Tag: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Preview- Grand Prix of Indianapolis Will Penske Dominate Again?

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At last, the Speedway opens for the month of May. Practice for the Indianapolis Grand Prix begins today, when Indycar takes the track at 9:15 this morning.  The race is tomorrow on ABC, beginning at 3:30 pm ET.

The first three editions of the this race have seen Simon Pagenaud win twice, including last year. Will Power won the second year. Pagenaud comes into the event as the points leader, just as he did last year. The difference is he has only won once this year. In 2016, this was third consecutive win.  The points battle is tighter this season so far.

There have been four winners in four races this year, the last two races won by Penske drivers. We may not have a fifth different winner after this race, nor a different team winning.  Pagenaud has excelled on this track , and I expect him to do so again. If he falters, look for Power to get his first trip to Victory Circle this weekend.

This will be another Chevy at the front show, though Honda is  eagerly awaiting the start of 500 practice next Monday. Honda will be happy with a top five on Saturday.

As far as this weekend’s attendance, I have no idea. The last two years have seen the crowd shrink from year one, which was between 55 and 60 thousand. In 2015, rain was predicted for the race, but the race was dry. The weather in 2016 was even colder than the 1992 500.  It will be interesting to see if the improved weather this year draws more fans. In any case, there is Indycar racing at IMS this weekend, and then the best two weeks of the year begin.

News and Notes:

Sebastian Saavedra was confirmed as driver for the second Juncos car. He will drive car 17, sponsored by AFS.

Several teams have revealed their liveries for the 500 the last few days. This will be one of the best looking fields in recent memory.  Several cars have a retro look with hints of cars from the past. I’m excited to see the entire field together.

Back with a race recap Sunday and a preview of what I hope to bring you during practice week.

 

 

 

Honoring A Legend- The A. J. Foyt Exhibition at the IMS Museum

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First, a bit of news: Spencer Pigot has been confirmed as a driver for Juncos Racing in the Indianapolis 500. he will drive car no. 11, with sponsorship from Oceanfront Recovery, an organization involved in helping people overcome issues with opioids. This will be Pigot’s second 500. he drove last year for Rahal letterman Lanigan. Sebastian Saavedra has been announced as the driver of the second Juncos car.  These two cars and the entry from Lazier Racing brings the car count to 33.  I don’t believe this to be fully firm at this point.

 

The Speedway legends I grew up with are all in or nearing their 80’s.  They race during what I consider the Golden Age of Indycar racing.  Foyt,  Andretti, Jones, the Unser brothers, and Gurney would race almost anything on almost any kind of track- pavement, dirt, oval, road course. When the checkered flag waved, it was highly likely that A. J. Foyt was the first to see it.

Full disclosure- I was a crazy Foyt fan back then. Yes, I appreciated the skills and talents of the other drivers, but Foyt was my man. Thanks to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, I had a chance to see his entire career on display.

Virtually every car he drove, including the four he drove to his 500 wins, is on display.  One car I didn’t see was the car he and Dan Gurney drove to victory in LeMans in 1967.  I  was really looking forward to seeing that one. It did not take away from my enjoyment of the exhibit, however. Several of the cars I had completely forgotten about, like the Scarab MK IV from 1964. A. J. won 3 races in 1964 driving for Lance Reventlow.

One poignant entry was the 1981 Coyote, the last coyote chassis Foyt produced.

The cars and their histories are displayed clearly. It would take a while to read every word. I have all summer. The display is at the Museum until October. Even more intriguing than the the cars was all the memorabilia and photos. People apparently donated things from their private collections for the show. Make sure to walk to the display room in the back.  The most fascinating item to me was a set of micro-miniatures cars, replicas of many Foyt’s Indy 500 cars, labeled by year. The photo collection the walls, including a couple of murals take you back in history.

I plan to return to see the exhibit in more depth later this year.  I will close with some photos, including a mural of A. J. on dirt.foytexhibit 025

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This is the car Foyt drove to the first of his 67 wins in Indycar. The Scarab is the blue car in the background.
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The car A. J. Foyt drove at Indianapolis his rookie year, 1958
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Midget racer from the early 1960’s.

The Greatest 33 Non-Winners: Final Grid

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What a fun project this turned out to be! It was fascinating seeing how much those who submitted grids both agreed and disagreed. Some drivers got just one mention, while others appeared on every ballot.  There was near unanimous placement for some drivers, and some drivers were near the front on some grids and near the back on others. The driver nearly everyone agreed should be on the pole is Michael Andretti (pictured above, from 1992).

