Congrats to Will Power, IndyCar Champ

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Chet

For the third year running, the IndyCar Champion was crowned at the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. And after finishing IndyCar runner-up three times, it was finally Will Power’s time to take the crown.

Will Power came to Auto Club Speedway with a lead of 51 points over Penske Racing teammate Helio Castroneves and 81 points over Simon Pagenaud. Helio’s pole reduced the lead to 50 points entering the race, and with the finale awarding double points – up to 103 with all the bonuses – Power’s lead was anything but secure, especially with his starting position on the last row.

In the first 10 laps, Pagenaud was losing places while Power gained a few as his teammates Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya ran at the front.

At the halfway point, Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay was leading from Montoya and Castroneves. Power was running 7th in the thus far caution free race. Hunter-Reay was steadily pulling away from Montoya just before pit stops around lap 140. On lap 145, just after most had cycled thru the pits, Castroneves lead Tony Kanaan and Montoya.

On lap 175, Ryan Hunter-Reay spun, bringing out the first caution – a record run of green flag laps. On the ensuing green, Will Power drove aggressively to the front from 5th like a man possessed. He took the lead on lap 189.

On laps 198 thru 200, the Ganassi Racing pair of Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon both passed Power. Late pit violations for Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay put them both out of race contention and also ended Helio’s title hopes. On Will Power’s last stop, a mistake was made on his front wing adjustment that made his car very difficult to handle. Since Helio’s penalty essentially eliminated him from championship contention and Pagenaud had gradually lost several laps throughout the night, Power was able to nurse his car home while Tony Kanaan took his first and well-deserved win on the last race of the season.

We’re lucky in SoCal to host two of North America’s premier open wheel races – the Grand Prix of Long Beach and the season ending 500 miler. For the third year in a row, we were treated to an exciting finale that crowned the IndyCar season Champion. Not sure I am a fan of ending the season so early – it seems like we should be seeing these guys for at least another month. That makes the off-season just that much longer as well. I can’t wait until Long Beach in the Spring!

SoCal Speed!

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Chet

Spring brings racing to Southern California, and several of the season’s best events happen over the next couple of weekends.

First of all, this weekend we have the Porsche Club of America (PCA) 13th Annual California Festival of Speed at Auto Club Speedway. The Festival of Speed is the largest Porsche event in the Southwest, and it really does have something for everyone: Cup Races, Time Trials, Autocross, Concours, Vendors, & a Swap Meet. More info including schedule and map on the calendar here: California Festival of Speed.

Next weekend the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship (TUSC) and IndyCar come to SoCal for the 40th Grand Prix of Long Beach – a massive weekend celebration of SoCal speed. Long Beach is really a can’t miss event for motorsports fans. Check out what SoCal’s Bill Auberlen of BMW Team RLL has to say about the party that is Long Beach here on the TUSC site. Information, tickets, schedule, map, fan guide and much more can be found here: Grand Prix of Long Beach.

So far, aside from some really horrible officiating calls that have directly effected the race results, the unification of ALMS and Grand-Am under the TUSC banner has worked out quite well. In particular, the series seems to have gotten the balance of power between the former ALMS LMP2 cars and the former Grand-Am DP cars just about right. No surprise, the racing the in the GT classes has been particularly exciting and competitive.

IndyCar welcomes fan favorite Juan Pablo Montoya back to open wheel racing with Team Penske with teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves. The competition between the Penske guys, Team Ganassi (Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, & Charlie Kimball), and Andretti Autosport (Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, and Carlos Munoz) should be particularly close this year. Sadly, we’ll be missing the 2009 Grand Prix of Long Beach winner, Dario Franchitti, who retired in the offseason due to injuries sustained in the Houston race last year.

Also next weekend, the Porsche Owners Cup will be running a Cup Race and Time Attack weekend at Willow Springs.

