It's Time to Go Racing

An article by New Track Record    No Comments

After a year of reading the great blog work posted by George Phillips at Oilpressure.com, I felt motivated to get in on the action. Topic for my virgin post; the IZOD Indycar drivers.

It’s finally time to go racing. Enough of the silly offseason which saw an interesting game of musical chairs, announcement of IZOD as the Indycar Series sponsor, new leadership and the release of possible chassis designs for 2012 (which if the DeltaWing is chosen, I am not certain I would be comfortable being in the same room with my mom while 20 of those ‘women pleasers’ race on TV.) All that is over with and it’s time for racing! There are 24 drivers officially registered for the first race in Brazil and I am going to focus on a few of them here. Plus, as ESPN has taught me, there is nothing more fun than speculating and over-analyzing the ‘game’ before the show begins.

#2 Raphael Matos – Luczo Dragon Racing/de Ferran Motorsports: Besides that horrific accident in Indy, where he collected Vitor Meira, Raphael had a solid rookie season and I suspect with the addition of Gil de Ferran as co-owner, his Sophomore season is going to be even better. Expect to see him running in the top ten throughout the year.

#3 Helio Castroneves – Team Penske: What a year 2009 was for Helio. It was not hard to pull for this guy after everything he went through at the beginning of the season (sticking it to Uncle Sam) and then coming back to win his third Indy 500 (which, according to Paul Tracy’ recent twitter posts, is still debatable). However, after a strong start to the season, he ended on a flat note. A month removed from the 500 victory, he saw the 2009 championship get to far out of reach. I do think the tax evasion trial’s mental toll finally caught up with Castroneves. It is hard to believe, but with the talent of his teammates, Helio finds himself defending the unofficial title of current ‘best Penske driver’. Regardless, Helio will drive/dance his way to 2 or 3 victories this season. When the month of May rolls around, he will be the main attraction (that is not Danica).

#4 Dan Wheldon – Panther Racing: Beside the constant and distracting shine from his pearly whites, I wouldn’t have noticed him. Yes, okay he did get a second place finish at the 500, but how far has Panther Racing fallen ever since Hornish left to race those crapwagons? Wheldon still is a talented driver and should be able to get this team back in victory lane. If all else fails, he can rest at ease knowing he has the best looking teeth in all of Great Britain.

#6 Ryan Briscoe – Team Penske: It’s great to see him successful at Penske. Being a part of team Penske, one is never really considered an underdog. However, when you not only survive a terrifying crash at Chicagoland, but come back and dominate the way he has, it is hard not to see him in that light. Now, if we can only make him more interesting on Twitter, I can only handle so many pictures of his dog. I want to see some evidence of heavy partying with the boss, Roger. I know they exist. Post them damnit.

#7 Danica Patrick – Andretti Autosport: Must be a rookie, never heard of the name before. I hope she is at least good looking.

#8 E.J. Viso – KVRT: Last year, it was no secret that I didn’t like EJ. To me, he was one ‘transition’ drivers that was getting in the way of the other drivers. However, he began to show some signs of talent late last year and his personality is something this series needs. He recent twitter fight with PT was a classic. The series needs this, but on the track. Not ‘on the track’ NASCAR style, but a good ol fashion competitive feud with some good smack talk sprinkled on top.

#9 Scott Dixon – Target Chip Ganassi Racing: Complete class act driver and obvious contender for the 2010 IZOD Indycar series Championship. I just wish there was more too him. I am not questioning his skills or talent as he is simply one of the best open wheel drivers to ever compete, but the passion that he possesses is rarely seen on TV. He is just ‘there’, winning races. I even met Scott in a Broad Ripple bar one night during the off season and he was the exact same way! I was tempted to call him an Aussie to see if I could get a rise out of him.

#10 Dario Franchitti – Target Chip Ganassi Racing: I like Dario. I really do. I hope he keeps doing well. I, however, cannot stand the post race interviews with his wife, Ashley Judd! If ABC/ESPN is airing the race, I do not have to worry about it as much as they will cut away to women’s golf as soon as the checkered flag is waived, but if the race is on Versus you better be prepared for the ramblings of Mrs. Franchitti.

#11 Tony Kanaan – Andretti Autosport: TK is the man. He is one of the studs of the series. He needs to have a big year and rebound. Last year was a big disappointment for TK as he didn’t win a single race and finished behind teammate Danica Patrick. Of course he drives better and can post better results when he is not on fire or sitting there along for the scariest ride of his life.  He will be the main reason Andretti Autosports turns this it all around. I really hope he can as there needs to be someone else consistently competing with the Penske and Ganassi cars to make things more interesting.

#26 Marco Andretti – Andretti Autosport: When is he going to embrace the fact that he is a race car driver and get serious about racing? To me, I feel like Marco is punching into work his 8 – 5 job shift. He has one of the most powerful last names in all of racing but he has failed to reach any of the expectations or hype. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that he has a comfortable seat, in that I doubt his Dad will ever fire him (or even disagree with him on any on track incidents as we have seen). I want to like Marco, but at this point I just can’t. He needs to have a big year and at least get another victory or that comfortable seat might feel a bit warmer next season.

#Ryan Hunter-Reay – Andretti Autosport: What a roller coaster of a ride this guy has had. He had everything going for him at the end of the 2008 season only to see all of that fall apart prior to the start of 2009. He experienced probably one of the worst month’s of May in recent history a driver could have. I really hope things are different this year. He doesn’t have a full time ride with AA confirmed as of today, but there is a good possibility it will be. He is on with a decent team and I think he could be someone that can make some serious noise this year, on and off the ovals.

There are other drivers and maybe I can touch base on those remaining prior to the start of the next race, but these are the drivers that I am watching this year. Enjoy the Brazil race!