What a bittersweet end to the Izod IndyCar Series for Alex
Tagliani and the Barracuda Racing team.
Tagliani led 19 laps and was out front with 23 laps to go in
the season finale MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
But what the team described as mechanical problems ended
Tagliani’s night prematurely. He withdrew from the race with 21 laps to go and
finished 20th.
Tagliani, driving for the team owned by Valencia’s Bryan
Herta, pulled into the pits and relinquished the lead with smoke seeping from
the car’s engine. It looked like the engine burned up.
“I think we were the car to beat at the end,” Tagliani said.
“I won’t lie, it’s disappointing, but I would race with Honda any given day. I’m
very thankful that they allowed us back into their group. I’m a Honda driver
and I want to race with them for a long time. These are things that happen. It’s
racing, it’s mechanical and it’s out of our control.”
Ed Carpenter won the race taking the lead from Dario Franchitti
on the final lap.
Ryan Hunter-Reay won the IndyCar Series championship by the
slimmest of margins. He finished fourth in the race and edged out Will Power by
three points to win the series title.
Power entered the IndyCar Series season finale with the lead
in the standings. But he spun out and crashed early in the race. His team
repaired his car and he returned to the race briefly.
Power ended up with a 24th-place finish and
completed only 66 laps.
“It was team effort right there,” said Hunter-Reay, driver
of the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. “We were struggling all weekend. I
didn't want to let anyone really know about it. We were really in the woods.
This hasn't sunk in yet. I just drove 500 miles for my life.”
Photo: Alex Tagliani was leading the Izod IndyCar Series season finale at Auto Club Speedway when his engine blew with 21 laps remaining in the race. (Credit: Tim Haddock)
A lot has changed since the last time Indy cars raced at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. For one, the track was known simply as California Speedway. Another difference was that there were two open-wheel racing series in America, the Indy Racing League and CART.
The series is unified under the Izod IndyCar Series. The track's name is changed. The racing might be some of the best the track has seen in a while.
The IndyCar Series will return to Fontana in September of 2012 for a night race. It is the first time in seven years that open-wheel race cars will be on the track.
Dario Franchitti won the last open-wheel race at Auto Club Speedway in 2005. The track is home to some of the more impressive speed records in the history of open-wheel racing, including the fastest lap ever recorded on a closed course. Gil de Ferran clocked a lap at 241 mph in qualifying in 2000.
Go to ESPN Los Angeles for more on the return of the IndyCar Series to Auto Club Speedway.
Photo: Dario Franchitti won the IndyCar Series race at Auto Club Speedway in 2005. It was the last IndyCar Series race at the Fontana track. (Photo by Chris Jones)
Dario Franchitti won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2009. Last year, it wasn’t such a great race.
Franchitti finished 12th last year and called it a disastrous weekend.
“We struggled. We found out later I had broken my thumb the week before at St. Pete,” said Franchitti, the reigning and three-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion. “I hadn’t realized. We, the 10 car, we struggled. And I thought Ryan did a great job. Ryan was a very deserving winner last year. No doubt.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay was the surprise winner of the 2010 Grand Prix of Long Beach. Franchitti went on to win the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series championship, his second in a row.
It would be hard to argue that Franchitti isn’t the best open-wheel racer in the world right now. He is definitely the top driver in the IZOD IndyCar Series and probably has been for the past two years.
He also won the IndyCar Series championship in 2007 when he was driving for Andretti Green Racing, giving him three of the past four titles. The year he didn’t win the IndyCar Series championship, Franchitti dabbled in NASCAR, racing for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series in 2008.
The results in NASCAR were far from stellar. He broke his ankle in a crash. His team never secured the funding to race competitively. By most accounts, Franchitti’s venture into NASCAR was more of a disaster than last year’s Long Beach race.
When asked if he has been asked to return to NASCAR and if would ever consider returning to NASCAR, he said, “Yes and no, in that order.”
“When I started doing that, I wanted to be successful,” Franchitti said during a visit to Los Angeles and LA Live to promote the Grand Prix of Long Beach in April and the start of the IZOD IndyCar Series season in St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 27. “Obviously, I wanted to learn, do all that stuff. I was never really given the chance to do it, because of breaking my ankle, not having a sponsor. I think some people have kind of started painting it worse than it was. Ultimately with the Nationwide thing, last couple of races, I did qualify on the front row at Bristol. Qualified on the pole at Watkins Glen. Led a bunch of laps at Atlanta. Led a bunch of laps at Bristol, 18 laps. It wasn’t as bad as people made out.”
Since returning to open-wheel racing and the IndyCar Series, Franchitti has won two championships and two Indinapolis 500s. He was already an accomplished driver with Andretti Green Racing before his NASCAR stint. When he returned to the IndyCar Series, with Chip Ganassi’s Target team, Franchitti became the driver to beat. If anything, his struggles in NASCAR made Franchitti a better open-wheel racer.
“What it showed me was, I love Indy car racing. I love driving the car,” Franchitti said. “I love the diverse schedule. When I got into NASCAR, the two series gots together, which wasn’t lost on me, the irony of that whole thing. You wait 10 years for this thing to come together, you leave, and it comes together. It made me realize what I was missing.”
The timing of his switch from open-wheel racing to stock car racing couldn’t have been worse. The same year he started racing in NASCAR, the Champ Car and IndyCar series merged, ending a decade-long split of open-wheel racing in the United States. It didn’t take long for Franchitti to return to the type of racing he loves most.
“Had I not gone to NASCAR, I don’t think it would have set the change of events that allowed me to come and drive for the Target team,” Franchitti said. “The way it all worked, with me going away, with Chip coming back to Indy car. Had I stayed at Andretti Green, I don’t think I would have made the progressions to drive for Chip. It all worked out for me.”
Franchitti has won 26 open-wheel races in his career. He has won two Indy 500s and three IndyCar Series championships. He has won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. What is left for Franchitti to accomplish in his racing career? Perhaps the 24 Hours of Le Mans?
“I’d love to do that. I’d love to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” Franchitti said. “I’ve managed to win at Daytona. Won a class at Sebring. It would be nice to go to Le Mans and try to do that. It’s such a great race. I went there as a spectator in ‘09. My little brother was driving an Aston-Martin and I watched him.”
