A Championship to remember

 

 

 

The Indycar Championship.  Six hopefuls came into Sonoma eligible for the championship.  Only one driver came out victorious, in both the season title and the race. 

Scott Dixon  prevailed on a championship tie-breaker over Juan Montoya, earning his 4th Indycar Championship.   He joins the likes of Mario Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais and Dario Franchitti as four time Indycar champions.  The only driver who has more is the legendary A.J. Foyt, with 7 championships. 

Scott Dixon came into to Sonoma 47 points out of 1st place, somewhat of a long shot to win the championship, but with double points on the line the Iceman still had a fighting chance. While a mid race tussle sent teammates Montoya and Power to the back of the field, Graham Rahal struggled with a ill handling car.  Meanwhile Scott Dixon never faltered once, leading the last 22 laps en route to win the race. 

Montoya gave it all he had in the final 10 laps. He needed to pass 3 cars to get to 5th place, to secure the championship. Sebastien Bourdais helped him out when he punted Graham Rahal off the track, and ended up getting a drive-through penalty. With the two of them quickly out of the way Montoya was tie with Dixon and just one pass away from his second championship in his 4 year Indycar career.  Unfortunately for Montoya he was unable to catch the fifth place car of Ryan Briscoe, and as the front five cars remained in position as they crossed the finish line.  Juan ended up 6th for the race, and lost the championship on a tiebreaker, his two wins to Dixon's three.

The Championship Rundown


1. Scott Dixon gave the crowd a huge show at Sonoma, coming back from 47 points down in third to win the title.  The win marked Chip Ganassis and 100th Indycar win and his 11th Indycar championship .  Can't wait until next year to see Scott go for 5!

2. Juan Montoya won the 1999 Indycar championship on a tie breaker with Dario Franchitti and now loses on a tie breaker.  He has been involved in two of the three Championship ties in Indycar history.

3. Will Power finished third.  His average finish in the Championship for the past 6 years is 2.3, finishing 2nd 3 years in a row.

4. Graham Rahal had a previous best Championship finish of 7th and was 19th last year.

5. Helio Castroneves finishes in the top five, yet again and misses out on his first championship.

6. Ryan Hunter-Reay has a great second half of the season.  Could it carry over into 2016?

7. Josef Newgarden dropped one position in the standings and happens to be behind RHR, who he finished behind in two races this season as RHR won at Iowa and Pocono.

8. Tony Kanaan did his job for Chip Ganassi Racing in helping Scott Dixon win the Championship, while finishing a solid top ten.

9. Marco Andretti was consistent this year, completing all the laps until Pocono.  Will next year be his year, as with Graham Rahal this year?

10. Sebastien Bourdais dominated Milwaukee and was one of the two time winners this year. But he certainly isn't on the Rahals friend list after punting Rahal late in the race.

I'm gonna suggest Indy Car Drivers meetings are held in French so that instructions not to hit Championship contenders are understood!

— Bobby Rahal (@BobRahal) August 31, 2015

What will the 2016 season hold?  Will Scott Dixon win his fifth Championship?  Can Graham Rahal do 3 positions better? Can Helio finally win his first championship?

 

And now the Silly Season officially begins.

Where will drivers like Josef Newgarden, Ryan Briscoe, James Jakes and others end up?  We'll just have to wait and find out.

Why we're excited about the Indycar finale at Sonoma

Why We're excited about the Indycar Season finale at Sonoma Raceway.

1.  Drivers are donating their helmets to be auctioned off on ebay for Justin Wilson's children's fund.

Helmets being donated for auction w/ proceeds to @justin_wilson Children's Fund. #INDYRIVALS #BadAssWilson #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/NKjVaapvtz

— Pippa Mann (@PippaMann) August 30, 2015

2.  Six drivers will fight for the season Championship (including Josef!!!!...Alex is excited even if he is a super super super longshot at 87 points back)

3.  The Championship Astor Cup was delivered by James Hinchliffe across the Golden Gate Bridge.

4.  James Hinchliffe shaved his beard!!!

 

 

5.  Justin Wilson's good friend Oriol Servia is driving his #25 car in the race and Tristan Vautier's Dale Coyne car is decked out in honor of Justin.

 

 Looking forward to running this livery in honor of Justin this weekend, thanks @DaleCoyneRacing . #BadAssWilson pic.twitter.com/wGhNcIt4Gu

— Tristan Vautier (@TristanVautier) August 27, 2015

ABC Supply 500 Indycar at Pocono

An exciting race at Pocono was marred by the fatal crash of fan favorite Justin Wilson when he was hit by flying debris from Sage Karam's single car crash. 