Motorsports Week – The Good, Bad, & Sad

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Chet

This past week has been quite a mix – happy things, not so happy things, but lots of emotion nonetheless. Starting last Sunday, on the good side, a SoCal racer named Charlie Kimball won his first IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio with an inspired drive in a back up car. Staying happy, another couple of SoCal racers had quite a battle in the GT class of the Grand-Am race at Road America on Saturday. Bill Auberlen in a Turner Motorsport BMW passed Patrick Long in a Park Place Motorsports Porsche late in the race to win the GT class. The Grand-Am – ALMS double-header at Road America was a great setup for sports car fans, and Sunday’s ALMS race was shaping up to have a fantastic finish across multiple classes, but a full course yellow with just under 9 minutes remaining left us with an anticlimactic finish under yellow. Not so good. But probably the worst part of the motorsports week was Sunday evening’s final broadcast of both Speed Center and Wind Tunnel as SPEED becomes Fox Sports 1 in the next week.

Motorsports Week – Charlie Kimball’s First IndyCar Win

In last Sunday’s Mid-Ohio IndyCar race, Charlie Kimball drove a fantastic race to take his first win in the series for the Ganassi Racing team. He passed Simon Pagenaud on lap 73 of the 90 lap race for the final lead change of the race. Kimball was on a different, and ultimately better strategy than his Ganassi teammates, Scott DIxon and Dario Franchitti. Dixon and Franchitti were initially on a two stop, fuel save strategy, while Kimball was clocking off great times lap after lap. He ultimately led 46 of the 90 laps. The whole story was all the more remarkable because Kimball was driving a backup car due to a severe crash on Saturday morning practice.

Motorsports Week – Grand-Am Road America GT Race

Road America was the site of Grand-Am – ALMS double-header this weekend, which was quite a spectacle for sportscar racing fans. In Saturday’s Grand-Am race SoCal’s Patrick Long and Bill Auberlen battled for the lead throughout the latter part of the race. With just over 16 minutes to go in the 2 hour, 45 minute race, Auberlen got a good run on Long off of Turn 3 in his Turner Motorsport BMW and passed him for good under braking into Turn 5. Long stayed close for the rest of the race, but ultimately finished second, still a great finish for his Park Place Motorsports team. Also in Grand-Am race, Brendon Hartley and teammate Scott Mayer took advantage of a relatively late full course yellow and notched their first win for the Starworks Motorsport Daytona Prototype team.

Motorsports Week – ALMS Road America Race

Sunday’s Road America ALMS race was shaping up to a fantastic finish with tight battles across multiple classes and several leading cars getting low on fuel when a bad wreck by a GTC car brought out of full course yellow with about 9 minutes to go. Unfortunately, as Johnny O’Connell said on the broadcast, ‘… I think they’re just taking too long here…’, and race control was not able to manage a return to green flag racing. The set up for a tremendous finish was missed. Even with a finish under yellow, Road America did not disappoint once again with a particularly tight battle in the GT class, which was ultimately won by the #91 SRT Viper driven by Marc Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher.

Motorsports Week – Farewell To SPEED, Speed Center, and Wind Tunnel

In both the bad and sad news of the week, SPEED broadcast their final weekend of racing, which also marked the end of Speed Center and Wind Tunnel, much to the chagrin of racing fans everywhere. We’ve known about the Death of Speed for quite some time now, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take. I must say that while I was watching the final episode of Speed Center and Wind Tunnel, I was both saddened and somewhat unbelieving that Fox Sports 1 decided not to continue these popular enthusiast programs. I’ll especially miss Dave Despain and his excellent guests and regulars like Robin Miller. I hope all those effected find even better opportunities in the near future. Thanks for the great fun and great memories!

Hunter-Reay Win In Baltimore Sets Up Fabulous Fontana IndyCar Finale

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Chet

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s late race restart ambush of Ryan Briscoe secured a come-from-behind win at the Grand Prix of Baltimore and set up an exciting IndyCar finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana in two weeks.

