IndyCar Takes It to the Streets (of Toronto), Volume I

Hello Internet! The first chapter of The Hobbit happened all up over Scoring Indy Central from Monday to Wednesday. I had a lovely time seeing friends, both old and new. However, the Writing Cave doubles as our guest room. As you can imagine, this led to putting together the weekend's spreadsheets at a much slower pace than I'd have liked. Because of that, I'll be posting Race 1 now, and then over the next two days I'll be posting scores and observations from Race 2 along with an entire post devoted to looking at our little experiment: the Race Score World Championship.  Everything's set to go now, so let's get this number party started.


Toronto Race 1 Scores

Finish	Driver	Qualifying	Grid	Laps Led	Completed	A.R.S	RSWC Points
1	Dixon	6	5	14	85	75.73	25
2	Bourdais	2	2	20	85	71.73	18
3	Franchitti	1	1	20	85	64.74	15
4	Andretti	11	10	0	85	62.15	12
5	Kanaan	4	4	0	85	51.32	4
6	Castroneves	8	7	0	85	51.74	6
7	Conway	20	20	0	85	59.82	10
8	Hinchcliffe	14	13	0	85	52.39	8
9	Pagenaud	13	12	0	85	42.90
10	de Silvestro	22	22	0	85	47.40	2
11	Wilson	9	8	0	85	30.06
12	Jakes	5	15	0	85	27.48
13	Carpenter	23	23	0	85	43.37	1
14	Viso	15	14	0	85	35.40
15	Power	3	3	29	84	39.64
16	Saavedra	24	24	0	84	31.05
17	Tagliani	17	17	0	84	23.32
18	Hunter-Reay	7	6	0	83	15.17
19	Vautier	21	21	0	83	17.88
20	Rahal	18	18	0	82	12.19
21	Kimball	16	16	2	72	16.89
22	Briscoe	10	9	0	64	5.67
23	Newgarden	19	19	0	34	1.14
24	Sato	12	11	0	32	1.14

Observations

- This was, in my opinion, the more strictly entertaining of the two races. You had it all: on track battles between Dixon, Power, and Bourdais; tire degradation; pit strategy; and (best of all) last lap controversy between Power and Franchitti (tonight we're gonna party like it's 2011).

- Mike Conway decided to take a break from destroying worlds in qualifying, but he figured something out BIG TIME in the race, vaulting himself from P20 to P7 and proving that he matters in the Race Score World Championship. I'll explain in the RSWC-centric post tomorrow.

- This was a very "even" race with bunches of scores in the 60s and 50s.

- Ed Carpenter. One point. Get some.

Race 1 Prediction Review

- #2inTO Prediction 1) Hondas take minimum 2 podium spots.

- VERDICT - Yes they do. The Chipster seems to be on to something...

- #2inTO Prediction 2) The standing start goes off without much of a hitch.

- VERDICT - No. No, it does not. I blame Brian Barnhart. I don't actually blame Brian Barnhart. I just wanted to say it one more time...

- 1 for 2 on Race 1. Let's see if we can improve with the Sunday race.

RSWC After Race 1

Driver	RCWC Points	Points Back
Castroneves	122	0
Dixon	114	-8
Hunter-Reay	109	-13
Andretti	92	-30
Kanaan	78	-44
Sato	76	-46
Pagenaud	72	-50
Franchitti	72	-50
Hinchcliffe	63	-59
Newgarden	55	-67
Wison	53	-69
Conway	53	-69
Kimball	43	-79
Viso	31	-91
Power	29	-93
Carpenter	29	-93
Bourdais	26	-96
Rahal	23	-99
Servia	18	-104
Munoz	12	-110
Jakes	8	-114
de Silvestro	8	-114
Tagliani	7	-115
Hildebrand	4	-118
Allmendinger	4	-118
Briscoe	1	-121

- We'll save the observations for the upcoming RSWC post, but it suffices to say that our little experiment is starting to get interesting.

Ok friends, that's all for now. Keep an eye on @ScoringIndy on Twitter for posting updates over the next couple days.

Until then!

