Will Rodgers (Orange No. 40 Ford Fusion) lines up through Turn 9 for a restart behind the Sonoma Raceway Official Pace Car Toyota Camry. Image Credit: Kai Robertson (2019)
Da Kine Will Rodgers Competes In NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Race At Sonoma Raceway
Yes! You read this correctly. It doesn't happen that often but a person born in the state of Hawaii finds himself competing at the beginning rungs of high-level American motorsports competition, in the Levin Racing No. 40 Ford Fusion sponsored by Risk Management / Port of Tucson.
Third car from the front (Orange No. 40 Ford Fusion), Will Rodgers exits Turn 6, The Carousel, setting up for the long, uphill straight toward a potential passing opportunity at the right-hander at Turn 7. Image Credit: Kai Robertson (2019)
Will Rodgers, 24, shares a very memorable sounding name with a writer and cultural humorist from the first third of our last American century - Will Rogers, and although that he may posses a sense of humor & wit, Will is looking to make his mark as a race car driver ... from Maui!
While he competed a full season in the K&N Pro Series West in 2017 and finished 5th in points within a field of 14 drivers who drove every race in the season (total drivers who scored points - 64), his first and only race in the 2019 K&N Pro Series West season was at Sonoma Raceway's Procore 200.
Will Rodgers during pre-race press conference at Sonoma Raceway before the Procore 200, Will first K&N Pro Series West race of the 2019 season. Image Credit: Kai Robertson (2019)
During the Q & A Session on Saturday at Sonoma Raceway Will Rodgers was asked how is this year's track configuration different than last year. Rodgers stated, "With the carousel, one needs to be more conservative at coming down to the carousel [from Turn 4 through Turn 5], it's a huge rise getting over from the top [entering Turn 6] and when you do it right, the car stays planted; but if you do it wrong, it comes up out of the race track, you start to wheel hop and then you're trying to get it to land in the right spot."
Noah Grayson wins Procore 200 NASCAR Pro Series West at Sonoma Raceway. Image Credit: Kai Robertson (2019)
This kid could use a full-time ride, in many ways he has earned consideration - in this, his first race of the season, in an unfamiliar car, prepared for him by a new team, he qualified at P8 and finished the race advancing two positions ahead at P6.
This, in itself shows progression, especially understanding that the track Rodgers raced at and won on before was now in a new and more difficult configuration, he was additionally passed by two drivers from behind which means he actually bested four drivers in order to finish in this strong P6 in a field of 32 drivers who competed in the K&N Pro Series West Procore 200.
Will Rodgers leads a gaggle of cars through Turn 8. Image Credit: Kai Robertson (2019)
Aloha in the Hawaiian language can be understood as either Hello or Goodbye. For a car owner and sponsors who like to see a consistent top ten finish, Da Kine Will Rodgers should hear a welcomed Aloha before the end of the season because, for Will, there will not be an Aloha heard in regards to becoming a full time Kamaaina race car driver who hails originally from our 50th state - Mahalo.
TAGS:Hawaii, Maui, Will Rodgers, Sonoma Raceway, K&N Pro Series West, Procore 200, Levin Racing, No. 40, Ford Fusion, Risk Management, Port of Tucson, Kai Robertson, The EDJE
Penske Racing's Josef Newgarden after hitting the podium (P3 - Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach) for the first time in his first year with professional open-wheel racing's elite team. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)
American Open-Wheel 2017 Championship Chances Book-Ended By Americans
One of the main reasons the Indy Racing League was formed was to bring along and develop more race car drivers who were born in America to race at the highest levels of professional open-wheel motorsports.
Thirty-one years later we have come to the point in the Verizon IndyCar Series Championship that, with one double-points paying race, six (possibly seven) drivers have a chance at winning the The Astor Cup ... named maintained after one of the first major trophies in American auto racing.
Indy 500 winner, Alexander Rossi as he sits in the cockpit of his Andertti Autosport prepared Honda-powered Dallara in the pits at the second race of the 2017 season - the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. All four Andretti Autosport cars did not finish the race due to mechanical or electrical issues. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)
The six drivers, after just 16 races, go into Sears Point area of San Francisco bay at Sonoma Raceway with a mathimatical shot at the end of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma are framed by the points leader who is driving in his first year for Penske Racing, Josef Newgarden and, at 84 points down driving in his second year for Andretti Autosport, Alexander Rossi. If one wished to be a bit more generous - at 94 points behind the points leader is another American born driver, Graham Rahal driving for a single car team formed by Bobby Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
But let's be very honest, with 100 points awarded for the first car over the Start/Finish line, the top four points-holding drivers would have to NOT finish very early on in the 85 lap, 12 corner, natural-terrain road course, almost 203 mile, Grand Prix.
After 16 races of a 17 race season, the top six contenders who have an arguable mathematical chance at winning it all for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sept. 17. Image Credit: VICS
The stack ranking by season points is as follows - listing with post race INDYCAR Grand Prix At The Glen quotations:
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 2 DeVilbiss Team Penske Chevrolet) - 560 points: "It was kind of an eventful day for the DeVilbiss Chevrolet team. I felt like we were in a good position until that final pit stop. No excuse for it. It was my fault. I saw Will (Power) leave right in front of us and I just locked it up and slid over into the wall. Then Sebastien (Bourdais) got into the back of me. It's unfortunate, but there's nothing I can do about it. We'll go to Sonoma in a couple of weeks and race for it."
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 NTT Data Honda) - 557 points (-3): "It was definitely an exciting day for the No. 9 NTT Data car. I locked up the tires on the first stop and I don't think we got any fuel. We had to save fuel on the next stint as a result and battled our way back. I think we passed a lot of cars today and it was fun to contend with (Alexander) Rossi there for the win. Big congrats to him and good to see Honda run strong at Watkins Glen."
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) - 538 points (-22): "The Hitachi Chevy was so awesome today, and it was a great job by the No. 3 car guys. We were really fast out there - it's been a long time since I was able to go flat out through the carousel in the race, but we were doing that today. We had some issues on the black Firestone tires, but we were able to recover and really pushed hard there to finish fourth. I feel really bad for Josef (Newgarden) with his incident. It's unfortunate for the team, but it's mixed feelings for me because it tightens up the championship. We definitely have a good chance heading into Sonoma and I feel really good about our setup there. We'll be ready to go for it and finish strong."
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 1 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet) - 526 points (-34): "We fought for the best finish we could today in the Menards Chevrolet. We were really prepared for a wet race, and if it would have been run in the rain, I think we would have been tough to beat. But we just had too much downforce to run in the dry and make up the ground we needed to. Still, everyone on the team did a good job to finish ninth and we come out of Watkins Glen still in the hunt for the championship. We know what it takes to win at Sonoma and that's what we'll be fighting for (in Sonoma)."
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) - 492 points (-68): "It was just an up and down day for the Verizon Chevrolet group. There were times the car was really fast, but that first set of tires didn't agree with the car at all. I thought the car was broken. It wouldn't do anything I wanted it to. After that, it was good. I can't be unhappy about sixth. I don't know what kind of legitimate chance at the championship I have, but stranger things have happened, I guess. We'll go to Sonoma and give it everything we have."
ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Honda) - 476 points (-84): "An amazing job by the whole team today. We had an issue in the beginning with some fuel, the fuel (probe), but whatever. It doesn't matter, the team recovered. We had the pace to do it, but it's pretty amazing. It's a huge team effort. I've talked so much about how much we've improved, I'm so happy we're finally able to win." (About battle with Scott Dixon at end of race): "We had a fast car. I knew we had a fast car because we were hitting a fuel number before the final stop and we had pace. I knew he was going to be pushing like hell at the end, and so it was really 12 qualifying laps, and I had the car to do it. We had time, we had the pace, the performance, the tire life, everything was going our way. A huge hats off to Andretti Autosport. Thank you to NAPA Auto Parts, thank you to Honda. We're coming really hard for 2018."
American born driver, Graham Rahal as he bounces over the rumble strips in Turn 5 at the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. He qualified 6th in the Firestone Fast Six and went on to finish the second race of the season at P10. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)
And bonus driver ...
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) - 466 points (-94): "It was a good day. There was a lot of passing because a lot of us expected rain and with the downforce levels being all over the board, there were some guys that were really draggy and some guys a little more rimmed. I was right in the middle. There was a lot of passing going on all over the place. We're going to fight on here. I didn't have anything to lose (in the championship fight) coming here but as we saw today with (Josef) Newgarden, things can happen so fast. We're out of winning the championship, but we're certainly not out of finishing the top three or four. We're seventh in the points. The way I look at it is, we didn't score points in the first four races of the year, but we were the hottest team through the middle of the season and it got us back in contention. We didn't score as many points as we would have liked, but we have a lot to be proud of. We're going to be in attack mode for sure. It's a shame the last two races didn't go our way when they should have because we would have been right in the middle of the title fight, but that's the way it goes. That's racing." [ht: VICS]
All things considered, Penske Racing's Simon Pagenaud had a good outing at the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. Defending race winner and 2016 VICS champion Pagenaud was penalized for interfering with one of his teammate Castroneves' laps and was stripped of his two fastest laps in the session, relegating him to last place (P21) on the grid. Simon went on to finish the only other West Coast race of the 2017 season at P5. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)
The realistic gaming on all of this would give the highest probability at grabbing the championship to just the top three points holders at this time in the season. Newgarden, Dixon or Castroneves are all the odds on favorites ... but recent history of this double-points paying race places simple and realistic gaming at risk.
Two years ago, the top six drivers that had a shot at winning the title were Penske Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya, Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Graham Rahal (-34 points), Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon (-47 points), Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves (-58 points), Penske Racing's Will Power (-59 points), and Ed Carpenter Racing's Josef Newgarden (-95 points).
Justin Bell and Scott Dixon share an early season conversation at the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach media luncheon atop the parking structure just East of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center South of E. Seaside Way. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)
This excerpted and edited from Motorsports Journal -
Dixon/Ganassi Triple-Down & Double-Up To Wrest Control At The GoPro GP of Sonoma By Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal - Wednesday, September 02, 2015 In the media room, around the paddocks, and campgrounds around Sonoma Raceway at Sears Point, there were speculations as to who would win the Verizon IndyCar Series 2015 season finale race and, due to a double-points award, potentially win the season championship. At no point in the lead up to this final race was there a story line that included Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, who sat at P3, 47 points behind Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM), not just winning the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma ... but further, the 2015 American open-wheel racing championship. Almost all of the pre-race chatter centered on "just who" had what it would take to get the most points through qualifications, bonus points, and win the race (obviously, Will Power) ... or who had the charge to grab the championship and maybe the race from Penske Racing and JPM (obviously, Graham Rahal). Scott Dixon, and the PR Department of Target Chip Ganassi Racing were the consummate ghosts. Little was being speculated about in pre-race press releases and interviews from this organization about their chances at the Sonoma Raceway finale and the IndyCar season. However, at race's end and at post-race press conferences - the floodgates of strategic possibility thinking opened up ... and a few folks were surprised at the final tie-breaking results.
[Reference Here]
Penske Racing's Will Power would have been higher in the points race if he had been able to turn his 50th pole winning position into a full race performance. After a 14-year absence, the Verizon IndyCar Series returned to Gateway Motorsports Park paperclip style oval, outside of St. Louis, for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. On a lap 5 Green Flag restart, Will Power slid into the wall after being passed for the lead by teammate and eventual race winner (who qualified at P2), Josef Newgarden. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)
Book-ended by Americans, you say?
Well, as it turns out, the other drivers have spent so much of their professional career in the United States that they are accepted as our kindred sons in American motor culture.
Scott Dixon will be hoping to get his 5th IndyCar championship making him second only to AJ Foyt (7).
Helio Castroneves who has three Indy 500 titles - placed second in the season standings four times, third two times and fourth four times ... but still has not won the championship.
Simon Pagenaud won the Verizon IndyCar Series last year and has been racing in sports cars and IndyCar for the last eleven years with another series championship in ChampCar Atlantics.
Lastly, Will Power, a staple in American racing series since 2005, was the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion - this year saw him eclipse Dario Franchiti in total races won in the series and added to his Verizon P1 Pole awards total to 50 which tied him with Castroneves for third on the all-time IndyCar pole list.
Looks as though we all will be treated to an All-American top seven drivers competing for the Astor Cup at Sonoma during the Verizon IndyCar Series finale.
Que the band for a stirring rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, shaped by the sound of 2.2-liter (134.35 cubic inches) V-6, twin-turbocharged, Max. bore diameter 95 millimeters engines.
... notes from The EDJE
TAGS:GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, Sonoma Raceway, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal, Penske Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Autosport, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, The EDJE
Josef Newgarden as he sits in his Ed Carpenter Racing prepared No. 21 Chevy Dallara at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pit box. Newgarden seems just perfect this year to be tapped for Team Penske since he finished the year at P-4 ... just behind P-1 Pagenaud, P-2 Power, and P-3 Castroneves - his new teammates for 2017. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)
Josef Newgarden And Team Penske - American Dream Becomes Reality
The rumors that began to crop up around the paddocks during the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma season finale of the Verizon IndyCar Series held at Sonoma Raceway September 18th had many scenarios bandied about. One of the more far reaching was that the new American Driver of the series, Alexander Rossi (2016 Rookie of the Year | INDY 500 Winner | finished season at P-11) was seen coming out of a Team Penske transporter during the previous race at Watkins Glen.
This rumor was put to bed recently when Andretti Autosport was able to retain Rossi as Bryan Herta's agreement with the Andretti organization became more formal for the 2017 season. American Driver, American Team ... American Dream.