Ryan Hunter Reay beat the arguably stronger car of Josef Newgarden to the finish line.
Deja vu from Iowa a few weeks ago.
Only 10 cars were running at the end of the race.


 
 

The top 10 Finishers

1. Ryan Hunter-Reay - His second win in the last three races after a terrible start to the season.

2. Josef Newgarden - Led the most laps (47) and would have had a strong chance of passing Hunter Reay had the race stayed green for the last three laps.  Josef was super passing cars on the outside of turn 1 all day including jumping from 4th to 1st on lap 1.
 

3. Juan Montoya - Ties his average finish in 500 mile races, 3rd.  Although he didn't lead a lap he was steady all day and not surprisingly finished on the podium increasing his season points lead to 34 over Graham Rahal.
 

4. Will Power - A spin in the pits and a near stall in the pits didn't deter him from hanging out near the front most of the day.  His 7th Top 5 in 15 races this season.

5. Carlos Munoz - Ran in the Top 5 most of the race.  Has finished in the Top 5 in 25% of the Indycar races he has run in his career (9/36).

6. Takuma Sato - His 4th Top 10 of the season.

7. Simon Pagenaud - Simon led 30 laps and ran in the Top 3 most of the day.  It looked like he might be able to get his first 500 mile win, but he fell back after a late race pit stop.
 

8. Ryan Briscoe - Led 3 laps and ran solid all race after starting 18th on the grid.
 
9. Scott Dixon - The 2013 Pocono winner was uncharacteristically quiet all day.  Didn't ever contend during the race.

10. James Jakes - His fourth Top 10 of the season, the most in one season in his four year Indycar career.
 

Top Ten included...

*  5 Chevys and 5 Hondas

*  Drivers from 7 different countries

*  1-2 Finish for Americans

*  Both Schmidt Peterson cars

*  3 Penske cars



OTHER

Lead Changes: 33

Caution Laps: 74

Fastest Lap: 219.927 mph by Juan Pablo Montoya

Average Speed 146.245


Shout Out To:

Gabby Chaves  He had such a good race car and was leading laps, but his engine blew with three to go.

Takuma Sato  It looked like he might be able to get the win for his sponsor, at their title race.  The ABC Supply car was out front with just 7 laps to go before falling back to 6th.

Honda  They have won 4 of the last 5 races going into the finale at Sonoma. 

Alex's Josef Newgarden Update Pocono

Josef had a great racing weekend at Pocono.

 

He started 4th, finished 2nd and moved up to 6th in season points.

 

But none of that really mattered by the end of the race.

A special special person. Until next time #BadassWilson pic.twitter.com/F5AkKmzdHV

— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) August 25, 2015

I hope Josef does really well at the final in Sonoma this weekend, but I more just want him to stay safe. 

 

 

Posted by Alex (age 8)

Justin Wilson Indycar driver

Justin Wilson is one of our favorite Indycar drivers and one of the most fan friendly Indycar drivers in the paddock.
 

This year when in Indianapolis for the 500 we were able to meet and talk with him at the Indianapolis Children's museum where he was doing a promo with one of his young daughters. 

 

 

Our mom, being a mom, talked to him about his girls and how he likes to always have them with him, and how not having a full time Indycar ride has afforded him the chance to spend more time with his family.

 

Yesterday's Pocono race was a race that his family was not along for the trip.  Unfortunately they had to come to the area late in the day after a terrible crash left Justin Wilson in a coma.  As he drove through the debris from Sage Karam's crash the nose cone of Karam's car hit him in the head.
 

Justin has had some bad injuries in the past, a broken pelvis at the season finale in Fontana in 2013 and a back injury at practice at Mid Ohio in 2011 that kept him out the final 6 races of the season.

 

 

Everyone's thoughts and prayers have been with Justin Wilson and his family since the accident and there has been a huge outpouring of love on social media from peers, fans and media alike.