I  noticed the rankings were along age lines. Older fans close to my age seemed to have near identical grids,  and younger fans as a group submitted similar lineups.  Many drivers from long ago in general fared better on the lists from the older group. I was surprised how well the current drivers stacked up against the racers of the past. Another interesting detail is that all 50 driver finalists had at least one mention. I didn’t expect that.

To rank the drivers, I assigned points to the drivers corresponding to their spot on each person’s grid. A driver on pole got 1 point, the last driver got 33. If a driver was listed on pole on five grids, his total was 5. The lowest total won the pole. If a driver did not appear on someone’s grid, he/she was given 34 points. To my shock, there were only two ties. I resolved placement by averaged each driver’s highest and lowest rank of all the grades, with the lowest average getting the higher spot. One of the ties was for 32nd and 33rd. It was just like qualifying for the 1963 500.

The front row- Michael Andretti, Rex Mays, and Ted Horn, is strong. These drivers were in the top 10 on everyone’s grid. Andretti led 431 laps, the most by any non-winning driver. he started on the front row three times and had 5 top 5 finishes.  Rex Mays, in the middle of the front row is the only other driver to lead more than 200 laps and not win. Mays was on the pole four times. Ted Horn, on the outside of the front row, finished in the top five 9 times in 10 starts.

So here they are, the Greatest 33 Non-Winners of the Indianapolis 500:

Row 1

Michael Andretti

Rex Mays

Ted Horn

Row 2

Harry Hartz

Marco Andretti

Lloyd Ruby

Row 3

Gary Bettenhausen

Ralph Hepburn

Roberto Guerrero

Row 4

Scott Goodyear

Carlos Munoz

Robby Gordon

Row 5

Eddie Sachs

Tony Stewart

Jack McGrath

Row 6

Wally Dallenbach

Tomas Sheckter

Will Power

Row 7

Danica Patrick

Tony Bettenhausen

Joe Leonard

Row 8

Jimmy Snyder

Ed Carpenter

Danny Ongais

Row 9

Pancho Carter

Mel Kenyon

Kevin Cogan

Row 10

Vitor Meira

Russ Snowberger

Paul Russo

Row 11

Tom Alley

Johnny Thomson

George Snider

it’s kind of fitting that Snider is last on the grid. his trademark was jumping into a car on Bump Day and getting into the field starting near the back. Thanks to everyone who submitted a grid. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and reasoning as to how yo put your grids together.

I will be back tomorrow with some 500 news and a report on my visit to the A. J. Foyt exhibit at the Speedway Museum. The cars were great to see, but the memorabilia was even more amazing to me. Thursday I will have my Indianapolis Grand Prix preview with my normally inaccurate winner’s prediction.

 

 

 

 

 

Alonso Hits the Speedway; My Greatest 33 Non-Winners

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Any doubt that people were excited that Fernando Alonso will be in this year’s Indianapolis 500 were obliterated yesterday. More than 2 million views on social media and a rather large crowd in person erased any questions of how big this is.

I arrived at the track around 9:30. The Museum lot was close to full. The viewing mounds likewise had a lot of people already there, many of whom appeared to be settled in for the entire day.  A cheer when up when the #29 first came by, but Marco Andretti was actually in the car then on a shake down run.

Alonso began his rookie test runs a few minutes later. He was tentative at first, lifting in turn 2 and staying well above the line. As the session went on, you could see him gaining confidence. Eventually his line got closer to the white line, and he stopped lifting. His top speed was reported at 222.548, although this morning his official top speed was reported as a high 221. He looked very comfortable in the car. The next test is how will Alonso do with other cars on the track?

Fans on the mounds constantly checked the live streams and were amazed at the number of viewers watching.

It was great day at the Speedway, as always. We may be at the dawn of a new era in crossover drivers.  Having a current F1 driver and former world champion drive in the 500 is  a huge step for the race.  We must remember that Stefan Wilson sacrificed a lot to make this happen. I hope Indycar follows through with their guarantees to him.  They owe him a lot more than they promised.

My 33 Greatest Non-Winners

Thanks to all of you who sent in your grids. I’ve enjoyed reading how you put them together. Before I present the final grid, here is mine.  I used a combination of statistics and how I feel about certain drivers, many of whom I have watched race. No, I did not see Ralph Mulford race. The first two rows were easy to fill. After that, things got tricky, especially toward the end. Why is Driver A 22nd and Driver B 23rd? I could argue that their positions could be reversed. I tended to give preference to drivers from the past over current drivers. My thinking is that current drivers stats will change, and some of them could still win.

