Tag: Iowa Speedway

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.

 

A New Garden Grows in Iowa

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We have seen the future of Indycar, and it is called Josef. His win in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 was the most dominant drive I have seen in a very long time. It was the equivalent of a perfect game in baseball. He was lightning fast, lapping almost the entire field several times. In fact, at one point he had lapped everyone except 2nd place Simon Pagenaud.  How often has that occurred since the DW12 came on board? I can’t think of when either.

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The last time Josef Newgarden was behind on Sunday

In 2014 and 2015,  Josef finished second here. Last year a botched final stop cost him the win. Before the race we were talking about how Andretti Autosport has dominated this race.  The last three years for Newgarden- 2nd, 2nd, 1st. Who’s dominating now?

Before the race I felt Newgarden and Tony Kanaan were the favorites. Kanaan has come close a lot this year, but is still looking for his first win this season. This year for him reminds me of 2014, when he came very close to winning several times before taking the finale at Fontana. For Newgarden, there were questions before the race. Could his broken hand withstand this type of racing? Would his pit stops go smoothly? He dealt with the pain.  Other than a small glitch on his first stop, There were no pit issues.

While Josef was running away and hiding from the rest of the field, there was a great race going on behind him. There seemed to be a constant battle for second place, as well as fights for other positions. Good close racing happened all over the track. I saw some incredible passes, but a pass that didn’t happen stood out. In one of his first romps through the field, Newgarden came up behind two cars side by side fighting for position in turn 3. He stuck his nose between them, then backed off and waited until they sorted out the battle. Aside from the start, I thought that was the best move he made all day.

The series moves to Toronto next weekend. By the way, Josef Newgarden is the defending champion there.

Thoughts on Iowa:

As great an event as this weekend was, I think this works better as a night race. The crowd was disappointing. The Friday night ARCA race, which usually draws a fair amount of fans, was smaller as well.  I hope having date equity for the next two years will help build the attendance back near what it once was.

This was my third time at Iowa. There seems to be a blown engine tradition here.  The 4th of July worthy display when Ryan Hunter-Reay’s engine let go was spectacular. Imagine how cool that would have looked at night.

After a weekend in the vastness of Road America, it was nice to spend time in a more compact venue. Everything at Iowa is easy and quick to get to, with shuttles and golf cart rides to parking lots, campgrounds, and the paddock.

I appreciated the extended paddock hours this year. last year the paddock was only open for passholders for about two hours. This year the paddock was open all day on Saturday.

Alexander Rossi had another solid finish. His average finish on ovals this year is 7th.  Rossi is having an incredible rookie year. People need to start paying more attention to him.

Newgarden jumped to second in points with the win Sunday. He needs to gain  as many points as possible on Pagenaud in the next three races since he will lose ground at the Texas race resumption.

Mid Season Thoughts and Iowa Prelude

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It’s the time of year when the championship becomes more muddled after seeming very clear.  I’m not a fan of the current points system, but it does create an interesting title fight every year.  Iowa is where Juan Pablo Montoya began to lose his grip on the crown last year. He finished last at Iowa due to a first lap crash. Scott Dixon, his closest pursuer, had mechanical issues, but got his car back on track to earn a couple extra points. Those points proved crucial at Sonoma as Dixon took the title from Montoya. Right now, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves, and Will Power are the top three in  points with Dixon a close fourth. I would not count Dixon out, even though he has had a lot of bad luck this year. Iowa seems to be the track where a Penske driver’s title hopes go to die.

Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, and Tony Kanaan are having really great seasons. Marco Andretti, Takuma Sato, and Jack Hawksworth are not. I wonder which of these drivers will return to their respective teams next year.  Graham Rahal appears to be in the midst of a disappointing season, but Iowa is where he really began his surge last year. His podium at Road America could be the beginning of a charge.

This will be my third trip to Iowa. I really like this track. It is 7/8 of a mile long and one constant turn. Indycars lap at about 17 seconds. My first race  was in 2012.  The cars under the lights were incredible.  I’m very disappointed that this year’s race is a daytime event. Another thing I liked at the 2012 race was the USAC midget program on Friday night. What a great show!  Midgets going 160 miles per hour is an amazing sight.  I wish they could pair with Indycar again here.

The Iowa Corn 300 could be named the Andretti Invitational. Andretti drivers have won six times here, including Ryan Hunter-Reay’s victory last year. It was Hunter-Reay’s third win at Iowa.  I expect a different Andretti driver to win this year.

Last year I was fortunate to get a 2-seater ride here. Turns 1 and 2 are teeth rattling bumpy.  The car is in a constant turn. I felt my head was constantly leaning out the right side of the car. This ride felt faster than my ride at IMS because of the short track and the perpetual turning motion. Imagine doing this 300 times 60 miles an hour faster than we were traveling.

Saturday evening I plan to go to Knoxville Raceway. I have not been to a dirt track in a very long time, and I am very much looking forward to it. Someday I hope to make it to the Knoxville Nationals, another bucket list event.

Which Andretii driver will win this year’s Iowa corn 300?  I’m picking Carlos Munoz. I hope to do a brief report from the track this weekend, and I will have a weekend review next week.