2005 IRL Wrap

You know, I am sort of glad I waited until today to write the IRL post season wrap. Yesterday’s race at Fontana proved to be eventful in and of itself as Danica allegedly struck Jacques Lazier in the safety vehicle after they crashed yesterday. It capped off one of the most tumultuous seasons in IRL history that was notable for its extreme highs and lows.

As usual hope sprung eternal as the season opener approached in Homestead. The tests in the west were wrapped and it looked like the league was on solid footing and poised to take this fight with Champ Car to its end this season. Unfortunately as has been the case for so long in the IRL, everyone was never on the same page at the same time?

Right out of the gate a couple of things were noticeable. One was that the Toyota looked like it was back in business as it took second as well as 7 of the top 10 positions. Honda was still strong as eventual series champion Dan Wheldon took the win. A little known Danica Patrick also made her IRL debut. She crashed and would miss the next race. Attendance was sparse, but the TV ratings were up slightly which gave reason for optimism. Something that sadly, the IRL never grasped.
As the league moved west to Phoenix and the traditional spring date at PIR the IRL was going to reach its low point. A mere 8000 fans showed up for the race. Rumors blamed the promotion, the league, the racing, me and whoever else could be blamed. The TV ratings were shit and my prediction of the end of the IRL by the end of 2006 looked generous.

It was becoming clear the IRL was not going to be winning any battles this year. At least at this point. Next up was the race in the streets of St. Petersburg. The IRL for once pulled it together and put on a show. For the purists it would be the shot heard round the world as it became clear crowds liked street festivals. There was a nice crowd and TV ratings were up. Dan Wheldon would win and it would be the first of three in a row that culminated in his winning the Indianapolis 500.
Generally the race was considered a huge success and you could just see the little wheels spinning in FTRG’s head about more and more of the streets.

Motegi was notable as Danica took the pole. Otherwise it was a forgotten race, but Honda won in the Land of the Rising Sun and that should have made them happy. Next up was Indy.
Practice that first week at Indy was as spirited and active as ever. However, by Fast Friday afternoon the skies opened up and it rained all night. Dickhead Brian Brainfart, in his infinite wisdom called the track closed by noon on Pole Day even though skies were clearing and the sun was coming out. So the Pole was settled on a chilly, breezy Sunday in from of about 50 people. TK got the pole and Danicamania was in full gear. The girl qualified fourth, but could have had the pole except for a bobble on lap 1.

The next weeks were filled with little excitement. Only Bump Day provided any real excitement and in the end it was all BS. Carb Day on Friday this year was a crazy one as usual.
Congrats to Dan Wheldon for winning the 500. Patrick showed her true colors by taking out Panther Racing and being able to change her car and make it faster. She would continue to suck the rest of the year. She did lead a couple of laps, but ultimately she was a loser.

Rolling out of Indy though the Danica factor was in force and the league looked ready to pounce. Tickets for upcoming events were selling at record numbers and the IRL seemed to have the marketing machine at full song. Unfortunately the good feelings didn’t last. At Texas Scheckter won, but by Nashville the wear of promoting Danica, who by this time had faded into the woodwork with her crappy performances, over legitimate drivers was wearing thin. AGR actually skipped the autograph session and were promptly reprimanded. ABC/ESPN and the IRL had pushed the real drivers just a little too hard with all the of Danicamania shit.

As the season progressed, Wheldon continued his drive to the championship, but the league lost its momentum. By the time Milwaukee rolled around attendance was back in the crapper and Michigan was downright embarrassing. Two weeks later at Sparta, KY the crowd was decent, but nowhere near the sellout some would have you believe was there (and blamed on the heat) but each year it gets better.

Finally they got back to the road course part of the season, but at Infineon the crowds were bad and a decent crowd at Watkins Glen wasn’t really enough to carry the rest of the season. Crowds yesterday at Fontana were awful.

As with any season there are good points and bad points. For the IRL in 2005, there were some good ones, but the bad continues to outweigh and I refuse to change my mind about this series being around in 2007.

As far as good goes, Danicamania had to be the top story. She had some good qualifying runs and got her name in front of the public. Unfortunately the IRL marketing hacks botched this opportunity. They overexposed her and virtually forgot all of the other drivers including Dan Wheldon who won the 500. Marketing has been a problem over at 16th and Georgetown for some time now and it appears as though nothing has changed.

