Hello Internet! It feels good to be talking about racing cars turning circuits again, after a week of seriously debating any life choices that I've ever made regarding Pirelli tires (sorry, tyres). As you probably know, if you read this blog, the IndyCar Series rolls into Pocono Raceway this week, and that means history. Unfortunately, all of that history was made before I turned ten (and now you all have an idea of how old I am, the only question is how many years before I turned ten it happened...) So, I can't really speak to the history.
I also can't (although I haven't done an exhaustive search of this series of tubes we call the internet) find a box score for the 1989 Pocono 500 to do my preview that way. Instead, I'm going to flex my creative writing muscles and do some analogy, based on something that I was glad to see come back to IndyCar this year: the Triple Crown.
One of the other famous Triple Crowns is, of course, in the realm of Thoroughbred Racing. In the US, that consists of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. Eleven horses have won that Triple Crown, and I'm going to make an analogy between each one and a driver in Sunday's Pocono 400 field. Here we go!
1919's Sir Barton is Ryan Briscoe
Our first one, our first stretch. Here goes: after retiring from racing, Sir Barton went on to have a long career with the U.S. Army Remount Service. Do we see the analogy here? Briscoe found himself out of the IndyCar Series after last year, and now he drives (at least part time) the National Guard car for Panther Racing. And, this is worthy of note, Briscoe snuck into the RSWC points at the first Triple Crown Race of the year in Indianapolis, don't be surprised to see a good run out of him, now that he's got a Chevy in the back of his racecar.
1930's Gallant Fox is Dario Franchitti
My unofficial research tells me that Dario is the oldest driver in the IndyCar Series. And, for whatever reason, the term Fox often gets applied to older men. For myself, I'd go so far as to use glowing adjectives like "gallant" for Franchitti as well, but I'm a fan, so your mileage may vary. Additionally, Gallant Fox's sire was named Sir Gallahad. In the Arthurian mythos, Gallahad is sometimes called "God's Knight" because he sees the Holy Grail and is assumed into heaven. An interesting analogy is that Dario's father is named George, the name of another Holy Knight, who once slew a dragon to save some maiden or other. The Saint George Cross then became the flag of England, which makes the analogy break down a little, since Franchitti is Scottish. Oh well, moving on.
1935's Omaha is Sebastien Bourdais
After winning the Triple Crown in America, Omaha went on to have success racing in England. Bourdais, after winning four watered-down Champ Car titles, went on to race in Formula One, where he almost scored points in the 2008 British Grand Prix. Not quite the same success as Omaha had, but pretty close. Also, I would be surprised if Seb has the same luck as Omaha in the remaining Triple Crown races this year...
1937's War Admiral is Will Power
War Admiral was an INCREDIBLY successful horse. He won lots of races, including (as you see) the 1937 Triple Crown. However, what I remember War Admiral for, and this might be true for many of us, is losing to Seabiscuit in a match race. (I remember this, because it was in the movie Seabiscuit.) This is a pretty good analogue for Power, I think. He's an INCREDIBLE racer. He's won a ton of races. But, he always seems to get remembered for finishing second in the championship (often, when he had no business losing). So, let's remember War Admiral as a winner. And, let's think of Will that way too.
1941's Whirlaway is Takuma Sato
This analogy should be obvious to anyone who saw the 2012 Indianapolis 500. Taku was making his best-ever run in a Triple Crown race (even though there was no Triple Crown that year), and he tried to make a daring inside pass on the Gallant Fox...er, I mean Dario Franchitti, on lap 200. He lost his car, and it whirled away into the wall. So, just based on name, we'll put Sato in here.
1943's Count Fleet is James Hinchcliffe
Count Fleet did not have a good beginning to his racing career. As a two year old, he took quite a few races to notch his first win. But, then as a three year old, he never lost. The Mayor of Hinchtown has had a bit of a similar run of things. He took a year to crack the top step of the podium in Indy Lights. He took two years to do the same in the big Series. Then, this year Hinch has won three times, and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. If he could string together some consistent finishes, he could make a push for this year's championship.
1946's Assault is Graham Rahal
I feel like this analogy works on a couple of levels. First, Rahal assaulted both his heat race and the main event last week in Iowa. His car was hooked up, and he not only assaulted the other cars on the grid, but he made that track work like no one else could. The other level on which this works is that this season has assaulted Rahal hard. I've talked before about the difficulties of this year for Graham, and I won't belabor the point, but I feel like this is appropriate.
1948's Citation is Ryan Hunter-Reay
Citation is one of only thee American Thoroughbreds that have ever won 16 straight races. I'm not convinced that any IndyCar driver could win 16 straight races. Ever. But, RHR's last two seasons come as close as you could get. First of all, he had his famous run of three straight wins from Milwaukee to Toronto. Then, this year, he's had six podium finishes in ten races, with five in the last six. If this run of dominance continues, Helio will be in a battle for the championship.
1973's Secretariat is Helio Castroneves
If you ask a person on the street to name a racehorse, I have a feeling that they'd say Secretariat the second-most amount of times. (I'm guessing that first would be Seabiscuit, that's what a movie will get you...) And, if you asked a person on the street to name an IndyCar driver they'd say Helio the second-most amount of times. (I'm guessing that first would be "that guy from Dancing with the Stars," which is technically still Helio, but never mind.) The point is that Helio and Secretariat have had equally dominant careers, with big performances in Triple Crown races. And, Helio has as good a chance as anyone to grab this jewel of IndyCar's Triple Crown.
1977's Seattle Slew is Ed Carpenter
Seattle Slew was a bit of a specialist. He got out of the gate quickly and broke for the lead. This led him to put up good performances at Triple Crown races. Ed Carpenter is also a bit of a specialist. (Note the hyperbolic use of the word "bit" back there.) Ed runs ovals. He runs ovals well. He runs ovals very well. This has led him to put together some good performances in Triple Crow type events. He won at Auto Club last year. He had the pole at Indy this year. And, you should never count out a specialist.
1978's Affirmed is Marco Andretti
Affirmed is the great-great-grandson of War Admiral. That is to say, he is from Racing Royalty. So's Marco Andretti. The other analogue here is in the name. A win at Pocono would affirm the excellent season that Marco has had. It would also affirm that the Andretti family is not actually snakebit. Cause, gosh, it REALLY seems that Marco has been snakebit of late: especially on the Triple Crown speedways. My sense is that he'll get there, eventually.
Hope you enjoyed this goofy, little Pocono preview. I'll be getting serious with my Twitter predictions after qualifying. I NEED to improve my record on ovals!
See you after quals!
-- Guido
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