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Dan Wheldon
Wins the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300, Sam Hornish Jr. is the 2006
IndyCar Champion.
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IndyCar Photo by Chris
Jones
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Last week I had several issues that kept me
from first doing the running recap of the race and later doing a review.
I'm way late on this but the season has ended and not only do I need
closure, but those that visit the site regularly still want to read my
take on the race, so here goes...
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One of the reasons this recount is so late
is because I still believe that the IndyCar Series has the most exciting
racing in the world, and points racing is probably the only thing that can
detract/sidetrack the series from that. I detest points racing, and that
feeling goes back to when I was struggling to run my own NASCAR Modified
in 1965 and I was traveling with "The Eastern Bandit," the late
Eddie Flemke Sr. (probably the original "outlaw"), my mentor and
friend. Year after year Eddie finished around 5th in the NASCAR Modified
standings at a time when he was virtually unbeatable. The reason was that
Eddie, running his own unsponsored car out of his own pocked,
"followed the money," whether it be purse or appearance money,
and there was a lot of that. Eddie was constantly in trouble with NASCAR
for running "outlaw," shows, but that never stopped him.
Besides, those were the days when a series championship "paid a case
of oil and a trophy.
Now every series, not just IndyCar, trade
off racing excitement for media hype, at least with IndyCar it only adversely
impacts the season finale in an adverse way. NASCAR has ruined any racing
excitement they may have in the six races preceding their
"Chase" scenario, and the "Chase" racing (?) is far
too conservative as well.
Since I have read recounts and forum
postings all week where many have championed the excitement of the
season's final IndyCar race, perhaps mine is a minority opinion, caused by
a yearning to return to "the good old days." Don't bet the farm
on that, I'm not one of "those," the roadster era may have
opened my eyes to Indy and this kind of racing, but I think this
"package" is the best in the history of the sport.
That said, it was points racing that:
1. Caused Sam Hornish Jr. to win the pole
(by .727-mph) and set the fastest lap of the race (lap 87 at 216.713) yet
give way to Dan Wheldon or Scott Dixon whenever they got a wheel under
him.
2. Let Hornish beat Wheldon out of the
pits after the final pit stop and then let both Wheldon and Dixon pass him
within a lap of the restart. When have you ever seen that before?
3. Resulted in only 4 drivers being on
the lead lap long before race end on a track where IndyCar has had some of
it's closest finishes and in spite of "wave-around" rules
designed to prevent this from happening.
4. Saw one points contender (Castroneves)
pleading on the radio for help to get another driver (Kanaan) "give
him room and let him pass."
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***
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(The start) Dixon had a wheel ahead of
Hornish going under the green flag and was around the outside of him as
they hit the first turn. Wheldon moved to the outside of Sam in turn one
pushing Helio high. Both TCGR cars were past Hornish before they exited
turn two and headed down the backstretch. Dixon would lead the first lap
as the duo would begin a side-by side battle for the next dozen laps.
Wheldon would edge Dixon on the outside at the line to lead the 2nd lap.
The two then banged wheels in turn one at the start of lap three and got
away with it. Wheldon had the momentum going down the backstretch, but it
was Dixon on the inside in turn three, where it appeared there was a rear
tire overlap and slight contact. Dixon would lead Wheldon at the line,
getting credit for leading laps three and four. meanwhile Sam Hornish was
darting around in a tight draft, appearing interested in making a pass if
he could do it without risk. Kosuke Matsuura got past Castroneves and
Helio began to fall back out of potential harms way, a good move in points
racing when it appears there could be trouble at the front of the pack.
Weldon would regain the lead on lap five on the outside and hold it until
pitting under a debris at the start of lap 15. On lap six Scott Sharp was
under Castroneves on the backstretch, Helio falling to 6th in the field.
Both TCGR drivers were charged with the task of leading the most laps in
the race if they wanted to win the championship, but even that wouldn't
help with Hornish running up front as well.
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***
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(Lap 12) Vitor Meira got a run to the
line in the draft and was outside of Marco Andretti and Tomas Scheckter,
3-wide and stacked up behind Sharp and Castroneves when Scheckter
moved high and made all-wheel contact with him. In replay it appears Marco
moved high and made it 4-wide trying to pass Sharp and that move forced
Scheckter into Meira. It appears the cars actually hit twice, the 2nd one
a wheel overlap. Originally it was thought the caution was for
something that may have broken off the cars, later it was reported that it
was a mirror from Marty Roth's car. It was also thought that the contact
damaged Vitor's car and kept him out of race contention. If that was the
case, Panther racing fixed the problem, because Vitor posted his fastest
lap of the race on lap 179, a 215.844, 6th overall.
On lap 15 AJ Foyt IV led his first IndyCar lap ever, under caution when
Wheldon pitted. Foyt, running for AGR had a chance to settle two issues
Sunday, first that he could drive these cars and run up front, and
secondly how "challenged" his grandfather's cars were when he
was driving them. Sadly his 14th place finish proved little,
probably because he was charged with the task of bringing the car home in
one piece by AGR. As it was though, during P&Q Foyt was usually the
fastest AGR driver, that's an accomplishment on its own.
