stronger today and I thought he deserved it,’ said Kanaan, who led 28 laps in the 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda.

Wheldon paced 26 circuits in his Jim Beam/Klein Tools Dallara/Honda and tipped his cap to the polesitter. “You’ve got to hang it out to win it and Buddy certainly did it today. Other than somebody from our team, you couldn’t have a better winner than him.”

Herta, in the XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda, gave Andretti Green Racing a 2-3-4 performance and the 2002 Indy Polesitter Junqueira came home fifth in the Newman/Haas Racing PacifiCare G-Force/Honda.

Meira gave Rahal Letterman a solid sixth place in the Team Centrix G-Force/Honda while Fernandez started sixth and would up seventh in the Quaker State-Tecate-Telmex G-Force/Honda.

Herta pretty much summed up the overall feeling of Gasoline Alley. “It was a great result for our team and for Honda,” he said. “But Buddy had the fastest car and won the race. That’s the way the Indy 500 is supposed to be.”

In trying to figure out how we at HPD would honor our friend Dan Wheldon, we all began to search our archives to see if we could find images and stories that would best depict the wonderful and generous man, not just the racer, we all knew. We came across an email that Dan had sent to former HPD President Robert Clarke that Dan asked to be forwarded to HPD and Honda associates. We thought we would share Dan's email with you and allow Dan's own words to truly convey the man we all had the pleasure of working with and more importantly, the pleasure of knowing over the past decade...

(Sent 12/23/2005 at 3:50 PM)

Robert,

Please, could you pass this email on to everyone at Honda and HPD.

I wanted to take the time before this holiday to thank you and everyone at Honda and HPD for all of the effort and continued hard work that was put in to help me attain my goals and realise a dream of winning both the Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IRL Championship. I value my relationship with Honda immensely and understand that you certainly play a huge role in this.

I am also delighted to know that I will be continuing my relationship with Honda and am excited and very motivated to attain more success in a different situation. It will be strange, I must say, knowing that there will not be the competition between us and other engine manufacturers out there, I always enjoyed that.

I would also like to say how proud I was of Matt and “clutch” who worked with me this year. They always pushed me to make sure I had fine tuned everything available to me and because of that I attribute a big part of my success to them also.

I look forward to seeing you all at the track next year and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes and thank you once again, your driver,

Dan

Now, some stories and fond memories of Dan from current and former HPD and Honda associates who had personal relationships with Dan throughout the years...

From Erik Berkman, HPD President:
"Dan was the best ambassador for Honda we could ever hope for. Not only was he a winner, but he was very engaging, and he worked tirelessly to promote Honda.

I have fond memories of meetings with Dan in the pits or engineering trailers at the track, and at HPD. But my favorite memories are from Dan's visit to Honda Hospitality. He felt comfortable there, and made everyone feel comfortable in return. The media, and friends of Honda truly looked forward for Dan and Susie to stop by to visit and relax. They were family. They still are. We will all miss Dan so very much. I hope Susie and the boys will still visit us sometime."

From Robert Clarke, former HPD President:
"My best remembrance with Dan has to be our win at the 2004 Indy Japan event at Motegi. As you know, we had failed to win the event on the 6 previous tries. We (HPD) had tried so hard and for so long to win this very important race and it had become a monkey on our back and for many a joke within the paddock. Many were wondering if we would ever win it. Dan was still a young IRL driver and the other AGR drivers always gave him a hard time (see separate story below) and they (Dario, Tony & Bryan) wanted to be the first to win this coveted race for Honda and thereby winning an even more special relationship with Honda.

Everyone was so happy when Dan won. All at HPD, HM, HGT, AGR, TRM were so happy and it was a huge celebration. When Dan visited the HM hospitality tent after the race there was a ceremony that included champagne and a beautifully prepared cake. The other AGR drivers decided to put Dan's face in it and from there it turned into a huge food fight. I don't think the Honda Japan staff had ever seen anything like it. Their initial reaction was one of horror (that the cake could be destroyed like that), but many soon joined in on the fun. Of all our victory celebrations over the years (including Indy) I do not think any was a larger or more special one. We had finally won Motegi and we were so proud to have done so for the Japanese Honda fans."

Side bar:

2003 - Dan's first IndyJapan

"The drivers always had a dinner with Mr. Kawamoto (former president of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.) and Mr. Amemiya (former president and CEO of AHM) on the Thursday night before the race weekend. Because it was Dan's first he had no experience with what it was like. The AGR guys tricked Dan and told him that it was a very formal dinner and that he needed to wear a coat and tie. Dan didn't bring a tie and ended up buying one from the hotel gift shop for something like $100 - it was all they had. Later when they met at the Japanese restaurant adjacent to the hotel Dan found that all the other drivers, and the Japan staff, were in jeans and t-shirts and he walks in dressed in slacks, sports coat and a tie to huge laughter! It was the joke of the paddock that weekend and was reminisced about at all the remaining Motegi events."

From Jack Spurney:
"I have many colorful and wonderful memories of Dan: Years ago, flirting with my daughter at the Honda Hospitality tent at Indy, much to the amusement of my other daughter; joking about his new “un-Brit-like” (his words) teeth on a Drivers Day at HPD; and his amazing finish and victory at the 2011 Indy 500.

I have friends in the Tampa/St Petersburg area where Dan lived who have no association with racing yet talk about how he was a shining star in the community he called home who selflessly made himself available to support worthy causes, even donating a wing at the local All Children’s Hospital. “Dan Wheldon was a great champion – both in sport and in his community,” said a statement from the Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg on Monday, October 17, the day following the accident.

Anyone who knew Dan talks about his warmth, ebullience, charm and affability. He was one of the most genuine persons I have ever known; a very special person.

I had the privilege of knowing Dan for over five years watching him grow from a young, brash, and highly talented driver into a mature charismatic gentleman, loving husband and father; clearly Susie, Sebastian and Oliver became the center of his universe. Just recently, in the paddock at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway before the incident that took his life, with Susie and the kids in tow, he was talking about The Five Million Dollar Challenge; what he was focused on was not the potential for his own personal gain, but rather about how splitting the purse with some lucky fan would instantly change their life for the better. That was Dan Weldon. He was a great driver and wonderful, generous man. God only knows how much we will miss him. RIP Dan."