 

 

Medical update on @justin_wilson #INDYCAR #PrayersForJustin pic.twitter.com/jy98qhh1k6

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) August 24, 2015

Keep fighting @justin_wilson. We're all pulling for you mate.. Thoughts with Justin's family at this difficult time #PrayersForJustin

— Jenson Button (@JensonButton) August 24, 2015

@justin_wilson is one of the best human beings I've ever met. #PrayForJustin

— Dario Franchitti (@dariofranchitti) August 24, 2015

Continuing to pray for Justin Wilson, his family, & the doctors & nurses this evening. #PrayersForJustin

— J. Douglas Boles (@jdouglas4) August 24, 2015

#PrayersForJustin, one of the absolute best humans in our sport #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/Cv6HXTOKqf

— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) August 24, 2015

I love racing. I hate the reminders of the inherent danger, the moments where time stands still. 🙏 #PrayersforJustin

— █♥█ (@CNDGirlinCali) August 23, 2015

.@TonyStewart, you’re a hell of a man for donating your plane for JWs family. Hats off to you, you’re a very generous human being! 👍🏻

— Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) August 24, 2015

As I sit praying for good news about @justin_wilson I reflect that I cannot remember ever hearing him utter an ungracious word. #rareman

— Tommy Kendall (@TommyKendall11) August 23, 2015

#PrayersforJustin

2015 Pocono Qualifying Day

 

GOOD THINGS ABOUT TODAY AT POCONO:

1. Alex got to see Josef (more on that in a future post)

2. We got to meet Sage's dog Max!  (He was so cute and gave lots of kisses)

3. There were drivers everywhere signing autographs and taking photos with the fans, or riding around on scooters (I think we counted Graham Rahal 10 times)

4. Alex finally got to go in the garages this year because they removed the age limit (Thanks Pocono!)

5. All the really cool vintage cars racing on the infield track

6. The weather was really nice (although we still got sunburned, so don't forget your sunscreen)


NOT SO GOOD THINGS ABOUT TODAY AT POCONO:

1. Charlie Kimball crashed in qualifying (but he wasn't hurt, which was definitely good)

2.  We didn't get to see Tricky at the track today  (I hope we see you tomorrow Tricky!)



Qualifying and practice

 

We had a really good view for qualifying and practice (we were right across from Josef's pit) and it was really cool how we could see almost the whole track even though we were on a lower level!
Alex was really happy for Josef when he got fourth, which was only behind three Penske drivers. 
Congrats to Helio for the pole, it will be another addition to the  Penske P1 display on the back of their truck!

And thanks to the Holmatro crew for making sure Kimball was okay and for cleaning up so quickly so that qualifying could continue. 
Although when you were cleaning you blew the sand into Jarod and our dad (actually, that was pretty funny)

Thanks Pocono for a great day and we can't wait until the race tomorrow!!

1 day till Pocono!

#1 Will Power
is looking for a win at Pocono
to help keep his chances alive of repeating as Indycar champion .




In his two starts at Pocono, he has two top tens,
with a fourth and a 10th.

He is 59 points out of the championship lead heading into Pocono.

2 Days Till Pocono!!!

The #2 car driven by Juan Montoya

will start the ABC Supply 500 in 2 days

with a slim lead of just 9 points in the Indycar championship.

 

As the defending Pocono winner and with an average finish of 3rd in 500 mile races, he seems to be an easy bet to come out of the weekend still in the lead.

 But Graham Rahal is on a roll, coming off a win at his home track at Mid Ohio.   He will no doubt have a lot of support in the mountains of Pennsylvania from fans eager to see the second generation Indycar driver go for the championship. 

So things may not be as predictable as they seem.

 

 

 

 

 

Montoya returned to Indycar last year and won at Pocono

in his first ever Indycar start at the Tricky Triangle.

 

 

3 Days. Indycars. Pocono!!!

Only 3 days left till the

#3 Helio Castroneves can attempt

to win the
ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway

 and keep his

Indycar Championship hopes alive.
(he is currently 58 points out of first)

 

 

He finished 2nd behind teammate Juan Montoya last year,

and 8th in 2013 so a good finish is to be expected.

 

Indycars at Pocono in 4 DAYS

 

 

The #4 KV Racing car

will be driven by rookie Stefano Coletti

at Pocono Raceway this weekend.

 

 

 

Despite having never raced at Pocono before,

he does have his best Indycar finish of 8th on another

2 1/2 mile superspeedway earlier this year, in the Indy 500.

KV Racing's best finish at Pocono was 11th
with Simona DiSilvestro in 2013. 
Tony Kanaan finished 13th for KV that same year. 
Last year KV's drivers Sebastian Saavedra and Sebastien Bourdais finished 15th and 16th.
 

 

It would be great to see Stefano have a good finish at Pocono

after he's had a pretty rough rookie season.

5 Days till Pocono!!!

There's only 5 Days left till the

ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway!!!

We're getting really, really excited!

 

The #5 car will be driven by Ryan Briscoe
who finished 4th in last year's Pocono race after starting 10th.
 