Here's the last screen crawl to- ten
before pit stops:
1. Wheldon
2. Dixon
3. Hornish
4. Matsuura
5. Kanaan
6. Castroneves
7. Sharp
8. Andretti
9. Meira
10. Scheckter
Coming out of the stop the first 3 positions remained the same but Helio
moved from 6th to 4th, probably due to him being caught speeding on pit
road and would be forced to restart at the rear of the field. The first
screen crawl after the restart showed Wheldon, Dixon, Hornish, Kanaan,
Foyt (who didn't stop), Sharp, Matsuura, Andretti, Simmons and Rice.
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***
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(Lap 63) Marco Andretti would have a
"moment" that shows just how good he might be. Marco got a bit
out of shape and regained control while losing several positions, you
could clearly hear him say "we're coming in" on the radio
seconds before the team told him that "he had a flat right rear
tire." Wheldon would lead from lap 18 until pitting on lap 65 under
green, the last screen crawl showed Wheldon in front, followed by Dixon,
Hornish, Castroneves in 4th after making a great run to regain all those
lost positions, then Sharp, Kanaan, Carpenter, Simmons, Matsuura and
Scheckter.
Here's the post pit stop crawl, Wheldon,
Hornish (+1), Dixon (-2), Castroneves,, Sharp, Kanaan, Simmons (+1), Rice
(+3) and Carpenter (-3). The top 4 positions would remain unchanged
through the next round of pit stops, made under green as Wheldon was the
first contender in on lap 115, along with Helio. Sam would pit on lap 118,
while Dixon, in drafting mode now would pit on lap 121.
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(Lap 149-155, a debris caution) The last
crawl had it Wheldon, Hornish, Dixon, Castroneves (in danger of falling a
lap down), Sharp (the first car 1 lap down), Kanaan, Meira, Simmons, Rice,
and Scheckter. Carpenter was 11th.
During the stop Wheldon was the first in and done with fuel and tires, but
the two TCGR cars were behind the MTP cars on pit road. Wheldon's tires
were clearly on and tight before Sam's new right rear was on. The car was
first back on the ground as well, but Wheldon had to swing wide around
Sam's right front tire carrier, who was farther out on pit road than he
should have been. That caused Dan to lose the back end under power
momentarily and Sam beat him off pit road. That could have been a
race/championship deciding moment except that on the restart Sam let
Wheldon regain the lead without a fight.
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***
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(Lap 157, the restart) Wheldon was already
under Hornish and in the lead before they even passed below the starter,
Dixon got him on the next lap. Other than an impressive run to 5th by Ed
Carpenter, a recovery to 6th by Vitor Meira and a solid 8th place run by
the still unsigned for 2007 Jeff Simmons, the race and championship was
all but over. Wheldon would win, followed by Dixon, Hornish and
Castroneves, Sam wins the championship, the first indycar title for Roger
Penske. Team Penske couldn't beat Panther Racing and Sam Hornish when they
running Chevy's, and couldn't win one with the Toyota, but when all was
equal (?) with the Honda, they couldn't be beat. In all fairness though,
Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon and TCGR gave away enough points during the
season to have made this race much more meaningful and the championship
something other that a "given," that's when points racing can
mean something other than hype. Here's the final indycar T&S chart of
the race and season, See you next season.
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Pos
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Driver
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Diff
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Best Time
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Best Speed
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Best Lap
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Last Lap
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1
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Dan Wheldon (10)
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...
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25.3130
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216.174
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108
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200
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2
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Scott Dixon (9)
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0.1897
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25.3089
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216.209
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104
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200
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3
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Sam Hornish Jr (6)
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0.2323
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25.2500
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216.713
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88
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200
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4
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Helio Castroneves
(3)
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2.6913
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25.3266
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216.057
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168
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200
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5
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Ed Carpenter (20)
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1 lap
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25.3926
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215.496
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174
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199
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6
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Vitor Meira (4)
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0.9239
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25.3516
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215.844
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180
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199
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7
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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1.0084
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25.3619
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215.757
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177
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199
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8
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Jeff Simmons (17)
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1.1515
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25.3949
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215.476
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53
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199
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9
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Scott Sharp (8)
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1.3908
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25.3772
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215.627
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188
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199
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10
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Tomas Scheckter
(2)
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3.9424
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25.4387
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215.105
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160
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199
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11
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Kosuke Matsuura
(55)
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4.0965
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25.4422
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215.076
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161
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199
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12
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Danica Patrick
(16)
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4.3515
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25.4121
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215.330
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116
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199
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13
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Buddy Rice (15)
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4.6053
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25.3874
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215.540
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116
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199
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14
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AJ Foyt IV (27)
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2 laps
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25.5833
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213.890
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197
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198
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15
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Bryan Herta (7)
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4.6821
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25.5894
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213.839
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110
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198
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16
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Sarah Fisher (5)
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4.7542
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25.7207
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212.747
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190
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198
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17
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Jeff Bucknum (14)
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7.8670
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25.6284
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213.513
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142
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198
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18
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Marco Andretti
(26)
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9.5037
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25.4938
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214.640
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21
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198
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19
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Marty Roth (25)
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40 laps
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25.7673
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212.362
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4
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160
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