From Marc Sours, HPD General Manager:
"Dan was a significant contributor to the success that Honda gained with its current IndyCar engine. He was the first to test the engine in the fall of 2002; and, he demonstrated its merits with numerous race victories and Indy 500 wins. Yet it's my memories of him off track that I'll value the most. I first met Dan as an F2000 competitor. He was an amiable young man, frequently smiling; traits which he kept once he made it to the professional ranks. An engaging person who grew up, made it to the big time, and never seemed to loose track of who he was in the process."

From T.E. McHale, American Honda Manager of Motorsports PR:
My Dan Wheldon moment occurred after the Centennial Indianapolis 500 this past May. After winning the prestigious race for the second time, Dan had just concluded an exuberant celebratory victory lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He returned to Victory Circle to begin the Hat Dance -- that incessant procession of ballcaps and photo ops, which, for understandable reasons, lasts about five times as long at Indianapolis as at any other track on the IndyCar Series circuit.

Dan had just stepped into the cockpit, and had the first hat in hand, when he looked to his left and saw me standing along the railing that divided the race car from the rabble.

He placed the hat on the car's nose, got out, walked around to my side of the car and grabbed me. I barely remember what he said to me, but I do remember hearing a loud cheer from the grandstand above us in Victory Circle. And I remember thinking, "That's pretty cool. Some people I know are happy that I'm getting this moment."

It wasn't until we separated, and Dan resumed the headwear ritual, that I looked above me to see that I did not recognize a single face among those who had been doing the cheering. Whether or not it is true, I'm going to continue in the belief that those spectators were paying tribute to the emotion of a moment between the Indianapolis 500 winner and some guy none of them had ever met. And that blew me away.

Just before he returned to his car, Daniel and I spent time crying in each other's arms. We were crying tears of joy, feeling all the pain and all the hard work it took to get to that moment, and celebrating all the promise the future would hold for him.

After last Sunday afternoon, I am not ashamed to admit, I have cried in many other arms, as well.

“For everyone in the Honda family, this is a day of tragedy and incalculable loss. For us, Dan was more than a driver, he was a member of the Honda family. But most of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, wife Susie and two young sons. Dan had a passion for motorsports and a wonderful personality that made him a friend to everyone in the racing community. His talent and dedication were an inspiration to us all. We will miss him terribly, and everyone at Honda extends our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and fans across the world.”
-Erik Berkman, President, Honda Performance Development

-Dan Layton

Northern Exposure

Hit somebody! It rang in his ears
Blood on the ice ran down through the years
The king of goons with a box for a throne
A thousand stitches and broken bones
He never lost a fight on his icy patrol
But deep inside, Buddy only dreamed of a goal
He just wanted one damn goal

There were Swedes at the blue line, Finns at the red
A Russian with a stick heading straight for his head
Brains over Brawn — that might work for you
But what's a Canadian farm boy to do?

Hit Somebody!
-Warren Zevon: Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)

The late, great Warren Zevon would’ve loved the two recent Canadian IZOD IndyCar Series races in Toronto and Edmonton. There was enough slamming and banging in those two races to fill a full-season DVD.

Historically, Toronto has always been a scene of frequent contact and short tempers – going all the way back to the first race in 1986, when even race winner Bobby Rahal was fuming at the finish (after a mid-race “stop-and-wait” penalty) and 10 of the 25 cars in the starting field were eliminated by crashes – including the likes of local hero Jacques Villeneuve (Gilles’ younger brother), Mike Andretti and Tom Sneva.

The course layout seems to encourage passing attempts, but the bumps and asphalt-to-concrete pavement changes frequently makes zeros out of [potential] heroes...

Even so, this year was something else. By my unofficial count, at least 24 of the 26-car starting field had contact with other cars and/or the wall at least once at Toronto, while more than a half-dozen had two incidents of contact, and THREE (Alex Tagliani, Graham Rahal and Danica Patrick) were hitters/hittees no fewer than three times each.

As near as I could tell, only Sebastien Bourdais and Simona de Silvestro were able to complete the race in unmarked cars.

In purist terms, it wasn’t a great race. Heck, the [beautiful, new] Honda Civic Si pace car led 32 of the 80 laps! But it sure was entertaining, and it definitely ratcheted up the intensity factor as the IZOD IndyCar Series entered the second half of 2011.

And the first half of the subsequent event at Edmonton looked to be more of the same. The VERSUS television crew certainly got into the act right from the show’s cold open, which featured a highlight video recap of all the Toronto crashing set to the music of Ce Lo Green’s “[Forget] You”. Classic. I laughed my head off in pit lane just listening to it on my scanner.

And for the first 25 laps at Edmonton, it things appeared to be much the same. First, Alex Tagliani got sucked into a w-a-a-ay over-ambitious move at the end of the second straight, spearing into Rahal’s rear tire which, two turns later, sent Rahal into a spin and Paul Tracy over the top of him, ending both of their races.

Wait a minute … Paul Tracy a victim of someone else’s brain lapse? Yep.

More mayhem ensued (Mike Conway into Oriol Servia, E.J. Viso into Scott Dixon, and Ryan Hunter-Reay into pole qualifier Takuma Sato), but then things calmed down and a more “normal” IndyCar Series race broke out over the final 30 laps or so, with Will Power leading home teammate Helio Castroneves and Toronto winner Dario Franchitti.

So now, the point race has tightened up a bit and we head into Honda’s midwestern “Home” race at Mid-Ohio. It looks to be a hot and humid weekend at Mid-O, and the temperature in the paddock is expected to be equally high, despite some of the “happy smiling faces” put on for public display.

It should be fun.

Postscript: Just as I was getting ready to hit “send”, the word came down from INDYCAR that Conway, Hunter-Reay and Tagliani had all put on probation by “the iron hand of justice” – aka Race Director Brian Barnhart. These three all had at least one instance of contact at both Toronto and Edmonton, and as a result, have received the IICS equivalent of “five-minute majors”… Now the question is: Will this dampen some of the “enthusiasm” of the Canadian races or only put more fuel on the fire?
###

-Dan Layton

As this is being written, practice is well underway for the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500, and what are shaping up to be the most competitive qualifying days I can remember since my first two “500s” back in 1994-95.

Right now, 40 different drivers have taken to the track – and one or two more may yet join the fray – meaning that at least seven will go home bitterly disappointed on Sunday night.

Who those seven will be is anyone’s guess. We’ve had 1 ½ solid days of practice as of Tuesday and for the most part it’s “the usual suspects” at the top of the time sheets: Ganassi (Dixon, Rahal, Franchitti); Panther (Hildebrand), a team that’s always strong at Indy; and Penske (Briscoe, Castroneves, Power).

