Dan Wheldon

IZOD IndyCar Series driver

The Numbers Game

Posted by Christopher Leone on February 9, 2011
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Scott Dixon during the 2004 Toyota Indy 300. Photo credit: Dan Helrigel, IndyCar Media

Today’s post starts with a shout-out to the American Le Mans Series, which just released the entry list to this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring. One of the top endurance races in the world, held at IZOD IndyCar Series teams’ favorite private testing venue, the 2011 event features a whopping 59 entrants, up from the 34 teams that competed last year and the 48 from this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, sanctioned by the rival Rolex Sports Car Series.

 

One interesting trend, however, is the fact that 31 out of the 59 cars on the entry list (including each vehicle in the two spec Challenge categories) feature three digit numbers, the first being a zero in each case. I don’t know whether this is something that’s meant to distinguish cars that have the same number as one another, or just an unfortunate error that permeated the entire bottom half of the list, but either way it looks pretty stupid. There’s simply no reason for this many cars to have three-digit numbers when there aren’t over 100 in the field, and while the Aston Martin usage of “007″ was cool when they were cross-promoting the DBS with Casino Royale in 2006, unless they’re running the same car James Bond uses in the race while a Bond movie is making the promotional rounds, it just seems pretty lame.

There are also three cars looking to carry the No. 1 – last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Audi LMP1, which will always (and deservedly) receive precedence in any of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup races; the Highcroft Racing LMP1 that won the combined LMP category in ALMS last year; and the Extreme Speed Motorsports GT that ran the No. 01 in its debut last year, as team owner Scott Sharp had driven for Highcroft when they won their first title in 2009. There’s a good reason for it, too – the number, in almost any form of motorsport save NASCAR, signifies the best of the best, the defending champions, the folks you have to unseat to come out on top.

What exactly am I getting at? The fact that numerology is important in a broader sense, yes, but also the fact that this sort of thing ought to be important to IndyCar. Well… sort of.

No driver has used the defending champion’s No. 1 full-time in the top series since 2004, when Scott Dixon suffered through an abysmal season with Chip Ganassi Racing; the last time it was raced came in the 2006 Indianapolis 500, when Michael Andretti used it in a one-off start for his own team, which had won the 2005 title with the departed Dan Wheldon.

The most recent championship teams in IndyCar’s top two series – Chip Ganassi Racing in the IZOD IndyCar Series, and Andretti Autosport and Sam Schmidt Motorsports in Lights – usually prefer to keep their old numbers, probably more for marketing reasons than superstition. But it’s worth noting that 2004 was Dixon’s only winless season in IndyCar; while his 2005 was worse, with twice as many DNFs, he at least won a race that year, at Watkins Glen. Perhaps the superstition of getting bit with such a bad season while carrying the No. 1, combined with the fact that Sebastien Bourdais was ripping off four consecutive titles with the number in the rival Champ Car World Series, did it.

It’s a shame, really. No. 1 is supposed to be a coveted and cherished number, not something to be tossed aside simply because the top team has marketing dollars invested in a different number. For one, at least the numerical shift isn’t as bad on a year-to-year basis as it was in the heyday of the sport, especially when CART teams used to assign numbers based on points from the previous season. Second, there’s not really that much marketing money invested in the sport right now, especially compared to NASCAR or any of the major league sports.

Finally, if a popular driver won the championship – and the popular ones usually do – wouldn’t his fans be snapping up No. 1 merchandise if it was out there?

Yes, certain drivers and teams have a lot invested in particular numbers as part of their respective brands. To wit: Danica Patrick is No. 7, Marco Andretti is No. 26, Helio Castroneves is No. 3; Buddy Rice was No. 15, Jimmy Vasser was No. 12, Adrian Fernandez was No. 5; Panther Racing has No. 4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises has No. 14, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has No. 24. Each of those entities has significant equity in each of those numbers.

But it’s not as if those have been particularly consistent forever. Remember that Danica debuted in a No. 16 for Rahal Letterman Racing. Remember that DRR adopted the Nos. 5 and 15 for a time, especially while fielding Rice, Sarah Fisher, and Buddy Lazier in their cars. Notice that, when it was available, Vasser didn’t spring on the No. 12 for his KV Racing Technology team, instead letting it go to Team Penske and ex-KVRT driver Will Power.

And that’s just in IndyCar. Remember, Chip Ganassi used Nos. 4 and 12 in CART; Roger Penske was partial to Nos. 2 and 3, Newman/Haas Racing used Nos. 6 and 11, and what was then Team Rahal used Nos. 7 and 8. Of those eight formerly iconic number-and-team pairings, only Penske has preserved the No. 3, while Newman/Haas uses the No. 06 as a way to approximate the No. 6 that Penske currently holds. The rest? Completely different.

So yes, numbers are important in terms of brand equity – sometimes. But sometimes change isn’t a bad thing – and, despite Dixon’s nightmare 2004 season, No. 1 should be a source of pride for drivers, teams, and fans alike. I know that if Danica won a title, sales of her No. 1 stuff would go through the roof; the same could be said for a handful of other popular drivers, such as Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, and Tony Kanaan.

I guess I’d rather have three teams fighting to use the number than none touching it at all.