Cresting the highest point of the Sonoma Raceway road course, Newgarden enjoys blue, blue skies as he sews up P-4 in the 2016 championship points race. The fact remains that only Team Penske drivers were the only drivers to lock out Ed Carpenter Racing and Josef Newgarden from placing higher in the Verizon IndyCar Series points chase. Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2016)
Today, the announcement that caught everyone's attention that involved American Team Penske and the pursuit of the American Dream was the confirmation that American Driver Josef Newgarden (finished season at P-4) was signed to drive the No. 2 car for the 2017 season. He will replace last season's INDY 500 winner and season points leader Juan Pablo Montoya, who ended last year in a tie of points after the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma season finale and lost out on the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Championship through the pre-established tie-breaker to Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and finished P-2. This year JPM finished P-8.
The rumor of Rossi had some plausibility since his career had been rather extraordinary with his early rise through to an F1 ride, to signing with the Bryan Herta / Andretti Autosport combo team and winning the INDY 500 first time out. When one thinks about it, this would be all too soon since landing a seat with Team Penske is never a gamble for the team - they always have the patience and the time to pick just the right fit and talent for the organization.
Josef Newgarden in his Ed Carpenter Racing pit stand following practice for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Image Credit: Chris Owens - VICS
A look at Josef Newgarden's rise through the ranks through these last five years, points out how focused this determined driver really is - Tony DiZinno's NBCSports review HERE.
PULL QUOTE: It’s not very often you meet a driver coming up through the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires ladder system and immediately think, “this kid just gets it.”
A Penske Racing conference call interview with: JOSEF NEWGARDEN TIM CINDRIC October 5, 2016
MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to today's media teleconference introducing Josef Newgarden as Team Penske's newest Verizon IndyCar Series driver. Along with Josef, we have Team Penske president Tim Cindric joining us today.
Earlier this morning we announced that Josef Newgarden is joining Team Penske as the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet beginning in 2017. This obviously comes on the heels of one of our most successful seasons ever in IndyCar where we earned 10 wins, 11 poles, our 14th IndyCar championship with Simon Pagenaud and a 1-2-3 sweep in the points standings, something we had not done since 1994.
Josef Newgarden as he bangs across the rumble strips in the off-camber Turn 5 at the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. He finished the race through the concrete canyons by the sea at P-10. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)
Josef, you've been able to spend some time in the shop this morning. What are impressions of Team Penske so far?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, it's been a whirlwind for me. It's all happened a bit fast, which is great. It's just like racing. Everything goes quickly.
So for me, it's been a pleasure to try and meet a lot of the guys this morning within Team Penske. You know, trying to absorb as much as I can. It's almost information overload for a guy like me. Really excited to be here and hopefully add some more value to the group, which is going to be hard to do. They have got a lot of amazing people here, whether it's the manager, the ownership, sponsors, all the crewmen, the drivers. It's really a lot to get your head around.
So I think for me, I'm just trying to absorb as much as possible and taking in the experience and being prepared for the long off‑season that we're going to have before we get to St. Pete next year.
THE MODERATOR: Tim, can you tell us why Josef is such a good fit to drive for Team Penske?
TIM CINDRIC: Yeah, I think that from an historical perspective, you look at it, and you know, he's the first American that we've had driving in IndyCar here since Sam Hornish, so it's been ten years. That's not the reason we hired him.
Obviously we look for the guys that can drive the car and that's what we've always looked at, but it's a bonus, for sure. The fact that as we look at it, we wanted somebody that we could build on for the future.
It's no secret that he's bringing the average age of our drivers down a little bit, so I think it's somebody that we can build with and I guess the most important thing is showing that he can be successful at this level. He's somebody that we met with when he was the Indy Lights champion. I remember meeting with he and Rick and Roger after he won the Lights Championship, and he's somebody we've kept our eye on from that point in time.
No different than when we signed Simon, you have to decide if you're going to make a place for somebody like that, or if you're going to race against him for awhile. So we figured he was better off being on our side than on the other side.
Q. You're coming off an amazing season, given what transpired in June at Texas. How does it feel to be driving for Penske now?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, it's amazing. I think for me, as a still hopefully, relatively young guy in the sport, it's an amazing opportunity. It's something that I think you really have to take a hard look at and make a decision on, and for me, it was difficult to look the other way at it.
I think it's a great place where I can learn new experiences, try and grow as a driver, and kind of open up my whole role within the group and try and just become better within the sport.
So I mean, just to put it simply, it feels amazing. It's an amazing honor, just for me, I just want to be able to integrate into the team and be a part of the whole system that obviously works really well together already. Had a very successful year in IndyCar and they are very hard to compete against. It's fun for me to be a part of that now and hopefully add some value to the whole group.
Q. And for you, Tim, with Josef taking over Juan Pablo Montoya's seat, is it pretty safe to say that JPM is leaving the team after this year?
TIM CINDRIC: Well, it's something that we're still working through. You know, when we sat down with Juan around Toronto, and had told him at that point in time that we weren't prepared to make any decisions on what we were going to do going forward until the end of the season.
And we wanted to understand, really, what our options were, and we were very up front with him about that whole situation. And all along, we said that we'd like him to be part of our team in the future.
That doesn't necessarily mean driving our No. 2 car full‑time. We've talked to him about, you know, we've got a seat for him at Indy if he wants one, and if we do the sports car program, we'd like him to be involved in it.
You know, at that point in time, he said, look, I really want to drive at least another season of IndyCar. I don't want this to be my last season. If it was last year, it would be a little easier to take, but this year, I still feel like I have some unfinished business.
And we agreed to just explore different options at that point, which is really what he's trying to do right now. Finding out if there's a full season ride available, and we said that our offer is open to him and we'd love for him to continue with our team.
It's just something that we needed to decide whether we were going to position ourselves to do that for another year and miss the opportunity to have Josef as part of our team for the future.
So, a really difficult decision for us, because Juan has really been a big part of our success. Despite where he finished this year, he pushed our guys very hard. He's been a great guy to work with and would continue to love working with him in the future. Really, the ball is in his court. It's not the first choice for him, but we'd like to continue some association with him if it makes sense for him.
Q. When you were at Ed Carpenter Racing, that was always known as the little team that could. Now you're at the big super power team that always does. And the resources that you have at Team Penske when you go around their shop and all that, now that that's going to be at your disposal, what goes through your mind?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I think pressure is always present wherever you're at. I always put pressure on myself with any situation I was in driving in IndyCar. I think we had high expectations at ECR, and rightfully so.
I thought we had a lot of talented people there. We had a really great process, great ownership and great partners. Really had a lot of tools to be successful. With that, there was a lot of pressure there to do a good job, for everyone involved, our partners, our ownership.
I don't foresee that shifting too much. I think you're going to have that sense of responsibility anywhere you race, but it certainly is hard to not be inspired, I guess, or overwhelmed when you walk into the Penske establishment. It's filled with a lot of great people, as well. A lot of great partners. Tremendous support from the ownership. I think that same type of pressure that I felt at ECR is really going to actually translate pretty well to what I feel here, as well.
