The NTT IndyCar Series’ oval races the past two weeks have been extremely exciting, in times for the best reasons of competition as well as the not-so-right reasons of crashes. Races at Pocono International Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway have been thrilling for racers and fans alike.
At Pocono a first-lap crash stifled the forward mobility of five racers: James Hinchcliffe, Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Felix Rosenqvist and Takuma Sato. Four of those five drivers suffered no physical issues; Rosenqvist, the rookie driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, spent a night at hospital and was cleared to drive in last weekend’s Gateway race, where he finished a credible 11th.
Three of the other drivers came down hard on Sato, claiming he moved over on them. That incited the rage of fans around the world who berated the 2017 Indianapolis 500 champion without seeing all of the video angles of the crash or without having seen the data involved. Sato’s team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing later provided factual data for fans to see that their driver wasn’t faulty. INDYCAR, the sanctioning body took no action, which should tell anyone there was plenty of blame to be passed around.
This past weekend, Sato was the winner of another thrilling race at this Gateway track next to the city of St. Louis, Missouri. He beat veteran oval king Ed Carpenter by less than 0.04 seconds after 248 thrilling laps of competition. This week the Japanese driver accepted the kudos of his competitors and the more than 42,000 fans on-site for the race.
INDYCAR puts on some fabulous oval races; the Indianapolis 500, called the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is a great test for any driver. Just making the field of 33 racers is an accomplishment in this day and age, although with thin grids in the recent past, some less than acceptable measures have given rides to drivers who would have been better off staying home. The ovals, though, don’t seem to attract the crowds needed to sustain these circuits, no matter how good the racing might be. Gateway’s WTT Raceway could be one of the few exceptions.
Pocono and WTT Gateway ended the oval partition of INDYCAR’s 17-race season. The series is active this coming Labor Day weekend on the Portland International Raceway road course and the third weekend of September at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where the series has been absent since 2004. The Indy cars returned to Portland last year after being gone since 2007, when Sebastien Bourdais was the winner. Patrick Carpentier took the final checkered flags on the Laguna Seca road course in 2004, racing for Forsythe Racing; it was his second consecutive victory on the undulating, historic track.
Last year at Portland, Sato was the victor. He could have a similar result this year if the stars are in alignment and if engineer Eddie Jones finds the magic brew for his Honda-powered Rahal Letterman Lanigan machine. Taku-san certainly has momentum on his side after this past weekend at the center of the United States. Gateway was his second 2019 victory; he also won at Barber Motorsports Park i April.
These facts all go to show that as venues change and schedules morph from one track to the next, it’s important never to underestimate the abilities of real racers to overcome bad press and, well, press on. I’m not necessarily a fan of one driver over the next, but I certainly am a fan of not taking sides in a racing crash that could have many rationales.
As the NTT IndyCar Series heads to its penultimate race in the Pacific Northwest, Tennessee’s (and Team Penske’s) Josef Newgarden, the 2017 champion has the points lead over teammate and 2019 Indy 500 champ Simon Pagenaud, leading by 38 points. By virtue of two challenging races in a row, Californian Alexander Rossi is now in third place (-46) with five-time champ Scott Dixon in fourth, lagging by 70 points.
The season finale at Laguna Seca offers double points and, at this time, those four are the sole eligible drivers. This scenario could change after the coming weekend but, suffice to say this is one of the more compelling and viable seasons for this series in many a year.
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