You’ve also had a couple of mild surprises posting some fast lap speeds in the first few days of practice: Alex Tagliani, fastest of all so far with a 225.8 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports; Vitor Meira with Foyt; Ed Carpenter (Sarah Fisher) and Oriol Servia with resurgent-in-2011 Newman Haas Racing. All are solidly in the top 10, and should have at least an outside chance of mixing it up with the Ganassi/Penske “big dogs” on Pole Day.

At least a couple of the names mentioned in my previous paragraph should blast their way into the top-nine shootout on Saturday. But the smart money for the pole qualifier should still stay with Power, Franchitti and their teammates. With up to three qualifying runs per driver, it’s going to be almost impossible to knock off someone with the resources – and determination – of a Castroneves or Dixon for the pole.

Last year, it was Castroneves taking the honors with a four-lap run of 227.970 mph in decent weather conditions. Given good weather and the fact that both the Honda engines and Dallara chassis are about as well-developed as humanly possible, I expect it will take something in the neighborhood of a 228 mph to once again prevail.

In all, the top-24 starting positions will be settled on Saturday. And then the real fun for us (spectators and non-driving participants) begins … and the real sweating starts for the final half-dozen or so drivers just trying to make the field.

In 2010, the slowest qualifier was then-rookie Sebastian Saavedra at 223.634 mph, and four drivers (including Paul Tracy!) missed the field in a frantic final hour of Bump Day qualifying. I expect this year to be even more drama-filled; and for it to take a similar – or higher – speed just to make the field.

Certainly, if I’m a driver and NOT able to run consistent 223s and the odd 224 by Friday, I’d be VERY worried……

All in all, and weather permitting – a constant consideration in the Circle City during the Merry Olde Month of May – it should be an exciting Pole Day on Saturday and an absolutely riveting Bump Day. I’m looking forward to it.

-Dan Layton


The 2011 IZOD IndyCar season officially commenced in mid-January, when series officials took what had been a private annual update for series participants, outlining rule and procedure changes for the new year, and turned it into a high-profile, webcast stage show called the “State of INDYCAR” at a downtown Indianapolis hotel.

The goal was to give the series a little off-season buzz and in that, they succeeded, with all six local television affiliates and most of the specialist racing press in attendance. Behind all the sparkle & glitter (the smoke bombs, music and spotlights were all fine, but I mean, really, bringing out defending series champion Dario Franchitti with the Gordon Pipers?!?), here are the major items announced – and what they might mean for drivers and fans alike:

1. Double-wide restarts after cautions. This is the change that has gotten the most attention, and it will be the most visible to the fans. It means that, following a yellow, race restarts will now take place with the cars in two-by-two formation, just as on the pace lap prior to the green.

As originally announced, the two-wide restarts would be used only on ovals. But it appears they now will be used at ALL races in ’11, which should spice things up on road and street courses, too. In addition, lapped cars will be moved to the rear of the field, and that also should help enhance the battles for the leading positions on restarts.

2. A change that hasn’t gotten much attention (yet), but one which I believe will have great impact on the road racing this year, is a new limit of just one set of tires for each (of three) qualifying segments. Previously, teams could run a couple of sets per session, so a driver might chose to “bank” a time on a used set of the soft compound “reds” for example, before switching to a fresh set for the all-important final minutes of qualifying.

Now all this has gone out the window, and I think it’s going to take the teams a little while to get their heads around this. Do you want to go out right at the start of a session and put down a time while the tires are at their best – but the track may not be – or wait until the very end of the session, when the track is quickest, but also the busiest with other cars?

Since qualifying up front is critical to success at road races, I think this is going to be very interesting rule, from a strategic point of view, in 2011.

3. Another change with strategic implications will have pit-stall selection based on qualifying from the previous race (of the same type). Previously, pit stall placement was based on championship position, leading to a “rich-get-richer” scenario in which a team leading the championship had the first choice in pit selection, nearly always taking the stall closest to pit exit. This allowed a driver a clear shot out of pit lane, without having to use the pit-lane speed limiter – an obvious advantage that now will be more fairly distributed.

4. Finally, the “pit commit” point will be moved closer to Pit In, giving a driver and team a bit more time to make the decision to pit, and make for quicker “in” laps. NOT specifically announced, but even more important, is word that the start and restart point will be moved much closer to the start/finish line. Again, this should help make the starts as spectacular as they should be.

With just under two months until the start of “Spring Training” at Barber Motorsports Park, the 2011 IZOD IndyCar starting field is starting to take shape. Ganassi, Penske, Panther, Foyt, de Ferran, Sarah Fisher and HVM all have their lineups settled. In addition, Newman Haas knows who they WANT to drive their car(s), Andretti also is close to finalizing its planned four-car lineup, and FAZZT is also very close to a decision to expand from one to two cars.

That really just leaves three teams still to announce their lineups: Conquest and Coyne (both habitually late announcers), and KV Racing Technology, where big changes appear to be taking place.

Lotus Cars appears poised to buy into KV this year, taking an ownership stake in the team it partially sponsored last year. Expect a large influx of Group Lotus personnel behind the pit wall in 2011, and (at least) two green-and-yellow – or perhaps black-and-gold – cars this season.

Here’s how I see the 2011 lineup as of mid-January, starting with the teams that are “locked & loaded”, followed by the question marks:

Ganassi: Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon both continue for the varsity; newbies Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball for the (separate-but-equal) “B” team.

Team Penske: Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe all return.

Panther: JR Hildebrand, the 2009 Indy Lights champion, gets his first full-season shot with the National Guard-backed team.

A.J. Foyt: As unlikely a pairing as you’ll ever find, but Vitor Meira appears to have found a home with the legendary Texan’s team, and they start their third year together in ’11.

de Ferran/Dragon: Tony Kanaan is in, while Raphael Matos is apparently headed back to Brazil. Can TK raise the level of this team to finally contend for race wins, and perhaps a championship? This will be one to watch this year.

HVM: Very popular 2010 rookie Simona de Silvestro will be back with HVM, and with proper funding for the first time. Now it’s up to her and the team to build on the flashes of promise shown last year.

Sarah Fisher: Ed Carpenter will do at least 9 of the 17 races, and possibly more, depending on funding.

