Silly Season Semi-Final Update- Filling Up Fast

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It’s great to be back. Many things have intruded on my writing time- health issues, home repair issues, yard work.  I think things have settled down and I can get back to this fun project. I have missed this greatly.

We now have a nearly complete Indycar lineup for the entire season. There are a scattered few left including one unconfirmed seat.

The biggest and best news was Conor Daly and Carlos Munoz  signing with A. J. Foyt Racing. Munoz will drive the 14 and Daly the 4.  Foyt has used the number 4 occasionally. I am glad the 41 is gone. It is such a strange number. Will the team be better?  They should. Daly usually makes a team better. Munoz will get more attention on a smaller team.  I think Munoz has a great chance to win a race next season. Daly might steal one. Last year Conor got to the front on strategy and was able to have the pace to stay there.  Chevrolet power should help both start closer to the front.

The other good news item is J. R. Hildebrand returning full time for Ed Carpenter Racing in the 21 car. Hildebrand puts another former Indy lights champion in the field. J. R. has run well in the 500 the last couple of years. It’s great to have him back full time. Still no word on who will drive the 20 car on road and street courses. Not sure if Spencer Pigot is still under consideration.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in this fall full of surprises is Dale Coyne having both of his cars assigned before the end of the year.  Ed Jones, this year’s Indy Lights champ, joins Sebastian Bourdais. in the Coyne stable. This will be an interesting team to watch.

Our scorecard of open seats now looks like this:

0.5- Car 20, Ed Carpenter Racing

1 – Car 8 at Ganassi. I understand Max Chilton is negotiating a contract to keep the ride.

1- Car 26 at Andretti. Takuma Sato, though likely, not confirmed yet.

1- Car 11 at KV or KV/Carlin? This is still questionable whether they will field a team other than for the 500.

There are a lot of drivers looking to get these open seats. Some possibilities:  R. C. Enerson, Spencer Pigot, Zach Veach, Oriol Servia likely part time with Schmidt in a third car); Jack Harvey, and Kyle Kaiser. Enerson did an impressive job For Dale Coyne in the last three races of the season. I think he will get one of the openings.

Next week, I’ll reveal my 2017  tentative race schedule. Anyone guessing what races I’m attending in May gets a free grandstand seat any practice day during the month. You just pay track admission and the seat is on me.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

 

Silly Season Update- A Trade in the Works; It’s Almost Done

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Yesterday was a busy news day in Indycar Silly Season.  News that Takuma Sato will be in the #26 car at Andretti Autosport really should not be a surprise.  Andretti needs funding for that car. Honda funds Sato as they did when he was with Foyt. This solves two problems.  It appears likely that Carlos Munoz will be going to Foyt. In effect, they traded drivers.

The other big story yesterday was Juan Pablo Montoya accepting Penske’s offer to drive the Indianapolis 500 only  with the promise of a sportscar ride when Penske puts a program together.  Again, this proves a part-time gig with Penske is better than a full time ride elsewhere. This arrangement also gives Team Penske a built-in substitute driver should a situation arise as when Will Power couldn’t race at St. Pete this season.

The biggest beneficiary of yesterday’s moves is Conor Daly.  Taking Montoya away opens the remaining seats up more for him. What seats remain?  There are just a few:

1 at Foyt

1.5 at Carpenter

1 at KV/Carlin?

1 at Ganassi?

1 at Coyne

I think that’s it. I don’t see a completely new team next year, since the aerokits have just one season left. Economically, it doesn’t make sense.  The full time  field should be between 20-22 cars.

For the 500, it will likely still be a struggle to get to 33, even with a 5th Penske car.

It’s possible we could know the entire lineup by December.  The more time I have to learn who is which car the better.

 

 

 

Movie Review-Reengineering Sam

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Sam Schmidt has dreams. He dreams of being able to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.  He dreams of being able to drive a car on the street again. He wants as normal a life as he can. For the first time since the crash at Walt Disney World Speedway that rendered him a quadriplegic, one of his dreams is close to coming true.

