Lloyd climbs to top of Indy Pro Series all-time wins list
"It means a lot to me," said Lloyd, who won two races in nine starts last year with AFS Racing and who has won six of eight races this season with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. "I think before the year, I never really thought that I would be one of those guys that would get hung up on small details, details like that of statistics. I was never really a statistics guy. I set my goal as winning Indy, winning the championship."
Lloyd realized the first of those goals in May, leading all 40 laps of the Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he is well on his way to accomplishing the second, leading the standings by 119 points at the halfway point of the season. Lloyd continues to reset his goals as he checks them off his list.
"As soon as you start realizing that these things are possible, it really, really made me want it," said Lloyd, who opened the season with a record-setting five-race winning streak. "To have my name at the top of those statistics is a very special thing and it's something that I've been working very hard for and worked very hard for since I joined the Indy Pro Series."
Despite the dominance, Lloyd knows that the season is only half over and that he needs to continue to race well in the final eight races to win the championship.
"It's just been a phenomenal first half of the year, it really has, and I hope we can continue this for the second half," he said.
Chronicling Lloyd's 8 Victories
. 1 – 7/1/06 at Indianapolis (road course) – Passes Graham Rahal with two laps to go after being treated in the Infield Medical Center just moments before the race.
. 2 – 8/27/06 at Infineon Raceway – Drives from fifth to first, passing for the lead on Lap 9 and leading the final 22.
. 3 – 3/24/07 at Homestead-Miami Speedway – Earns his first win on an oval, leading 27 of 57 laps.
. 4 – 3/31/07 at St. Petersburg – Wins first career pole. Leads all 40 laps.
. 5 – 4/1/07 at St. Petersburg – Pulls off the double at St. Pete, coming from sixth to win. Passes for the lead on Lap 21 of 40.
. 6 – 5/25/07 at Indianapolis (oval) – Leads all 40 laps from the pole.
. 7 – 6/2/07 at Milwaukee – Leads all 100 laps from the pole.
. 8 – 6/23/07 at Iowa – Passes for the lead with 10 laps to go.
Dominant Streaks
. Alex Lloyd – Won 8 of 17 starts, including 6 of 8 to start the 2007 season.
. Thiago Medeiros – Won 4 consecutive races in 2004 and 5 of 6 from the final race of 2003 through the first five races of 2004.
. Jeff Simmons – Won 5 of 8 races from Milwaukee 2005 through Homestead-Miami 2006.
. Mark Taylor – Won 7 of 11 careers starts in 2003.