Top 6 Reasons we love Pocono Raceway

With just 6 days left till the Indycars

race at Pocono Raceway

(and there is no #6 car in this year's Indycar field)

we decided to list our

Top Six Reasons we love Pocono Raceway

1. Brandon Igdalsky is the coolest Indycar track president
(the track was built by his grandparents, Joe and Rose Mattioli in the early 1970's)

2.  It's the Tricky Triangle...there's only 3 turns!!!
(the turns were patterned after 3 great Indycar tracks. Turn 1, Trenton; Turn 2, Indianapolis; and turn 3, the Milwaukee Mile)

3.  We have 2 Local Drivers who could win the race at their home track,  Marco Andretti and Sage Karam!

4.  They're 'green' and they rent sheep to come mow their solar farm (How cool is that...they're really cute)

5.  Four and Five wide on the Front Stretch!!

6.  And it's this much fun...

What Indycar drivers think of Turn 1 at Pocono.

 

8 Days till Pocono 500

8 Days till one of our local drivers,
Sage Karam,

gets a chance to win at his home track
 in Long Pond, PA at the ABCSupply 500!

 

It will be the first Indycar start at Pocono for Sage driving the #8 car for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He finished 2nd in Indy Lights there in 2013.
 

 

Can he best his first podium, a 3rd place finish at Iowa?

Can he catch Gabby Chaves in the Indycar Rookie of the Year standings?  He is currently 49 points back, but with Pocono and double points at Sonoma maybe he can still pull it off.

 

9 Days till Pocono

9 days remain until the
ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway!

#9 Scott Dixon has two Top Fives

in his two visits to the Tricky Triangle in Pennsylvania.

 

A first in 2013 that turned his season around and began his successful run at his third Indycar Series title and a fifth in 2014.

 

 

 

Dixon still has a great shot at winning his 4th Series title.

He currently sits 3rd in points and
is 34 points back from leader Juan Montoya.


We can't wait to see how Dixon does this year at Pocono!

10 Days Till Pocono

In just 10 Days

#10 Indycar Driver Tony Kanaan

will be driving in his 309th Indycar race

when the green flag flies at Pocono Raceway.

 

He led the most laps (78) in the 2014 race at the Tricky Triangle, until he had to pit with just a few laps remaining. 

He ended up finished 11th.

 

He also led 15 laps in the 2013 race before finishing 13th.

 

 

 

 

With consistency and 5 Top Five finishes this season, can Kanaan avoid pitfalls at this year's ABC Supply 500 to get the 18th Indycar victory of his career?

Indycars at Pocono in 11 Days

Only 11 days until the ABCSupply Pocono 500!!

Sebastien Bourdais, #11, currently sits 6th in Indycar season points.  With 2 wins and 8 Top 10's he's having his best season since Champ Car in 2007.
With two races to go can he finish the Indycar season in the Top 5?

Bourdais has been consistent at Pocono...
unfortunately, it had not been in a good way. 
He has finished 16th in his previous two attempts at the Tricky Triangle.
 

Splash of fuel at the very end puts the @hydroxycut #SHATTER car 16th (started 18th) #Pocono500

— Sébastien Bourdais (@BourdaisOnTrack) July 6, 2014

 

 

 

14 Days till Pocono

Only 14 days left until ABC Supply 500

at Pocono Raceway!

 

Can #14 Takuma Sato

get his first oval victory in an Indycar?

 

He has qualified well at the track, 7th in 2013 and 4th in 2014 but he needs to stay in the race till the end.

 

Takuma Sato signing autographs at Pocono in 2014.

 

 

He finished 22nd in 2013

after a pit road incident with Ryan Hunter Reay,

and he finished 21st in 2014 with an electrical problem.

 

 

 

 

15 Days till Indycars at Pocono

The ABC Supply 500 at Pocono is in only 15 days!!!

 

Can

#15 Graham Rahal

win his third race of the season.

 and join his dad, Bobby (1988) as a Pocono winner?

 

 

 

To take the season points lead away from Juan Pablo Montoya Graham will need much better results than he's had in his previous two trips to the Tricky Triangle.

 

 

He finished 18th in 2013 and

19th in 2014 when he spun in Turn 2 on lap 157

to bring out the only caution of the race.

 

Good Luck, Graham.

We'd love to see a tight season points race

come down to the last race of the season.

 

 

Josef Newgarden Update Mid Ohio 2015

Josef made another appearance in the Firestone Fast Six and qualified 5th.

He led laps in a race for the 6th time this season.

