AJ's getting some IZOD duds

From the Twitter today:






Boo for one less permanent car, but yay for the end of RHR's crazy Vision ride that never felt full-fledged to begin with.

Foyt's team may be kinda...bad but at least this team will actually be trying to give him the best car possible. RHR is an upgrade over Quattro, especially with a July full of right turners. It will also give them a chance to have some continuity from here on out rather than have a revolving door of drivers. Hopefully he pulls some great results out and shows his calibre as a driver.

The IRL is trying to make me a NASCAR fan

After the snooze fest tonight, I'm actually looking forward to the Pocono "Why the hell is this terrible ass race 500 miles long?" 500. Who would have ever thought Texas Motor Speedway could produce such a terrible race? I said it several times on Twitter tonight: IndyCars on ovals are broken.

Tonight was not an aberration in 2009. Kansas was a boring race, Indy was a boring race, and Milwaukee was a slightly less boring race. What the hell happened to my beloved side-by-side racing? The kind of action that made me like IndyCars in the first place? The aerodynamics in these cars suck royally. And without any significant differences between the cars (like say, another engine), we get high-speed parades. When the series champion is calling you on your national television coverage (albeit to a very small mass of fans), that's a serious problem.

It's not just a problem for us bored hardcores. How is the series supposed to recruit new fans when there is nothing interesting to draw them in?

We don't see another high-speed oval until August. In the meantime, let's try and fix what's wrong with the races on them (or at least consider new things for 2010). First, rip the effin' fuel dials off the cars. Every race has the exact same pattern now: Green Flag, a few laps of dicing for position, then everybody sets the knob for fuel saving and files in for the parade. I get bored and flip around until I find Indonesian synchronized swimming championships or something. Repeat on every restart.

Also let everyone have varied wheelbases again. Clearly that experiment has been an EPIC FAIL. If teams can't afford extra parts, whatever. It's not like the current rules is seeing a Coyne car battling for the lead with the red guys.

And while we're at it, make the guy in the last pit box have to turn like everyone else. In the last two years there have been several races (the one coming right to my head is Edmonton) where somebody won because of that damn pit box. Even if you want to justify it as a "reward" for success, Helio wasn't deserving of it. And the less on-track passing we see, the more this will have an impact.

God I'm pissed. Can't wait for F1 tomorrow. At least there a leader's engine could blow and change everything, although if Button is leading it's not bloody likely. I'm rooting for Vettel though.

2009 Driver Rankings: 4/29/2009

For a look at how this works, see here.

Another week, another set of driver rankings to reveal. None of my big 3 series had particularly interesting racing, however that wasn't the case with this week's rankings. The big ones at Talladega had several top NASCAR guys lose big points. With only three races completed so far, the IndyCar rankings are still quite volatile, with the biggest gainer and biggest loser this week coming from the IRL.

The rules of my rankings require that a driver participate in at least half of the events his or her series runs in order to be ranked. Because of that, the most recent NASCAR winner Brad Keselowski, whose run 4 of 9 Sprint Cup events, is ineligible. His current average of 9.625 would place him in 37th place though if he was included.

Top 10 in Focus

1. Jenson Button, F1 (last week - 1)

Fourth week in a row that Button sits #1 in the standings, now by a margin of more than 10. Without any IndyCar races until the end of next month, he's bound to stay on top until at least then. Even if he scored no ranking points in Spain, he'll still have a 31.800 average.

2. Will Power, IndyCar (last week - 3)

Being rideless this week actually helped Will Power become the top ranked IndyCar driver after Dario Franchitti crashed out and got his qualifying run thrown out. He will get to run at Indy though, hopefully for him it will be good enough to get sponsor dollars for the rest of the season.

3. Rubens Barrichello, F1 (last week - 4)

Rubens had a solid point gain this week to maintain a high position on the chart. He has not been as strong as his teammate Button, which may be an area of concern as the other teams close the diffuser gap in Spain and Monaco.