The Heartland Film Festival premiered the movie Reengineering Sam yesterday. While it is mainly about building the car that Sam Schmidt drove around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the last two years, the film also tells Sam’s story from childhood to the present day. Ironically, his father was a racer who also had a crash that left him partially paralyzed on his right side.  We also get an intimate look at Sam’s daily routine away from the racetrack and how his family tries to have as normal a life as possible.

The movie contains quite a bit of racing footage, mainly showing some horrific crashes. The 2011 crash at Las Vegas is shown, though not in its entirety. It was difficult to watch.  Schmidt’s crash in 1998 where he broke his feet also appears. It was a foreshadowing of what was to come. His wife tells how he was in a wheelchair after that crash and all he wanted to do was get back in a racecar.

The majority of the film alternates between his family life as told by his wife, Sheila,his children, Savannah and Spencer, and his parents; and ongoing  research and technology  to help quadriplegics regain some mobility.  A neurosurgeon wondered if it would be possible for a quadriplegic to drive a car. He had never heard of Sam until a colleague suggested him.  Arrow Electronics was eager to build the car.

The movie ends triumphantly with Sam driving the modified Corvette around the Speedway in front of a cheering crowd.  The state of Nevada just issued Sam the first driver’s license for a semi-autonomous vehicle. He is the first quadriplegic to receive this license.

Several noteworthy things about the film:

  • Sheila Schmidt’s strength and dedication.
  • The hope for all quadriplegics for more quality of life.
  • Sam’s carry on attitude.
  • The dedicated researchers in the military and hospitals who are working hard on the technology to help improve the lives of paralyzed people.
  • The reminder to me to keep things in perspective.

Reengineering Sam has three more showings at the festival- tonight at 8 pm at Trader’s Point; Tuesday at 12:45 pm at Castleton; and Saturday at 10:45 am at Castleton.

 

 

October, 2011

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Note: I published this story last year. After the events of yesterday, I thought I would present it again. It is a time to be kind to each other.

I was calling Las Vegas the fire sale race. It was the final race for the old cars, and every team wanted to race every car they had. Thirty four were entered, more cars than Indianapolis 500 entries most years.  Indycars hadn’t raced there in a while. Several drivers questioned the track’s safety.

The race was the season finale.  As usual, the championship would be decided. That alone should have been enough. But Randy Bernard, who had done many great things, decided this wasn’t enough. He declared a $1 million prize for Dan Wheldon, winner of the 500, if he won the race starting from last place.  I never liked the idea.

First, it diminished the championship battle. Second, it was a NASCAR type gimmick. I was very disappointed that Indycar thought it necessary.  Third, instead of the usual twenty or so cars, there were going to be thirty-four racing on a one and a half mile track.

Everyone expected a big pileup. Only 15 laps in, it happened.  An airborne car went into the fence. It looked really bad.  I couldn’t tell who it was at first, but I knew that driver was seriously injured. The broadcast team said it was Wheldon.

The times I’ve been at a track when a driver is killed, awareness is instant. There is an eerie silence that descends over the venue. Things move in slow motion. Oddly, sitting in my living room watching on television, I had that same sensation. I had been tweeting about the race with my friends. That activity halted for several minutes.

Inside sources began hinting on Twitter what I had feared. Nothing was official, but I knew that the source was reliable. We could do nothing but wait. The image of the helicopter ascending was all the confirmation I needed.  It looked just the end of the movie Senna, which I had just seen a few weeks before.

……………………………….

That Sunday also marked the beginning of a severe decline in my wife’s condition. She had been home from rehab two weeks. Things were looking better, but in the following week, her energy slowly drained and by the following Friday, she was back in the hospital. Friends came to be with her the next Sunday so I could go to Dan’s memorial downtown.She knew it was important to me. Knowing what was coming, it was hard to sit through. She died Wednesday of that week.

