2006 Commentaries from the Paddock

[mlittle]

With one race remaining, four drivers, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon are still in contention to hoist the series championship trophy at Chicagoland Sept. 10th; the only question is.....who, and how? Here, then, are the possible routes to the title:

~~the simplest route belongs to Helio Castroneves, current points leader. As long as A}he wins the race, or B}he finishes ahead of the other 3, the title is his

~~for second-place Sam Hornish, Jr., the routes go as follows.........
A}he wins, the title's his
B}if he finishes 2nd and Castroneves finishes 3rd
C}if he finishes 3rd and Castroneves finishes 4th
D}if he finishes 4th and Castroneves finishes 5th
E}if he finishes 5th, Castroneves must finish no better than 6th(4th if Hornish gets the 3 pts for most laps lead('mll')
F}if he finishes 6th and Castroneves finishes 7th(6th if Hornish leads the most laps)
and so on......

~~for third-place Dan Wheldon, the routes are a bit more complicated......
A}Wheldon-1st(w/out mll), Castroneves-5th(7th w/mll), Hornish-5th(6th w/mll)
B}Wheldon-1st(w/mll), Castroneves & Hornish-4th
C}Wheldon-2nd(w/out mll), Castroneves-12th(13th w/mll), Hornish-10th(12th w/mll)
D}Wheldon-2nd(w/mll), Castroneves-9th, Hornish-8th
E}Wheldon-3rd(w/out mll), Castroneves-15th(18th w/mll), Hornish-14th(17th w/mll)
F}Wheldon-3rd(w/mll), Castroneves-12th, Hornish-11th
G}Wheldon-4th(w/out mll), Castroneves-18th(w/out mll), Hornish-17th(w/out mll)
H}Wheldon-4th(w/mll), Castroneves-15th, Hornish-14th
I}Wheldon-5th(w/mll), Castroneves-17th, Hornish-16th

~~for Scott Dixon, currently 4th, the points routes are actually simpler than for teammate Wheldon.....
A}Dixon-1st w/out mll, Castroneves-6th(8th w/mll), Hornish-6th(7th w/mll)
B}Dixon-1st w/mll, Castroneves-5th, Hornish-4th
C}Dixon-2nd w/out mll, Castroneves-12th(15th w/mll), Hornish-11th(14th w/mll), Wheldon-3rd(4th w/mll)
D}Dixon-2nd w/mll, Castroneves-10th, Hornish-9th, Wheldon-3rd
E}Dixon-3rd w/out mll, Castroneves-17th, Hornish-16th, Wheldon-4th(6th w/mll)
F}Dixon-3rd w/mll, Castroneves-14th, Hornish-13th, Wheldon-4th
G}Dixon-4th w/mll, Castroneves-17th, Hornish-16th, Wheldon-5th

See, I said it would be simple, didn't I?

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Someone referred to the car as (the Batmobile), which was fast. It's black with that little bit of blue; it's a hot car and will pop out on the track like no other. It'll look good in first place.

With those words to a Chicago-area reporter, Andretti-Green Racing driver Danica Patrick began a new chapter in her IndyCar Series career, two days after ending a five-year relationship with Rahal-Letterman Racing. Team officials with AGR held the press confrence today at a Chcago-area art gallery, introducing the #7 Dallara/Honda she'll be driving next year, with primary sponsorship from Motorola; additional sponsorships included are AirTran, American EuroCopter, Argent Mortgage, GoDaddy.com, AirTran Airways, XM Satellite Radio and OneAmerica. While bittersweet about this past Sunday, where she finished 12th at Chicagoland, she said she's looking forward to the challenges ahead.....

It's something good, and change is good. But I'm going to miss not being able to see some of the guys as much as I do driving for Rahal-Letterman Racing. I'll always be grateful for the things Bobby and everybody at the team has done to help me and my career, and for that I'm eternally grateful.