4. Sebastian Vettel, F1 (last week - 12)

A runner-up finish in Bahrain together with his victory in China has seen Vettel moved in two weeks from 41st to 4th. Unless Button suffers a disaster run of form the only way I could see someone else getting up to #1 is if this kid gets on a serious winning streak, preferably with a few poles along the way.

5. Jarno Trulli, F1 (last week - 16)

Earning pole in Bahrain was key to Jarno's success this week, as he actually earned more ranking points than Vettel despite finishing third.

6. Tony Kanaan, IndyCar (last week - 7)

Another consistently good week for Kanaan saw him become the ICS points leader if just barely, while he remains the highest ranked driver with a guaranteed ride for the season.

7. Dario Franchitti, IndyCar (last week - 2)

Dario scored a big ol' donut this week, causing him to drop five places.

8. Jeff Gordon, NASCAR (last week - 5)

The biggest victim of the first Big One of Talladega '09.

9. Kurt Busch, NASCAR (last week - 9)

Older Busch has been #9 for three weeks running.

10. Ryan Briscoe, IndyCar (last week - 10)

Briscoe caught an unlucky break on Sunday when the caution flew prior to hitting the pit line, but it did not effect him to badly here.




Other Facts

• Biggest Gainer: Kansas winner and last year's #1 driver Scott Dixon, who went from 60th to 15th in one weekend.
• Biggest Loser: Raphael Matos, who went from 45th to 59th.
• Only one man is keeping Jenson Button from having the top average in all three categories (race results, qualifying and bonus) : Graham Rahal, whose qualifying average of 8.67 points/qualifying session leads Button and Will Power (8.5 each).
  

2009 Driver Rankings: 4/21/2009

For a look at how this works, see here.

My driver rankings have returned for another week after a brief break. I was in Nashville over Easter and unable to post rankings for two weeks ago (I got a reprieve the last week since F1, IndyCar, and NASCAR were all off). Since Jenson Button won in Malaysia no one would be surprised that he retained the #1 spot on the list.

Although Button finally did not win a race, his third place finish in Shanghai was more than enough to keep him in the top spot for another week, his third overall. But it also makes this the first rankings of the season to not have a driver who won that weekend in the top spot.

This week has also had another bit of history for 2009: the first "perfect" weekend in the rankings. The driver who did this was Mark Martin, winning from pole while leading the most laps and setting fastest lap. He gained several positions to finish 11th this week, but he's far from the highest gainer.

Top 5

1. Jenson Button, F1 (last week - 1)

Did not win this week, but enough to stay ahead of the pack. It's an amazing run for a guy who going into the season had one win and thought to be a bit washed up.

2. Dario Franchitti, IndyCar (last week - t-10)

Although most IndyCar fans consider Dario one of the better road racers, his win at Long Beach was his first in an IRL car on a right turner.

3. Will Power, IndyCar (last week - t-10)

Power showed why he is capable of being a Penske driver despite not winning this weekend. It is a shame that he will likely be rideless for Kansas, but fortunately for Will it will have no effect on my points, since your total is averaged against the races you've run and that what the field has.

4. Rubens Barrichello, F1 (last week - 5)

Rubens moves up one thanks to drops by IndyCar drivers Justin Wilson and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who ran well at St. Pete but did not deliver similar performances in Long Beach.

5. Jeff Gordon, NASCAR (last week - 6)

Gordon averaged dropped a bit this weekend thanks to a dud in Phoenix, but goes in rank for the same reason as Barrichello above him.


Here's the top 40 list:



Biggest Gainer: This week's biggest gainer was Danica Patrick. The world's fastest swimsuit model was tied for last going into Long Beach, having scored zero points in St. Petersburg. However, a fourth place finish and a most improved bonus takes her all the way from a tie for 80th to 33rd. Her teammate Marco Andretti gained 33 spots himself, while Chinese Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel gained 29 positions.

Taking the Test

Homestead test results so far:

IndyCar (before dinner break)
Justin Wilson has since moved up in the standings though.