IndyCar’s Equivalent to “Signing Day”

Posted by Christopher Leone on February 1, 2011
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Martin Plowman with his check for winning the Indy Lights pole in Mid-Ohio last year. Photo credit: Dana Garrett, IndyCar Media

On the day before college football recruits announce their college commitments, two of the IZOD IndyCar Series’ traditional “backmarker” teams have inched towards securing major driver upgrades, while one of its top teams has completed its driver stable for the 2011 season.

Andretti Autosport, one of the top teams in IndyCar, will add Mike Conway to its stable after signing the British driver to a contract today. The season opener at St. Petersburg will mark his first race since the 2010 Indianapolis 500, when he suffered leg injuries in a last-lap crash with new Andretti teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Meanwhile, Dale Coyne Racing and Conquest Racing have each tapped into the best of the Champ Car World Series and Firestone Indy Lights; Coyne has tested four-time CCWS champion Sebastien Bourdais and FIL veteran Martin Plowman, while Conquest will give defending FIL champion Jean-Karl Vernay a test and has signed Paul Tracy to a “letter of intent” for this year.

The Conway signing caps an exciting 72-hour period for 2MB Sports Management, the agency which represents him; Conway’s manager, Mark Blundell, challenged for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Daytona victory as part of United Autosports, eventually finishing fourth. Conway will shift from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, with whom he secured a best finish of third at Infineon in 2009, and led laps at Indianapolis last year before the accident.

The Conway-AA alliance makes sense, as both are longtime Honda names; Conway was placed in the series with aid from Honda, which helped him to secure Formula 1 tests before their abrupt withdrawal from the sport at the end of the 2008 season. Meanwhile, AA team principal Michael Andretti had been looking for a fourth driver after 7-Eleven’s sponsorship restructuring forced him to release Tony Kanaan from an expensive contract.

Other drivers who had been in consideration for the seat included Dan Wheldon, who won the 2005 Indianapolis 500 with the team in a previous incarnation, and former Formula 2 champion Andy Soucek. They may now look to DRR in an attempt to fill Conway’s seat, which has sponsorship in place from Dad’s Root Beer and Roll Coater.

AA wasn’t able to promote one of its FIL drivers from 2010, having lost Charlie Kimball to Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of December, and Plowman (potentially) to Coyne. Plowman and Bourdais both tested for the team at Sebring on Monday; Coyne intends on running Plowman for rookie of the year over the full schedule, while giving Bourdais track time on the road and street courses.

Plowman finished sixth in FIL points last year with a win at Mid-Ohio. Bourdais spent a difficult year and a half in Formula 1 with Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s “B” team, and has found a home with Peugeot in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, perhaps a part of the explanation for the lack of ovals in his plans this year; Bourdais did, in fact, take four of his 31 career victories on ovals during his illustrious five-year CCWS career.

Another explanation is the potential retention of Milka Duno for the oval events. While Duno was put on probation for being dangerously slow in most IndyCar events last year, even slower than some of the FIL cars, her Citgo sponsorship remains a valuable coup for any team.

As for Conquest, they will test Vernay as part of his reward for winning the 2010 FIL title. The six-to-seven-digit scholarship should secure Vernay significant track time in 2011. Meanwhile, Tracy stated in an interview with Race Fan Radio that he has re-signed Motegi Wheels and Honda of Canada and secured the services of multiple marketing departments to try and put together a full-season ride. Tracy is looking for another deal to finish out the season, but says he has enough to run about a third of the schedule.

If all of these deals fall into place, Coyne and Conquest will have done exactly what kept them hanging around and relevant in CCWS and their early IndyCar tenures – developing up-and-coming talent, much like the ex-Minardi team did in Formula 1, and combining them with capable yet discounted veteran drivers. Mario Moraes, Alex Lloyd, and Bertrand Baguette have been examples of the former between the two teams, and Cristiano da Matta, Alex Tagliani, and Justin Wilson have been among the latter. The strategy has produced modest results for each team in the past, with sporadic laps led and even a race victory for Coyne and Wilson at Watkins Glen in 2009.

Unfortunately, these deals preclude the drivers who finished 2010 for Coyne and Conquest – Lloyd at the former, Baguette and Sebastian Saavedra at the latter – from returning to those respective seats. Lloyd, the 2007 FIL champion, won last year’s rookie of the year award; Baguette, a Belgian countryman of Conquest principal Eric Bachelart, steadily gained the respect of his peers and fans after a slow start. Saavedra only ran the season finale at Homestead for Conquest, but was thought to be in good shape for a 2011 seat after securing the management services of Derrick Walker and putting together many small sponsorship deals.

As far as 2011 outlook goes, Conway will likely see the most marked improvement. DRR has taken major steps forward in the past couple of years, but he’ll step into a former championship-winning car that took the victory at Iowa last year, and he’s improved each year he’s been in IndyCar. Coyne has proven that they can contend with the right driver at the right time, and Bourdais may bring them another surprise road course victory. Meanwhile, Conquest may be able to step up to the next level with the still-capable Tracy behind the wheel of their cars, and even contend for their first-ever IndyCar victory.

IndyCar Season Review: Dan Wheldon

Posted by Christopher Leone on October 13, 2010
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Dan Wheldon’s 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season may have been his most up-and-down campaign to date.