I never met Dan Wheldon. I have no photos of him. I never got his autograph. But I always admired his skill, his passion, and his joy for life.  Vicki had many of the same qualities as Dan.

At the five year mark, which at times feels like five minutes and other times like fifty years, I strive to live up to their standards, to embrace the joys of life, and let the little stuff go.  Ten days from now I will go to a quiet place and at 11:22 say a quiet prayer of thanks, and have the strength to get through another year.

 

 

Indycar Celebrates the Season; Air Races at IMS

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awards16-011Last night Indycar presented its end of season celebration, an elegant award presentation at the Hilbert Circle Theater in downtown Indianapolis. Simon Pagenaud was the star of the show for his incredible year. He received the Verizon P1 Award for the most poles and the Astor Cup for winning the series championship. Will Power and Helio Castroneves also received trophies for second and third place.

Conor Daly won the Don’t Crack Under Pressure Award for passing the most cars during the year.  That award title needs work. Charlie Kimball received an award for completing the most laps.

Several drivers were not present.  James Hinchcliffe was occupied  with Dancing With the Stars, and some drivers from Florida were at home preparing the coming hurricane.

The highlight of the ceremony was the Most popular Driver Award, won by Bryan Clauson.His fiancee, Lauren Stewart, accepted the award.

” He would say he’s not really an Indycar driver, and he would be honored that you think of him as one, ” she told the crowd following a standing ovation.

It was a fun night. I saw many friends from out of state who came in for the presentation.  It was nice to catch up with them one more time before Indycar’s still too long off season.  It’s only five months and seven days until St. Pete.

 

The Red Bull Air Race

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Last weekend IMS hosted the Red Bull Air Races.  It was strange being at the track and seeing cars drive around.  But there were many typical elements of a race. Pilots made mental errors and tactical mistakes. Matthias Dolderer, the race winner who clinched the season title Sunday, was Will Power-like on his determined runs to set the best time.

The format of the race is similar to Indycar road course qualifying.  It is a three round knock out system, ending with a final round of four. The planes fly on their sides until they come a gate, where they must become level with only a ten degree tolerance. It sounds easy, but it wasn’t always. I was impressed with how quickly the planes straightened out as they approached the gates.

While the racing was fun and exciting, there was two hour gap between the first round and the last two segments.  When they return next year, I would like to see some more track activity to fill some of the down time. The races are quite short and something needs to keep the fans entertained between rounds.

Other than the down time, it was another great event put on by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The crowd was around 40,000. It will be interesting to see if it grows next year.  With more activity, I think it’s possible. Next year’s event is slated for October 15-16.

Silly Season Update

This morning the worst kept secret in the paddock became official. Josef Newgarden will drive the 2 car for Roger Penske next year. This was long rumored and may have been a done deal sometime during the season.

Late last week, Alexander Rossi was confirmed to stay with Andretti-Herta Autosport in the 98.

Seats that are or may still be open by car number:

21, 20(road course), 41, 14?, 10?, 19, 18? 11, 26?, 8?

Stay tuned. Newgarden’s signing is just the beginnning.

 

 

 

Off Season Thoughts- Driver Musical Chairs, Rules, and Points

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Today is the day. Josef Newgarden’s deadline to act on the offer from Ed Carpenter Racing is today.  What he decides determines many things. Where will Juan Pablo Montoya be next year?  Will he bump Tony Kanaan out of Ganssi? I have heard he has talked to Carpenter. I honestly don’t see that as a fit at all. I would think Fuzzy’s would want a more personable driver for their car.

Another factor is Carlin.Will they make the jump to IndyCar? Will they partner with KV/KVSH or just buy them outright? Will Max Chilton go there creating an opening at Ganassi?

A.J. Foyt Racing will have at least one opening. It could be Kanaan, if he leaves Ganassi.