Q. Two of your teammates live in the area, live in North Carolina; Helio lives down in Miami. Will you be relocating to North Carolina?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You know, I would think so. I'd like to be close to the team and to be able to absorb as much as I can over the off‑season. I think that's really important. You've really got to integrate yourself well and give yourself the best shot to help the group, especially for me going into 2017.
So I haven't really had much time to go over that stuff. This has been a pretty fast process and we're trying to just hit the ground running real quick now and today, and I'm absorbing everything I can as fast as I can here at the shop. I'll try and sort out a living situation later on, but I would think at some point, yeah, I'm going to have to locate down here so I can be close to the team 100 percent.
Q. Josef for you, when I look at it from a teammate situation, it's been a rotating door. You either haven't had a teammate, you've had one‑off teammates, you've had sometimes road course, sometimes oval teammates. How nice is it going to be having the consistent, not just one teammate, but three of the best drivers on the grid as your teammates?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think it will be great. It's going to be a different challenge for me, I think, from an establishment standpoint. You've got more guys to work with. That brings more engineers to talk to. It changes the discussion, the whole dynamic that you go through on a race weekend.
I'm excited for that. It's going to be a shift for me, something I've not been used to. But I don't want to discount what I've been up against in the past. I've had a lot of help from my previous owner, Ed Carpenter. He was a great teammate to me, very strong on the ovals, J.R. Hildebrand, Spencer Pigot, Luca Filippi. There's been a lot of camaraderie in the past for me and I've had a lot of great guys to work with and bounce things off of.
What's really going to change is there's going to be more of that. There's going to be more available here at this group, which I think you can see why they operate at such a high level, when you get that many talented people together, it really helps elevate the whole program and you push each other a lot more. It's going to be different.
I don't know what that's going to be like. I'm excited for it. I hope it pushes me to a new level. I'm probably going to figure some things out about myself I didn't know and hopefully those are good things; the bad things, I'll try and fix them pretty quick. But I think it's going to be a great change.
Q. When would you expect to see Josef make his first test in the car?
TIM CINDRIC: Monday morning in Elkhart Lake. We'll be taking all four guys to Road America on Monday, so he'll get a chance. It's really a unique opportunity because a lot of times when we make a change like this, it's a while before they get in the car. We had scheduled a test independent of whether we made a driver change or not.
So that's not really the catalyst; the catalyst for us is to get some permanent road course testing in before the winter months, because we feel like it's something that we need to understand a bit better before we go into the off‑season.
So the timing was good for him and he will also be doing a test at Gateway later that week, as well. He's going to get some seat time right off the bat and be able to get in the trenches with our guys and get acclimated very quickly so that in the off‑season we can, I guess, speak from experience.
Q. Congratulations. You're a Detroit guy now.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Absolutely. It's the Motor City.
Q. Tell me, the makeup of the team, you have an Aussie, you have a Brazilian and a Frenchman. Are you going to be able to merge with these guys? Got a lot of competition up here with Team Penske. How do you think the synergy will be and how tough is it to tell Ed that you were leaving and how did he take it?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I think to take your first question, I don't know. I mean, I've not had this type of dynamic with personalities before like we're going to have. But I think you can definitely see there's a strong work ethic and a strong sense of team work here within Team Penske.
So I think the challenge aspect of having three other really talented drivers around me is only going to be a positive thing. There's guys from all over the world that bring a little something to the table, and I'm going to try and do the same.
I'm going to try and bring a little something extra that these guys haven't seen before which helps the whole program. And in return, I'm expecting to get a lot of that from those guys. I'm excited for that mix. I don't know what it looks like. Don't know what it feels like yet.
Like Tim said, we're going to have an opportunity to do that really quickly, which is unique. It just kind of worked out, great timing. Excited to see what that brings.
On the inside, you know, it's very difficult. It was really difficult ‑‑ it was almost easy up until the end of the season, because I didn't really put much time into it. We really just focused on trying to win the championship, get back in the hunt after the whole Texas deal.
We had a great effort going all year with ECR, and so I didn't really spend much time thinking about it. I waited to spend a week and take some time after the season finale to really assess everything; and I came to the conclusion of where I wanted to go and where I saw things and where they probably needed to head.
And when I had a conversation and made the decision with Ed, it was difficult. I mean, it was a great partnership. It was a great, great environment for me and to do something different is never easy, but I think at this point, it can be a very positive thing for the growth of my career, and I think ECR is going to come out great from it, as well.
Q. Jokingly, in the spirit of the political season, I wonder if you can offer an endorsement for who might replace you at ECR. You've worked with Spencer and J.R. and there's some interesting candidates out there for sure.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You know, fortunately I'm not in the position where I have to decide those things. So you know, luckily that's down to the different people.
Like I said, Ed's got a great group with the ownership they have over there, so I'm sure they are going to make a great choice. They have got a great team.
So I expect to be chasing hard to beat them. I know what it's like on that side and they have a really good product. I don't think it's going to be easy coming to the other side trying to beat them now. So I have no idea. I hope they make the best choice, and I'm sure they will, and we'll see where they land.
Q. You mentioned this came together rather quickly. But you also knew that the Penske organization had sort of been watching you for a few years there. What's that dynamic like, and when did you kind of get the sense that if the numbers and the contract stuff could be worked out, that this was going to be the place that you wanted to be?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, you know, I don't think I did. I think it was ‑‑ fortunately it was a short, but it was a short period of time where I was in limbo. I actually didn't have a job. So you hope it's going to work out. But like I said, I didn't have much time to think about it during the season because we had such a great effort going. We all really wanted to focus on trying to win the championship, which was the most important thing.
And then when I finally did start to think about it after Sonoma, really aggressively ‑‑ I knew there would be other opportunities. I knew there would be other interests and I knew I wanted to try something different. I knew that was something that I was looking at heavily, and I think at that point, you try and go a different direction and hope it all works out and fortunately this time, it did.
Q. Josef seems a bit against the grain for some of your recent hires in that he's a little younger than Simon and Will and didn't bring two championships like Sam did. What made him the guy even back when you spoke to him several years ago that you thought he was going to be a guy that you had to have eventually in your lineup?
TIM CINDRIC: Well, he's shown me he's a winner. He's shown me he can handle himself on the racetrack and off the racetrack, and that's really the core ingredient for us, is somebody that can work in our environment, because our environment is not for everybody.
But at the same time, as Roger has always said, it's hard to run a driving school with the expectations that are here and we need to also have somebody that we feel like can work within our group, our teammates and that kind of thing.
When you look at who we've hired over the years, it's been an important part of our structure, although it's not the No. 1 requirement, we want people that can drive race cars and represent our organization and those that we represent in the right way. Felt like he fit that mold.
Obviously he's got a longer runway in terms of age than maybe some of the hires have or what‑have‑you, but that's really not the motivator, either. It's more about how do we build the strongest team we have for the upcoming years. We felt like, as I said, there's never a good time to make a change, especially when you've had success with the guys we've had.