Pos Driver No Best Time Best Speed Laps
1 Scott Dixon 9 25.2919 211.372 50
2 Ryan Briscoe 6 25.3614 210.793 53
3 Dario Franchitti 10 25.4939 209.697 46
4 Robert Doornbos 6 25.5077 209.584 70
5 Ryan Briscoe 3 25.5479 209.254 14
6 Mario Moraes 5 25.5680 209.089 62
7 Danica Patrick 7 25.6133 208.720 39
8 Tony Kanaan 11 25.6134 208.719 14
9 Raphael Matos 12 25.6165 208.694 70
10 Graham Rahal 2 25.6476 208.441 63
11 Marco Andretti 26 25.6786 208.189 27
12 Hideki Mutoh 27 25.6984 208.029 54
13 Mike Conway 24 25.7075 207.955 58
14 Ed Carpenter 20 25.7481 207.627 56
15 Will Power 3 25.8672 206.671 43
16 Milka Duno 23 25.8837 206.539 50
17 Vitor Meira 14 25.9387 206.101 33
18 EJ Viso 13 26.1302 204.591 16
19 Jaime Camara 34 26.5155 201.618 16
20 Stanton Barrett 98 26.5531 201.332 46
21 Justin Wilson 18 26.7566 199.801 51

Indy Lights


Pos Driver No Best Time Best Speed Laps
1 Pippa Mann 16 28.4776 187.726 144
2 Ali Jackson 59 28.5138 187.488 70
3 Sebastian Saavedra 27 28.5216 187.437 181
4 Martin Plowman 15 28.5620 187.172 190
5 Mario Romancini 5 28.5674 187.136 106
6 Junior Strous 18 28.6193 186.797 175
7 Ana Beatriz 20 28.6775 186.418 136
8 James Hinchcliffe 7 28.6884 186.347 141
9 Sergey Mokshantsev 3 28.7227 186.125 126
10 Andrew Prendeville 2 28.7416 186.002 149
11 JR Hildebrand 26 28.7427 185.995 118
12 Sean Guthrie 4 28.7734 185.797 147
13 Brandon Wagner 32 28.8110 185.554 171
14 James Davison 21 28.8480 185.316 131
15 Jesse Mason 49 28.9948 184.378 127
16 Daniel Herrington 28 29.0297 184.156 66
17 Jay Howard 37 29.1379 183.472 46

For the second straight day, Pippa Mann tops the charts. Panther was always great on ovals last year, but to see an inexperienced driver on ovals do well bids well for her. Indy Lights might have two women with a good shot of winning races (the other of course being Ana Beatriz).

Series Rankings: 2008 in Open Wheel

It's a delay in getting these out, but here is a look at the complete ratings in major open wheel. These lists will include anyone with 2+ starts. In F1, that means I've include the Super Aguri guys and for IndyCar it's everyone but the one-offers at Indy & Long Beach. There are few surprises on these lists - the only one that may register is Paul Tracy joining the IndyCar top 10.

F1


IndyCar

2008 Driver Rankings (Finalized)

Here are the Final Driver Rankings for 2008. These rankings relate to top-flight, four-wheel circuit racing series, and do not include motorcycle racing, feeder series, drag racing, or rally racing. I will release a number of other charts through the winter that will incorporate those series as well, but this chart is my primary one and the one I updated each week as the season went on.

In order to be ranked on the main chart, a driver had to run at least half the season. Since NASCAR has tons of guys in this category, I cut it off at the top 35 when I started. Other guys would have made this chart in decent position (A.J. Allmendinger, for instance) but was not in the top 35.

Here's my tentative schedule for future postings:

• Dec. 3: Best of Category
  
• Dec. 4: Full IndyCar, and F1 Charts.
• Dec. 6: NASCAR Charts
  
• Dec. 7: Feeder Series Chart
• Dec. 10: MotoGP, NHRA, and World Rally Championship
• Dec. 14: Overall & Comprehensive Charts (there is a difference, it will be explained then).
• Dec. 17: The only currently running chart, the 08-09 A1GP chart.

