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Tony Kanaan Dominates at TMS!
By Miles Nelson
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I didn’t quite know what to expect last night from the newly revised IndyCars at Texas, but if you were to bet me that someone would be able to have a breakaway and open up a big lead, you could have won a lot of money. But for a while during the Bombardier 500, that is what Tony Kanaan did. Tony didn’t even take the lead from AGR teammate Dario Franchitti until lap 22, but from that time on, the outcome of the race was almost a given. On lap 26 Darren Manning made front wing contact with the right rear tire of a RBTC car, first the TV types called it Ed Carpenter, then Barron, the replay wasn’t clear, but the “Trackside Report” credits it to Carpenter. Manning was gaining on the pack in a draft when Carpenter moved high and Manning hit his RR tire with his LF wing. This was one of many incidental contacts in the race that should have resulted in a huge crash but didn’t. In this case, the crash may have come later.
During the resulting pit stops, the fuel vent hose became stuck on Kanaan’s car, fortunately, unlike Sam Hornish at Indy, the crew held Tony in the pit until it was removed the proper way. Manning was able to have the damaged wing replaced without losing a lap. The great pit-out camera view shows Dario regaining the lead, followed by Rice, Kanaan and Vitor Meira, who almost won at Texas II for Team Menard in 2002. There is no doubt the draft was a factor in this race, but the aero instability of the cars darting around raised the tension and intensity level for the entire race. Within a couple of laps Kanaan was back up front challenging Dario again. Maintaining momentum was a must, and it was very apparent when Buddy Rice had to lift behind Dario and Kanaan, and after he lost “mo,” Vitor Miera managed to pass him.
Contact between Tomas Scheckter and Scott Dixon on lap 32 forced Scheckter to the pits. The replay shows Tomas attempting to pass Dixon on the outside when Scott drifted up into him. The two were lucky enough to make almost wheel to wheel contact so there was no launch, and Tomas was able to keep the car off the wall. Dixon wobbled but was able to regain control before gathering up either of the RBTC cars or both, another potential disaster averted. Dixon drove on and Tomas returned to the race in a futile attempt to continue. While that was happening, Kanaan was able to pass Dario to regain the lead. Four laps later AJ Foyt IV got the worst of contact with Ed Carpenter and slammed into the turn four SAFER, not stopping the car until the start/finish line. Foyt would get out of the car under his own power. The last T&S report before the crash showed Carpenter in 12th and AJ in 14th, so Little Foyt was having one of his better runs. What happened was that the two RBTC cars were in lockstep, which has often been the case this season. Carpenter closed rapidly on Barron and had to drift to the right to avoid him. In doing that he ran into the path of Foyt, taking of his LF tire, the wall took off the RF and Foyt, without brakes, coasted to a stop far down the track. If the Carpenter car wasn’t already damaged by the wing contact from Manning, this hit must have finished it off, because Ed was about to take a ride of his own. A lot of the trouble in the race resulted from the cars “sucking up” too fast in the draft, this was the second example to result in contact, and there was more contact yet to come. Anthony Foyt has yet to have what anyone would call a good result; sadly, this may have been a much need first one that would reward his grandfather’s faith in him. I respect AJ’s ability to evaluate talent, and he has always said the kid is a racer.
On the restart Ed Carpenter’s race ended in a spectacular, fire engulfed crash. This one in about the same part of the SAFER that Foyt hit. The speculation from the booth is that Carpenter’s RR suspension had had all the contact it could stand and gave up the fight. The best view of the crash came from the in-car camera shot from Mark Taylor’s car, clearly something gave way on Carpenter’s right rear corner, but it could have even been the right rear tire, perhaps cut in the contact with the Foyt car. You can see clearly in the replay that as soon as sparks came from under the car, the left front wheel came off the ground. Whatever failed, it happened within two laps to going back under the green flag. Later Carpenter told ESPN Pit Reporter Jamie Little that Alex Barron looked at the car and thought something was bent, but between Ed and the crew it was decided that since the car “felt ok,” they would stay out on the track rather then pitting to check, what was the thought process here?
All cars did visit pit road after Carpenter’s crash, in fact the MTP cars even returned to the pits to top off the fuel before the restart. During the caution period Panther Racing worked on the previously damaged Scheckter car before quitting the race.