You know, replacing Juan Montoya with anybody, that's a difficult call. I'm sure if he doesn't end up racing for us in the future, he'll still be winning races and he'll still be one of the guys to beat. You know, he's not done for sure. So it's just a matter of us trying to understand what's best for us, and short‑term and long‑term, I guess that will all play out, but this is where we are.
Q. Have you identified a potential long‑term partner or whether we can expect a sponsorship partner or whether we can expect to see the No. 2 in the kind of like variety that we have seen the last year like PPG, Verizon and DeVilbiss?
TIM CINDRIC: Yeah, I would say there would be a few exceptions to that, additions or subtractions possibly. Our 2017, our total lineup for every race isn't totally defined. We needed to get this piece of the puzzle out there first. But I don't see it being dramatically different.
Q. Do you think that Joseph's personality, and obviously now reputation for sheer speed, do you think that that will help attract a more long‑term partner?
TIM CINDRIC: We've got a lot of personalities around here, as you know (laughing). I think he'll bring a different dynamic for sure, and I certainly see it as a positive going forward. I think it helps the potential. I don't think it hurts the potential in any way.
Q. I wanted to ask whether you feel like, as someone referred to earlier, you're the only American and you're suddenly in a prominent position; whether you feel like kind of an almost patriotic sense of pride ‑‑ not just pride, but actual dependency, like the future of IndyCar is depending on you. So many people say that IndyCar will spring to even greater prominence once we have an American champion again.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I think a great championship is going to be built on a lot more than one person. I can't see that coming to fruition.
There's definitely a sense of pride in being American, especially joining a team like Penske. I think it's one of the most successful teams in the world and a team you dream about being a part of. It really is, it's kind of the American dream, the team itself.
So to be a young, American guy; to get an opportunity to drive with this type of group, it's everything you could ask for. It's everything you could dream of. And I'm sure that's going to resonate well with some people. I don't know how much that moves the needle or not. I'm not the right guy to ask that.
But I think, yeah, I think for sure, you know, there's a lot of things that are going to help move the needle in IndyCar Racing, and I think you've already seen a lot of them. I think we are on a good trajectory right now and there's a lot of excitement within the sport and what we are doing with IndyCar Racing. I hope to add to that.
Winning races is all I care about. It's my focus for the team and trying to help them win championships and the Indy 500 and I think if there's people that are interested in an American doing that and Team Penske, maybe it will help the cause. But I don't know if that's the whole equation.
Q. I know it's probably premature, but could you give a status update on Helio Castroneves?
TIM CINDRIC: That's a broad question. He's down there trying to fight the hurricane today. If you're asking about our driver lineup for next year, this is the only change.
So yeah, he's a guy that as I've said before, he's been a big part of our team. When you look at the definition of kind of team work and leading by example on and off the track, he's certainly done that. He's a guy that, like anybody else, his career is not forever, either. He'll be the first one to tell you that. He's a big part of where we've been.
He and I started with this team at the same time, so certainly a lot of loyalty there and on both fronts.
Q. Everybody gets into racing and they know who Roger Penske is and they know that that name is synonymous with success. Did you ever dream of driving for Roger? Did you ever dream about this or envision this? Did that ever enter your mind?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think for me, I watched everything when I grew up. I saw NASCAR, Formula One, sports car racing, IndyCar racing, numerous Indy 500s on TV. Never really got to the race to see it in person until later on in life.
But you always knew who the Marlboro cars were back in the day and they always had those iconic liveries and they always were well kept and they always were distinct within the field. If I was going to give you the best answer, that's what stands out to me when I was younger, and I always thought, those are the coolest cars out there and I want to drive one of those.
You know, I got into racing actually relatively late. I didn't start racing, truly, until I was 13. So you know, it doesn't date back to me being four or five that I had this dream to drive for this team or that team.
I think the more and more I got immersed into racing and really started trying to learn about it and get my hands around everything and understand where I wanted to be; I think the more respect and history that I learned about Penske Racing and how amazing it would be to be able to drive for an organization like this; it's a huge honor to get this type of opportunity and to be a small piece of it.
So to answer your question, yes, it's probably just in a different way for me. I think my career was a little different in the way it progressed up. It's an honor. I think this place is the American dream, and it's one of the best teams in the world. So it's crazy to be a part of it now.
Q. Just a quickie. Roger likes to get on the phone and talk to drivers. Did he actually get on the phone and offer you the job, and what was your quick response?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You know, I don't think I've talked to Roger on the phone until like 24 hours ago. That was the first time I ever had a phone conversation with Roger, really, which was great.
Really, this team has been so easy to get immersed with, in such a short period of time. I've had a lot of help from Tim in a short amount of time and Roger to try and sort through something and see if it would work and it was a very easy decision to make when it came up. It was a quick process but it was very easy to see this was the direction I wanted to go.
So yeah, to answer your question, I think I've had help from a lot of people, Tim and Roger have just been great to me. I don't know much about them to be honest with you. I'm still learning. We talk about just being here today trying to take everything in; I'm like trying to tread water right now as a young guy. I don't know much about it and I'm trying to learn about everyone. But they have been nothing but gold to me so far. I can't tell you how easy it is to get to know these people and how well they take care of you.
Q. Will Brian and Myron and the rest of the crew pretty much stay the same on the No. 2?
TIM CINDRIC: I don't think our off‑season will be any different than in the past. We'll sit down and consider all that stuff in the off‑season. We'll have plenty of time after this testing. So you know, certainly a believer in continuity to whatever extent makes sense. But we'll evaluate things in the off‑season like we always do.
So I guess nothing is etched in stone. But there haven't been any decisions made to make any changes, so I don't know if that really answers your question. But first thing we need to get in place was who is going to drive the car, and then we'll go these next couple tests, and really after next week, we don't run for, really, probably until next year.
So we've got a lot of time to think about it and try and understand what's the best way forward.
Q. I know loyalty is a big part of who you are and you've been with Ed and Sarah and that group for a long time. Was there anybody, drivers, anybody else within the sport, that you sought for counsel to help you make this decision?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I think you're always assessing things. You're always talking to people that you're close to. And for me, it wasn't a matter of, you know, this team, that team.
I think for me it came down to: Do you ever want to do something different than what you're doing currently, and if you do, is that the right or wrong decision.
I think it would have been very easy for me to continue with ECR and have a lot of success and be very comfortable, and just have a great team behind me.
But for me, it came down to trying to make a decision if I wanted to try something different, and specifically, doing that while I was young still in my career. If you're given that opportunity, do you want to take it? That for me was the hardest part.
And there's a couple people that were close to me that I tried to bounce things off of and figure out if that was the right thing to do. I don't want to get into who they were, but yeah, you always have people that are close to you that try and help you try to sort things mentally.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, everybody, for calling in. FastScripts by ASAP Sports ...
Nice conference call this morning ... Josef Newgarden mentioned dreams but was not overly dreamy. Always focused.
