Note: I’m going to try and do my own review of each INDYCAR race this season at some point between the Monday and Thursday of the week following with even larger reviews about Indy (because it’s Indy) and Texas if I am able to attend in June (will have a full weekend recap; maybe even daily). Please note that I am not a technical expert and don’t know a lot about what’s going on under the hood so I will be recapping more on the drivers and the racing itself. Oh and TV too.
Everyone - fans, teams, drivers, media members alike - knew that beginning the new INDYCAR season was not going to be easy. Beginning on the streets of St. Petersburg, Dan Wheldon‘s adopted hometown? Even more difficult. The loss of Dan last October at Las Vegas is still fresh for everyone who is involved with or a fan of the series. On Sunday, one of the first hurdles we had to cross after Dan’s death was crossed and the race concluded with a few surprises near the front and a driver on top of the podium who hasn’t seen victory lane in awhile.
Pre-Race: I missed the entire pre-race show thanks to local programming that was replayed later Sunday evening. Not to mention they could have shaved off the 30 minutes of paid programming they’d shown before this hour-long program. Believe me, I emailed the station regarding this and will continue to do so if they continue to do things like this.
I was able to view the Wheldon segment online Monday morning and it was beautifully done and brought some tears to my eyes (which will cause people I know to make fun of me after they read this).
The station DID join the broadcast just in time for the start. Lovely to see Holly Wheldon in attendance and waving the green flag. Her brother would’ve been proud.
The Race Broadcast: I do agree that the race was a tad boring based on was on TV but I believe that part of it was a failure of whomever produced the race to show the right camera angles when needed. We missed a lot of passes including what led up to the crucial pass that ultimately determined the winner (whom I will discuss in detail later).
The Race: While I give the broadcast a C (only because I heard that the pre-race was good), I would the racing itself a B+. There wasn’t much passing (on TV) but the drivers mostly raced each other clean and with respect. There was no lap 1 crash that many were expecting.
In all there were only two major incidents involving contact - James Jakes in the tire barrier and Helio Castroneves getting into Ed Carpenter, deemed a racing incident by race control, sending the newest owner/driver spinning.
All but one (Jakes) of the retirements during the race were due to mechanical failures. KV Racing’s Tony Kanaan was first followed by Simona de Silvestro, Katherine Legge, Takuma Sato, Sebastien Bourdais, Mike Conway, and JR Hildebrand. In all, eight cars, three Hondas, two Chevys, and three Lotuses, did not finish; one due to contact and the rest due to some kind of mechanical issue.
Lotus: I was probably one of the many people who weren’t expecting much out of Lotus at St. Pete. It was known that they were the manufacture who had had the least amount of the track time and develop unlike Chevy and Honda. While the finishes (15th, 16th, 21st, 23rd, and 24th out of 26 cars) partially reflect expectations, Lotus did have a better showing than predicted. Sebastian Bourdais in a Dragon Racing Lotus (probably the team I tend to expect the least out of at times) ran in the top five for a short time before having to pit.
Will things improve for Lotus teams? With more track time and testing, I believe so.
Where Were Dario and Will? One of the most surprising performance this past weekend in St. Pete was the fact that neither Dario Franchitti or Will Power finished in the top five. Will sat on the pole (for what felt like the millionth time) and led for 11 laps before his first pit stop just before the first caution came out and never found the front again. Dario missed the Firestone Fast Six and never seemed to be a factor. At the moment, I’m not concerned about these two. Now if it was summer? Yeah. I’d be wondering what is wrong with them. As of right now, my verdict is that they’ll both be fine and we will see them both up front again soon.
Manica-Mania: Like I said earlier, I missed the pre-race which meant I missed the initial shot that has been replayed on both SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel - James Hinchcliffe in his black wig. As the new GoDaddy.com guy, replacing Danica at Andretti Autosport this year and probably for many years to come, the “Mayor of Hinchtown” had some big shoes (or is that heels?) to fill.
Anyway, on the track, Hinch did a fine job finishing fourth, the second highest finishing Andretti driver after 3rd place finisher Ryan Hunter-Reay. I’ve got a feeling that the 27 Chevy will be making at least one appearance in victory lane this year. Now the only concern is what he will actually do when he gets there.
The Three Rookies (Four If You Wish to Count Rubens): I do admit that I wasn’t completely shocked by Rubens Barrichello’s lack of performance Sunday. After all, despite what some may say, INDYCAR and Formula 1 are different and he will have to adapt to things that are done in INDYCAR that aren’t done in Formula 1. Given time, he will improve at KV Racing.
Also feel sorry for Katherine Legge. I do believe that she has talent and can get the job done but she is at a big disadvantage because of where she’s at and what she’s driving as well as her lack of driving open wheel cars in recent years. Given time, she, Dragon, and Lotus will improve.
I am very surprised by Josef Newgarden’s performance Sunday for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. While I expected him to have a decent showing, seeing him around the top 10 was a delight. Maybe this rookie battle won’t be the runaway we’re expecting. Also, there has been a lot of talk about Walgreens sponsoring the 67. Come on Walgreen! Do it! Sponsor this little team with big talent.
The best performing rookie this past weekend was Simon Pagenaud in his first start for Schmidt-Hamilton Racing. After a 10-position penalty at the start for an “unapproved engine change” (which sounded more like a “better safe than sorry” move by both Honda and the team), Pagenaud scored a sixth place finish right where he originally qualified. Imagine if he’d gotten to start sixth originally. He probably would’ve been a factor. I do have a gut feeling that he will win a race this year, likely on a road or street course (I’m thinking maybe Long Beach or Mid-Ohio).
By the way, I do have to admit that I’m still picking Simon to be rookie of the year (though I have a feeling that Newgarden will be right behind him) not just because of how he will perform on the road and street courses, a majority of the schedule, but because I absolutely love him. I first noticed Simon at Walker in the 2007 Champ Car Series and have followed him through the various series he’s competed in since. So I apologize in advance if I express some love for Simon.
Other Notables: Target-Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon finished 2nd and led the most laps (37)… KV Racing’s EJ Viso finished 8th... Ganassi Racing’s Charlie Kimball tied his career best finish of 9th… The highest finishing Lotus was Alex Tagliani for Bryan Herta Autosport… Takuma Sato, driving in his first race for Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing led 11 laps but retired on lap 73 due to mechanical issues.
After the Checkered Flag - A Moment of Celebration and Reflection: At the end of 100 laps, Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves, after a nightmare 2011 season, ended up back in victory lane and on the fence but there was a small twist to his well-known victory celebration this time around.
Helio coincidentally celebrated his victory on Dan Wheldon Way climbing the fence twice. The first time in front of the stands as expected. Afterwards, a track official pointed out the fence across the track and Helio did what only Helio would do – climb the fence and give a pat to the sign in memory of one of the series’ favorites – leaving many fans with tears of both joy and sadness. And, from what I hear, several photographs of that moment of Helio on the fence with the Dan Wheldon Way sign were in many newspapers around the country (not mine of course; it wasn’t even mentioned in the sports section).
As a fan of Helio, I was thrilled to see him back on top of the podium. A very emotional victory. This was his first win since what turned out to be the final oval race at Motegi, Japan in 2010 and, as I said earlier, the first race since Vegas. Helio’s tribute was very touching.
A huge congratulations to Helio on his third St. Pete victory and a big thank you for the salute to such a great champion. Up in heaven, Dan was smiling
Next Race: April 1
Honda Grand Prix of Alabama
Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, AL
2 PM ET (1 PM CT) - NBC Sports Network
Defending Winner: Will Power