The Rankings

Scott Dixon is the #1 Driver on the chart for 2008. With 6 wins and 13 podium finishes in 18 races, it's unsurprising to see him near the top. Helio made for an IndyCar 1-2 thanks to 8 runner-up finishes for the season.

The top 20 is fairly balanced amongst drivers from each of the three series, but the 2nd quarter of the chart is throughly dominated by NASCAR. When inputting the points, it is clear that NASCAR drivers have a difficult time reaching the pinnacle of the chart, but the Chase and almost Chase drivers had really strong stats to make it to the top.

Bringing up the bottom of the list is Force India's Adrian Sutil, who had a major combination of poor qualifying, difficulty finishing races (albeit many were mechanical errors), and failing to score a single bonus point to thank for an 80th place finish. He does have Kimi Raikkonen to blame for preventing him from his shining glory of the '08 season, when he was running 4th late in Monaco when the '07 World Champ clobbered him in the Nouvelle Chicane and knocked Adrian out of the race. Had he finished 4th or even 5th, his season ranking would have been 1.028, enough for 78th place and placing Jaime Camara at the bottom.

TCC's Driver Rankings, 2008 Edition

This is a project I've been working on for several weeks now, and I'm ready to unveil it. I have developed a driver ranking system, where drivers from several different series can be compared to one another through a balanced, statistically based manner.

Some of the factors I look at in the rankings:

• Wins
• Second Place finishes
• Third Place finishes
• Finishes in quarter of the field
• Finishes in top half of the field
• Poles
• Front row starts
• Top quarter qualifying
• Top half qualifying
• Fastest Laps
• Leading laps
• Most Laps Led
• Most Positions Gained from start to finish

With these, I average everything based on the number of races each driver ran. There are examples of drivers who ran significantly less races during a season finishing much higher up in rankings (notably, Mark Martin in NASCAR). For qualifying stats, they are averaged against the number of qualifying sessions each driver ran. I did this separate from racing a few weeks in after NASCAR had three weeks in a row with rained out qualifying. Why should I award bonus points to drivers who get handed poles? This also made a heck of a lot of sense when I applied it to a few development series, GP2 and Indy Lights notably, that ran two-race weekends in which one race was determined by the other's finish. Again, finishing eighth in a GP2 race doesn't merit free pole points.

This listing is only the top 15 drivers among three series: Formula One, IndyCar, and NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Top 15

1. Scott Dixon, IndyCar - 28.035

The Iceman cometh at the top of the chart for 2008. Finishing in the top 3 in 13 of 18 races and six poles helped the Kiwi finish in #1.

2. Helio Castroneves, IndyCar - 25.715

The IndyCar Series runner-up is also runner-up here. Although it took him a long time to win some races, Helio had eight second place finishes on the season.

3. Lewis Hamilton, Formula One - 24.722

Hamilton will have to console with just being World Champion, as more parity in F1 held him to third. Like in real life, Hamilton was barely the top F1 guy in these rankings.

4. Felipe Massa, Formula One - 24.306

Massa was barely #2 among Formula One drivers. In fact, going into the Brazilian Grand Prix he was actually ahead of Lewis in the rankings, thanks to more fast laps.

5. Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR - 22.071

While doing the ratings, I've noticed it is very difficult for a NASCAR driver to ascend to the same heights as F1 & IndyCar guys. Jimmie's season has been very solid though and is deserving of a top 5 finish.

6. Kimi Raikkonen, Formula One - 21.444
7. Carl Edwards, NASCAR - 19.863
8. Ryan Briscoe, IndyCar - 19.701
9. Kyle Busch, NASCAR - 19.591
10. Tony Kanaan, IndyCar - 19.181
11. Robert Kubica, Formula One - 16.833
12. Heikki Kovalainen, Formula One - 16.806
13. Dan Wheldon, IndyCar - 16.736
14. Jeff Gordon, NASCAR - 16.063
15. Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR - 15.769

With one race left in the NASCAR season, their drivers are still provisional. I'll be doing a more comprehensive listing soon, after the Homestead race. I also have rankings for feeder series, NHRA, and WRC as part of the need something to do in the offseason activities.