American Driver, American Team ... American Dream. ... notes from The EDJE
TAGS:Josef Newgarden, Penske Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Tim Cindric, Sonoma Raceway, Alexander Rossi, INDY 500, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, The EDJE, ECR, Roger Penske,
Target Chip Ganassi Racing owner, Chip Ganassi, and Verizon IndyCar Series 2015 season champion, Scott Dixon share some GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma race and 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season championship winner's circle euphoria before official GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma race trophy presentations begin. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)
Dixon/Ganassi Triple-Down & Double-Up To Wrest Control At The GoPro GP of Sonoma
In the media room, around the paddocks, and campgrounds around Sonoma Raceway at Sears Point, there were speculations as to who would win the Verizon IndyCar Series 2015 season finale race and, due to a double-points award, potentially win the season championship.
At no point in the lead up to this final race was there a story line that included Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, who sat at P3, 47 points behind Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM), not just winning the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma ... but further, the 2015 American open-wheel racing championship.
Almost all of the pre-race chatter centered on "just who" had what it would take to get the most points through qualifications, bonus points, and win the race (obviously, Will Power) ... or who had the charge to grab the championship and maybe the race from Penske Racing and JPM (obviously, Graham Rahal).
Scott Dixon, and the PR Department of Target Chip Ganassi Racing were the consummate ghosts. Little was being speculated about in pre-race press releases and interviews from this organization about their chances at the Sonoma Raceway finale and the IndyCar season.
However, at race's end and at post-race press conferences - the floodgates of strategic possibility thinking opened up ... and a few folks were surprised at the final tie-breaking results.
Target Chip Ganassi's race strategist, Mike Hull in the Winner's Circle with race winner and 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series Astor Cup winner, Scott Dixon. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)
Post Race Press Conference:
THE MODERATOR: The mindset going in, [describe] what you needed to accomplish today.
MIKE HULL: I'm sorry, I can only do two things at once. We knew we had to win the race. We knew that before we arrived here. We did get the opportunity to come, IndyCar extended the opportunity with the rule book for us to come here and test two weeks ago. We spent half a day with Scott on the racetrack, and Friday we used all day and we virtually wore the tires out trying to understand what we would need today, and that's what we did today, and we worked on what we call the mechanical balance of the race car to achieve what we achieved today.
It just really is important when you have a driver like Scott as an owner like Chip and people that work for us and a sponsor like Target that you do get the most out of every day, and I think that's what we did today, but it started well before today in terms of having a race-able product.
----
Q. Mike, a couple of drivers told me it's very difficult to overtake here. Was your strategy before the race built on pit stops to bring Scott to the front?
MIKE HULL: [Mike pulls out a sheet of graph paper - and waves it - with three pitstops noted on it] ... Pit on lap 61, that's what ‑‑ well, we came in on 62, so even we make a mistake.
We wanted it to be a three‑stop race, so what we did was we worked really hard from the very beginning of the weekend to create a three‑stop event for us this weekend, and we knew we had to get to 61. If we could get to 61 as everybody thinned out on the racetrack with the track position gained throughout the stops, we thought we had a chance to win the race. We didn't think it would turn out quite the way it did in terms of we thought there would be two or three other guys there trying to make it hard on us, and at the end it was a little easier than what we thought to be honest about it, but it was still very difficult. I think what you do as a race team when you deal with strategy is you look at what you have. If you know you have a driver and car capable of winning the race, then what you simply do is work for the pit windows that you need to have to achieve something at the front.
But the bottom ‑‑ the denominator is we had to win. We had to win the race.
(ht: VICS)
During the race broadcast on NBCSN, Mike Hull was interviewed at the TCGR pit box immediately after the second round of pitstops where Scott Dixon was able to leap-frog pass from P3 (behind P1 - Will Power and P2 - Josef Newgarden) to the lead of the race on a 6 second timed pit stop - (paraphrased) "All I asked from our pit crew before the race was 18 seconds of work. We train for hours and hours for just this circumstance and I needed for them to give me three pitstops at 6 seconds apiece - two down, one to go!"
Now that's a Triple-Down.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal as he follows TCGR's Tony Kanaan up the drag strip straight after exiting the Carousel turn during the early part of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)
This excerpted and edited from Tribute Racing -
Dixon takes victory and championship after wacky race in Sonoma By: Josh Farmer - AUGUST 30, 2015
After a two hour Wild West showdown, Scott Dixon eventually emerged as the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series champion after taking the win in the GoPro Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway.
Pole sitter Will Power picked up from where he left off in qualifying yesterday as he jumped into an early lead over Josef Newgarden. The drama started early as the leaders made their first pitstops on lap 15. Newgarden came in right behind Power but was blocked by Power’s Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud as stopped right in front of Newgarden. Newgarden sped out through Pagenaud’s pit stall and only lost a small amount of time to Power.
Meanwhile, a few teams including Sebastian Saavedra and Marco Andretti, elected to roll the dice on strategy and stretch their fuel longer than the lead contenders before the lead cycled back around to Power on lap 25.
Penske Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya is running P4 on Lap 9 with Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon closing in from P5 to track him down in the Bus Stop complex of turns. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)
A yellow flag for Luca Filippi’s throttle failure on lap 33 brought the field down down pit road. At this point, Scott Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew saw that it was time to go to put their driver in position to take the championship and performed a trademark Ganassi pitstop to get the Kiwi to the front of the queue.
A number of drivers on an alternate strategy stayed out which put the drivers had been leading the race down the leaderboard. The race would get dramatic as Juan Montoya rear ended Power, damaging his front wing and bringing out a yellow while Tony Kanaan would take the lead.
Kanaan held the lead on the restart but the same strategy that put him in the lead took him out of it when he pitted on lap 51, which handed the lead over to Dixon.
With Montoya burried in the field, Dixon assumed the points lead and would need a clean final pitstop and no mistakes on the track. On lap 63, the crew did exactly that and was perfect while his closest rival Newgarden stalled on pit road, taking him out of contention.
With Dixon up front, Montoya’s efforts were beginning to shrink but drama involving his season long championship rival, Graham Rahal.
Rahal had been struggling to find the handle on his car for much of the day but found himself in seventh place, his hopes still alive.
His hopes came to an end when Sebastien Bourdais rear ended him at the end of the dragstrip and spun him out. With Rahal out if the picture and Bourdais assesed a penalty for avoidable contact, Montoya soon found himself in a tiebreaker scenario with Dixon.
He would still need to pass one more car to get the points lead: Ryan Briscoe.
Montoya’s black tires would seem to prove better than Briscoe’s red tires and he chopped a few tenths a lap off his lead while Dixon was smooth sailing up front.
Dixon crossed the line 6.1115 ahead of Ryan Hunter Reay and it was enough to take the championship as Montoya couldn’t get to Briscoe.
----
Hunter-Reay claimed his second straight podium while Charlie Kimball capped of the season with his third podium of the year.
Tony Kanaan claimed fourth and Ryan Briscoe completed his fill in duties for James Hinchcliffe with a fifth place finish.
