Winners
Scott Dixon: The
Ice Man from New Zealand was involved in a tense mighty tussle with Brazilian
star Helio Castroneves that went right down to the final 500-mile race at Auto
Club Speedway in Southern California and emerged victorious, recording four
wins (including three in a row: Pocono and the double-header weekend in
Toronto) en route his third, and most impressive, series title in a
championship title that couldn’t have been any more exciting were it scripted.
I’m continually impressed with Dixon’s style, though I must
admit that I thought Castroneves would win the title this year. They don’t call
him the Ice Man for nothing. He’s cool, calm, collected and as fast a driver as
there is on the planet. Unflappability when you’re heading into the first turn
at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at over 200mph isn’t something that everyone possesses,
but Dixon does, in spades.
Those qualities combined with the fact that he’s driving for
the powerhouse Target Chip Ganassi Racing make him a tough man to beat year in,
year out. This year, he stared down arguably Indycar’s most popular driver, and
won. I won’t be at all surprised if Dixon wins it all again next year. The
planets really are aligned for him at the moment.
James Hinchcliffe:
A more pleasant and outgoing driver the Indycar paddock has not seen since
Helio Castroneves bounced onto the scene in the mid-1990’s, and this year, the
Mayor of Hinchtown showed that the rapid Canadian could be as fast on the track
as he is affable in the pits, scoring the first three wins of his career.
Most impressive of the trio was Hinch’s scintillating and
ballsy last-corner-last-lap pass of Japanese driver Takuma Sato on the streets
of Sao Paolo, Brazil. The victory, recorded by a mere .3463 of a second, was
one of the highlights of the season, and one that will surely be played over
and over again, now that it has been committed to the annals of Indycar racing.
A career year for a friendly and popular driver – popular
with both fans and other drivers alike – in what was mostly a down year for
Andretti Autosport, after their driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay won the overall series
championship in 2012.
Tony Kanaan: With
the forced retirement of Dario Franchitti at season’s end, the ultra- popular Brazilian,
Kanaan – really, is there any other sort of Brazilian Indycar driver? – finds
himself elevated into the much sought after #10 Target Honda for Chip Ganassi
Racing after driving good buddy Jimmy Vasser’s KV Racing Technology Chevrolet
to Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.
Earlier, Kanaan had been signed to the fourth Ganassi seat,
to be sponsored by NTT Data that remained mostly driver-less in 2013 (aside
from an Indy 500-only effort by Australian Ryan Briscoe) and that was good
news, but a promotion to the top tier of the crack Ganassi outfit is something
else entirely.
Make no mistake, this is one of the best seats in racing –
NASCAR, Formula One, sports car, whatever – and Kanaan, as popular a winner at
Indianapolis as we’ve ever seen in decades, appears poised for a run at what
would be a very well deserved second Indycar Championship. A little more proof
that, even in a business-driven world, nice guys can – and sometimes do – finish
first.
Indycar Races: Four
first time winners, standing starts, double-headers, close racing,
extraordinary passes and finishes, incredible engine and chassis
reliability…it’s not a stretch to say that Indycar racing in 2013 was amongst
the very best racing in any category in the world.
After a great 2012, the second year with the DW12 chassis
was even better. Coming into the season, I didn’t think that was possible.
Somehow, the drivers who made up the grid this year managed to up their game. From
Hinchcliffe’s last-gasp pass of Takuma Sato to win on the streets of Sao Paolo,
Brazil to a frenetic, lead change-filled Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day
weekend (68 changes amongst 14 drivers) and the craziness of Toronto’s first
race, there was something for everyone in 2013. Long may this sort of
competitiveness continue!
Losers
Indycar Management:
Firing popular CEO Randy Bernard during the offseason was a blow that the sport
really did not need. Sure, he might not have been popular with a lot of team
owners, but only because he recognised that things weren’t working, that
Indycar racing needed to be shaken up. Bernard’s pros far outweighed his cons, and firing him was absolutely the wrong
move.
Most frustratingly, Bernard’s dismissal came at a time when
the sport was actually starting to show gradual improvement, thanks to a lot of
what Bernard had put in place. Ironically, the best parts of this successful
season – double-header races, standing starts, a night race in primetime on
American network television – were all part of Bernard’s plan to grow Indycar
racing.
Ultimately, it was as simple as this: Bernard, in 2012,
oversaw one of the most impressive and memorable seasons of Indycar racing that
we’ve seen, at least since before The Split, yet he managed to lose his job.
Here’s a thought for Indycar management: listen less to grumbling owners and
more to the fans. You’ll find your series is in much better shape if you do.
Dario Franchitti:
Not for anything he did on track, mind you, but because the Scotsman, an undisputed
modern-day Indycar legend, was forced to retire due to the heightened risk of
him sustaining brain damage following a horrific accident at the end of the
second race in Houston that resulted in two fractured vertebrae, a broken ankle
and a concussion.
What was easily the most horrific accident I’ve ever seen on
a temporary street circuit robbed the Indycar fan base of at least a few more
years of watching the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time Indycar
Series champion battle with his recent arch rival, Australia’s Will Power.
Of course, retirement and the guarantee of health is far better
than the alternative, which is too bitter to contemplate. The Indycar
fraternity has lost too many great drivers over the years – many of them close friends
of Franchitti’s. At least Dario will remain a part of the paddock community for
years to come, and his legacy is well assured, though the series is poorer for
the fact that the Scotsman will not be a part of it, at least not on track.
Will Power: The
Queenslander has been a perennial championship contender basically every year
that he’s been a member of Roger Penske’s organisation, so it came as a
surprise to many when he struggled mightily coming out of the box, not picking
up his first victory of the year until the fifteenth race, in Sonoma.
When Power did find his form, it was like watching the guy
who’d pushed Franchitti and Hunter-Reay to the very brink in championships
battles over the last few years. A win at Sonoma was followed up by a win in
the second Houston street race and the all-important first superspeedway win in
the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
It’s funny that a three-win season can land someone on the
‘Losers’ half of a Winners & Losers review, but Power’s been a consistent
visitor to Victory Lane since his emergence with Team Penske. Hopefully his
last-start win on the big oval in Southern California will be exactly the
launching pad Power needs for a big run at that elusive championship – and,
dare I say it, a victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – in 2014.
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