IndyCar 2014

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IndyCar – IndyCar World Championship 500: Always a Bridesmaid, Finally the Bride

indycar-2014-fontana-power-championWe’re used to a certain level of nearly unopposable domination from Will Power since he’s started in the IndyCar series. With only eight full-time seasons in American open-wheel, he’s already made it into the top twenty of all-time winners. Despite all the wins, he couldn’t quite put it all together for a championship.

The 2014 season wasn’t a typical Will Power season. While he started out the season strong, he had a massive slump through June and July that put teammate Helio Castroneves lead the title chase for the second half of the season. However, it wasn’t the typical late Will Power slump but an atypical resurgence that saw Will Power claim his first IndyCar championship.

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IndyCar – GP of Sonoma: One Little Mistake…

indycar-2014-sonoma-dixon-victory-laneIs unpredictability a bad thing? I’d imagine that this is a question that the higher-ups at IndyCar have to ask themselves every so often. After all, given his dominance at Sonoma heading into the weekend, a pole position on Saturday and a massive points lead heading into the race, Will Power winning the Grand Prix of Sonoma was a foregone conclusion.

However, all it took was one little mistake by Will Power to deny his chances at victory and almost turn the championship on its head. Then again, one little mistake ruined any chance Helio Castroneves had of capitalizing on Power’s issues.

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IndyCar – Wisconsin 250: Powering to a Championship

indycar-2014-milwaukee-power-checkered-flagWill Power is easily the best driver in IndyCar right now. He’s been the best driver in IndyCar since joining Team Penske in 2009. However, he hasn’t been able to seal the deal and win the IndyCar Series championship. His poor form on ovals and an occasional bout of bad luck has resulted in him finishing in the top five in each of the last four seasons and three-straight runner-up finishes from 2010 to 2012.

Unfortunately for the IndyCar series field, Power seems to have found his oval form. He finished 8th in the 500, 2nd in Texas and a blocking penalty away from a podium or even a win in Pocono. The final stretch of the 2014 IndyCar Series season seems to be the start of a coronation as Will Power won the Wisconsin 250 and stretched his championship lead.

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IndyCar – Toronto Indy: Double the Trouble

indycar-2014-toronto-conway-victory-laneIt was a little bit wet but it was a lotta bit wild on the streets of Exhibition Place for the annual Toronto Indy. This year’s doubleheader was compressed to a one day show with two points races after a Saturday afternoon rainout. It was a long day for the drivers and teams but a hell of a show for the fans who saw a spectacular performance in the morning and a shootout to the end in the afternoon as Sebastian Bourdais and Mike Conway scored the wins in Canada.

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IndyCar – Iowa Indy 300: Not Over ‘Til the Checkered Flag

indycar-2014-iowa-rhr-victory-laneHeading into Saturday night’s IndyCar 300 lap race at Iowa Speedway, Andretti Autosport had won four straight and five of seven races at the track. The other two races were won by Chip Ganassi Racing. For most of the race, it looked like CGR’s Tony Kanaan would end Andretti dominance but a great strategy call and a hard charge at the end made it five in a row for AA with Ryan Hunter-Reay taking the checkered flag.

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IndyCar – Pocono 500: A Second Time For Firsts

indycar-2014-pocono-montoya-victory-laneWhen he was dropped from Formula One by McLaren, many people thought that Juan Pablo Montoya was done in motorsports. His prime was behind him and he was going from the pinnacle of motorsports to stock cars, a discipline that he never run before in his life. Naturally, that run wasn’t as successful as his time in CART or F1.

After his NASCAR contract expired at the end of last season, it looked as though Montoya was going to spend the rest of his careers in sportscars. Instead, Roger Penske snapped up the long-time Ganassi driver to run in IndyCar and what an inspired move it was. It started something of a career resurgence for Montoya capped off (thus far) with a win in the Pocono 500.

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IndyCar – GP of Houston: Sweeps Weekend

indycar-2014-houston-race2-pagenaud-victory-laneOne of the storylines that troubles the rules makers in motorsports is if dominance sells. Last weekend, we saw two races dominated by two different groups but the result was dominance. On the Saturday portion of the Houston doubleheader, it was the Colombian contingent of drivers mimicking the success of their country’s World Cup team with a sweep of the podium. Sunday saw a team dominate with Schmidt-Peterson scoring their first-ever one-two sweep.

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IndyCar – Texas 600: Two-Driver Two-Step

indycar-2014-texas-carpenter-victory-laneWhile it’s certainly and advantage to run week in and week out on the IndyCar circuit, that doesn’t mean you have to run every race to succeed. Since the team owner became a part-time driver, the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing car became a threat with road course specialist Mike Conway handling the races with right turns and Ed driving only on the ovals. The results have seen Conway win at Long Beach and Carpenter start the Indy 500 on pole.

So it should come as much of a surprise that the so far winless driver of the #20 car was able to correct that quite quickly. In only his second start of 2014, Ed Carpenter put in a stellar race to pick up his first win of 2014.

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IndyCar – Dual in Detroit: A Penske Shootout

indycar-2014-detroit-helio-fence-climbLove ’em or hate ’em, these street course doubleheaders sure end up with some exciting racing. While we usually dread Formula One street course races, IndyCar street races tend to be the more exciting of the events that require right turns in addition to the left turns.

The one recurring theme this weekend was Penske. It’s Roger Penske’s event with the first race led from the pole by Helio Castroneves in a Penske car. Therefore, it was only fitting that Will Power and Castroneves drove to victory in Penske cars at Penske’s race.

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IndyCar – Indy 500: A First Time for Everything

indycar-2014-indy-500-rhr-kissing-the-bricksWhat constitutes a family curse being broken? The Andretti family curse at the Indianapolis 500 goes back almost 50 years when Mario won his first and only Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. Neither son Michael nor grandson Marco have been able to win the race since then.

Since 1969, the Andrettis have won the 500 twice… as team owners. Michael’s team won the 2005 and 2007 races but he was just an owner. This year was the closest that an Andretti has come to winning the race but not thanks to Marco’s driving. It was Michael calling the shots on the pit box for race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay who picked up the win with a last lap pass of three-time race winner Helio Castroneves.

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