Andretti Autosport: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick are all confirmed. Dan Wheldon hopes to land the fourth seat, but a more likely candidate is former F2 champion Andy Soucek, who may bring the funding AA needs for the fourth car.

Newman Haas: Knows who they want: veteran Oriol Servia and promising Indy Lights graduate James Hinchcliffe. All parties involved are working hard to make it happen, but it’s not yet a done deal. Keep your fingers crossed, as Oriol certainly deserves another shot, and “Hinchtown” is very, very quick – as well as entertaining outside the cockpit.

Dreyer & Reinbold: Justin “Too Tall” Wilson is locked in for a second season, but second – or third – seats are open. Wheldon (again), Mike Conway, Ana Beatriz and Tomas Scheckter have all been mentioned here.

FAZZT: Again, Alex Tagliani is locked in place as the lead driver. After all, he was the guiding force in the creation of the team. The only question is whether Dutch/Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung can raise the necessary sponsorship for the team to field a second car.

KV: As of this writing, Takuma Sato and E.J. Viso are expected back, but that could change (along with the team’s name) as Lotus takes an ownership stake. Mario Moraes is apparently headed home to Brazil, so the third seat could go to Wheldon, but nothing is decided – yet.

Conquest: Has (at least) three possible drivers for two cars. Bertrand Baguette started off a bit shaky as a rookie last year, but improved both his speed and confidence as the ’10 season progressed. After doing a decent job as a rookie at the Speedway, Sebastian Saavedra bolted from Bryan Herta’s team at the end of the year (earning him few friends in the paddock), and ran the Homestead finale with Conquest. Paul Tracy has at least partial sponsorship, and would be a huge shot in the arm for this small team – arguably, the best driver they’ve ever run.

Dale Coyne: Very quiet, as always, at this time of the year. Dale certainly keeps his cards close to his chest. Still, ’10 Rookie of the Year Alex Lloyd is expected back in the “Boy Scout” car; while Lights champion J.K. Vernay has some funding, and in reality few alternatives, to running at least a partial season with the South Side Chicago team.


###

-Dan Layton

And now for something completely different…., a little numerology from the Honda Indy Toronto, which turned out to be one of the more, ahem, unusual races in this year’s IZOD IndyCar Series.

1 – Number of races FAZZT Race Team principal Rob Edwards has missed in his entire, 30-plus year career in IndyCar racing. Toronto was the first and only time Edwards has been absent with his car(s) on track, so he REALLY was sick with some sort of virus that left him completely drained of energy. Fortunately, he was back in action the following weekend at Edmonton.

2 – Number of consecutive years that Alex Tagliani and Tomas Scheckter have managed to take each other out at Toronto. Last year, it was Tags tagging Tomas. This time it was “wreckter” wrecking Alex. Are they even now?

3 – The turn where almost all of the contact in a contact-filled race took place.

4 – Number of paint schemes on Tony Kanaan’s Andretti Autosport entry this season, with at least a couple more to come. This week, the featured sponsor was Nestle Pure Life bottled water so the car’s primary color was blue, instead of the usual green/white.

5 – in seconds, Justin Wilson’s lead just before the caution period and ill-fated restart that saw him lose a potential – no – expected race win to Will Power.

6 – The number of tire sets distributed by Firestone to each IndyCar entry, including three sets of primary (“Black” sidewall) tires, and three sets of the quicker, softer “Red” alternate compounds. This is why proper tire management is essential over the course of the race weekend. There are also rain tires (up to five sets per driver) if needed.

7 – Cars eliminated due to various incidents of contact during the race.

8 – The ill-fated turn where Wilson spun after losing the lead to Power. But, special bonus points to Justin for manning-up after the race, raising his hand to admit that both losing the lead and the resulting spin were his fault and apologizing to his Dreyer & Reinbold team.

10 – Number of mechanics it took to repair Scott Dixon’s cars between the first and second practice sessions, after Dixon did substantial gearbox/rear suspension damage as the meat in a three-car crash with Bertrand Baguette and Takuma Sato.

21 – (and climbing) – The number of crashes so far this season by the various KV Racing Technology drivers. That’s an average of just over two shunts per race. Surely. This. Can’t. Continue. Forever. The only KV driver not to have damaged a car this year: Paul Tracy. I kid you not.

32 – The lap on which Helio Castroneves attempted to use Vitor Meira for an auxiliary braking device entering Turn 3, ending his race with a heavy impact and not doing Meira any favors, either. For Helio, it continued a string of DNFs at Toronto; he has finished only once here in his entire career.

150 – Number of open-wheel racing wins (in USAC, CART and IndyCar competition) for Team Penske. Truly, the Greatest Team of All Time.

349,000 – In dollars, the cost of a new 2012 rolling chassis manufactured by Dallara to IndyCar specifications. This is a 45 percent price decrease from what Dallara charges in the current IZOD IndyCar Series formula. “Aero kits” (i.e. bodywork) will be priced at $70,000, and there also will be a $150,000 discount/subsidy from the great state of Indiana on the first 28 chassis purchased by Indiana-based teams. Hmmmm, wonder if Penske, Coyne, Newman Haas and Foyt will be setting up post office boxes in Speedway anytime soon……

Infinity (I need to get the sideways ‘8’ installed on my keyboard) -- Number of angry post-race tweets issued by, between and among Mssrs. Rahal, Briscoe, Scheckter, and Tagliani regarding their various racing “incidents”.

Next up: Edmonton.

###

-Dan Layton

Last year, the Watkins Glen race generated one of IndyCar’s “feel good” stories of the year, as Justin Wilson shocked the field with a victory for perennial mid-field [and that’s being kind] team Dale Coyne Racing. I called it “the day the minnow ate the sharks”.

But this year, order was restored, and the sharks dined mightily. Scoring his third win of 2010 – no other driver has more than one – Team Penske’s Will Power firmly established himself as the man to beat for the title. Two other Penske/Ganassi drivers, Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti, filled out the podium, leaving the rest to fight over table scraps.

This was the sixth time the IZOD IndyCar Series has run at The Glen, and Scott Dixon has won three of them. But not this year, as Dixon’s just slightly over-eager move on Helio Castroneves in the chicane during the early laps sent both to the pits: resulting in a flat right front and damaged wing for Dixie, and a flat right rear for “twinkletoes”. That ruined the race for both and was probably the only thing preventing a 1-2-3-4-5 for the BTT (Big Two Teams).

