Boy, did everyone get that wrong or what!!
Anyway........without further ado, here are the midseason grades for the teams. So, line up on the stripes, and take your punishment!! Well, let's go.....
Marlboro-Team Penske. With Sam Hornish, Jr.'s win at Indy this year, the Captain, Roger Penske, got his 14th 500 victory, and finally has a shot at winning an IndyCar Series title courtesy of either Hornish or Helio Castroneves. Having Toyota engines for the past two years made them focus on having the best mechanical and aero grip packages in the series; now that everyone has Honda engines, all that hard work paid off........big time. 
Target-Ganassi Racing. If it hadn't been for a botched pit stop at Texas and a cut tire at the Brickyard, Dan Wheldon would have three wins and the likely points lead. He's still the reigning series champion, so don't count him out yet. As for teammate Scott Dixon......his resurrection in the series can spelled in one word......Honda. If any team can stop the Captain......it's the Chipster's. 
Panther Racing. At the beginning of this year, they looked like they were dying on the vine......yet, thanks to another team's decision-making processes(....... 
.........), Vitor Meira, by all accounts, is enjoying the best season of his IRL career. Granted, he's probably sick and tired of finishing 2nd, but this savvy, smart Brazilian'll get to victory lane in time. As for the rest of the teams..............
1}Aguri-Fernandez Racing. Both Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsurra have had decent seasons to date; Sharp's seen the front at Texas and Richmond and Matsurra's kept his nose clean all year and been surprisingly competitve.
2}Dreyer & Reinbold. Buddy Lazier has officially reached backmarker status, thanks to the podium finish Ryan Briscoe achieved in his one-off at Watkins Glen.
3}A.J. Foyt Racing. Supertex may have a new knee, and Honda engines, but........for a few occasions, Felipe Giaffone and A.J.'s team haven't had much success this year.
4}Vision Racing. Although the addition of Tomas Scheckter has helped the career of Ed Carpenter.....it, IMHO, hasn't helped Scheckter's career.
5}Rahal-Letterman Racing. Although it's becoming apparent that the team's decision to go with the Panoz chassis has hurt them immeasurably, the team still hasn't returned to the form they had in 2004. Buddy Rice isn't back to his 2004 form, and Jeff Simmons is still coming to grips with his ride for the year. Ironically, Danica Patrick's had the best season of the team's drivers and has effectively become the team's lead driver this year, with four top-10 finishes(out of the team's five this year).
6}Cheever Racing. After being retired for the past years, the first seven races of 2006 have proven one thing.......Mr. Cheever, please go back to being a team owner only.
But the worst performance for a team this has been.......
7}Andretti-Green Racing....my, my, my....how the mighty have fallen. With the exception of rookie Marco Andretti, this team went from being the "team that could do no wrong" to....."the team where nothing's gone right." While Tony Kanaan has been competitive at times, both Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta have struggled all year long.
Getting an "incomplete" grade for the mid-point is....
8}Hemelgarn Racing. Remember that photo at the beginning of the season with Ron Hemelgarn, P.J. Chesson, Carmelo Anthony and Gene Simmons? Well, Hemelgarn's closed shop, Chesson's out of a ride for the time being, Anthony's gone back to the basketball court, and the silver-tongued genius hasn't been seen since Indy. Well, look at it this way....Chesson now has time to admire that Indy 500 tattoo he got on Bump Day.
Please feel free to comment.........just keep the comments clean, okay?