In joining AGR, Patrick comes to a team that has won two of the last three IndyCar Series championships(Tony Kanaan in 2004, Dan Wheldon in 2005); currently Patrick, along with Kanaan and 2006 Bombardier rookie award winner Marco Andretti, are confirmed for 2007. When asked about that, Patrick replied,

It's a huge step for me to be joining such a successful team whose only goal is to win races; I'm greatly honored.

Also on hand was AGR co-owner Michael Andretti, who said that it was Patrick's 4-lap qualifying run at Indy in 2005 that first caught everyone's attention, backed up on raceday that May by her performance in "the Greatest Specacle in Racing", leading 19 laps and finishing 4th. When asked whether that was what got the ball rolling on her coming to AGR, he commented,

(After that run), I thought, 'Man, I would love to have her on my team; I really like her attitude.' I really didn't believe it would happen, and I was really surprised Bobby didn't re-sign her after the 500 that year.

When word came to the team that Patrick's contract option w/Rahal-Letterman wasn't picked up, effectively making her a free agent, AGR officials sprung into action.

When she came to us and said she was available, we said, 'Well, we'd love to have you drive for us.' We got the deal done pretty quickly because both sides wanted it to happen.

Andretti added that the combination of experience and communication between the team, its' drivers and everyone involved will be vital to returning the team back to its' prominance in the series, commenting,

What's going to put them in Victory Lane next year is working well (together). I stressed that to Danica, and I think she realizes it. With them and (whoever) our fourth (driver) is, it's going to be a really good, tight team. But we have a lot of work to do over the winter. We're going to maximize our time in order to catch up with Penske and Ganassi. We have a lot of ideas on how to do it; we just needed time, (because) you can't do it in the middle of the season. But now that we have time when we're putting a lot of programs together, hopefully we'll have it figured out by the time we get to Homestead next year.

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With silly season in full swing in the IndyCar Series, let's open the open wheel notebook and see what questions need answerin'......

1}With most of the seats on the grid either stationary or locked for 2007, could there be any changes?
~~There are three drivers who are the most likely to be racing for different teams in 2007......Scott Sharp, Buddy Rice and Dario Franchitti. Sharp recently tested at Iowa Speedway in a Rahal-Letterman racecar, prompting speculation that he might sign with them for 2007. Meanwhile, it's appearing less and less likely that Rice will return to RLR in 2007(where he'll go is anyone's guess...); as for the Scotsman, chances are he'll be back with Andretti-Green in 2007.

2}With the recent compatibility tests at Daytona, what are the chances that the IRL would actually race there?
~~Pretty darn' good......every compatibility test the series has done over the past three years has resulted in that venue receiving a race date. The real test will be later in the off-season when the series plans to do a full-field test on the infield road course; the earliest a race could be held would be, most likely in 2008(probably during the Rolex 24 weekend in late Jan.-early Feb.).

3}How challenging is the 2007 schedule, in your opinion?
~~I'd say it's pretty challenging, similar to the schedules CART had at times in the 1990's. There are five night races, including the series opener in Homestead; there are three times on the calendar when teams will compete with only six days btwn. them(Milwaukee-Texas, Iowa-Richmond and Watkins Glen-Nashville) and five road/street races on the calendar. All told, there are 17 races compressed into a 5-6 month period, meaning a lot of continuity for fans and teams alike.

4}Even though its' way early to ask, will there be 33 cars on the grid for Indy next May?
~~Good question........check back later in the off-season.... . No, in all seriousness, I'm really not that certain; it will depend on two things: 1--will any teams from ChampCar risk running in the 500, and 2--how many Indy-only teams will attempt to compete?

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So, in all curiousity, what did any of us learn from the 2006 IRL IndyCar Series season..........a season which saw tragedy, triumph, close-quarters racing from the shores of South Florida to the Sonoma wine country. There are plenty of things we poor scribes learned, but these'll suffice.....