Montoya would have to settle for second in the championship, followed by teammate Power and Rahal, who entered the race second in points. Helio Castroneves made it three Penske cars in the top five. A strong end to the season lifted Ryan Hunter-Reay to sixth in the standings while Josef Newgarden’s pit miscue dropped him to seventh in points.
(Reference Here)
The transporter for Penske Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya was located right across from the garage station of Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon. Here, Montoya is sitting on the stoop, watching the garage across the way (see reflection in mirrored door behind JPM). Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)
Sour grapes flooded the wine country racetrack's paddock area with the talk about the influence of having this race be awarded with twice the number of points given out for the results of the season finale race.
This excerpted and edited from STUFF -
IndyCar runner-up Juan Pablo Montoya questions Scott Dixon's series triumph By: stuff.co.nz - Last updated 11:20, September 1 2015
IndyCar series runner-up Juan Pablo Montoya has questioned whether Scott Dixon was a deserved winner, saying the Kiwi had a "s**t" season.
Montoya was furious the crucial final race at Sonoma on Monday carried double points.
Dixon won, and his Colombian rival finished sixth at Sonoma, so lost the championship on countback [tie-breaker] after leading all season.
Montoya did not take it in good humour, lashing out at the post-race press conference.
"Dixon had a s**t season all year and had one good race, and we paid the penalty."
Montoya wants the double-points system reconsidered, though he holds little hope that it will be changed.
"We'll see if they [IndyCar] change it, but they like the excitement for the last race," he said.
"Is it fair? No, but we go into the last race of the year knowing it's a double‑points race.
"Is it fair for a normal championship? No, it's not fair, but it's the rules they want to play with, and if you don't like the rules, don't race."
----
"It sucks, but when you make the last race double-points on a road course and you change the tyre and you do everything you did for this weekend and you put so many variables, it doesn't even matter what you do all year."
Dixon, who was one of six drivers still in with a title chance, won the 2003, 2008 and 2013 series.
He has finished runner-up in the series twice and has been third four times in a 13-year IndyCar career.
WHAT DIFFERENCE DID DOUBLE POINTS MAKE?
Actual championship standings
1 Dixon 556
2 Montoya 556
3 Power 493
Standings without double score for Sonoma
1 Montoya 528
2 Dixon 506
3 Rahal 478
Standings with no double scores at all *
1 Montoya 478
2 Dixon 474
3 Rahal 448
* Montoya got double points for winning the Indianapolis 500
(Reference Here)
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal had a
season for the ages. Driving the troubled Honda-powered and
aerodynamically outfitted Steak 'N Shake Dallara, he entered the race
just 34 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya in P2 and finished P4 in the
season championship after his car was pushed off of the track by
four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais. Here, Rahal finishes the Bus Stop complex of turns on his way to finishing P4 in the VICS championship. Image Credit:
Edmund Jenks (2015)
For Graham Rahal's part, he agrees with JPM on the assessment about double points being awarded for any race (from post-race transcript):
Q. Graham, Juan came in here and not a fan of the double points. He was not, at least. But aside from that, how do you think the championship from that standpoint is going? Should they drop them from Indy or keep them just at Indy and drop them from the end?
GRAHAM RAHAL: I don't think any race should have double points.
Q. What about the double‑header part?
GRAHAM RAHAL: Those are two races. Just like Indy, why there's points for qualifying is stupid. I know what they're trying to do, trying to make it more interesting, trying to get everybody ‑‑ but everybody is already hanging out on the line, and all you're doing is benefiting the big teams. Like for instance, us, it killed us this year. Definitely is not to our advantage.
Obviously there's two sides to me here on this weekend because obviously if it had been single points or normal points, I'd have been in trouble. I think it made it interesting, you know, at the end. If I look, I finished fourth. If I'd finished one more position up, I think I would have tied Power for third and fourth, and obviously the No. 1 and 2 tied, and I think we would have beat Power on a head‑to‑head on a tiebreaker, I think. But it was interesting.
However, I don't think any race should be valued above another. I know people will say the Indy 500 should, but I think every race is equally important if you're looking at a championship. Anyway, just my take.
Just like we tried the double‑file restarts and all that stuff. We don't need gimmicks in this sport to make it exciting I don't think.
(ht: VICS)
The No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport Honda Dallara driven by soon to be 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series Rookie-Of-The-Year Gabby Chaves as it negotiates the Bus Stop complex of corners (with wheel up) at Sonoma Raceway during the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma season finale race. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)
Besides that it was a great day for Scott Dixon and the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series championship, it was also a great day for Bryan Herta Autosport and their rookie Mazda Ladder Series driver, Gabby Chaves.
Post Race Press Conference:
GABBY CHAVES (No. 98 Bowers & Wilkins / Curb Honda): "It was a very eventful race for us. We barely made it to the start.
Actually we didn't even make the starting grid, so we started about half a lap back. We had a battery problem so that was unfortunate. We think we had the right strategy and had the right pace, but once we started being it was just like we didn't really know where to go and it was hard to get rhythm behind other cars that we were much faster than.
Twice we got caught out by a yellow flag, right as we were pitting and had to bail out from pitting. We obviously lost position trying to do that and screwed up our strategy.
It was just a rough day all around, but I think our pace is good and we have to work on a few things.
I am happy with the way our Bryan Herta Autosport team worked out this year and we couldn't do it without our sponsors, Bowers & Wilkins, Castrol Edge, Deltro Electric, Alarm.com, and of course having Honda in our car. It was a fun season and I look forward to what 2016 has to bring."
(ht: VICS)
Scott Dixon signs a hat during the post race - post championship press conference. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)
Post Race Press Conference:
Q. You made both championship, first Champ Car and then IndyCar later on when it was founded. Is there anything in those championships from the technology point of view, you're very impressed, aero package, engine, whatever?
CHIP GANASSI: Well, I mean, all of it is. It's a matter of ‑‑ I think from our point of view, we're just the race team. I mean, we look at the rule book, this guy to my right and I, you look at the rule book each year and you figure out what the rules are, and you go out and try to win races with what the sanctioning body gives you, what the drivers give you, what the engine manufacturers give you, what the tires give you. You've got all these sort of inputs and you've got to take all those sort of inputs and you have to make something of it, and whoever makes the best of that package, whatever it is, is going to be the champion at the end of the year. And that's how it's been for every championship.
Each one ‑‑ none are the same. None of the championships are the same because the rules are different, a little different each year. The points systems are different. You know, the technology is different. We've done it with different engine packages, we've done it with different tires, we've done it with different cars and we've done it with different drivers.
My hat's off to Mike here on my right for putting the team together so many times over the years that just takes all these inputs that you have from different constituencies in the sport. In actual fact we have very little control ‑‑ teams have no control over the sanctioning body, we have no control over the rules, we have no control over the engines, we have no control over the tires.
We give our opinion, but I think rarely ‑‑ if we give our opinion, they do the opposite, you know. But it's just a matter of taking all those things that they give you and putting them in a ‑‑ I refer to it as baking the pie.
You put all those ingredients together and you put it in the oven and at the beginning of the season. You hope at the end of the season the pie comes out good, and fortunately it did here today.