He had a great shot at finishing on the podium.

But, then a late caution came out and he ended up finishing 13th.
 

It's really fun watching him run up front and be contending for a win at almost every race.

 

                               

Now on to POCONO!!!!

Where Josef has finished 5th and 9th. 

So he can definitely get another win there.

 

And the best part is I get to go see Josef

because it's only an hour from my house!!!!

And here is a really neat video Josef did for Forza.

 

 

 

Post by Alex, age 8 

Indycar Mid Ohio 2015

For the fourth time in 5 Indycar races an American won!
Justin Wilson finished second for his best finish with Andretti Autosport.
Tristan Vautier was the biggest mover of the race.
Poor Charlie Kimball got hit and spun...a lot. 
Sage Karam spun to bring out the final caution which changed the outcome of the race for a lot of drivers.

And did we mention,

Graham Rahal won at his home track,
where his dad won in 1985 and 1986.
 He is now just 9 points behind Juan Montoya in the Indycar Championship!!!






 

The top 10 Finishers

1. Graham Rahal   His 2nd win and 6th podium of the season have him second in points.

2. Justin Wilson  His best finish in 7 tries at Mid Ohio.
 

3. Simon Pagenaud  Tied his best finish driving for Penske.
 

4. Scott Dixon   Only his 3rd non-podium finish in 9 races at Mid Ohio.
   

5. Tony Kanaan  Has 9 Top 10 finishes in 14 races this season.

6.  Tristan Vautier  Led 10 Laps, has two top tens in 9 races this season.

7.  Ryan Hunter-Reay  Crashed in final practice but still qualified a strong 7th.

8.  Jack Hawksworth  His 5th Top 10 of the season.  Currently 17th in points.

9.  Carlos Munoz   His 2nd Top 10 in his 2 starts at Mid Ohio.

10. Marco Andretti  His 85th Top 10 in 165 career Indycar races.
 

Top Ten included...

*  3 Chevys and 7 Hondas
*  All 4 Andretti cars 
*  Only one Penske

Shout out to...

Charlie Kimball for persistence after being spun off course several times he kept coming back and trying to improve his position at the track he won at in 2013.

 

Josef Newgarden Update Iowa

Josef finished 2nd
 

He led 111 laps, after starting 7th, and now he's led the most laps of any driver this season with 317!

Now he has to get the most wins!!!!

 

 

Robin Miller with Josef

 

 

 

I hope everyone enjoyed that @IndyCar race last night. Thought it was a thriller. Love that Iowa track. Gritty, badass place to race.

— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) July 19, 2015

 

 

 

Josef racing at lowa

 

 

Now off to Mid Ohio where he almost got his first win last year.

 

 

GO JOSEF!

 

Post by Alexandra, age 8

 

 

Indycar Iowa Corn 200

The top 2 finishers in the 2015 Indycar Iowa Corn 200 were the same as last year. 
Ryan Hunter Reay beat the arguably better car of Josef Newgarden to the finish line for the second straight year. 
It was Hunter Reay's 3rd win at Iowa, and the sixth in a row at the track for Andretti Autosport.
But then things were different...
Six of the top seven finishers were Americans. The highest finishing Penske driver was Will Power in  10th. 
Rookie Sage Karam earned his first Indycar podium and was the highest finishing of the 4 Ganassi cars.  
Juan Montoya, the points leader had his first DNF of the season crashing on lap 9.





 

The top 10 Finishers

1. Ryan Hunter-Reay After a tough season the former champ finally earns a win.

2. Josef Newgarden A year ago, 2nd was a great finish for him, now he's having such a great season that 2nd is a huge disappointment.
 

3. Sage Karam - After winning the previous 3 times he raced at Iowa in the Indycar ladder system, he continued his success with his first Indycar podium.
 

4. Graham Rahal - Jumps to second in season points with just three races remaining.
   

5. Carlos Munoz - The 8th Top 5 in his Indycar career.

6. Ed Carpenter - Drove a strong race, and had strong words for Sage Karam after the race about his driving style.

7. Marco Andretti - His tenth Top 10 of the season. 

8. Ryan Briscoe - His second Top 10 in five starts filling in for James Hinchcliffe.

9. Sebastien Bourdais - His best finish in three starts at Iowa.

10. Will Power - The defending Indycar champ is just 55 points out of the lead in the championship.
 

Top Ten included...

* 6 Chevys and 4 Hondas
*  3 Andretti cars
*  Both CFH Racing cars
* Only one Penske and one Ganassi