-- Guido

Getting a Standing Start to the Weekend

Hello Internet! It's Friday here in the Scoring Indy writing cave, and that means a weekend preview can't be far away. This week, we settle in for the IndyCar Series' second double-header weekend at Exhibition Place in Toronto. So, let's take off running, we may not have launch control, but neither does an IndyCar, so here we go!


2012 Toronto Scores

Here's what happened last time a field of IndyCars went to Exhibition Place:

Finish	Driver	Qualifying	Grid	Laps Led	Completed	A.R.S
1	Hunter-Reay	7	6	36	85	82.18
2	Kimball	15	13	0	85	72.00
3	Conway	13	11	0	85	64.00
4	Kanaan	18	17	0	85	71.00
5	Servia	16	14	0	85	62.00
6	Castroneves	8	7	0	85	43.00
7	Hildebrand	17	15	1	85	56.59
8	Jakes	19	24	0	85	63.00
9	Sato	11	9	0	85	36.00
10	Tagliani	6	16	0	85	34.00
11	Barrichello	20	18	0	85	46.00
12	Pagenaud	10	8	23	85	35.53
13	Newgarden	22	20	0	84	41.81
14	Bourdais	4	4	0	84	4.24
15	Power	2	2	20	84	7.93
16	Andretti	24	22	0	84	33.84
17	Franchitti	1	1	5	84	-10.72
18	Carpenter	23	21	0	84	23.91
19	Briscoe	14	12	0	83	2.28
20	Viso	25	23	0	81	19.62
21	Wilson	3	9	0	67	-13.65
22	Hinchcliffe	9	19	0	28	2.73
23	Rahal	12	10	0	23	-0.49
24	de Silvestro	21	25	0	9	3.79
25	Dixon	5	5	0	7	-1.29

- Toronto was a major part of Ryan Hunter-Reay's charge to a championship last year, as he put together a dominating second half of the race.

- This was also the race when I first thought to myself "maybe there's something to Charlie Kimball." This season is leading me to believe that there is.

- Mike Conway. Third place. Worlds. Destroyed.

Stay Tuned

Here's what I'll be keenly observing this weekend:

- Will TO be twice as kind to RHR this year?

- How many worlds will Mike Conway destroy?

- How much will engines matter this week?

- As always, stay tuned to @ScoringIndy on Twitter. Two predictions will go up before each race. Let's see if turning right again helps my predicting ability any...

Get your popcorn ready, this is going to be a good weekend!

-- Guido

Pocono Indy 400 Recap

Hello Internet! Welcome to the Scoring Indy recap of the Pocono 400. Being as we're fairly far into the week already, I couldn't say too much about the race itself that has not already been said. I will say, however, that I derived a great deal of happiness from seeing the Gallant Fox on the podium. (By the way, after last Friday's Triple Crown Horses and IndyCar Drivers Pocono Preview, I've decided that Dario Franchitti is going to be called the Gallant Fox.) So, on to the numbers!


Pocono 400 Scores

Finish	Driver	Qualifying	Grid	Laps Led	Completed	ARS	RSWC Points
1	Dixon	7	17	38	160	83.70	25
2	Kimball	13	12	4	160	74.10	15
3	Franchitti	18	20	0	160	75.28	18
4	Power	4	4	15	160	61.03	8
5	Newgarden	16	15	0	160	62.20	12
6	Pagenaud	9	8	0	160	55.93	4
7	Wilson	20	22	0	160	61.61	10
8	Castroneves	6	6	0	160	47.46	1
9	Carpenter	15	14	0	160	49.57	2
10	Andretti	1	1	88	160	56.65	6
11	de Silvestro	10	9	0	160	34.91
12	Jakes	14	13	0	160	36.24
13	Kanaan	5	5	15	160	34.46
14	Briscoe	23	19	0	159	39.82
15	Mann	19	21	0	159	32.62
16	Bourdais	12	11	0	159	23.02
17	Tagliani	24	24	0	158	29.43
18	Rahal	17	16	0	158	17.51
19	Vautier	11	10	0	158	7.27
20	Hunter-Reay	2	2	0	121	2.08
21	Viso	22	23	0	104	11.16
22	Sato	8	7	0	61	7.24
23	Saavedra	21	18	0	2	2.75
24	Hinchcliffe	3	3	0	0	1.39

Observations

- Obviously, the hard-luck stories of the race are RHR and Kanaan, driver error (their own, in TK's case; and Sato's in Hunter-Reay's.) Mark Wilkinson over at New Track Record wrote an excellent piece this week called "Luck at Pocono," which covers the good luck and hard luck stories from the weekend.