With his win, Hunter-Reay now trails IndyCar series leader Will Power by 17 points going into the final race of the season at SoCal’s Auto Club Speedway on September 15th. With the race winner collecting 50 points, if Hunter-Reay also wins at Fontana, Will Power must finish second or third to take the IndyCar series title – fourth or worse, and Hunter-Reay takes the crown.

Will Power, who has been at the top of the series standings most of the season and was on fire early in the season with three consecutive victories, has not won since Sao Paolo Indy 300 in April. Meanwhile, Ryan Hunter-Reay has gotten hot, winning three in a row himself and four of the last seven races, including Baltimore.

The Auto Club Speedway showdown was set up by Hunter-Reay’s fabulous timing of a restart after a late race caution at Baltimore when he accelerated from second place into the lead past Power’s teammate Ryan Briscoe into Turn 1. Team Penske and Briscoe complained bitterly that Hunter-Reay jumped the start, but IndyCar race control maintained that Hunter-Reay began the charge after the green flag was waved – a legal restart. No other drivers are close enough to Power to have a chance to win the championship. Sure is strange not to have a Target Ganassi driver in contention!

On to the IndyCar finale in Fontana…

Interestingly, SpeedTV has reported that Team Penske is courting Hunter-Reay as a replacement for Briscoe in their third car for next year. For their part, Andretti Autosport maintains that they intend to have Hunter-Reay resigned for two years by the Fontana finale. Briscoe’s management has also been aggressively shopping his services to other IndyCar teams as his seat at Penske has been in question for some time. Sure makes for an interesting build up to Fontana. Stay tuned…

UPDATE (090712):

Autosport is reporting here that Hunter-Reay will be staying at Andretti Autosport.

Dario Franchitti & Scott Dixon at Auto Club Speedway

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Chet

Auto Club Speedway (ACS) in Fontana will be hosting the IZOD IndyCar finale under the lights in September when the series returns to SoCal, and today, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon came to ACS to treat a small group of fans to a lunchtime visit that included interviews, Q&A, a photo session, and a sampling of their signature cuisine.

Gillian Zucker, President of Auto Club Speedway was the event host, and she did a nice job of interviewing and engaging the drivers with audience submitted questions. Both of these guys quickly make connections to a crowd and are approachable good sports.

Scott Dixon is currently 4th in the standings and 28 points behind IndyCar series leader Will Power with three races to go. He has a chance of winning the Championship if he has a couple of good races at Sonoma and Baltimore heading into the finale – especially if Power (1st), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2nd), and Helio Castroneves (3rd) founder. Dario Franchitti is currently 8th with no realistic chance of defending his Champion status. Aside from a fabulous month of May that saw him win his third Indy 500, Dario has had a tough year in which just about anything that could go wrong, did. Aside from trying to take wins, his main role for the rest of the season will be supporting Dixon, his Target Ganassi teammate.

During the interview we learned that Dario’s family fled Mussolini’s Italy for the ‘place with the worst weather.’ His maternal grandmother is, in fact, Scottish. Scott Dixon’s wife Emma was a former top middle distance runner for Great Britain. Dario favors street courses, while Scott favors road courses.

Dario and Scott are both lukewarm on the push-to-pass. In the recent race, the 5 second push-to-pass delay made it confusing and difficult to use it properly at the start. How do you time the boost that will happen 5 seconds in the future when you don’t know exactly when the green flag will drop? Everybody got it wrong. Supposedly the delay is going away.

Both of them felt the finale will be an interesting race with changing conditions as the sun goes down – compromising vision – and the track cools off. 500 miles around the Auto Club Speedway will be exciting and tough.

After the interview and a picture session, fans were invited to sample Scott Tots and Franchitti Ziti – really.

Both of these guys are passionate racers, and the fans love them. They’re great ambassadors for the sport, and I wish them well for the rest of the season.

So What About IndyCar Push-To-Pass?