Au revoir, Australia

After a single, contractually obligated showing at Surfers Paradise, the IndyCar Series isn't coming back. While it is a nice street course and a good crowd to boot, I'm not sad to see it go. The direction the IndyCar Series needs to be moving in is a series that is North American based - most of the races in the US with a few in Canada and maybe one in Mexico.

In an economy like the one we're in right now to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on one race seems rather stupid. Motegi survives because the IRL's engine supplier foots the bill, whereas organizers only issued part of the bill for Surfers. My guess would be that only Indy is as expensive for the teams as Australia. But the big difference between these two events is that winning an Indy 500 has a lot of clout. Even non-racing fans know of the 500, and if a general sports fan sees one IndyCar race a year it's probably this one. I hazard to think no sponsor gives two hoots if you won Surfers, but tell them you're a 500 champ and it might be a different story.

One thing though to the IndyCar organizers: find another event or negotiate with ISC to move up Homestead now. While ending a season abroad is a bad scenario, having a four week layoff between the penultimate and final race is just as horrible.

On a good front for Surfers Paradise organizers, they've hooked up with A1GP. With a five year contract with the series, it is a good fit. A1GP has an international focus in its venue, but has had such a fluctuating schedule that it does not have a signature race. With Surfers there is a great opportunity to be that race.

A case for new points

ESPN's John Oreovicz just published an article showing how the IndyCar title would have been impacted by different points systems (read it here). I've been doing a lot of thinking about the points system we currently see in IndyCars, and I can't say I'm 100% happy with it.


The case for a different points system:

• It seems kind of silly to reward individuals simply for showing up to races. Since there's only one race a year where the league has to send people home for having too many cars, there is no pressing need to score the bottom of the field like in NASCAR.
• The current points system is hard to follow. A hardcore like me may have memorized the 50-40-32-30-28-26-24-22-20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12 to 24th and 10 to 33rd, I hazarded to think someone who casually watches the races can tell you how the points work. I bet though if you asked a casual F1 fan what the points are they can tell you. That's because it's easy to understand.
• Little incentive to push lower than 12th place or so. Let's say, for example, you're on a team like Conquest. You're not likely to finish near the front of the field anytime soon on an oval. More likely, you're in about 15th. What reason do you have to push ahead to 14th? One...measly...point. When the champion is scoring over 500 in a season, the drive for a point is far from lacking.
• Something for the backmarkers to push for. This is kind of point 3B., but watch a series with a finite number of points scorers. While the battle up front may be nonexistent in many F1 races, the battle for 7th or 8th is often pretty exciting. That because everybody fighting in that area of the grid, the Williams, Red Bulls, Toro Rossos, and Toyotas all want to score points. A few measly points can mean a lot of money for both drivers and constructors at the end of the year. Having some great battles towards the middle of the pack might give the broadcasters a reason to shine a light on some of those teams the frequent there: the Conquests, Coynes, and Dreyer & Reinbolds, which in turn may make them more lucrative to sponsors who would otherwise say no since they are never on TV except when they crash.
  

What do I propose the Indy Racing League should do? Bring back the old CART system of 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. It combines all the elements that the points system should have. It rewards the top drivers at a particular race. While the F1 system is too small for the size of the IndyCar fields, this would give anywhere from 40-50% of the field points for the race. If you award points to any more drivers, you run into the problem of seeing people earning points despite crashing out of races - this year's Richmond race has only 12 finishers.

If you apply this system to the 2008 season, 28 drivers (including every regular team) scored points during the year. The only regular drivers who failed to score a point were Marty Roth, Milka Duno, and Jaime Camara. Two out of three of those names probably shouldn't be in the field anyway, so few fans would moan about their lack of points.