So here is how I would line them up:

Row 1

Michael Andretti

Rex Mays

Ted Horn

Row 2

Harry Hartz

Jack McGrath

Marco Andretti

Row 3

Eddie Sachs

Will Power

Tomas Sheckter

Row 4

Wally Dallenbach

Lloyd Ruby

Gary Bettenhausen

Row 5

Joe Leonard

Danny Ongais

Robby Gordon

Row 6

Roberto Guerrero

Ralph Hepburn

Carlos Munoz

Row 7

Ed Carpenter

Scott Goodyear

Danica Patrick

Row 8

Steve Krisiloff

Teo Fabi

Russ Snowberger

Row 9

Paul Russo

Tony Stewart

Tony Bettenhausen

Row 10

Jimmy Snyder

Kevin Cogan

Raul Boesel

Row 11

Duke Nalon

Dan Gurney

Vitor Meira

 

 

Phoenix Recap, Good, Bad, Really Ugly

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The second edition of the Desert Diamond West Phoenix Grand Prix was not an improvement over last year’s single file parade. Once the race settled in, it very much resembled last year’s event.  The evening got off to an inauspicious start when Mikhail Aleshin spun just after the green flag. He slid up the track and pinned points leader Sebastien Bourdais to the wall. Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, and Max Chilton also were victims.  Ryan Hunter-Reay had  minor damage and was able to continue for the time being.

The smoke and spinning cars gave me a Vegas flashback for a second. Fortunately, everyone was okay. The cleanup took 20 laps, really long, especially on a short track. A red flag was probably appropriate. Some people mentioned tv windows as a reason they kept yellow, but the extensive length of the post race tells me a red flag would not have been a problem.

I thought the start should have been waved off. No one was lined up and Helio Castroneves got a huge jump, as he usually does. That may have prevented the incident.

Pit stops determined the final result of the race. Castroneves, Will Power, and J R Hildebrand had just come in for their routine stop when Takuma Sato hit the wall.  Simon Pagenaud was scheduled to pit the next lap. This gave Pagenaud the lead and put virtually the entire field a lap behind. He cruised to the win from there. The only drama left was whether Hildebrand could catch Power for second.

Indycar made a huge mistake keeping the same package as last year for Phoenix. It didn’t work at all last year. Why did they think it would this year with the aero kits frozen?  I hope next year’s new car style will help improve this race. It needs to be on the schedule. From the looks of the crowd, it appeared to show no improvement from last year.

I really like Will Power’s suggestion of lower downforce and the speedway wings on the cars for this track.  I hope someone is listening to him.

If they use the same package for Gateway, I am concerned we will get basically the same race we saw last night.   RANT OVER

Positives from last night:

Pagenaud won for the first time on an oval and took the points lead from Bourdais. He had the lead heading to Indianapolis last year as well. The next race, The Grand Prix of Indianapolis, he practically owns. He has won two of the three GPs with two different teams.

J. R. Hildebrand made a nice recovery from a broken hand to finish third.  It was his second top three finish in Indycar.

A J Foyt Racing made some positive  steps forward last night. Carlos Munoz finished tenth. Conor Daly was in position for a good result until gearbox issues dropped him to fourteenth, 70 laps down.

Some Not So Pleasant Items:

Joe Leonard, former AMA motorcycle champion and two time Indycar champion, died last Thursday, at 84.

Phoenix Preview- More Chevy Strength, Power Looks for Turn Around. Last Call for Greatest 33 Non Winner Grids

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Indycar returns to one of the classic tracks, Phoenix International Raceway, this weekend. Last year’s return to Phoenix race was a joyous event to old diehard fans like me.  It was a thrill to finally get an opportunity to attend a race there in person.

The race itself was not great. The leader struggled to get past the last place car.  Ryan Hunter-Reay was able to pass a lot of cars on restarts, but up front it was a matter of wait until something happens to the leader. I hope Indycar figured out a solution to this issue during the test at Phoenix earlier this year.

Two things I think we’ll see are a change in the championship lead, and Will Power finally having a successful outing.  Power has been in position to win two of the first three races and would have won both of those going away, but an engine issue at St. Pete and a cut tire at Barber dashed his victory hopes.

This is another high downforce track, which favors Chevy. I think Power will win this season and start his march toward the season title. Look for Scott Dixon to take the points lead from Sebastien Bourdais as well.  I don’t think Bourdais is going to fade away, though. He had a better than expected run at Barber, and if he can get another top eight result, he will be in the mix for a while. He should be strong at the Indy GP, and has improved in the 500.

My pick to win is Power this week, with the other Penske cars populating the top six.