This was Will Power’s weekend, and that’s been a bit of a trend this year (see also Ryan Hunter-Reay@Long Beach, Dixon@Kansas, Franchitti@Indy, Briscoe@Texas, etc). Here, Power started from the pole, led over half the laps, and basically looked to be in command pretty much from start to finish.

After nine races this season, we’ve had seven different winners, which is way cool. But only one of them – the Aussie from the little town with the weird name of Toowoomba – has more than a single victory.

So here we are, halfway through the 2010 season and this much is obvious to me: With three wins so far, Power’s my somewhat obvious tip to win it all this year. Not too bad for a guy who was rideless 18 months ago … a part-time driver 12 months ago … and nine months ago, was held together with pins and screws after a back-breaking crash at Infineon.

Other Stuff

In addition to IndyCars, we also had Indy Lights, the SCCA World Challenge (see my blog on another RealTime GTS class win) and a pair of F2000 Championship Series races on the holiday weekend schedule at The Glen.

On the “Light-er” side, “JK” Vernay expanded his championship points lead with a narrow victory (two-tenths of a second) over his closest title challenger, James Hinchcliffe. Two other possible challengers – Charlie Kimball and Stefan Wilson (Justin’s younger brother) – were eliminated early with engine problems.

Besides the battle at the front, where “Hinch” led early, but was eventually chased down and passed by Vernay, the highlight of the day was watching the series debut of Anders Kohn. The F2000/Star Mazda graduate started mid-field and had an entertaining day, dicing with Wilson (before the latter’s DNF), Martin Plowman and James Winslow until a late off-course dropped him back to 10th.

Over the last five laps, Hinchcliffe gave it all he had, usually trying to pass at the “Inner Loop” chicane, but could never quite pull it off. Sebastian Saavedra, winner in Iowa two weeks ago, rounded out the top three finishers.

The F2000 Championship Series is NOT the US F2000 Series that is part of the "Road to Indy" ladder system. But it does have large fields (32+ for two races at The Glen) and some truly talented young drivers at the sharp end of the grid.

This weekend, Aussie Dan Erickson (who - full disclosure here - drives for the Quantum Mechanics team where I have an FF partnership) won both days, just ahead of quick American Chris Livengood. On Sunday, it was 18-year-old Brazilian Victor Carbone who finished second, while another US kid to watch, Cole Morgan, held off Livengood for third. Great races, both days.

###

-Dan Layton


If Newton, Iowa, isn’t in the middle of nowhere, it’s at least in the same zip code. I mean, it’s a good 40-mile drive from Des Moines, much less any other outpost of western civilization. But boy, do they love their open-wheel racing up in the land of corn and John Deere, and that’s good enough for me.

At just under a mile, Iowa Speedway is a genuine short track, the only one on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule this year. I do wish it was a bit flatter. Steep banking helps big, lumbering stock cars heave their overweight, under-tired selves around the corners; but all it does for IndyCars is pin them to the track. Still, I’m just grateful to have at least one short track left where fans can marvel at the speed and raw energy of an IndyCar at full song.

Race Day
Sunday’s Iowa Corn 250 was not only the best race of 2010, it was one of the most combative and competitive shows in recent memory as almost 35,000 people (about 85-90% capacity, despite some reports to the contrary) were treated to a pass-happy 250 laps and one long overdue, heck-of-a-drive by Tony Kanaan.

Of the 17 lead changes, all but one came at speed and on track – not in the pits. Teammates Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon battled each other for first place like their jobs were on the line while Kanaan and Franchitti went side-by-side and swapped the top spot five times in 25 laps. It was just a GREAT RACE.

Dario’s undefeated streak at Iowa (he won in 2007 and ’09) came to an end when gearbox failure set him to the pits for a long stop. That took him out of the picture, but Helio Castroneves stepped in and became Kanaan’s strongest late-race threat….until the last 10 laps, when TK REALLY stepped it up and pulled out to a four-second margin of victory and his first win since – wait for it – Richmond in 2008!

And while this was the first time Franchitti didn’t win in Iowa, it was the first time Kanaan even managed a finish. He had crashed here in all three previous races…

Rounding out the top three was E.J. Viso, finally providing KV Racing with a ray of sunshine among the “festival of carbon fiber” that all-too-often has summed up the team’s season. It also was E.J.’s career-best IndyCar finish and maybe, just maybe, made up a little bit for teammates Mario Moraes (an innocent victim in Justin Wilson’s first-lap spin/crash) and Takuma Sato (who once again was mega-fast, but once again stuck it in the fence mid-race).

Good day. Great race. But after four ovals, this old road racer is ready to head to Watkins Glen for the start of the July road-course swing.

Bits ‘n Bobs
Alex Lloyd had a decent run to 13th, especially considering he was coming off surgery to remove his appendix during the week leading up to the race – but he shouldn’t expect a Christmas Card from Sarah Fisher this year. She was most displeased after being pushed off line (her belief), onto the marbles and into the Turn 4 fence on Lap 92.

Hideki Mutoh, who’s had great runs (including a second-place finish) here in the past, had a weekend from hell instead this year – starting with a crash over the infamous Tunnel Bump in testing the week prior to the race. The team parked him during the race after he struggled all through practice, qualifying and the race.

The week before Iowa, Tony Kanaan had a blast running a “late model” dirt-track car in Tony Stewart’s annual “Prelude to the Dream” charity race at Eldora Speedway. TK said he’s already looking forward to coming back next year.

Graham Rahal was “Driver of the Week”, substituting for the injured Mike Conway at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Tomas Scheckter was the sub at Texas, and the ole’ Chrome Horn himself, Paul Tracy, will sit in at Watkins Glen before moving over to KV for Toronto and Edmonton.

One of the more unique calls to start engines came from Tim Burrack, chairman of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board: "Drivers, please start those no-tar-ball, corn-ethanol engines!"

And on that note, we’ll close this one out. See you again after the ‘Glen.

###

-Dan Layton

The ending line to the movie “Winning” has Lou Erding (Robert Wagner) saying to Frank Capua (the late, great, real racer Paul Newman): “After Indy, we always go to Milwaukee.”

Not this year, Bunky.

Unfortunately, Milwaukee couldn’t answer the bell for 2010. Hopefully, ‘The Mile’ will be back on the schedule next season. This year, however, instead of a one-mile, flat track, we headed to the most intimidating, highest-banked, pucker-inducing track on the schedule: Texas Motor Speedway.