Wheldon’s road course results lagged in comparison to his championship competitors, and a lawsuit against his employer, Panther Racing owner John Barnes, to collect back taxes made life difficult for the Englishman. But some world-class oval performances, the suit’s resolution, and the chance that he may return to the team next season helped level the good and the bad for the former series champion.

When all was said and done, Wheldon finished ninth in points, one spot better than he had in his first full season with Panther last year.

Wheldon, like a handful of other drivers ahead of him, surprised in the season-opening Sao Paulo Indy 300 with a fifth place finish, but a spectacular wreck at St. Petersburg sucked the momentum out of the team for a time. Wheldon ran mid-pack for the next few races as the old-school IRL driver, with only one career road course win to his name, bided his time in wait for the ovals.

Kansas only yielded a 15th-place finish, two laps down, after a disappointing 25th-place qualifying run. But at Indianapolis, Wheldon and Panther worked their way up from the 18th starting spot to claim second place in the race’s closing laps. Wheldon, like leader Dario Franchitti, was on a fuel-saving strategy, and perhaps could have caught him for the win, as the car still had fuel in the tank post-race. Regardless, the second place finish in the sport’s biggest race was Wheldon’s second in a row, Panther’s third in a row, and yielded over $1 million to both.

The team, however, could not quite sustain the momentum for the next few events. Wheldon led a single lap at Texas on the way to a ninth place finish, but could not do much at Iowa (the site of his last victory, in 2008). He was spun at Watkins Glen by Alex Lloyd, but managed to work his way back through the pack for a respectable sixth place finish. Toronto yielded a 10th place run, four spots better than the previous year’s finish.

But then came the struggles – a 20th place result at Edmonton, a so-so 14th place at Mid-Ohio, and the icing on the cake, an aborted Sonoma start that saw Wheldon’s car upside down before even taking the green flag. Wheldon had been 146 points out of the lead after Toronto, but by the end of the Sonoma race he had lost another 99 points.

At this point, Wheldon and Panther began to turn on the heat. Perhaps it was the addition of Ed Carpenter in a second team car that got Panther rolling. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Wheldon’s contract was up after this year and unlikely to be renewed that got him back in the zone. Perhaps it was a mutual dissatisfaction between the two parties over the past two seasons, culminating in a $2.5 million lawsuit for back wages by the driver’s management, that had them both motivated to show off for potential new partners. Whatever it was, it worked.

Wheldon, who had won the Chicago race in 2005 and 2006, kicked it into high gear at that event, challenging Franchitti for victory once again and losing the fight by .042 seconds at the line. At Kentucky, Wheldon led 93 laps, most of all drivers, and almost nobody was more deserving of the win; however, Helio Castroneves’ unorthodox fuel-saving strategy allowed him to take the victory, with Carpenter second and Wheldon third. By this point it was common knowledge that Wheldon was on the way out at Panther, but any team looking for oval prowess certainly had him in their eyes as a candidate for employment.

Motegi and Homestead also yielded top-10 finishes, but the big news before the season’s final race was the settlement of Wheldon’s suit against Panther and discussion of Wheldon’s potential return for 2011. Whel all was said and done, Wheldon offset a disappointing 12th in the road course standings with a solid sixth in the oval championship, and scored the best points finish of any driver not employed by Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, or Michael Andretti.

Wheldon’s 2010 finishes, relative to 2009′s results on the same tracks, were actually worse in most early-season instances. But solid finishes in new events, combined with vast improvements toward the end of the season, helped make Wheldon and Panther a potent late-season combination that actually scored 36 more points this year.

Though few may view the Englishman as a title contender these days, Wheldon’s prospects for 2011 may be stronger than they were when he left Ganassi at the end of 2008. If he stays with Panther, the team clearly has their oval program worked out, and the potential addition of a second car will only strengthen the team’s results – considering that Wheldon’s best three finishes came when Panther was also campaigning a car for Carpenter. A third season with the team may finally see both vault back up the standings into once-familiar territory.

2011 IndyCar Driver Lineup Very Much Up in the Air

Posted by Christopher Leone on September 21, 2010
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Other than existing contracts at the series’ top three teams, the driver lineup for the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season is still highly uncertain with a single race left to go in 2010.

Unlike in other major professional forms of motorsport, where most future driver contracts are signed before the current season is even finished, IndyCar often does not set its driver lineup until the first tests of the new season in February, and for some teams even later.

Right now, all that we know (or can reasonably expect to happen) are that Helio Castroneves and Will Power will return to Team Penske, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti will stick with Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex Tagliani has a long-term deal with FAZZT Race Team, and Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, and Marco Andretti are under contract with Andretti Autosport. Other than that, everything is up in the air.

The biggest speculation centers around the No. 6 Team Penske car. Speculation has risen that Ryan Briscoe, for the past three years that car’s driver, will be out after a disappointing (by Roger Penske’s standards) season. Briscoe had three wins and eight runner-up finishes last year, but a series of high-profile mistakes (his pit road miscue at Motegi last year, his crash in the lead while at Sao Paulo, and pushing his car too hard on cold tires at Indianapolis when in position to take a strategic victory) may cost him his job.