The race resumed on lap 57, with Kanaan in front, followed by Franchitti, Rice and Meira. Rice tried several times to pass the AGR Dallara’s, but although he could get alongside, he couldn’t complete the pass. During this segment of the race there was some great racing back in the pack as Rice tried to get past Dario on either the inside or outside, and the Penske and Ganassi Toyotas mixed it up. So there were Honda cars racing Honda cars, and the Toyota teams doing the same; several positions back. Mark Taylor again had the fasted Chevy, sandwiched in between the Honda’s and Toyota’s. Rice finally managed to get past Franchitti for 2nd place. It sure is an eye-opener to see the Penske and Ganassi cars fighting for positions between 8th and 12th, and not able to keep pace with either Honda or Chevy, while Mark Taylor managed to bring the Panther Menard Dallara up to 4th position. In the first TMS test of fuel mileage, the first car into the pits was Taylor with a Chevy, followed by the Honda’s. Kosuke Matsuura took over the lead and it was his first lead in his IndyCar career. Laps later the Toyota’s started to pit, Dixon first, followed by Sharp, so there appears to be a mileage penalty for all that Honda and Chevy power. Sam Hornish and Helio Castroneves, who had both topped off their tanks on lap 56; went 81 miles before pitting, therefore getting 2.8 mpg while running at over 200 mph! If IndyCar hadn’t reduced the fuel tank capacity by 5 gallons, these cars may have been able to green flag race close to 100 miles
It was after the green flag pit stops that Tony Kanaan managed to drive away from the field, holding a greater than three-second lead, previously unheard of at TMS. As Scott Sharp exited the race on lap 126 with a smoking Toyota engine, Mark Taylor made wall contact in the same area where Sharp started to have trouble. The speculation, Taylor got into some oil from Sharp’s car. Taylor was running a solid 4th place; first non-Honda ain’t all that bad. Strangely, the in-car shot from the Taylor car showed him to be slightly outside of the 3rd place car of Vitor Meira, who never had a wiggle; it looks to me that Taylor, who was darting around anyway, got into “bad air” off the Meira car and just lost it. As for Sharp’s engine, we don’t see much of this anymore in IndyCars, perhaps in catch-up mode, Toyota is pushing the envelope a bit, remember Anthony Foyt was running well too, and Sharp had made a big position move earlier in the race. You have to feel for TCGR, this is a high-speed track, and even a G Force chassis powered by a Honda can’t pass a Dallara Honda. With the Toyotas, not only is the G Force at a disadvantage, but it appears that the Penske built Toyota engines are better than the TRD version. It was strange to see Dixon riding around behind Tora Takagi after 150 laps.
The caution period allowed the teams to pit and bunched up the field. Buddy Rice, with a great pit stop, beat Kanaan out of the pits, if he was going to have a chance to win the race, this would be his best chance. On the restart Rice only held the lead until the cars reached the backstretch, when Tony made the pass. There is some thought that fuel mileage issues caused Rice to let Tony go without much of a fight. Shortly after the restart Kosuke Matsuura began to have engine troubles. Matsuura led the race briefly, but was solidly in the top ten until the engine quit. I’m not sure it blew up; it sounded more like electronics to me.
On lap 154 Darren Manning almost drifted up into Sam Hornish, who made the mistake of driving on the outside of him. Manning wasn’t finished though, within a couple of laps he almost drifted down into Franchitti as well, proving it wasn’t safe to be on either side of the “Main Manning.” Twenty laps later, Manning, driving like a drunken sailor; would finally drift up into Buddy Rice and manage to end one driver’s day at last. The amazing thing was that the Rice G Force was so firmly planted to the track that he didn’t crash. Before the Manning/Rice contact Sam Hornish showed how good he is at TMS. While fuel mileage concerns may have played a part in the 204 mph reduced speed that let Hornish get to the front, he was up alongside Rice for second for a while. I wrote about “running under a blanket” in my preview, and during this segment of the race, when the cars were often 3-wide, 10 cars could be considered to be running under that virtual “blanket.”
On lap 179 Rice tried to drive around Kanaan but couldn’t make the trip, shortly after that Manning, who had drafted up into 3rd, did his thing with Rice. Manning actually drove under Rice attempting a pass as Rice came down, not seeing him. Manning was right down on the white line when he made his move, but by the time he hit Rice he was half a car width above it. Sam Hornish made wall contact trying to avoid the expected carnage. I think Sam was so surprised that there wasn’t a crash that he gave us a little one of his own, white walling his tires. With the caution flag out, all teams made the pit stops that had to be made before the end of the race anyway. TCGR had to make yet another wing change on Manning’s car. Rice suffered a broken driveshaft and was done for the night. Adrian Fernandez made contact with Scott Dixon at pit exit, launching Dixon into the air; Dixon’s night was done as well. After repair, Fernandez was able to continue. With 20 laps remaining in the race, 9 of the original 22 cars were out, quite a few for a recent IndyCar event.
At the restart Dan Wheldon was at the point, followed by Castroneves, both drivers hadn’t pitted. Kanaan passed Helio on the inside while Dario Franchitti went the longer way around the outside. The following lap both cars got under Wheldon, amazingly it was Alex Barron, unheard from most of the day, that followed Franchitti into 3rd place, then it was Sam Hornish. Wheldon slowed with gearbox trouble and was finished. Barron had started last, ran mid-pack all day and finished 3rd. Hornish bent the RR suspension in the wall contact following the manning/Rice contact but hung on in a gutsy move and finished 4th. With Barron, Hornish, Meira and Greg Ray fighting for position, Kanaan and Franchitti drove away from the battle. As the race ended, Adrian Fernandez managed to get into 5th position as Castroneves finally ran out of fuel. I watched and analyzed this race via tape, being at work at race time. Knowing the final results, it lowered my intensity level to half of what it was with the Miami Homestead race, but I expect those watching live know the feeling. In an interesting stat of the race, Kanaan, who lead most of the time, had a fast lap of 209 mph, while many that were chasing him ran well over 211 in his draft.
Its time for one of my semi-regular disclaimers, I am not always at the events I write about. I have a lot of connections with the teams and rely on my friends from www.tracksideonline.com for news, special tasks and photo shots that they help with if they can. TSO is a subscription IndyCar information service. While not at TMS, I have opted to go to Richmond, VA for my next race instead.
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