With Texas being a Saturday-night race, it was a very quick turnaround for the teams after the Indy 500, and that impacted several teams that had “issues” at Indy.

De Ferran Dragon, for example, had planned to run both Rafa Matos and Davey Hamilton at Texas. But as both drivers crashed out at Indy – and with the team having only two cars – it was a VERY busy two days at the little shop just south of the Speedway, as the small team thrashed hard and late into the night to get just one car ready for Matos at Texas.

They got it done – just. Hamilton would have to watch from the sidelines, and returned to the network radio booth.

Additional post-Indy fallout included the departure of co-owner Jim Freudenberg from the impressive new FAZZT Racing effort, the result of continuing concerns on the sponsorship side of the team that resulted in primary owner Andre Azzi having to write a couple of large checks to cover expenses.

Team Manager Rob Edwards has assumed Freudenberg’s duties, and can hopefully get things turned around on the commercial side, as, on the actual competition side, this has been a very impressive new team, punching well above its weight with Alex Tagliani driving.

Although his future beyond Iowa is not yet certain, Ryan Hunter-Reay was back with Andretti Autosport, his left thumb in a cast after breaking it against his steering wheel following contact in pit lane at Indy. Fortunately, he escaped injury in the HUGE ONE on the last lap of the ‘500.’

Mike Conway, of course, was not so fortunate, but he was released from Methodist Hospital in Indy on Friday, June 4, and is back home recovering from his broken leg and fractured back. He’ll be out of the cockpit for at least the next three months, but should recover fully.

The opening practice session saw a lot of typical Texas two-wide running, as drivers were trying each other out and seeing how cars would handle with rubber building up on the high side. As a result of all the drafting, it was a curious time sheet at the end of the session, with the likes of Milka Duno in sixth (!), four spots ahead of Helio Castroneves (!!!).

Overall, the gap was just .4222 seconds from the quickest (Scott Dixon) to Mario Romancini at the back of the 26-car field. With an abbreviated, two-day race weekend, this would be the sole practice before qualifying, with the second practice, early Friday evening, being used for race setup prep.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned that was typically Texas HOT over the weekend. Mid-90s ambient, a cool, comfortable 60+% humidity.

Qualifying wrapped up with the usual suspects P1-P5 (All Penske/Ganassi, All the Time). Ryan Briscoe went from zero (crashing out at Indy) to hero by qualifying on the pole for The Captain, followed by the rest of the Gang of 5: Franchitti, Power, Dixon and Castroneves. Yawn.

But then it got …. Interesting.

In P6 was none other than Alex Lloyd, driving for Dale Coyne Racing. Over the winter, Coyne lost a lot of talent, both behind the wheel (Justin Wilson to Dreyer & Reinbold) and behind the pit wall (engineer Bill Pappas to KV).

But, in typical Dale Coyne fashion, he’s found a way to bounce back, first by adding Alex Lloyd as driver for the #19 Boy Scouts car and, starting at Indy, veteran team manager/engineer Mitch Davis as – naturally – team manager/engineer. The results were almost immediate: an excellent fourth-place run at Indy, followed by a sixth-place (and “first in class”) qualifying effort here.

Even Milka qualified 17th out of 26. Of course, that was alone on the track. In traffic during the race, she would do her usual immediate march to the rear of the field…

A couple more tidbits from qualifying: Hideki Mutoh slotted in a strong seventh, as he continues to fit in well at Newman Haas; while Danica was eighth and the fastest of the Andretti cars. But overall, the AA cars still continue to struggle in oval qualifying sessions. The race (just check out the Indy results) is usually a different story. Mutoh’s countryman, Takuma Sato, put in another solid qualifying effort, quickest rookie and 11th overall.

The final practice, as expected, saw everyone packing up. And if a driver didn't naturally wind up in a pack, he/she would slow until she/he got caught by one. At one point, it looked like about 15 cars were hooked up together. All exciting/scary to watch, but all necessary to prepare for 228 laps around the place on Saturday night.

Forget the final practice times, they’re basically irrelevant in the pack. It’s all about how the car handles in traffic. Does it want to understeer “up the hill” when running closely behind someone (bad car!) or does the back end want to pass the front when someone else pulls alongside (VERY bad car!!!). How much added wing is needed to keep it planted? How hot will it be at the start, and how much will it cool down as the race progresses? How many cautions are expected? Decisions, decisions. These are what keep the engineers (and many drivers!) up even later at night here.

Remember that the IRL changed the rules last year to allow teams to run different downforce levels. And we saw just that at Texas. There was a mixture of teams using or not using the "wheel ramp" (I think that is what it's called) that extends from the top of the sidepod to a point just in front of the rear tire. It also ends just above the "kick-ups" that attach to the undertray and are again just in front of the rear tires. Obviously, this produces different downforce levels. More decisions.

And on to Race Day we go….

Continuing this week’s theme of “Heroes and Zeros”, lets take a look at who starred in Texas and who got fitted out for tar & feathers:

Heroes:

Ryan Briscoe came back from finding the wall at Indy to victory in Texas. The race was really good, with typical Texas pack racing through the first two stints. At the end, it turned into just a bit of a fuel-mileage deal, stringing out the field for the last 30 laps or so, but the fastest car and driver won – and boy, did Roger Penske look uncomfortable wearing a cowboy hat in Victory Circle!
Danica Patrick came back from boos at Indy to huge cheers in Texas. She was there or thereabout all night long, but owes teammate Tony Kanaan a big one after inadvertently chopping him BIG TIME during some mid-race cut-and-thrust. Still, she got the crowd on its feet and cheering. She briefly took the lead after the last green-flag stops, but there wasn’t too much doubt that Briscoe would come back strong after his final stop. Still, an excellent run for “Miss Sparkle Pony” (Tommy Kendall’s nickname for her), and at exactly the right time.

Also getting well-deserved cheers was Simona de Silvestro, who kept her cool when all about her were losing theirs. Simona started at the back of the field, as her team never messed with a qualifying setup, just focused on running her in traffic in practice. In the race, she moved up to mid-field early on, but then her car went loose and she tried to carry on at the same pace – only to learn just how bad an idea that can be.

As was inevitable, she finally dropped it in Turn 2, slapped the wall and then went for a Texas-style slide all the way to the exit of Turn 3 - with the ride side on fire the whole time. But the rookie kept her wits about her – even as the normally excellent safety team dropped the ball big-time (see “Zeros” below) – and came out of the deal with only minor burns on her right hand and a whole bunch of new fans.

Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti all make the “Hero” list, as once again Andretti Autosport suffered in qualifying only to star in the race. Marco said the team piled on the downforce for the race so its drivers would have stable cars over a long run, and it worked a treat for all four AA cars, led by Danica in 2nd, Marco 3rd, TK 6th and RHR in 7th.

Similar to the Andretti story, Vitor Meira and Dan Wheldon also managed to turn nothing (poor qualifying runs) into something -- 9th for Wheldon and 10th for Captain Vic. They were passing cars all night long and looking racy throughout.

Zeros:

How can you finish 4th and 5th, lead a bunch of laps, take over the points lead and still be a “zero”? Well, it may be a bit unfair, but you can’t grade the Ganassi boys on a curve. Both cars were too trimmed out, and it repeatedly cost them positions in traffic during the race, leaving them deep in the field at mid-race. Both recovered in the final laps as the pack racing broke up into single-file running, so Dixon salvaged fourth, just ahead of Dario (who moved into the points lead). But by Ganassi’s high standards, it was a less-than-successful outing.

After once again showing a lot of promise in practice/qualifying, KV Racing had another tough, tough night. Takuma Sato had something break in the right-rear suspension on lap 57, sending him to the wall. Like de Silvestro, Sato hit at the exit of Turn 2, then slid all the way down the backstretch until glancing off the inside wall at the entrance to Turn 3. You don’t have small crashes in Texas….

Then, teammate Mario Moraes brought out the final caution on Lap 130. Castroneves was trying to go around Moraes in the front-stretch dog leg, but Mario moved up (NOT cool, unless you CLEARLY hear your spotter say, “clear”) and collected the Penske driver. They both hit the wall and then slid down the front stretch spinning. Bertrand Baguette was having a good race, but he just clipped Castroneves to end his night.

Finally, there’s the IndyCar Safety Team, who flat-out dropped the ball in responding to Simona’s crash. This has already been hashed and re-hashed, but in a nutshell, the team was trying out a new procedure in responding to the crash (with fire hoses instead of bottles), and the first crew on the scene wasn’t sure how to react when things failed to go “according to plan”.
Fortunately, the crew which arrived on the second truck understood the issue, and it was those guys who: 1) finally put a fire bottle to the fire; and 2) got Simona out of the car. But the second crew came all the way from its station at Turn 2, so there was a 30+-second delay before it arrived on the scene.

That’s about a wrap, except for a couple of quick postscripts. During the week after Texas, Tony Kanaan became the first IndyCar driver to attempt Tony Stewart’s annual “Prelude to the Dream” charity dirt-track race, driving a 600 bhp “Late Model Stock Car” (trust me, it’s neither) on the ½ mile Eldora oval.

It was TK’s first time ever on dirt and while he didn’t star, he certainly didn’t embarrass himself either. Give him a couple of practice days next year and he could be REALLY quick.

Also, Alex Lloyd had an appendix attack on June 10, and underwent surgery that night to have the offending organ removed. He’s good to go for Iowa.

Speaking of Iowa, we’re off to our only short-track race of 2010, and as (my one or two) regular readers know, I love short-track racing – even if it’s off in a cornfield, somewhere east of no where…..

But hey, Iowa always gets a great crowd, and it IS a short track, so I’m all ready to go!

###

-Dan Layton

It isn’t always the case (see Kanaan, Tony, in 2004, ’06, ’07, etc) but this year, at least, the fastest car and bravest driver won the Indianapolis 500.

For, just as teammate Scott Dixon had done at Kansas to start the month of May, Dario Franchitti gave the Indy field an old-fashioned whuppin’ to win his second “500”. Yeah, he got a break at the end with the yellow for the Conway/Hunter-Reay crash, but the #10 Target car was the fastest thing on the track all day long, running in ultra-trimmed out form, and Dario was willing, and more than able, to hang on for the ride.

Prior to Race Day, however, the smart money was on Team Penske. And, more specifically, Helio Castroneves. Helio l-o-o-o-o-o-oves the Speedway, and the grand ol’ dame appears to frequently return the favor. But not this year.

Helio dominated Pole Day, throwing down a four-lap run in the new “Fast Nine” shootout that visibly deflated his competition – just as he had intended. Teammates Ryan Briscoe and Will Power weren’t far behind. The race appeared to be Penske’s to lose.

And lose it they did.

It all started with the weather. After a cool – and sometimes wet – week of practice, conditions warmed up for qualifying. Penske adjusted accordingly, claimed the first two qualifying spots and came within a gnat’s eyelash of locking up the full front row.

But on race day, it went clear past warm into HOT territory: 95 or so degrees ambient, and more than 130 degrees on the asphalt. To compensate for the hotter (and greasier) conditions, all three Penske cars cranked in a bit more downforce on Race Day – as did Ganassi on Dixon’s car.

But the Franchitti side of the Ganassi garage elected to run trimmed-out. In the early laps, Dario had to hang on to a sliding car. But it also was a fast car, and as the track continued to “rubber in” during the first half of the race, the #10 car just got quicker and quicker.

Now, the trick for Chip Ganassi, [engineer] Chris Simmons & Co. in Dario’s pit was to make the right pit calls. With a low-downforce setup, Dario did NOT want to get stuck behind a lot of traffic. He needed to stay out front as much as possible, and the Pit Lane strategy team did that for him.

Ultimately, whatever chances the Penske trio and Dixon may have had disappeared in the pits, with a stall (Castroneves), lost wheel (Dixon, conveniently delivered to Franchitti’s pit box), departure with the fuel hose attached (Power), and crash on the ‘out’ lap (Briscoe).

Game. Set. Match. Thus, Dario became the 17th two-time Indy champion and Chip Ganassi became the first team owner to win the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 in the same season. Yep, not even The Captain (Roger Penske) has accomplished that feat.

Dario dominated, but hands-down the MVP – and crowd favorite of the day – was Tony Kanaan. Starting DFL in the field – having had a qualifying-weekend-from-hell and switched from his qualified backup car to a repaired primary – TK elicited cheer after cheer from the crowd as he rapidly scythed through the back half of the field in the opening laps – passing eight cars alone (if I counted correctly) on just his opening lap.

Near the end of the race, Kanaan was the last real remaining threat to Franchitti’s dominance, but he likely used too much fuel in chasing down the leader, and was forced to pit on Lap 196 to end his challenge.