1} One can't predict what can happen in a weekend, and one can never prepare for what can happen. When the dust had settled on qualifying in Homestead that Saturday afternoon, the happiest people in the paddock, without a doubt, were everyone who worked for Rahal-Letterman Racing. Although Marlboro-Team Penske qualified 1-2, they were expected to do well; no one, and I mean no one, expected Rahal-Letterman to do as well as they did. On the other hand, Panther Racing had started the weekend watching new driver Vitor Meira crash in Friday practice, and then watched him qualify an abysmal 19th. Well, you know what then happened the next day.........Rahal-Letterman's weekend went from a surprised triumph to utter tragedy, while Panther salvaged a somewhat decent weekend, all things considered.

2} The more things change........ When Honda announced that they were going to supply engines to the entire IndyCar Series grid, everyone pretty much figured that parity would be the rule. Boy, did we get one wrong. After dominating CART from 1996-2001, both Target-Ganassi Racing and Marlboro-Team Penske returned to the sharp end of the spear; in the words of Speed Channel's Robin Miller, "it was like watching an IMSA race with all the different classes."

3} Consistancy is sometimes better than no success at all. As seemingly jinxed a season incoming Andretti-Green Racing driver Danica Patrick had in 2006, one statistic caught a lot of eyes in the media. In 2006, she completed 2299 laps(out of a total of 2510), 5th-most(behind Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, Bryan Herta and Helio Castroneves). Not bad; throw in the 200 laps from Homestead(the one race she didn't compete in this year) and that total goes to 2499(only 5 fewer laps than Dixon's 2504 laps). In addition, if you add to her 2006 total the 159 laps she completed at Homestead in 2005(making a total of 2458 laps), she still would've finished just behind Dixon. Like I said, sometimes consistancy is better than not having any success whatsoever.

4} The compressed schedule did work.....I think. When the IRL announced its' 2006 schedule, the biggest complaint anyone(myself included) had was the compressed timeframe; instead of going from early-to-mid March to mid-October, the schedule now ran from late-March to mid-Sept.; a total of around 25-27 weeks. Granted, it gave teams headaches as they had to plan more and more, it helped fans immensely, as they now could more easily follow the series, knowing that there were no major gaps in the calender.

5} The grid won't be the same next year. Looking at the 2007 grid, there are already(as of 26 Nov. 2006) four big changes:1--Patrick's move from Rahal-Letterman to Andretti-Green; 2--the arrival of Scott Sharp from Aguri-Fernandez to Rahal-Letterman; 3--Aguri-Panther's expansion from one car to two cars, and 4--Darren Manning returning to the IRL w/Foyt Racing. Will there be any more? Possibly; there's still a few more months before Homestead in March 2007.

6} Unless your car was red-and-white.......you had a brutal 2006 season. Case in point, Andretti-Green Racing. In 2005, the team won 12 of 17 races(6 of them by 2005 series champion Dan Wheldon); in 2006, the team won 2 of 14 races. Other teams suffered too; Rahal-Letterman's season began tragically(and seemingly remained maligned throughout the year), Panther Racing suffered at times, Foyt Racing floundered almost every week, and both Cheever and Hemelgarn Racing folded tents mid-season.

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When historians write about the 2006 season in motorsports, they'll point to some of the obvious......Sebastien Bourdais and Sam Hornish, Jr. winning their third series titles' in their respective series, Fernando Alonso winning his second straight Formula 1 WDC......but what else happened in 2006???..................

~~In yet another reason why the IRL has no sense of marketing.....they brought in the silver-tongued thief.....I meant, series pitchman, Gene Simmons, who came up with the dumbest pitchsong for any racing series, "I am Indy". Where's Betelguese Productions when ya' need 'em?

~~Prior to the IRL season opener in Homestead, I predicted total parity and a close fight for the series championship since everyone would be driving Honda-powered IndyCars......boy, was I wrong OR what?