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Chet

Well after watching a few races under the revived IZOD IndyCar series push-to-pass system, I can’t say that I am a big fan – at least yet. At Edmonton, most of the radio chatter in the last few laps of a competitive race was about when to use push-to-pass, how much to use, how much other guys might have left. Helio Castroneves was able to hold off Takuma Sato, perhaps with the help of conserving his push-to-pass time throughout the race. Too much like a video game for me. This weekend at Mid-Ohio, there was a revision in that there would be a 5 second delay between push and effect. I never heard an explanation for the change, but I would guess that it was to prevent push-to-defend: the overtaking driver would know where he wanted the push-to-pass boost and would push 5 seconds early, and the overtaken driver would not be able to respond. At Mid-Ohio, it was not easy to determine the effect of push-to-pass on the race. Winner Scott Dixon had great pace throughout and the Target Ganassi team executed flawlessly on pit stops. I do have to give IndyCar kudos for how they reflect the use of push-to-pass on live timing and scoring – which is perhaps the best timing display in professional racing.

Personally I would rather see overtaking more dependent upon driver skill and looking after tires that performed more on the edge. And I think the cars should have much more horsepower all of the time with less dependence upon aero. Again this would put a premium on driver skill and car control. Think of what a race is like in the rain. In fact, on Twitter, there were folks rooting for rain at Mid-Ohio. Opinions?

Congratulations to Dario Franchitti

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Chet

In one of the most exciting Indy 500 races, Dario Franchitti took his place on the Borg Warner Trophy for the third time. He withstood an aggressive challenge on the final lap from Takuma Sato, who spun after trying to pass Franchitti on the inside into Turn 1. Franchitti traded first place with Target Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon multiple times over the last several laps. Dixon ultimately finished a close second. Tony Kanaan also mounted a challenge, leading the race as late as lap 193 of 200, and finished third.

The win was a significant vindication for both Target Ganassi and Honda after both had a disappointing qualifying session. Only one Honda engine was in the top ten grid places at the start, but Honda engines were in the top two cars – Franchitti and Dixon – as well as five of the top ten. The result was a major disappointment for the Chevrolet powered teams of Andretti Autosport and Team Penske, both of whom did well in qualification.

Dario Franchitti has now joined a very select group of three time Indy500 winners – including some of his heroes.

Ryan Briscoe Takes Pole at Indy

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Chet

Ryan Briscoe put in a fantastic four lap qualifying run on a warm afternoon at

Ryan Briscoe at Long Beach

Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take the pole in next Sunday’s Indy 500. James Hinchcliffe had been fast all day, and he he had Briscoe beat until the final two corners of his last qualifying lap, but he fell short by 0.0023 seconds – the closest margin in the history of the Indy 500. That’s the equivalent of 9.168 inches over the four laps.

Hinchcliffe said that he went out too hot and was not able to maintain the pace throughout

James Hinchcliffe at Long Beach

four laps. He went out again later trying to beat Briscoe by starting slightly slower and trying to hold his pace throughout; however his first lap was slower than Briscoe’s pole taking average and his speed fell off from there. Nobody else was able to mount a serious challenge to Briscoe’s pole time, although Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, Marco Andretti, and Will Power all tried.

The first three rows for running of the 96th Indy 500:

Ryan Briscoe
James Hinchcliffe
Ryan Hurnter-Reay
Marco Andretti
Will Power
Helio Castroneves
Josef Newgarden
Tony Kanaan
EJ Viso

Notably, all three Team Penske drivers made the 90 minute, top nine shootout for pole while none of four Target Ganassi drivers did, and Andretti Autosport has three of the fastest four qualifiers. IZOD IndyCar points leader, Will Power, will start from 5th. Rookie Josef Newgarden of the underdog Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team qualified 7th. Newgarden is also the highest placed Honda powered car on the grid – the other eight of the top nine being Chevrolet powered. In the rest of the field, Dario Franchitti, reigning IndyCar champion will start 16th, and his teammate Scott Dixon will be 15th on the grid. IndyCar rookie and 19-year Formula 1 veteran, Rubens Barrichello will start 10th. SoCal’s Charlie Kimball will start 15th, while his teammate Graham Rahal will be 12th. Last year’s phenom and near winner, JR Hildebrand will start 18th.