AGR had a great season and had great sponsors, but little Mikey threw a tantrum about Danica and pulled his stunt at Nashville. Very childish. The street race in St. Pete was a huge success, but the roaders were so-so. Good attendance at St. Pete, Nashville, Kansas, Chicagoland and Kentucky were negated by terrible turnouts at Fontana and Phoenix and disappointments at Indy, Michigan, Milwaukee and Phoenix.

For all of their posturing about races in Portland, Long Beach and Canada, the schedule for next year is smaller, not larger and does not include any of those venues. I do however like the length of the season which has been cut down by a month and a half.

Chevrolet is gone. Reports of them staying arose after TS won at Texas but the GM people stayed committed to their plans and have pulled their effort. Toyota has announced it is gone after 2006. While Honda says it will stay until at least 2009 one has to wonder what the future holds. I think doing away with the engine leases and letting the rule book free up a little may entice companies to build an Indy engine. It’s funny, but the influx of Toyota and Honda money was hailed by many sides as the savior and proof the IRL had won. It is now apparent that is not the case at all.
Overall I give the league a C+ for the season. It failed miserably to maintain the momentum coming out of Indy. To top it off, one of the leagues biggest allies was basically told to wait. Eddie Gossage and his Texas Motor Speedway, mainstays of the IRL after Indy were thought to be shuffling elsewhere on the schedule. Gossage bitched and it seemed Texas might be gone. In the end it was averted and the league will go to Watkins Glen after Indy and two weeks later race at Texas.

There was just too much Mickey Mouse crap to say the season was a success. TV ratings, while higher remained low. Indy is no longer a sellout. But the real hurtful factor is that Champ Car actually had a decent season. It is obvious they are not going away. Unfortunately with the split, one league will and if Champ Car is not, who does that leave?

Enjoy the offseason. I might do something of a wrap on NASCAR if they ever get done!

2005 F1 Wrap

With Sunday’s running of the IRL race at Fontana and the F1 boys over at Shanghai the real racing season will come to an end. It has been a bittersweet year to be sure and unfortunately for the open wheel guys, NASCAR remains the 800 pound gorilla that everyone is gunning for. So what happened this season and why did it happen? Who is staying put and who is moving on or out? Who, for that matter is moving in? And who should be in but aren’t and probably won’t be and who will stay in that should be out?

F1 got things going in March with their annual return to the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. Controversy swirled over whether or not the Minardi team would be allowed to run using last years equipment. The rules had been changed enough that the older equipment was no longer legal. Of course the assholes from Maranello pitched a bitch over the perennial backmarker being able to run. As the lawyers got involved Minardi failed to show at the first day of practice. The FIA successfully argued that Minardi would not be allowed to run the old equipment. Miraculously at the 11th hour, new parts arrived and the Minardi’s took their place at the back of the grid. A position they would continue to defend the rest of the season.

What was apparent however, was that the new Ferrari was not going to blow away the competition the way they had the previous five years. There was no reason to think Schummi and the Sandwich were losing their edge, but the car was not up to par, at least in Australia. As apparent as Ferrari’s drop was the continued emergence of the Renault team. In fact Giancarlo Fisichella won the opener. While Fish failed to ever reach the summit again this season, the message was clear, Renault’s strong 2004 season was no fluke.

Unfortunately that was not the case for two of last years stronger teams. BAR had engine trouble at Melbourne and continued that Mo for the first half of the season. McLaren, usually strong in Australia also suffered engine problems and got off to a bad start.

As the circus rolled on, Freddie Alonso emerged as the new man to finally beat Schummi. Eventually Kimi would join that fight, but by the time McLaren got their shit together it was really too late for him to mount anything more than a cursory charge. Kimi will go down with the most wins this year, but when he was bad, he was awful. Most of it not of his doing, meaning mechanical problems, but it proved too much to overcome as Freddie cruised to the championship.
JPM got off to a rocky start as well. The Colombian missed three races with an injured shoulder. Allegedly he hurt it playing tennis, but the scuttlebutt was that he fell off of a motorcycle. Either way it was a long first season at McLaren for Juan. The team can still win the constructors title this weekend at Shanghai, but JPM will have to drive smart and give his team a chance. Something he has not been doing most of the year.