Some have suggested that an American driver will take over that ride once again, following in the footsteps of Sam Hornish Jr., who vacated it in 2007. The top two available drivers from the States are Graham Rahal, who has driven for just about anybody willing to put him in a car this season, and Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, who has been the best driver all season not to run for Penske or Chip Ganassi. Michael Andretti is working hard to keep Hunter-Reay, but no definite prospects have worked out as of yet.

If Rahal doesn’t wind up with Penske, his prospects elsewhere also appear strong. Ganassi has expressed interest in running a third car for Rahal, and may be able to offer a reunion with McDonald’s, which sponsors Ganassi’s Daytona 500-winning stock car with Jamie McMurray. Some have also whispered that Rahal has already signed a contract to drive the No. 4 National Guard car for Panther Racing, replacing Dan Wheldon. If none of these deals work out, Rahal’s father, ex-Indianapolis 500 and CART champion Bobby Rahal, will try once again to secure the sponsorship to return his Rahal Letterman Racing team to full-time status.

Whether or not Rahal fills the No. 4, it appears to be the end for Wheldon and Panther, after Wheldon announced he was looking for a job in 2011 in his post-race interview at Kentucky. Wheldon may yet return to Panther, as the National Guard loves his tireless promotion of the organization, but both sides have often been frustrated with one another over the past two seasons. Other drivers in contention for the ride include J.R. Hildebrand and Ed Carpenter.

Despite his close ties with Honda, Wheldon could be headed for the Lotus-backed KV Racing Technology outfit, which appears to be on the verge of wholesale driver changes for 2011. KVRT cars have failed to finish 20 races, mainly due to drivers Takuma Sato, E.J. Viso, and Mario Moraes getting in accidents, and Paul Tracy failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in a fourth car. In fact, the carnage has been so bad this year that Moraes’ crash at Motegi was rumored to be caused by an old, failing part that KV had no choice but to run. Despite Sato’s Honda connections getting him into the series, Viso’s lucrative personal sponsorship deals, and Moraes’ strong runs for the team in the past, all three may be gone in 2011.

Whether the team expanded from one car to three too quickly, the drivers simply weren’t talented enough, or any other reason, KV appears a lock to downsize by at least one car for next year, especially if their bank account can no longer handle the wreckage. Owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser will look to bring in the best available drivers for next year, particularly those who don’t tear up a lot of equipment.

Heading further down the line, things are even less certain than the up-in-the-air status of KVRT. Simona de Silvestro is a lock to return to the series in 2010, despite Formula 1 rumblings and an underfunded HVM Racing team. She and the team work well together, and both would like to reunite for next season, but her strong performances in what may be the oldest and heaviest Dallara chassis in the series may have larger teams knocking on her door for next season.

Raphael Matos signed a multi-year contract with de Ferran Dragon Racing before the 2009 season, but how many years that contract lasts is unknown. If Matos doesn’t return to dFDR, the team may rely on its connections with series power players to find a replacement. They may be able to rely on co-owner Gil de Ferran’s connections with Honda to pick up a manufacturer-supported driver, or on co-owner Jay Penske to convince father Roger to farm out Briscoe to the team once again. (Briscoe ran well for the team in the 2007 Indianapolis 500, placing fifth.)

de Ferran has also been interested in bringing Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, who drove alongside Power in the 2007 Champ Car World Series for Walker Racing, back into open-wheel. Pagenaud drove alongside de Ferran in the American Le Mans Series after that series shut down, but moved to Highcroft Racing after de Ferran went back to IndyCars. Highcroft may enter the Indianapolis 500 next year with Pagenaud, who has stated that he wants to get to Indy by 2012. They most recently attempted the race with Scott Sharp last year, in a partnership with Panther.

Speaking of Walker, that team plans to make a comeback of sorts next year, partnering with the owners of the former Team 3G. Richard Antinucci was the rumored 3G driver this year, while Dan Clarke and Jonathan Summerton drove for Walker in Firestone Indy Lights this season; all three are the most sensible candidates.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing look to return both Justin Wilson and Mike Conway from this season’s lineup. Conway will be fully recovered from his back and leg injuries suffered at Indianapolis in May. Wilson may bolt to another team if a better offer arises, though few have been suggested at this point. Whether Wilson stays or goes, Ana Beatriz may join the team full-time; DRR have liked what they’ve seen from her in limited outings this year, and she is working diligently to secure the sponsorship to put her on the grid for all 17 races.

A handful of programs have been confirmed, but with few details known. Team Redline Xtreme, sponsored by an energy drink, is looking to run an Indy-only program with an existing team. Junior Strous will supposedly take his Shell sponsorship to the series in 2011, and a show car has already made the rounds in Europe. AFS Racing, which partners with Andretti Autosport in Indy Lights, plans on stepping up to IndyCar with Adam Carroll, though sponsorship remains uncertain.

This leaves a handful of teams out of the silly season loop, most of them ex-Champ Car competitors: Newman/Haas Racing, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Dale Coyne Racing, and Conquest Racing. Newman/Haas and Foyt seem likely to retain the services of Hideki Mutoh and Vitor Meira, respectively; Mutoh brings valuable sponsorship, while A.J. Foyt likes what he gets with Meira. Coyne and Conquest seem destined to take on at least one pay-driver apiece, though Conquest owner Eric Bachelart will likely fight to keep his Belgian countryman, the rapidly improving Bertrand Baguette, in a car.