Coyne apparently has signed Sebastian Bourdais. Conor Daly is rumored to be under contract for next year as well.

My suggestion- If you’re not going to the season opener at St. Pete, have a friend who is mail you a spotter’s guide. That will give you plenty of time to learn names and car numbers before the 101st Indianapolis 500.

Rules

The aerokit packages are frozen for next year and a new universal kit will be on the cars for 2018.  This means that unless Honda can develop a stronger engine package, Chevrolet will again dominate in 2017. I’m all for the new universal kit, but for next year I think the teams should be given leeway to work on the kits themselves.

I hope the 2018 aero package makes Indycars look more like Indy cars and less like single seat sportscars.

Points

Double points, like interleague play in baseball, is played out and needs to be eliminated.  Yes the 500 is the most important race, but it still counts as one race in the standings.  The final race of the season should not count as double points, especially on a road course. Let the championship be decided as it happens. if someone clinches the title with two races to go, so be it. Very few World series have ended with a game-winning home run. Not every series goes seven games.

Qualifying points at Indy- There are way too many points awarded for qualifying.  I can understand the need to award points in the current format, which I wrote about in May, but I don’t think the pole winner should get more than 25 points.  Then each position after that receives one less point. Positions 25-33 get one point each.

Race points- I still mainly like the point system, but I don’t believe every driver in a race should get points. I liked the old CART/USAC system of awarding points to the top twelve spots only. I also would like to do away with a bonus point for leading a lap. This would tighten up the points battle and eliminate the need for double points races.

I think I’ve fixed Indycar enough for one day.  I need to take the rest of the day off. I’m going to the Red Bull Air Races Sunday. I’ll have a report on that next week.  Have a great weekend.

 

 

Indycar Season Review- A Penske Walk in the Park

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Dominance returned to Indycar this season. Chevrolet dominated the engine battle. Drivers dominated races. Penske cars dominated the standings. Simon Pagenaud dominated the championship. Pagenaud had an early run of three straight wins and a couple second places. Will Power had a mid-season run of four wins and two second places. The difference? Power had to sit out the first race of the year due to medical issues.

While Chevrolet won more races and fourteen poles, Honda did show slight gains with two poles and more Fast Six qualifying rounds this year than last.Their two victories were well short of the six wins of 2015. With the aero-kit freeze in place for next year, Honda will focus on engine development to offset the aero disadvantage. It would be nice if the teams could work on the aerokits themselves next year.

There were several dominating drives this year. Pagenaud was clearly the class of the field at Long Beach, the Indy Grand Prix, and Sonoma. Josef Newgarden beat up on the field at Iowa. It appeared James Hinchcliffe had everyone covered at Texas, but he was nosed out at the line by Graham Rahal.  Will Powqer led virtually the entire way at road America.

Team Penske won ten of the sixteen races.  Pagenaud won half of those. His late season wins at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma were something we hadn’t seen from a series champion in a while. The last few years, the points leader won races early then hung on desperately to either win the title in the last race or lose it there.

Three classic venues returned to the schedule this year- Phoenix, Road America, and Watkins Glen. Watkins Glen was a mid-season replacement for the cancelled Boston race. It was a great upgrade from a street race. I was fortunate to be at all three. It was very exciting to have these three tracks back.

Opinion section

The best races this year, always subjective were Barber, the Indianapolis 500, Pocono, and Texas.  There is also something beautiful in the way Newgarden crushed Iowa.

The worst races- Phoenix and Sonoma.

Worst luck driver- Helio Castroneves.  He “earns” this honor with the following resume:

Indianapolis- Hit exiting the pits by Townsend Bell, then rear-ended by JR Hildebrand while he had the strongest contending car. Detroit- leading  Race 2 but waited too long to pit and was caught by a yellow. Twice at Iowa a yellow came out while he was in the pits for his scheduled stop.  At Pocono he was an innocent bystander in the Rossi/Kimball pit incident.  In spite of all this, Castroneves still managed to finish third in the standings, but not without a fight from Newgarden.

