IndyCar Long Beach postscript
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| Scott Dixon |
By now you probably know what happened in Sunday’s 41st running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. However, to briefly repeat, pole sitter Helio Castroneves jumped to the lead after a rather ragged start (more on that later) with third-place starter Dixon getting ahead of second-place starter Juan Pablo Montoya into turn one.
From there, Dixon managed the gap to Castroneves before the first round of pit stops. The Brazilian was held a few extra seconds on exit after his first pit stop to avoid a collision with incoming Tony Kanaan. The delay allowed Dixon, who was uninterrupted on exit to jump Castroneves. After the field completed its pit stops, Dixon would cycle to the front, where he would remain and ultimately score his 36th career Indy car win.
We mention the fact Dixon scored his 36th career win, because at the relatively young age of 34, Dixon surpassed the win total of Bobby Unser with his 36th career Indy car race to move into fifth place on the all-time list.
Now, I ran out of superlatives to describe the accomplishments of Dixon long ago. However, I’ll briefly something I’ve elaborated on in further detail in the past.
Given Dixon’s relatively young age, the fact Indy car drivers historically peak in their 30s, and taking into account what the Kiwi has already accomplished, Dixon is very quietly assembling a resume that puts him in the discussion with Indy car racing’s all-time greats. He already stands alone in fifth place on the all-time wins list with only Al Unser (39 wins), Michael Andretti (42), Mario Andretti (52) and A.J. Foyt (67) ahead of him.
Considering what numerous drivers accomplished well after the age Dixon is now (the aforementioned Bobby Unser won 27 races after turning 35, Emerson Fittipaldi won 22 times after turning 38) you begin to realize Dixon is well on his way to assembling one of the great Indy car careers of this or any era. Further, when you look at who joined Dixon on the podium Sunday (Castroneves and Montoya, who are both 39) and the team Dixon drives for, there are no signs pointing to a Dixon slowdown anytime soon.
Now, Foyt’s 67 wins are in my opinion out of reach (and will probably never be touched). However, given Dixon’s talent, the fact he is with one of the sport’s best teams, and there is absolutely not one iota of evidence pointing to a downturn anytime soon, Mario Andretti’s 52 career wins are a more-than-plausible reality.
Quite something when you think about it.
Aero kits
It is 100% true that three races is not enough time to fairly assess INDYCAR’s decision to introduce aero kits, a failure. It’s likewise true that after three races there is very little, if any, evidence that aero kits have done anything to generate increased interest. Further, given the costs of the aero kits (which AR1 outlined this weekend), the debris we saw at St. Pete, and somewhat lackluster on-track action through the first three races on track, I’ll admit I am beginning to question the wisdom in the implementation of the Chevrolet and Honda aero kits.
Presser
There was something of a humorous exchange after Friday’s second practice session, when the drivers met with the media. AR1 President Mark Cipolloni asked the drivers about the issues the series encountered the previous week in wet conditions at NOLA Motorsports Park. You can watch the video here, as Mark asks the question to which Will Power responded and then added in a somewhat sarcastic tone, “Every morning I read AutoRacing1…I see how very positive you are about IndyCar. You mustn’t like us very much." Power then noted something unclear about AR1 believing the drivers to be a bunch of “wankers," which elicited laughter from those assembled.
Fair enough.
The one thing we would like to take the opportunity to clarify is that while we were asking what could be done to improve the series’ wet-weather shows, we do not question the ability of IndyCar drivers. Sure, we may offer a critique that is not favorable towards a specific driver’s performance, but when it comes to the field as a whole, we hold the drivers in high regard, and have written as such. Power, for example, boasts a resume which clearly speaks for itself, and needs no validation from AutoRacing1 or anyone else for that matter.
What we have criticized in this space and elsewhere on the site, and what we believe to be valid concerns, are certain decisions by management. For example, the sport’s less-than-ideal television contract is something AutoRacing1 has highlighted the inadequacies of for more than five years now. And while we aren’t necessarily pleased to make note of this, we believe these criticisms have been validated by tangible metrics. And there are other examples I can raise such as scheduling.
In short, we do you like you, Will; a lot, in fact. We love your transparency, and your dry wit, and we love watching you drive a race car. We also thank you for your ongoing support of AutoRacing1.
But at the end of the day, I think we all ultimately want the same thing. We want the series in which you are the reigning champion to be the absolute best it can be. Here at AR1, we simply have some serious questions as to whether those goals are being properly pursued.
Saavedra
Many IndyCar fans were understandably disappointed at the news last week that Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Sage Karam would not be in the #8 Chevrolet for this weekend’s race at Long Beach. Furthermore, the prospect of Sebastian Saavedra being the replacement didn’t do a whole lot to offset the frustration many fans felt towards not seeing Karam.
And no, Saavedra did not light the world on fire. However, the likable 24-year-old Colombian got what promises to be the best four-race opportunity of his career off to a more than solid start by putting together a mistake-free weekend that ultimately netted a 10th place finish.
Sato
Remember two years when Takuma Sato won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach? Remember after winning Long Beach, Sato finishing second at Sao Paulo, and taking the series points lead into the Indianapolis 500?
Well, in the intervening 33 races, Sato has zero podium finishes, two top-5 and 6 top-10 finishes. While it should also be noted that he scored two pole positions last season, the Japanese driver has gotten off to a miserable start in 2015, and sits 20th in the standings after three races.
I doubt the team makes any change this season. But if things don’t improve over the course of the year, it’s hard to imagine Sato, who will be 39 when next season starts, coming back for a fourth season with the team.
Pigot
Arguably, the best drive of the weekend came in Sunday morning’s Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Long Beach Presented by Allied Building Products courtesy of 2014 Pro Mazda champion Spencer Pigot.
The Orlando native started on the outside of the front row and managed to avoid the wreckage from the contact between pole sitter Jack Harvey and his Juncos Racing teammate Kyle Kaiser going into turn 1. The evasive action shuffled Pigot back to fifth in the running order.
However, from there, Pigot began picking off cars one-by-one before getting to the gearbox of Carlin’s Ed Jones. The Dubai native would hold on for the win, but the star of the show was unquestionably Pigot.
Standing Starts
Granted, everyone got through clean. Still, the strung out start of Sunday’s race, in which not even the first row was able to align side-by-side was an absolute joke.
Of course, one solution to this would be standing starts, something AR1 has long advocated. Particularly, at Long Beach where the cars have so little time to line up coming off the hairpin, a standing start makes sense.
Granted, INDYCAR president of competition and operations Derrick Walker discussed the series’ decision to abandon standing starts for 2015 in December in this article. As I’ve said before, Walker made some very valid points about why the series made the decision it did. However, Walker did also say that the series had only postponed standing starts and would revisit the idea at a later date. And I’m hoping that day comes sooner rather than later.
Brian Carroccio is a senior motor sports columnist for AutoRacing1. He can be contacted at BrianC@AutoRacing1.com.