The most interesting and wildly speculative rumors center around who will attempt to run the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day next year, provided that the start time to the 500 is returned to its traditional earlier place. Bruton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc. (owners of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, where the 600 takes place, and host to as many as five IndyCar races next year), has talked about an idea of a $20 million prize to any driver who can win both events, which was conceptualized by IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard early in his tenure.

While Dario Franchitti is the only IndyCar driver who may attempt both events, a handful of NASCAR drivers may try to do the double. Richard Petty Motorsports has campaigned IndyCars the past two years for John Andretti, and may attempt to run ex-Champ Car stalwart A.J. Allmendinger in both races. Robby Gordon frequently used to attempt the double before the races’ start times were moved, and may be interested in doing it again; he had tried to hook up with Derrick Walker for this year’s race. However, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya, perhaps the biggest names in NASCAR that have run the 500 before, are not interested.

Opinion: Something’s Gotta Give at Andretti

Posted by Christopher Leone on September 6, 2010
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It’s been a story all year, but things may finally be coming to a boiling point between the four full-time IZOD IndyCar Series drivers at Andretti Autosport.

Kentucky seemed to bring out the worst in the team, when their three lead drivers – Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, and Marco Andretti – all began to race each other like rivals and not teammates. In fact, while Kanaan gave a hearty congratulations to third-place finisher Dan Wheldon after the race, he had nothing for his AA teammates.

It’s a far cry from 2005, when the dream team of Kanaan, Wheldon, Dario Franchitti, and Bryan Herta swept the top four spots at St. Petersburg, won the Indianapolis 500 with Wheldon, and otherwise destroyed all competition.

Last year was AA’s first winless season in IndyCar. Patrick may have finished a career-best fifth in points, but she couldn’t find victory lane as she had in Motegi two years ago. This led to a massive restructuring of the business formerly known as Andretti Green Racing, with the “Green” (Kim Green and Kevin Savoree) taking over the race promotion aspect of the business and team owner/namesake Michael Andretti continuing to operate the race team.

The results have been better this year – Kanaan won at Iowa, while new driver/IZOD darling Ryan Hunter-Reay took the prestigious Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Hunter-Reay, Kanaan, and Andretti rank sixth, seventh, and eighth in points, respectively – the best drivers in the series not to be employed by Chip Ganassi or Roger Penske.

But Patrick’s been woefully off the pace, regularly finishing towards the back in road and street course events and not giving strong oval performances consistently enough to put her in the top 10 in points. It’s been a trying year for the all-world media personality anyway, with her well-documented stock car struggles adding to the problem, but a six-position drop in the standings after last year’s consistent run is a huge problem.

The worst part for Andretti is that all three of these feuding drivers are locked into their contracts for the foreseeable future, while the team’s other drivers are looking for the right sponsorship combinations.

Patrick’s contract runs through next year and contains an option for 2012, though you wonder if she’ll attempt to jump to NASCAR full-time if the money is right. Andretti has a long-term deal that is basically guaranteed by nature of his father owning the team. Kanaan and the 7-Eleven team have been together since 2003, making them one of the longest-tenured driver and team combinations in the sport.

Meanwhile, Hunter-Reay’s future remains uncertain for the umpteenth consecutive year due to sponsor concerns. Andretti also has under contract an Irish driver by the name of Adam Carroll, whose prowess in A1GP should have landed him a ride in Formula 1 this year. Andretti, which operated the American team in the nationality-based racing series, became familiar with the driver as he won the series’ final championship. Current Andretti Firestone Indy Lights driver Charlie Kimball raced for the team in A1GP, and they have always been high on his talent; he sits third in points in that series with four runner-up finishes in 12 starts this year.

Put simply, all three of those feuding drivers could be replaced, and the team would probably be much better off.

Hunter-Reay is nothing less than a ray of sunshine on AA. He’s shown a willingness, nevermind the ability, to work with every driver on the squad, and perhaps it is that good karma that has rendered him the team’s best driver this year. He’s also IZOD’s golden boy, having held a personal services contract with the brand for a while now, and is without contest the best American open-wheel driver in the world right now.

Meanwhile, the feuding between his three teammates all year has been a cancer that must be eating away at owner Michael Andretti’s patience. Earlier this year, Andretti compared his job to that of a “kindergarten teacher” in an interview with Versus’ Jack Arute. Again, it’s a far cry from 2005′s dream team.

RIght now, all AA can do is tough out the next two races while attempting to figure out what to do about next season. Without all of the stupid infighting that has plagued the team all season, they may have had somebody challenging for the championship. Somebody may need to leave the team before this can happen.

Obviously, the two weak links are Marco, who hasn’t won a race since 2006 and occasionally seems disinterested on-track, and Danica, who is showing once and for all this year that she isn’t the driver the media has hyped her up to be. But of course, these are the two drivers with the most ironclad contracts of all, being family and a megastar, respectively.