Power Takes Grand Prix of Long Beach

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Chet

The set up for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach IndyCar race – ultimately won by Will Power – promised something interesting. All Chevy-powered cars were penalized 10 spots from qualifying due to unauthorized – but evidently necessary – engine changes. IndyCar rules mandate a 10 spot penalty for an unauthorized engine swap. Chevrolet’s decision was prompted by the failure of James Hinchcliffe’s engine during a practice session at Infineon prior to the start of Long Beach festivities. Apparently, the replacement engines are the same spec, and there has been speculation that fuel detonation (AKA knocking) was the problem.

With that backdrop, Parnelli Jones gave that famous command for the drivers to start their engines. The excitement started shortly after the green flag as Josef Newgarden attempted an outside pass on pole-sitter Dario Franchitti at Turn 1, clipped Dario’s right front, and slid into the tire barriers. Full course yellow before lap 1 complete! On the restart, Justin Wilson made a successful Turn 1 pass on Franchitti, which began Dario’s slide over the next several laps. Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato, and Scott Dixon passed Franchitti in succession while Justin Wilson was simply running away from the field.

On lap 20, Sebastien Bourdais, former four time Champ Car Champion skidded into the Turn 9 tire barriers after having moved up 5 positions from his last row starting spot. Wilson took the opportunity to dive into the pits and changed from red to black tires. Franchitti had a horrible restart on lap 23, and Sato took the lead. Shortly after the restart, EJ Viso tangled with Alex Tagliani, causing Tagliani to pit for an extended repair. Viso was later penalized with a drive thru penalty. Later on lap 23, Marco Andretti hit the Turn 8 tire wall in a violent crash that brought out another full course yellow. Marco had been making a run on Graham Rahal, and as Rahal moved right slightly to defend, Andretti’s left front tagged Rahal’s right rear. The resulting collision launched Andretti into an airborne 360 degree spin – taking out Rahal’s rear wing – before slamming into the barriers. While the cars circled under yellow, Bourdais rejoined the race and Dixon left it. Dixon’s car simply quit on the approach to Turn 8, not far from where Andretti and Rahal collided.

The top 5 on the lap 30 restart were Briscoe, Franchitti, Castroneves, Wilson, & Pagenaud. Even though Dario was struggling thru the first third of the race, he was still near the front. Dario, Helio, & Will Power pitted on lap 34, leaving Pagenaud in the lead with Kanaan in second and Wilson third on lap 35. By lap 40, Power was pushing James Jakes hard for fifth place, and on lap 41, he completed a Turn 1 pass. Pagenaud was in first and Wilson second as Kanaan pitted.

With 40 laps to go, Pagenaud was still in the lead, but needed to save some fuel. Wilson was still hanging on in second on his blacks; Sato was third. Will Power had managed to fight his way to fourth from twelfth. Rubens Barrichello was all the way up to seventh, and JR Hildebrand was eighth but struggling with handling issues. Conway’s car just quit – the second Honda to simply give it up. Pagenaud pitted from the lead with 37 to go; Sato moved up to take the lead once again with Wilson right behind in second. One lap later, Power took second from Wilson with a Turn 1 pass. At this point, Charlie Kimball was hanging on in fourth as the top Ganassi car, and Barrichello was right behind him in fifth.

Viso had been holding up Castroneves, who was desperate to get past him. In a crazy incident between Turns 7 & 8 Helio ended up accidentally chopping his teammate Ryan Briscoe while trying to get past Viso. Amazingly, there was only minor contact, and all three managed to get thru Turn 8 relatively unscathed – and with Helio ahead of Viso.