By the time the teams hit European soil it was clear Ferrari was not going to be a factor this year. It was also clear that the economy was having a say so about the F1 crowds as the San Marino GP was very poorly attended. Spain was good because of Freddie’s run and Monaco was okay, but Hockenheim was once again plagued by mediocre attendance.

By this time the title was down to Renault and McLaren with Ferrari still in the hunt but just barely. BAR was out. Williams was out and Toyota had only one bright moment out of each of their drivers all season.

The season was already taking its toll on the rule book as well. Qualifying had been changed from a session on Saturday and one on race morning to the older Saturday only session with the order being culled from the previous race. Teams still had to deal with the one tyre and no changes and one engine per two races rules. As the teams came to North America, the shitstorm of the year was at hand.

An uneventful race at Canada, well until the last lap when Kiwi broke up, brought the team to the US. The weather was absolutely perfect for four days as the teams gathered. The walkthrough on Thursday was a huge success again as were Friday and Saturday. However, on Saturday rumors began to swirl that there was a problem with the Michelin tyres. Ralfie had slammed the turn 13 wall on Friday and was out of the race. Fingers were pointed with Michelin ultimately being the scapegoat. Be it political or just stupid, Michelin advised their teams not to bring a safe tyre compound to go with the fast tyre. When it became apparent their tyres were unsafe, negotiations took place to either allow new tyres to be brought in or for a chicane to be built to slow the cars.
Everyone knows the story so I will leave most of it out, but suffice it to say that I felt then and still do that it was a political ploy to further the divide between the teams and the FIA in light of the startup GPWC being heralded by many of the teams and manufacturers.

In the end 6 cars answered the starting flag and many feelings were hurt and worse. In the days and weeks following the debacle people blamed the FIA, Tony George, the Speedway, Michelin, Ralfie, F1 and anyone else they could think of. Michelin finally agreed to take the blame and refunded the ticket money to the ticket holders of the race and offered to buy several thousand tickets to next years race. It remains to be seen if F1 will ever recover in the US.

As the circus rolled back to Europe it was clear no one was in much of a forgiving mood. The FIA has tried to ward off the split in the series but it no longer has the teeth it once had. Bernie has all but lost all face in his attempt to keep things together.

But the races continued and Kiwi was coming strong. BAR was finally finishing races, but Ferrari was still down. There was no doubt McLaren had the car to beat in the second half of the season, but Freddie was so consistent in his Renault and he could not be passed for the championship.
All in all it was a pretty eventful season for F1. With Indy, the fall of Ferrari and Schumi, BAR’s struggles and the rise of Renault there was more than just the crap we had been seeing the past few years. Thank God for that.

Off track there will be political ramifications until everyone gets on board with either the FIA and FOMA or with the GPWC.

As far as drivers go, American Scott Speed got his first shot at a test drive for the Red Bull team. As they make plans to scoop up the Minardi team it is very possible Scott will get a race day drive next year. Unfortunately, Takuma Sato looks like a man without a ride. He has been linked to the Jordan/Midland team but with them going with the Toyota engine it doesn’t seem possible. It is entirely within the realm of reason that TS could be in the IRL next year with a Honda team.
Jensen Buttons got his deal with Frank Williams dissolved. A year ago he wanted to do anything to get out of BAR, this year he wanted to do anything to stay with the Brackley team. He’ll stay and be $30 million lighter in the wallet for it.

One of the best driver rumors of the season was of Kiwi going to Ferrari. While I don’t see it, there is a seat open as the Sandwich moves to BAR for next season. Kiwi also had his share of headlines overseas as he apparently likes to go out drinking. Good for you Kiwi! I knew there was a reason I liked you!

Williams has inked a deal with Cosworth to develop a new F1 engine. This will probably keep the team from Grove down for a couple of seasons, but Sir Frank will probably come out on top on this one. Starting next year, Ferrari moves from Sauber to Red Bull. I guess the only question is how many cars does that entail. And finally, engine manufacturer BMW is striking out on its own as it has purchased the Sauber team and will begin development of a chassis.

It has been a lot of fun watching this season and while I wasn’t on here as much it didn’t mean I was mad at F1. Enjoy China and the offseason and go Kiwi and Juan!!!