By Andrew CharmanWatching the professional show that is the Indy Racing League roll out across America throughout the summer, one might be forgiven for thinking that this is a series honed to perfection over many years. But a solid reminder of just how young a championship this is occurs this weekend when the IRL runs only its 100th event. And paradoxically it will be at a track that is about to reach a less celebratory milestone. Nazareth Speedway will close its doors at the end of this season.
There have in fact been just eight seasons of competition since Indianapolis Motor Speedway head Tony George set up the Indy Racing League, splitting the US single seater scene as he sought to move away from an increasingly road-race dominated CART series. The all-oval IRL (the first ever road race will be staged next season) had a faltering early history and for many years CART was by far the stronger series, but in more recent times mass defections from the road-racers to the ovals has seen a serious power shift. Coinciding with improving racing and a growing reputation for hair's-breadth finishes at 200mph (the closest seeing the winning pair separated by 0.024 of a second), the IRL has cared itself a growing slice of attention from those who follow US racing. Last year's Firestone Indy 225 was one of the close ones, less than two tenths of a second separating the winning Malboro Penskes, and there's nothing to suggest this year's won't be just as close.
Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr, second-place finisher at Nazareth last year, is the IRL's winningest driver with 12 victories to his credit, and he owns two of the nine champions' trophies. Nine? Yup, the first year's racing went right down to the wire, the prize eventually shared by Scott Sharp and Buzz Calkins. So it may be young, but already the IRL has plenty of history to reflect on.
There will be reflection of a different nature this weekend. Nazareth's closure comes 17 years after it was rescued from a previous dormant period by one of US motorsport's greatest names, Roger Penske. The 'Captain' bought the venue from the bankruptcy court and spent some millions turning it from a dirt track to a paved oval, and Michael Andretti won the first big Nazareth race in September 1987. Nazareth became part of the massive International Speedway Corporation in 1999, and it's that body which has decided the Pennsylvania track no longer has a place in its plans.
Both Penske and Andretti will of course be present this weekend, both as team-owners, the Captain in his continuing and massively successful role. He will leave the track be basically built with some fond memories; “We have had great success at Nazareth, winning seven times in 17 races,” he said this week. “We scored our 100th win in 2000, which was unbelievable, especially when you consider we had new drivers and new team members. It was truly amazing. From that victory with Gil (de Ferran) up until today, if you look at the number of races we have won, the three Indy 500s, the poles and the championships, it's been tremendous.”
Both Penske's current drivers could do with some success to lift a so far disappointing season, and the precedent is there. Helio Castroneves, driver of the #3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara-Toyota, is the defending race winner. He led the final 173 laps of last year's Firestone Indy 225 and beat Sam Hornish Jr to the line by just 0.1697 of a second. This year, Hornish lines up as Helio's team-mate in a Penske.
Castroneves says that Nazareth is a very challenging track for both the drivers and the engineers because it has three very different corners. “It can be a very long day if the car isn't good, but it's a lot of fun when the car is handling well. It would be great to repeat last year's performance at Nazareth and win the last race at the track. It is Marlboro Team Penske's home track and the team has so much history there. I remember watching races at Nazareth while growing up in Brazil and am glad to have had the opportunity to race there.”
The form book, however, favours the smiles being on the face of Andretti, a rather less experienced team-owner who nonetheless sits on the verge of title success in 2004. With just four races to go Andretti-Green Racing driver Tony Kanaan has his Dallara-Honda firmly in the championship lead, 68 points clear of Rahal-Letterman rival Buddy Rice who did not help his title ambitions by crashing out on the first lap last weekend at Pikes Peak. Andretti-Green driver Dario Franchitti won that race, while Andretti-Green driver Dan Wheldon holds third in the points just 14 shy of Rice. Who's looking for favourites?
The Firestone Indy 225 is due to take the green flag at around 2pm Eastern Time on Sunday, that's 7pm in the UK. check back to Crash.net this weekend for news of qualifying and a full race report.