- The shake-up between the Top 10 positions in the race and the distribution of RSWC Points is interesting. A few quick hitters:

1) Marco Andretti gets credit for running high and leading all those laps, pulling in 6 points from P10.

2) Carpenter grabs some points on an oval. Color me unsurprised.

3) Franchitti picks up 18 points based on a dismal qualifying effort, then buoyed by the fuel mileage of the new Honda engine.

- An analogy that I haven't heard made about this race (NB: hadn't when I typed it, just saw Marshall Pruet make it), which I'd like to posit here is that it bears a striking similarity to the 2012 Indianapolis 500 (the first, last, and only IndyCar race that I've actually attended: a fact that I hope to rectify next season). Here are the similarities that I see:

1) Early domination and eventual hard luck for Marco Andretti.

2) Honda wins it based on fuel mileage. 

3) Chip Ganassi cars occupy several podium spots.

4) A surprising P7 finish for Justin Wilson.

- Really stellar performance by Josef Newgarden. Based on average running position, he had an about a P12 or so car. I believe that in a post-race interview on ABC, Jamie Little mentioned to Josef that they hadn't talked about him much at all, but that he'd had a good result. And, that was precisely my assessment of Newgarden's day. Just went out and kept chopping wood, as they say. Good run from #67.

RSWC Update

Driver	RCWC Points	Points Back
Castroneves	116	0
Hunter-Reay	109	-7
Dixon	89	-27
Andretti	80	-36
Sato	76	-40
Kanaan	74	-42
Pagenaud	72	-44
Franchitti	57	-59
Hinchcliffe	55	-61
Newgarden	55	-61
Wison	53	-63
Conway	43	-73
Kimball	43	-73
Viso	31	-85
Power	29	-87
Carpenter	28	-88
Rahal	23	-93
Servia	18	-98
Munoz	12	-104
Bourdais	8	-108
Jakes	8	-108
Tagliani	7	-109
de Silvestro	6	-110
Hildebrand	4	-112
Allmendinger	4	-112
Briscoe	1	-115

Observations

- I wouldn't count Scott Dixon out of the chase for the Race Score World Championship. He was a real contender for most of the first quarter of the season, and with the abundance of twisty events (like those at which he excelled early) coming up, Dixon might just make a push.

- The same could be said for Simon Pagenaud.

- Both of my favorite feel-good stories are tied at 43 points. Charlie Kimball has really shown growth this season, and hopefully Mike Conway is back to destroying worlds at Toronto this weekend.

Prediction Review

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 1) We'll see an all-Chevy podium.

VERDICT -- I meant Honda. Heck, I even meant Ganassi. I swear... 0 for 1

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 2) RHR grabs the lead in the RSWC.

VERDICT -- I'm convinced he would have if Takuma Sato hadn't gone up and over the back of his car, much like JR Hildebrand did to Will Power in St. Pete. 0 for 2

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 3) Both Schmidt cars finish ahead of either RLL cars.

VERDICT -- Pagenaud does. Vautier doesn't. 0.5 for 3

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 4) Two of Simona, Kimball, and Vautier score RSWC Points.

VERDICT -- Kimball, for sure. Vautier, not at all. Simona, close. I said 2. I got 1. 1 for 4 (with just two halves...)

Stay Tuned

- The second double-header weekend of the season is coming up! Including standing starts on Saturday!

- Just like happened in Detroit, we'll do two predictions before the first race and two before the second. Maybe going back to a twisty circuit will improve my luck on predictions.

Later!!

-- Guido

Pocono Preview (without Numbers)

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