(ht: VICS)
What a fitting end to an arguable Top 5 best ever competitive season, in the history of American open-wheel racing championship seasons.
TAGS:GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, Scott Dixon, Sonoma Raceway, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Mike Hull, Chip Ganassi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Penske Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, The EDJE, Josh Farmer, STUFF,
Will Power returns Roger Penske's patience in him as he gets his first win of the year, his first win in 26 races, and becomes the tenth race winner of this 19 race 2013 IICS championship season. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)
Will Power's trouble free win at the GoPro 'Firestorm' of Sonoma
The well publicized Rim Fire firestorms that are ablaze near Yosemite National Park spreading at about 10,000 acres a day were not the only things burning in Northern California over this last weekend.
In a very hotly contested 15th race in a 19 race season, Penske Racing's Will Power survives seven YELLOW Flag full-course cautions (a Sonoma Raceway IndyCar race record - five took place before lap 30 of 85 was completed), tightly packed restarts, and a pit stop incident with Ganassi's Scott Dixon to secure his first win in 26 races ... dating back to April of 2012 in Brazil.
With scant few chances to rein in the winning ways of season championship points leader, Penske's Helio Castroneves, Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon was hoping to cut into the 33 point advantage Helio had over his goal at a IZOD IndyCar Series (IICS) Championship. Scott had done everything right in qualifying at P2 next to his P1 team-mate Dario Franchitti and ahead of Helio's P5, staying out of trouble through the caution-filled Sonoma hills affair by leading a lap (1 point) and leading the most laps (3 points), and by keeping Will Power, Helio's team-mate behind him on the track.
That is, UNTIL final pit-stops on Lap 64 of 85 when Will Power and Scott Dixon came in at the same time and the rush was on to get out first.
The problem came about because Will Power's pit box was right in front of Scott Dixon's box and this is exactly where the firestorm of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma begins. This firestorm may never end and it involves the reaction to the pit-out actions of Scott Dixon, Will Power's right-rear crewman, the penalty ruling from Race Control, and post race statements made by Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Penske Racing's team owner, Roger Penske.
On pit-out, Scott Dixon applied the torque to the rear wheels and had his rear end fishtail out of his pitbox where his left-rear slid close enough to Will Power's right-rear crewman who was carrying the removed used right-rear tire back to the pit wall, taking it off of the track, when Dixon touched Power's carried tire sending it into the air and knocking down the crewman ... which touched off a chain reaction that involved a second downed Penske team crewman.
At the time of the incident, if the race had ended with Dixon in the lead, as he would have been if his car did not touch anything on the way out of the pits, and the rest of the field remained in the same positions, Dixon would have been only 8 points behind Helio in the IICS championship points race (a nice move from 33 to just 8).
Will Power negotiates the Esses after Turn 7 during practice at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Here, he leads Simon Pagenaud, Simona de Silvestro, James Jakes, Tristan Vautier and E. J. Viso. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)
But driver Dixon did hit something and this can always have serious consequences. Thankfully, no one was injured enough to require medical care, but after a review from all available video, including a very helpful overhead shot, a stop and go penalty was assessed to Scott Dixon placing him deeply back in the field.
Team owner Roger Penske hugs and taps race winner, Will Power on the shoulder as Dario Franchitti complains about the penalty levied on team-mate Scott Dixon to Racer.com's Robin Miller in the background (top-center). Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)
In a post-race interview with Robin Miller (Racer.com), Scott Dixon's team-mate, Dario Franchitti accused the Team Penske crewman, and thereby Team Penske, of unprofessional tactics in pitlane. Dario said - edited, "You can't be doing these, sort of, professional falls and stuff. Since I've been in CART, IndyCar, whatever ... when you are fighting for a championship, and race wins, you always end up with the guys you are fighting with the in pitlane, and there has always been that respect, and today a [professional] line was crossed. It's dangerous out there, man. I think the penalty was on the wrong team."
Roger Penske expresses his displeasure at the post race press conference of Dario Franchitti's lack of professional communication by wondering as to just why he (Dario) did not express his comments about the unprofessional-ism of Team Penske to Robin Miller and others directly to his (Roger's) face?! Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)
When questioned by Stephine Wallcraft (More Front Wing.com) with this accusation in a post race press conference, Roger Penske was not very happy with the Franchitti position. “I think you should look at the tape. Our man who changed the tire picked the tire up, was running behind the car. It wasn’t that he stuck the tire out. He didn’t leave the tire on the ground where it could have been in the way. I think they’re way overplaying this thing as far as I’m concerned. Someone got hit, went up in the air. Obviously the 9 car was too close to our crew, had an accident there. The outcome is obvious. These are things that are pretty clear in the rule book. You go to 701.16 in the rule book, if a team member gets hit in the pits, there’s a drive-through. “I’d love to have Dario here. As far as I’m concerned, he’s off base. Our guys were doing a job, changing the tires, picked the tires up, got hit by a car from behind. You start to get personalities into this, what we’re doing running for a championship, it’s ridiculous.”
As far as Race Control was concerned, the Rule Book is king ... and there does not seem to be anything to cover what the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team drivers are accusing Penske Racing crew members of doing. This process has never been about accommodating personalities with Beaux Barfield - the job is not a popularity contest.
"Ultimately, we have a duty to protect everybody in the pit lane," Barfield said. "If we have somebody who uses less than great judgment when they leave their pit box and we have an incident, then we have to make a statement by penalizing. And we're going to make that call. There are a couple of different (video) angles, and clearly the 9 car crosses right into the 12 car's space and that's where the violation occurred. He was in the 12 car's box for a good half-car length."
Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, second in the IICS season points championship, suits up just before taking to the track for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)
Scott Dixon, obviously, didn't agree. There were seven penalties issued in the race, including another for a pit safety violation by E.J. Viso (running over an air hose), in the contentious race.
"It's probably the most blatant thing I've seen in a long time," said Dixon, who started on the front row and was seeking his fourth victory in the past five races. "I had a straight line and he walked into us. Pretty annoyed with that; we had a strong car all day." (ht: indycar.com)
It probably doesn't help to quell the firestorm to cite Will Power's, out of context, post race quote when he said, "This year is to make sure Helio wins the championship. We're going to help him any way possible ... ."
As for the fan, the race was not a nose to tail freight train - which spells entertainment - and this firestorm will not be contained to just the competitors on the grid. This firestorm will not be surrounded and dosed out with water in the near future, what with four races left in the season this firestorm will become white hot before it dies down ... if it ever will.
Obviously, here at the hills of Sonoma Raceway, professionalism ... or the lack thereof, is in the eye of the beholder.
The only true innocent here at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma was probably Helio Castrroneves, himself, who comes away with an additional six point advantage in the chase for his first ever IICS crown (no current Penske Racing team driver has won an IZOD IndyCar Series championship - amazing), from 33 to 39, and is the only driver in the 2013 season to complete all of the laps of every race with 1,928 circuits.
.jpg)