I also like the CART system as a way of paying homage to American Open Wheel Racing. It's a way to put the split behind and race again like we did back before it happened.

My Favorite 5 IndyCar races of 2008

Since every race that really counts has been long over, I'm taking a nice look back at what went on in the 2008 IndyCar season. It was definitely a year that tried to push the American Open Wheel sport forward, if for nothing else but unification.

Of the seventeen races this season, these five are the ones that struck me as the most intriguing and exciting. I will not be taking historical significance into account, so don't expect to see Danica's win at Motegi here - the shock of the last three laps is all the was interesting there.

5. Richmond



Was this race a crashfest? A war of attrition? Absolutely. Every once and a while I like seeing these kinds of races to shake things up. The ultimate shakeup though came when Jaime Camara, pitiful at every other start of the season, pushed to the front and took the lead with during a caution. But then, he kept it. Despite having Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti on his tail, he held onto the lead and battled up front in a Conquest. When Camara crashed on lap 217, it was a devastating blow. I only felt so bad when seeing a car all crashed up at Indy when it happened to Sarah Fisher. It's rather unfortunate for Jaime that he was unable to show this kind of form at any other race that season, but it made for some interesting racing.

4. Milwaukee



The Milwaukee Mile was the first race when the gap seemed to close between IRL teams and ex-Champ Car ones. The low banked nature of the Mile gave us the first really great run by an ex-Champ Car guy - Graham Rahal, starting second. While a second year AOWR driver, he acted like a rookie in meeting his race's end by not being patient enough while lapping Darren Manning battling for position.

The day began with the next-gen front row of Marco and Graham, but it was a guy starting 11th who took the cake. Ryan Briscoe's job looked to be in jeopardy, being 18th after Indy in a Penske. This race probably saved his career, and his drive was a strong one. His car looked good coming through the field all the way to the front. He even got a little bit of luck from the racing gods, narrowly avoiding the Marco-Ed-Vitor crash.

3. Texas



While what passed for coverage from the "Worldwide Leader" was horrendous, it failed to diminish what was a good Texas race. There was a lot of nice side-by-side action (and not just because Briscoe was holding up the high line) that I've come to expect at Texas Motor Speedway. The finish was unfortunately muted due to the Marco-RHR crash near the end that cost them each a wonderful finish, causing the race to end under yellow. Still, being under the lights at Texas is one of the best things IndyCars have to offer.

2. Chicagoland



The last two races at Chicagoland have produced classic finishes. Both times, Scott Dixon failed to win, although this time he had just enough to win the war for the championship. It had all the elements of a great IRL race: tight packs, side by side racing (even if the result of team blocking), and a guy coming from the back of the pack. Helio drove a hell of a race, and pulled out a great pass right at the finish. I knew from first glance he had one, no matter what the transponder said.

1. Watkins Glen



It may have looked like this countdown would be without a right turner, but the fact is that IndyCar doesn't go to that many of great quality. While the Glen may be passed its prime as much as Mid-Ohio is, it still managed to put on a show. This is a rare race of the season that is defined by an accident. Maybe you could say that about Homestead (TK would have won if not for Viso's crash), but certainly Scott Dixon plowing into the rear end of Ryan Briscoe's car altered this race. It took out the big timers, leaving two guys looking for win #1: In one car, Darren Manning, many years in IndyCar and driving for a drought ridden AJ Foyt team. The other, Ryan Hunter-Reay, twice a winner in Champ Cars but has not gotten there in the IRL. Manning got to the front thanks to going off sequence (which they did at just about every road/street race they didn't qualify well for), while RHR qualified third. With nine laps remaining, Hunter-Reay set up a nice pass on Manning going into turn 1 to take the lead. He milked out the advantage to win.

It was great to see Rahal Letterman back in the winner's circle again. The series has been so dominated by Ganassi, Penske, and Andretti Green that any win outside that group is more than welcomed.