Wilson pitted with 33 to go, and Power came in two laps later leaving Sato in first, followed by Hildebrand, Hunter-Reay, and Hinchcliffe. With 30 to go, Sato made his last stop, leaving Hunter-Reay in first and Hildebrand in second. Within the next three laps, Hunter-Reay, Hildebrand, Briscoe, and Hinchcliffe all pitted. Now the top four were Pagenaud, Kanaan, Sato, and Power. The question remained: of all the fast runners, who had to conserve fuel, and who could make it to the end?

With 20 to go, the top five were Pagenaud, Power, Sato, Jakes, and Wilson – Power having gotten by Sato on lap 26. From this point, Wilson began slipping back, his tires going away; he was passed by Barrichello (for fourth) then Hildebrand (for fifth).

Pagenaud pitted from the lead with 16 laps to go, promoting Power to the top spot. He came back out into fourth between Rubens and JR and was charging hard. By now Hunter-Reay, Kimball, Wilson, and Hinchcliffe were running in a tight pack for sixth thru ninth. Pagenaud took third from Barrichello with 11 laps remaining. The final ten would be exciting – still, who was okay on fuel?

With eight to go, Will Power had about a 5 second gap to Takuma Sato in second, but Simon Pagenaud was charging fast. One lap later, Barrichello, who last pitted on the same lap as Power, came in for a splash of fuel. How could Power make it seven more laps? Pagenaud passed Sato for second with six to go at Turn 1. With 5 to go, he was about 5 seconds behind Power, who seemed to be conserving fuel, and charging very hard.

Kanaan was pushing Hildebrand very hard for sixth; he took a run at Turn 8 but backed out as the two nearly touched. Finally at Turn 1 with three laps to go, Kanaan took the spot. Power got the call to put the pedal down; could he keep Pagenaud behind him?

On the final lap, Hunter-Reay spun Sato from third at Turn 6. What a shame; after such a great run, Sato would lose a podium spot. Later at the Turn 11 hairpin, Helio punted Rubens into a spin that caused a major conflagration involving those two plus Wilson and Servia – blocking the entire turn!

In the end, Will Power was able to hold off Simon Pagenaud for the win, and James Hinchcliffe took the final podium spot. Hunter-Reay and Castroneves were both penalized for their final lap transgressions – small consolation to their victims. Congratulations to Will Power and Team Penske.

The big story lines for the 38th running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach were:

Will Power wins from twelfth after the IndyCar mandated ten spot grid penalty; he was also able to run a hard 31 laps from his last stop while others needed fuel
Franchitti finished two laps down at fifteenth after starting on pole; neither Target Ganassi cars were competitive beyond the midpoint of the race
Honda could not manage a win even though all Chevrolet powered cars were penalized 10 grid places
Team Penske is 3 for 3 so far this season
Andretti getting airborne and crashing hard after hitting Rahal’s right rear with his left front

Can’t wait until next year…

Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy Car Race Just Over 1 Hour Away…

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Chet

Ryan Briscoe won the Firestone Fast Six yesterday while setting the track record in his Hitachi #2 car. Unfortunately, he’ll take a ten spot grid penalty along with all other Chevy-powered cars because of a decision by Chevrolet to change all engines after James Hinchcliffe had a major engine problem in a practice session before the Long Beach weekend. He’ll start at eleventh alongside his Penske teammate Will Power at twelfth.

The penalties leave Dario Franchitti in his #10 Target Ganassi car on the front row along with rookie Josef Newgarden in the #67 Sarah Fisher Harman racing car. Justin Wilson (#18) and Simon Pagenaud (#77) will start in row two. Scott Dixon (#9) and Takuma Sato (#15) will share row three.

Having so many of the fast drivers starting from the middle of the grid should make for an exciting IZOD IndyCar race today at the Long Beach street course.

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