The Greatest 33 Now-Winners: Last Call for Grids

Please submit your grids by Tuesday.  I will be traveling Monday and Tuesday and will start tallying results after I get back to Indy. Thanks to all who have submitted grids so far. The top five have been remarkably consistent. After that, i’s a free for all.

It’s Almost May!

May begins Monday, and I’m planning a very busy month of posting here. I have some exciting story ideas including a feature on a former 500 winner from the 30’s.  I would love to hear any ideas you might have for a story.  I’ll do my best to get it done. I hope to see some of you Wednesday at Fernando Alonso’s test at IMS.

Barber Preview- A Toss Up

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0422160815It’s time for Indycar to race at one of my favorite venues- Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.  This is one of the most beautiful tracks in the country, and the event is always great.  The last two races have been very good.

After two street races, Barber will seem like the wide open spaces of Wyoming.  There are run off areas with lots of room, so full course yellows should be kept to a minimum.

The grounds are immaculately landscaped and interspersed with whimsical statues and other pieces of art. The track features elevation changes, long straights, and some tight turns.  For first timers, I recommend spending some time in the turns 1-3 area (second photo above). Cars go downhill, around a sweeping turn, and then uphill.  I’ve seen 3 car battles going up the hill.   It’s a great track to move around.  You can see a lot of the track from several viewpoints.

A trip to the museum is also a must. This will be my first time there since the expansion, and I’m looking forward to viewing the new version.  While its mainly about motorcycles, there is a large collection of Lotus race cars, including Dan Gurney’s 1962 Indianapolis 500 car.

What will we see on track this weekend?  The last two years Honda and Chevy have been somewhat equal in the race.  Graham Rahal has finished second the last two years, behind Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud. Scott Dixon has been on the podium every year except last year, when he was involved in a first lap collision in turn 5. Dixon has never won here.  I think he will have a good chance this time.

Ryan Hunter-Reay has won this race twice. I would not dismiss his chances. Hopefully the electrical/engine problems that destroyed the entire Andretti team’s chances at 2 podiums at Long Beach are resolved.

Team Penske is usually strong here as well. Will Power, Josef Newgarden, and Simon Pagenaud have all won this race. Helio Castroneves and Power have won the pole. Castroneves has been on the podium.  They will qualify strongly. They do have poles in both races to date. One of them could score Chevy’s first win of the season.

So, I think this race is a toss-up.   I think Scott Dixon will break through for his first win of the year.  The likely lack of yellows will help him since the team seems reluctant to change their pit strategy during a race.

News:

Zach Veach will substitute for J. R. Hildebrand in car 21. Hildebrand had surgery on his injured hand, broken at Long Beach.

NTT Data returns to Scott Dixon’s car and continues on Tony Kanaan’s car.

Josef Newgarden’ has a new sponsor for Barber, Fitzgerald Glider Kits.

And the most significant news – Your intrepid reporter will have a two seater ride Sunday morning.  This my first time on a road course. I cannot tell you how excited I am to do this. Thanks to Indycar Nation for the opportunity.  I’m still negotiating the media rights.

 

Greatest 33 Non- Winners

Please get your grids to me by May 2. Thanks.

 

Small Teams Keep Rolling- Long Beach Recap

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The start should have told us this would be an interesting race.  The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach presented one of the best races in its 34 year Indycar history.  In the end, another small team won, the large teams had various issues, and Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais increased his point lead. Do not adjust your screen.  That last statement is correct. The race breakdown:

What happened to pole sitter Helio Castroneves at the green? He usually gets a good jump when he’s on pole for a race, but it appeared he was surprised they threw the green flag and was sixth going into the first turn. I can’t remember the last time the pole winner didn’t lead a lap.  His day got worse with two speeding penalties on his last pit stop.

I knew trouble was coming when I saw Charlie Kimball and Will Power side by side going into turn 4. Kimball seems to be involved whenever there’s a crash lately. I keep going back and forth on who was at fault, but I think Will should have backed off knowing who he was next to.  He would have passed him later.  Kimball this season has taken out Graham Rahal early at St. Pete and now Will Power at Long Beach. Last year at Watkins Glen, Kimball clashed with both drivers, ending their day.

The early yellow changed strategies. Five laps were added to the race distance to make this a three stop race and allow the drivers to race without saving fuel.  The first lap caution effectively ended that idea. Some teams opted to stick with three stops, others went with two. James Hinchcliffe only stopped twice and won. Ryan Hunter-Reay also \ made only two stops and was in position for a runner-up spot when electrical issues with six laps to go took him out of the race. More on the Andretti team woes in a minute.