~~To give you an idea of how far open-wheel racing has fallen in North America, the ratings for NASCAR's Nextel Cup season-opener, the Daytona 500 were an 11.3. Even if you added the ratings for both ChampCar and the IRL for 2006, they wouldn't even equal a 9.0.

~~In the first of five Busch Series races in 2006, ChampCar's Paul Tracy charged from 40th to 10th before John Andretti spun him out, causing PT to quip, "I guess now I can say that I've been hit by every Andretti now..." Let's see, there's Il Commendatore, Mario; there's Michael; there's John and Jeff........hey PT, ya' forgot little 'ole Marco......

~~18 drivers take the green flag at Long Beach.......and almost immediately a qtr. of the field gets taken out in the first turn, giving SeaBass an easy walk to the win

~~the Old Geezers Club comes out of retirement to race at Indy......oops, I meant, Michael Andretti, Eddie Cheever, Jr. and "Little" Al Unser, Jr., confirming that some drivers will do anything to keep an Indy 500 field at 33 cars.....at least Michael made it to the podium.

~~during the last laps of the 90th running of "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing", ABC analyst Rusty Wallace says "this is one of the best races at Daytona I've ever seen......."; maybe its' just m, or could it be that maybe you've been breathing too many methanol fumes, Rusty...............

~~After Eddie Cheever, Jr. takes out Marco Andretti during the race at Watkins Glen(the second driver he took out that day...... ), Marco remarked to the media, "That guy's an idiot and he doesn't belong out there....." Well spoken words, Marco.....

~~For the first time in the modern era of AOWR, ChampCar releases a schedule without an oval race........I can't wait for KK and Forsythe to talk about how they've got a diverse schedule of races....

~~After getting hosed by RuSport, A.J. Allmendinger wins the first of five races for Forsythe at Portland; what should've been the best story of the year turns into utter ashes when A.J. bolts for the money of NASCAR.........(next bunch of thoughts censored............... )

~~Fight Night at San Jose...........rather than explain what happened btwn. Paul "Dumb---" Tracy and Alex "the Genius" Tagliani, just go to the YouTube forum and watch "Fight Night @ San Jose......."

~~Driving to Asheville to visit friends, I get a cellphone call from close friend Brett Moose, who says, "Matt, I hope you're not stuck in traffic.....Montoya's headin' to NASCAR for 2007." My response, "Yeah, right.......and W's a ------' genius, too." Moments later, Moose turns up the volume on the widescreen at his place, and over the cell I'm hearing the press conference at Chicagoland with the Chipster and JPM.......I'm willing to bet that somewhere in Brazil, the late great F1 legend Ayrton Senna was rolling over in his grave at that moment in time.

~~Fight Night II......while teammate A.J. Allmendinger was racing to a win in Denver, Paul Tracy decided to become a kamikaze.......and Sebastien Bourdais was the victim. PT 2, French-Canadians 0.........the next ChampCar race, ironically, was in the heart of the Franco-phone world in NA motorsports, Montreal......

~~Following the day-to-day news concerning the injuries Cristiano da Matta suffered in a testing crash at Road America.....here's wishing you continued success in your rehabilitation, Shorty!!!

~~Prior to the ChampCar season finale in Mexico City, Paul Tracy injures his shoulder in a golf-cart accident......rumor has it that the driver of said golf cart was Alex Tagliani......whoops.

~~Here's a disparity for you.......at their annual banquet, 2006 Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson received a check for $15,875,125. At their banquet, Sebastien Bourdais received......$500,000.

~~In an eerie similarity to PT's accident, Johnson injures his wrist after falling off of a golf cart.....rumor has it that Dale, Jr. was driving the golf cart and received advice from Tag on how to throw someone off of 'em....

Anyway..........now the notebooks are empty, the pens are dry, and I'm off to the Idiots Bar to ring in the New Year in North America for 2007........as the late Greg Moore would always say.........
See You At the Front!!!!