But you have to wonder if the team would take the financial hit to buy Danica out of her contract and let her try NASCAR full-time. Remember that the announcer at the ESPY Awards called her “NASCAR’s Danica Patrick,” not “IndyCar’s Danica Patrick.” NASCAR, which is already experienced at hyping up popular drivers during their on-track struggles (see Earnhardt Jr., Dale), is probably doing more with the Danica brand than IndyCar right now. On one hand, that’s a problem for IndyCar, which could use all the publicity it can get; on the other, she’s already established herself in IndyCar and is far less of a novelty in the open-wheel cars these days than she is as a transitioning rookie stock car driver.

Provided that the sponsors are willing to stick with the team, this opens up a spot for either Carroll, Kimball, or even Wheldon (now a free agent) to return to AA. Wheldon’s “gone home” before, per se, as the current Panther Racing driver actually made his IndyCar debut in 2002 with Panther before replacing the retiring Michael Andretti in 2003.

It becomes far stickier to try and buy out your own son’s contract, especially when Venom Energy stepped in to save that marginally funded team last year. Meanwhile, Kanaan has shown he’s still got it as the second-best driver on that team, and it would be a mistake to let him go – especially because Penske would likely snap him up as a replacement for Ryan Briscoe, who has been rumored to be on the hot seat for a few weeks now.

Watching Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing, you can see a certain chemistry between the drivers. Penske’s trio of Briscoe, Helio Castroneves, and Will Power have done interviews and appeared on TV together, and the team is (barring Edmonton) often all smiles. Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti get down to business for Ganassi and stay out of each other’s way, showing a great respect for one another at all times.

It’s become clear that the current driver ensemble at Andretti is never going to find said chemistry. Somebody has to go. None of the team’s current drivers are irreplaceable, like Sam Hornish was for Panther and Sebastien Bourdais was for Newman/Haas. Nobody currently on the team has taken Andretti to heights that it will never see again without them – in fact, they’ve mostly taken the team to new lows that can be done without.

The Andretti drivers need to understand that they can be replaced. The series’ closest thing to an all-American team could do worse than taking a gamble and doing just that.

IndyCar Race Review: Kentucky Indy 300

Posted by Christopher Leone on September 5, 2010
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Once again, the Kentucky Indy 300 gave thousands of fans hope at an upset victory. And once again, a Roger Penske-employed driver thwarted any designs that a little guy had at victory.

Panther Racing – former IZOD IndyCar Series champions, but now restricted to an underdog role in the series as ex-CART powers have taken over – qualified first and third for the race with Ed Carpenter and Dan Wheldon, respectively. They combined to lead 104 laps of the race, including 49 of the final 53 circuits.

Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, Carpenter had the victory stolen from him by Team Penske. This year, Helio Castroneves did the honors, conserving enough fuel in an extended green flag run to coast to the win, and even turn a couple victory laps afterwards.

Last year, Carpenter was beaten to the line by Penske driver Ryan Briscoe in a memorable finish. This year, Briscoe wasn’t around to challenge for the win, having crashed out in a three-car wreck before the halfway point, but Carpenter was a contender for much of the night. He even worked his way back through the pack after getting shuffled back early.

But late race, splash-and-go pit stops for all of the leaders shuffled the order, and the victory went to the driver who used the underdog strategy: hang out towards the back and run slow laps to ensure the ability to make it to the end.

It was the second consecutive strong run for Carpenter, whose team is actually a collaboration between Panther and Vision Racing, as well as Wheldon, Panther’s lead driver. Last week at Chicagoland, fuel issues knocked Carpenter out of contention, while Wheldon finished second in that event. This weekend, Wheldon led more laps than anybody (93) and made a strong case to remain in the series next year, even as he and Panther will part ways at the end of the season.

In the end, Carpenter finished second at Kentucky for the second year in a row, and Wheldon placed third.

Meanwhile, Castroneves took his second race victory of the season (though, referring to an incident at Edmonton, jokingly called it his third) by running laps almost 10 miles per hour slower than the leaders in the very late stages of the event. As such, when Tony Kanaan pit with less than 10 to go to begin the cycle of splash-and-go fuel stops, Castroneves had conserved enough to stay out on track.

Kanaan, who had qualified miserably off the pace to start in 26th, passed 10 cars on the first lap of the event and eventually wound up fourth, in front of Dario Franchitti. Franchitti further closed the gap on point leader Will Power, who wound up eighth. Power led 83 laps of the 200-lap event, nearly garnering him an important two-point bonus for leading the most laps, until Wheldon topped him late in the event. Power’s shrinking points lead is now down to 17 with only two races to go.

Bertrand Baguette had a career-best 10th place finish, which also propelled him past the perpetually unlucky Takuma Sato in the points. After taking out teammate E.J. Viso last week at Chicagoland, Sato failed to even complete one lap at Kentucky, as his car broke loose from him in turns three and four and he slammed into the wall. It was the latest in a long line of incidents for KV Racing Technology this season, where the crash count now tops two dozen.

IndyCar Race Review: Peak Antifreeze Indy 300

Posted by Christopher Leone on August 30, 2010
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If Saturday’s Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 will go down in history as the final IZOD IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, the fans in attendance and watching on television certainly got everything they hoped for in a finale.

Dario Franchitti held off a hard-charging Dan Wheldon after a daring call in the pits gave him the late-race lead, producing the 17th-closest finish in IndyCar history. His victory closed some of the gap on points leader Will Power, who had been leading late in the race but ran out of fuel with five laps to go to finish way down the running order.