That left Dario almost four seconds ahead of Dan Wheldon, with the Panther driver en-route to a second consecutive runner-up finish at the Speedway. Dan appeared to be closing significantly on Franchitti in the final laps, but in this case appearances only served to deceive, as both cars were, in reality, very low on fuel, and Dario was driving just fast enough to ensure a margin over the ’05 race winner.

Alex Lloyd and the Dale Coyne crew did a wonderful job to finish fourth – the team’s best result at Indy. Replacing the departed (and much-missed earlier in the season) Bill Pappas with Mitch Davis as a combined engineer/team manager has once again turned DCR into a potential Mighty Mouse effort. It paid off on Race Day.

And props to Andretti Autosport. For all their struggles with all five entries in qualifying, they moved all of their cars forward in the race. At various times, all but John Andretti [out relatively early after a suspension failure following contact] ran in the lead pack.

Potential giant-killer FAZZT Racing was a bit of a fizzle on race day, another team caught out by the hot temps, Alex Tagliani struggled at the start of each stint, while Indy-only teammate Bruno Junqueira lost it exiting Turn Two early and was the second car out of the race.

In the aftermath of the race and certain “commercial” issues that arose, team co-owner Jim Freudenberg departed, with veteran Team Manager Rob Edwards taking on commercial duties as well. There’s a lot of potential on this team, so a lot of us hope they find the sponsorship needed to join the big boys.

Finally, there was the BIG CRASH on Lap 199 that ended the race under caution. Mike Conway was actually pretty lucky to get out of that one with “just” a fractured back and compound fracture of his left leg. It could have been much, much worse, and he’s already out of the hospital and recovering at home. He’ll be on the sidelines for most, if not all, of the rest of this season and late word has Graham Rahal taking over the #24 car from Iowa onward.

It wasn’t a classic Indy 500, but it was an interesting one, and Dario was a most deserving winner.

Meanwhile, for the rest of us, it was on to Texas. No rest for the wicked….

###

-Dan Layton

It’s been a little while since we’ve done one of these, but 17 days at Indy was jammed with action, so let’s get right to it.

Walking through the garage area for the first (of what would be many, many) times, you noticed right away that Luzco Dragon Racing/De Ferran Motorsports is now simply de Ferran Dragon Racing – not exactly as short and to the point as “Team Penske Jr.”, but definitely less of a mouthful. The new team logos look cool, too.

But apart from the new team name and new logo, nothing else in the management structure changes. Gil de Ferran runs the team day-to-day with support from his California-based partners Steve Luczo and Jay Penske.

One other team-name change, however, DOES indicate a significant shuffle at the top, as Newman Haas Lanigan Racing has once again become Newman Haas Racing. Mike Lanigan is out of the management picture for the Chicago-based team, and what that means for the long-term future of the operation is anyone’s guess. Paul Newman passed away nearly two years ago now, and co-ower Carl Haas is in poor health, leaving his wife Bernice (Bernie) running things.

Hopefully, some new blood will be brought in soon to secure the future of what was once one of the very top teams in the sport.

A late, but positive, addition to this year’s “500” field was the return of Rahal Letterman Racing with an entry for Graham Rahal. Another returnee to Indy after an absence of several years was the still-very-popular Roberto Guerrero, looking almost unchanged from his driving days and hanging out in the Bryan Herta Autosport garage to coach fellow Colombian and “500” rookie Sebastian Saavedra.

Among the many welcome changes to the Indy schedule for 2010, both veterans and rookies (instead of just rookies) were on-track for Opening Day, which resulted in the best crowd I’ve seen on the first day of practice in several years.

Also, there were no “down” days this year. In previous years, we had seven or so days of practice spread out over two weeks time, with days (usually Mondays and Tuesdays) of no on-track activity. But this year, we had seven consecutive days of practice (well, six actually, following Monday’s rainout), PLENTY of time for everybody to get their acts together. Although, of course, not everyone did…..

For me, one of the highlights of Opening Day was watching Andretti Autosport’s Tony Kanaan jump in and out of all five team cars in one day, in theory to establish a baseline setup for all of the team’s entries. That just might be a Speedway record for most cars driven by one person in a single day!

As the week of practice progressed under cooler-than-normal conditions, a couple things became apparent: 1) Team Penske was going to be tough to beat for the pole – and had a good chance of locking up the entire front row; and 2) Andretti Autosport was struggling.

We ended up with 38 drivers turning laps at the old Brickyard this year, including late addition Bruno Junqueira and ultra-late addition Jaques Lazier, so we had real bumping and a fair bit of drama on both qualifying days. And we had, by the standards of the times, great crowds for both days of qualifying, as well.

The biggest change from practice to qualifying was the increasing temperatures. While big guns Penske, Ganassi and the impressive, small FAZZT operation coped well with the increasing heat, two other expected front-runners – Andretti and KV Racing – had already-tough weekends turn far, far worse when it counted.

In KV’s case, it was due to crashes, crashes, still more crashes, and one VERY unexpected DNQ. E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato each crashed; Paul Tracy brushed the Turn 4 wall once; Mario Moraes crashed TWICE; and – incredibly – PT was unable to make the show.

Andretti came into qualifying at the very bottom of the sine curve that had characterized its week – and then it got worse. Tony Kanaan inexplicably had two nearly identical crashes on Saturday AND Sunday, coming within a gnat’s eyelash of joining Tracy on the sidelines. Danica Patrick had a very disappointing qualifying run and then earned a chorus of boos from the crowd when she slagged off her team over the track public address system. Marco and John Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay had quieter, but no less frustrating weekends, as all three qualified deep in the field.

But drama is what makes Indy unique, and the qualifying weekend had it in spades, so I call it a success. Helio Castroneves’ pole run during the first-ever “Top 9” shootout was jaw-dropping fast, as were the repeated attempts by Will Power and Dario Franchitti to unseat him.

It also was great to the see the FAZZT team, new this season, as a legitimate front-row contender with Alex Tagliani, and post the fastest Bump Day time with Junqueira. RLR and Panther were other teams to exceed expectations in qualifying, with Rahal and Ed Carpenter both making the “Fast Nine”.

At the other end of the spectum, it was nail-biting time watching truly talented racers like Kanaan and Sato barely scrape into the show. And only at Indy can one driver (Saavedra) find out he has made the field while lying on his back at Methodist Hospital (the result of a crash earlier that day).

On to race day.

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