Simon Pagenaud had the drive of the day. Forced to start last because of a qualifying penalty, the defending series champion drove to a fifth place finish. Passing people in the pits doesn’t account for all the position improvements. He found his way around cars on the track.

The podium was Hinchcliffe, Bourdais, and Josef Newgarden, getting his first podium as a Team Penske driver.  Bourdais now has a win and a second place in the young season. He needs to extend his lead some more at Barber with two ovals coming up after the Alabama race.

Notes:

All four Andretti cars failed to finish. Marco Andretti had an engine failure; Takuma Sato, Alexander Rossi, and Ryan Hunter-Reay all had electrical failures.  Electronic issues seem to plague this team a lot. Last year at Pocono Hunter-Reay was on his way to victory when a power hiccup caused a momentary stall on the backstretch.

This is the first time since 2013 that neither  a Penske nor a Ganassi car won the first two races of the season, and the first time since 2008 that an Andretti, Penske, or Ganassi hasn’t won either of the first two.

Honda still waiting to win a road course pole. It may happen at Barber.

Zach Veach will drive car 40 for A. J. Foyt in the Indianapolis 500.

Jack Harvey secured a ride for the 500 with Andretti Autosport in car 50.

The car count for the Indianapolis 500 is now 29.

Greatest 33 Non-Winners

I’ll be back later this week with an update on the project. If you’re doing a grid, please send them to me by April 30.

Counting Blue Cars- Long Beach Preview: Will Honda Stay Strong?

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Round 2 of the Verizon IndyCar Series starts Friday in Long Beach.  This is my favorite street event on the circuit.  The entire community embraces the race, the fans are knowledgeable, and the amount of activities and displays are unsurpassed at any street event.  This race has a 40 year plus history, and it shows. They know how to do this event properly.  Every Indycar fan needs to go to Long Beach at least once.

The best advice for watching this year is get a spotter’s guide. Sponsor and livery changes abound.  Ed Carpenter Racing has Spencer Pigot sponsored by Loki the Wolf Dog and J. R. Hildebrand is in the Preferred Freezer Services livery this week. Scott Dixon’s car will look like Tony Kanaan’s carrying both carrying NTT Data colors.  Helio Castroneves is in the AAA car this week.  Simon Pagenaud has Menard’s livery and Josef Newgarden is wearing the Hum colors.  Graham Rahal’s car is sponsored by Mi-Jack this week. Last, Marco Andretti has switched to UFD, which will be his sponsor for 7 races this year, as H. H. Gregg is out as a sponsor.

If you like blue and white cars, don’t miss this race.  Eleven cars carry this combination in some form.   I can’t remember such a large change in two consecutive races.

This race will tell us more about Honda this year. Was St. Pete a fluke? Is Honda for real? I think the latter is true.  Do they have enough for the pole? Probably, but Will Power and Simon Pagenaud have to be the favorites.  For the race itself, there is an even more motivated Will Power after his race debacle at St. Pete, and Scott Dixon, hoping to build on his third place finish  in Florida. Dixon also wants to correct his qualifying error that cost him the pole.

Drivers to watch closely this weekend are Sebastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal, and Josef Newgarden.  After his convincing win at St. Pete, a good Long Beach result could put Bourdais in the thick of the title hunt. Rahal typically starts the season slowly, but could use a top 5 in the race after his collision in St. Pete. Newgarden, in his second race for Penske, looks to improve on his 8th place at St. Pete.  He has qualified on the front row at Long Beach before, so a crucial good starting spot is possible.

Passing is challenging here, so pit strategy is crucial. Only two drivers, Mike Conway, who started 17th in 2014, and Will Power,12th on the grid in 2012,  have won from outside the top 5 in qualifying..  I see this coming down to a race between Pagenaud and Dixon, like last year, with Dixon prevailing this time.

Bonus Coverage:  NBCSN is airing practice live tomorrow at 5 pm . The network did this several times last year.  Qualifying is at 6:30 pm Saturday, and race coverage begins at 4 pm Sunday.  Practice sessions not on TV are streamed.

Notes:

Remember the good old days when Penske and Ganassi were known collectively as the red cars?  The only red left are the numbers on the 2 and 12.

I can’t remember the last time Fuzzy’s Vodka was not a primary sponsor on an ECR car.

This is the 34th Indycar event at Long Beach.  Mario Andretti won the first event in 1984.  Before Indycar ran here this was the venue for the Formula 1 US Grand Prix.

IMSA and Pirelli World Challenge also are racing this weekend.