All in all, the race featured a record-breaking 25 lead changes among 11 drivers. Ryan Briscoe dominated the early stages of the event, battling side-by-side with Marco Andretti for a good chunk of the race’s early stages. Briscoe, the polesitter and defending race winner, led 113 of the race’s 200 laps, though he could only muster an 11th place finish.

Meanwhile, the top four drivers in the finishing order – Franchitti, Wheldon, Andretti, and Ryan Hunter-Reay – all led at least two laps, with Franchitti’s 28 tops among them. Franchitti actually did not lead until the very end of the race, when his team gambled by not taking tires under the final caution. While Briscoe could not keep others from leading laps while he was out in front, Franchitti managed to do just that

Some of the drivers who spent time up front were surprising, to say the least. Wheldon, Vitor Meira, and Alex Lloyd all led a handful of laps. Even the part-time entries of Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher spent time up front; Fisher stayed out under the race’s second caution to gain the point, but managed to hold a top-three position for many laps after the green flag dropped.

Unfortunately for the little guys, nobody was really there at the end besides Wheldon. Meira salvaged a ninth place finish, but Fisher was the first car a lap down in 15th, Carpenter pulled out after 179 laps when his team couldn’t get fuel into the car, and Lloyd crashed out to finish 21st.

Heartbreak was no stranger to the series’ top team, either. Power nearly lost control of his car in the early laps of the race, making a fantastic save, a feat he would have to replicate a couple of other times before the night was over. Power drove his heart out all night, showing a level of talent we had previously only witnessed from him on the road and street courses, and was a contender for victory until the very end.

Unfortunately, Chicagoland left Power and his Team Penske crew with Indianapolis 500 deja vu: a fueler error ended all hope for a strong finish. At Indy, it was Power driving off with part of his fuel assembly; at Chicago, the team didn’t quite get enough in the car to make it. To his credit, Power was surprisingly upbeat in post-race interviews, looking forward to the challenge of maintaining his points lead over the final three races.

With three races to go and Kentucky up next on the schedule, Power’s points lead has shrunk from 59 to 23 over Franchitti. It may be a race between those two alone; third-place Scott Dixon is 85 points out, while no other driver is within 100.

IndyCar Race Review: Indianapolis 500 (Updated)

Posted by Christopher Leone on May 31, 2010
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Dario Franchitti took his second Indianapolis 500 checkered flag in the past four years after easily leading more than two thirds of the event.

Franchitti’s victory, taken under caution over Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti, made team owner Chip Ganassi the first owner to win the crown jewels of American stock car and open wheel racing in the same season.

This time, Franchitti managed to hang on in a full-length race, after winning a rain-shortened contest in 2007. He did more than hang on, though – until pit stops in the second half of the race shook up the running order, he utilized clean air to dominate much of the event.

The two major early stories of the race were Tony Kanaan and pit crew failure. Kanaan started 33rd after a disastrous qualifying weekend, but worked his way up through the field quickly. Meanwhile, the pit crews of Will Power, Scott Dixon, and Raphael Matos all made crucial errors in the first third of the race, with Power driving off with part of his fuel assembly and Dixon and Matos losing wheels on the same set of pit stops.

Blocking was also at issue during much of the event. Graham Rahal was black-flagged after blocking Franchitti and later Dan Wheldon. Wheldon was actually the victim of two huge blocks early in the event, with the other coming from John Andretti. A handful of drivers received black flags over the course of the race for blocking others, with a late-race penalty sabotaging the chances of Townsend Bell to score a good finish.

Turn two victimized a handful of cars over the course of the event, including Davey Hamilton, Bruno Junqueira, and Matos, not long after his pit issues. Franchitti continued to hold the point, however, with very few challenges – polesitter Helio Castroneves didn’t lead at all until the latter stages.

Indy often can reward the perseverance of the less prominent teams in the sport with a legitimate shot at glory. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing had three of its four cars lead parts of the race, with Tomas Scheckter, Mike Conway, and Justin Wilson all briefly helming the point. Scheckter faded as better cars passed him, while Conway and Wilson had to pit for fuel.

Conway was the victim of a spectacular last-lap wreck that handed the race to Franchitti. He barrelled into Ryan Hunter-Reay’s car coming out of turn three and flew into the catchfence, in an incident scarily similar to Kenny Brack’s 2003 wreck at Texas and Alessandro Zampedri’s incident on the last lap of the 1996 500. Luckily, Conway suffered only a broken leg, compared to the more serious injuries of those two drivers.

Indy can also victimize some of the best teams in the sport. Penske Racing, which attempted to win its 16th Indianapolis 500 as Castroneves went for his record-tying fourth, had a miserable day. Ryan Briscoe, who held a fuel advantage after his last pit stop, wrecked almost instantly after to finish 24th. Power and Castroneves came home 8th and 9th, respectively. Power led early before his pit issue, and Castroneves led with as few as nine laps to go before needing to pit.

After Conway, Wilson, and others had to pit for fuel within the last 20 laps of the race, Franchitti reinherited the lead over Kanaan, who was looking to become the first driver to win the race from the last row. Such a victory would have been redemption for Kanaan, especially considering that he had nearly missed the race this year, and considering his history of bad Indy luck. But he had to pit with a handful of laps to go, handing the bridesmaid position to Wheldon for the second year in a row. It was also the third consecutive year that Panther Racing finished second in the 500.