Runner-up for this category- Scott Dixon.

What broken clavicle? Josef Newgarden somehow escaped a horrific crash at Texas in the first attempt to race, ending up with a hand and clavicle fracture. He was expected to miss at least one race. Amazingly, he was back int he car at the next event at Road America. Two weeks after that came his perfect game at Iowa. The points he lost by crashing at Texas probably cost him third place. He finished two points behind in fourth.

On Wednesday, I hope to have some silly season updates and more thoughts on next year. Overall, it was a great year for Indycar’s image.

 

Simonized-Simon Waxes the Field

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Simon Pagenaud cruised to another dominating victory Sunday afternoon in Sonoma to earn his first IndyCar series championship. The title had pretty much been a foregone conclusion for weeks despite a little closing of the gap by Will Power at Pocono. All doubt was erased after qualifying Saturday when Pagenaud took the pole on his last lap.

Will Power’s last hope ended on lap 36 with a clutch issue.  He stalled on the backstretch causing the day’s only yellow.  He finished eight laps behind.  Power did not  have a bad season. Four victories and two second place finishes will usually win a title. Missing the St. Pete race cost him this Astor Cup.

The interesting part of the race was the battle for third place in the standings between Helios Castroneves and Josef Newgarden.  Newgarden finished sixth Sunday and Castroneves was seventh. Helio ended the season third by two points.

Roger Penske celebrated his fiftieth year in motorsports capturing the top three spots in the championship.

Notes:

We now enter Silly Season. According to all sources every driver seems headed for a new seat next year.  A slight exaggeration perhaps, but there will be a lot of movement.   The number of Indy Lights drivers able to move up is another unknown.

Will there be fewer teams? Team consolidation is possible. Has Ed Jones winning the Lights title accelerated Carlin’s jump to IndyCar?

Josef Newgarden has eight days to respond to his offer from Ed Carpenter Racing.

The event. The staff at Sonoma Raceway did a great job this weekend. You could tell they had done their homework. Saturday and Sunday had the biggest crowds I’ve seen here in the three years I’ve gone.  It ok s also a fan friendly track. After parking, fans receive a card with the lot number and shuttle color to take when they leave. Sunday as we stood in line,  workers passed out water bottles.

Next  Monday I will have my season review and more about next season. I will also  have some Sonoma photos.

 

Update: It appears Newgarden and Rossi are now off the table. Josef moving on to Penske and Rossi staying with Andretti/Herta.

Sonoma Practice Day-Nothing Learned

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The last weekend of the IndyCar season is off to a slow start. The first practice session mainly featured cars sitting on pit road.  Helios  Castroneves led the session, running only 4 laps. Scott Dixon was near the bottom, doing a few very slow laps early, then going out near the end but only getting to eighteenth place.

The second round of practice had more action.  It was another clean session until Conor Daly lost an engine with about ten minutes to go heading toward the hairpin. After a brief halt practice resumed but ended quickly when Alexander Rossi suddenly stopped just past the start/finish line. Castroneves again led the session, followed by his Penske teammates who are fighting for the title.

While Hondas were strong in the morning, Ryan Hunter-Reay was the only one in the top five in the afternoon.

I don’t think much was learned today about how the weekend will go. Tomorrow morning’s practice should tell us a lot. Someone other than Power or Pagenaud winning the pole is in Pagenaud’s favor.  Power needs every point he can get.

Notes:

The new scoring pylon, a four sided digital screen, is great. Much more readable than the old pylon.

It was a decent Friday crowd, maybe slightly better than last year.

I was thinking today that a spotter guide will be a required item at St. Pete next March. There are almost as many possible combinations for 2017 as there scenarios f o r who will. win the championship.

I had a great day seeing friends, some who I will not see again until next year.

S