Andretti, who had been blowing through his Honda Push to Pass allotment all race, came home third after first being classified in sixth. Originally, Alex Lloyd had been classified third, Scott Dixon fourth and Danica Patrick fifth. But all three were ruled as having passed Andretti under caution on the last lap, and his position was returned to him, and those three drivers were knocked down one spot apiece.

Two rookies finished on the lead lap – Mario Romancini in 13th and Simona de Silvestro in 14th. They both got by Franchitti as he attempted to conserve fuel on the final lap. The best finishing Indy 500 special was that of Rahal, which placed 12th.

IndyCar Race Review: Indianapolis 500

Posted by Christopher Leone on May 30, 2010
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Dario Franchitti took his second Indianapolis 500 checkered flag in the past four years after easily leading more than two thirds of the event.

Franchitti’s victory, taken under caution over Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti, made team owner Chip Ganassi the first owner to win the crown jewels of American stock car and open wheel racing in the same season.

This time, Franchitti managed to hang on in a full-length race, after winning a rain-shortened contest in 2007. He did more than hang on, though – until pit stops in the second half of the race shook up the running order, he utilized clean air to dominate much of the event.

The two major early stories of the race were Tony Kanaan and pit failure. Kanaan started 33rd after a disastrous qualifying weekend, but worked his way up through the field quickly. Meanwhile, the pit crews of Will Power, Scott Dixon, and Raphael Matos all made crucial errors in the first third of the race, with Power driving off with part of his fuel assembly and Dixon and Matos losing wheels on the same set of pit stops.

Turn two victimized a handful of cars over the course of the event, including Davey Hamilton, Bruno Junqueira, and Matos, not long after his pit issues. Franchitti continued to hold the point, however, with very few challenges.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing had three of its four cars lead parts of the race, with Tomas Scheckter, Mike Conway, and Justin Wilson all briefly helming the point. Scheckter faded as better cars passed him, while Conway and Wilson had to pit for fuel. Conway was the victim of a spectacular last-lap wreck that handed the race to Franchitti.

Penske Racing, which attempted to win its 16th Indianapolis 500 as driver Helio Castroneves went for his record-tying fourth, had a miserable day. Ryan Briscoe, who held a fuel advantage after his last pit stop, wrecked almost instantly after to finish 24th. Power and Castroneves came home 8th and 9th, respectively.

After Conway, Wilson, and others had to pit for fuel within the last 20 laps of the race, Franchitti reinherited the lead over Kanaan, who was looking to become the first driver to win the race from the last row. But he had to pit with a handful of laps to go, handing the bridesmaid position to Dan Wheldon for the second year in a row. It was also the third conescutive year that Panther Racing finished second in the 500.

Andretti, who had been blowing through his Honda Push to Pass allotment all race, came home third after first being classified in sixth. Originally, Alex Lloyd had been classified third, Scott Dixon fourth and Danica Patrick fifth. But all three were ruled as having passed Andretti under caution on the last lap, and his position was returned to him, and those three drivers were knocked down one spot apiece.

Castroneves Paces Sunday Practice

Posted by Christopher Leone on May 16, 2010
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For the second day in a row, Helio Castroneves and Team Penske set the pace in early Indianapolis 500 practice, and for the second day in a row, the two Chip Ganassi Racing cars were hot on his trail.

Castroneves’ 39.639 second hot lap was under a tenth of a second better than yesterday’s pace-setter, but was still good enough to beat the rest of the field. Scott Dixon, who was second best, actually turned a slower lap than his best yesterday, but still moved up a spot from Saturday’s results. In all, 14 drivers turned slower laps on Sunday than they did on Saturday, with names like Dario Franchitti, Dan Wheldon, and Danica Patrick included in that list. Wheldon’s run, however, was sabotaged by an incident in Turn 4.

33 drivers participated in Sunday’s practice, with seven rookies completing Rookie Orientation and gaining eligibility to drive with the experienced veterans. They included Ana Beatriz (22nd), Mario Romancini (28th), Takuma Sato (29th), Bertrand Baguette (31st), Sebastien Saavedra (33rd), Jay Howard (did not participate), and Simona de Silvestro (did not participate). Howard maintains the best single lap on any rookie, with a 40.397 run in the morning’s rookie practice. Howard remains the only rookie to break the 222 mph barrier on any given lap.

Over two days of practice, Romancini has driven the most laps around the circuit, with 120 – 91 in rookie practices and 29 in today’s feature. Thus far the only other driver to break 100 laps completed is Baguette, Romancini’s Conquest Racing teammate. Ryan Hunter-Reay’s 16 laps stand as the fewest completed of any driver.

As for drivers to break 40 seconds thus far, the list is short: Castroneves, Franchitti, Dixon, Wheldon, Will Power, Tony Kanaan, and Mario Moraes. Of those seven, only Wheldon failed to qualify on Pole Day last year; all should be a threat for this year’s honor. These drivers have combined for six wins, five poles, and 1009 laps led at the track.

Indianapolis 500 practice continues through this week, with Pole Day set for May 22 and Bump Day on the following day.