My 2009 IndyCar Season Review

D

DanicaFan

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I figured I would post a review of the 2009 IndyCar season. I will post some stats and information on the series as well as a series of posts on how I saw this season, kind of my editorial of how I viewed the season.

I will break this review up in several posts due to the length of the review and it makes for easier reading that way.
 
First post will be each race of the season, with the name of the race, winner, and pole sitter.

Date / Race / Race Winner / Pole Winner

4-5-09 / Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Streets of St. Petersburg / Ryan Briscoe / Graham Rahal
4-19-09 / Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach - Streets of Long Beach / Dario Franchitti / Will Power
4-26-09 / Road Runner Turbo Indy 300- Kansas Speedway / Scott Dixon / Graham Rahal
5-24-09 / 93rd Indianapolis 500 Helio Castroneves - Indianapolis Motor Speedway / Helio Castroneves
5-31-09 / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Enterprises - The Milwaukee Mile / Scott Dixon / Ryan Briscoe
6-6-09 / Bombardier Learjet 500k -Texas Motor Speedway / Helio Castroneves / Dario Franchitti
6-21-09 / Iowa Corn Indy 250 - Iowa Speedway / Dario Franchitti / Helio Castroneves
6-27-09 / Suntrust Indy Challenge - Richmond International Raceway / Scott Dixon / Dario Franchitti
7-5-09 / Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen - Watkins Glen International / Justin Wilson / Ryan Briscoe
7-12-09 / Honda Indy Toronto - Streets of Toronto / Dario Franchitti / Dario Franchitti
7-26-09 / Rexall Edmonton Indy - Edmonton City Centre Airport / Will Power / Will Power
8-1-09 / Meijer Indy 300 - Kentucky Speedway / Ryan Briscoe / Scott Dixon
8-9-09 / Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio / Scott Dixon / Ryan Briscoe
8-23-09 / Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma - Infineon Raceway / Dario Franchitti / Dario Franchitti
8-29-09 / Peak Indy 300- Chicagoland Speedway / Ryan Briscoe / Ryan Briscoe
9-19-09 / Indy Japan 300 - Twin Ring Motegi, Japan / Scott Dixon / Scott Dixon
10-10-09 / Firestone Indy 300 - Homestead-Miami Speedway / Dario Franchitti / Dario Franchitti
 
Here are the Championship Point Standings at the conclusion of the 2009 season.

17 of 17 Races

1. Dario Franchitti 616
2. Scott Dixon 605
3. Ryan Briscoe 604 -12
4. Helio Castroneves 433 -183
5. Danica Patrick 393 -223
6. Tony Kanaan 386 -230
7. Graham Rahal 385 -231
8. Marco Andretti 380 -236
9. Justin Wilson 354 -262
10. Dan Wheldon 354 -262
11. Hideki Mutoh 353 -263
12. Ed Carpenter 321 -295
13. Raphael Matos 312 -304
14. Mario Moraes 304 -312
15. Ryan Hunter-Reay 298 -318
16. Robert Doornbos 283 -333
17. Mike Conway 261 -355
18. EJ Viso 248 -368
19. Will Power 215 -401
20. Tomas Scheckter 195 -421
21. Oriol Servia 115 -501
22. Alex Tagliani 114 -502
23. Paul Tracy 113 -503
24. Milka Duno 113 -503
25. Sarah Fisher 89 -527
26. Jaques Lazier 77 -539
27. Richard Antinucci 63 -553
28. Vitor Meira 62 -554
29. Stanton Barrett 62 -554
30. Alex Lloyd 41 -575
31. Darren Manning 38 -578
32. Townsend Bell -32 -584
33. AJ Foyt IV 26 -590
34. Scott Sharp 16 -600
35. Nelson Philippe 16 -600
36. Kosuke Matsuura 13 -603
37. John Andretti 12 -604
38. Franck Montagny 12 -604
39. Roger Yasukawa 12 -604
40. Davey Hamilton 10 -606
 
The 2009 season started off with a loss of a couple race events this year. They only had 17 races this year. I was hoping for 20 but 18 would of been nice. They lost the Nashville Superspeedway and the Raceway at Belle Isle race events but picked up the Streets of Long Beach and Toronto. The 2009 season also started the Centennial celebration at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500.

The exciting news before the season began was that Dario Franchitti was coming back to the IRL. Dario left the IRL after the 2007 season where he won not only the Indianapolis 500 but the IndyCar championship as well. Dario went on to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008 for Chip Ganassi Racing. After a dismal year, which shocked me, he made his return to the IRL series for the 2009 season. I was so glad to have him back. After this year, it was like Dario had never left the IRL, he came back strong with 5 wins, 13 Top 5's, 15 Top 10's, and 5 poles. Then Dario went on to win the 2009 IndyCar Championship.

On a bad note before the season began, the horrible news came of top Indycar driver, Helio Castroneves being charged with several counts of tax evasion and fraud. I was devestated. Helio is a top notch driver and person. It was a dark time for sure. His trial started in March so Helio was unable to make the first race of the season at the Streets of St. Petersburg. Roger Penske then had Will Power step in and replace Helio until his trial was complete.
Well, he didnt have to wait long because Helio was acquitted on all charges and was able to make it to the Long Beach race and get back in the #3 car where he belongs. Helio placed 7th in that race and Will Power finished 2nd driving the #12 car. So Helio was back in the game.
And on to the Indianapolis 500 for Helio, well he won it. It was a storybook finish to what Helio had been through. Helio finished 4th in the championship point standings for the season.
 
Well, no review of mine would be complete without my favorite driver, Danica Patrick. Danica had a great year. She did not win a race this year but she did manage 5 Top 5's and 10 Top 10's and finished 5th in the championship point standings with 393. This is her career best. Danica also had a great race at this year's Indianapolis 500 where she finished 3rd. This was her highest finish and the highest finish for a female driver. Danica also had a sponsor and team color change this year. She made her debut of her new black and orange colors along with Boost Mobile for the 2009 Indianapolis 500. I was proud of Danica this year and look forward to a great 2010 season.

Keeping with the Andretti Green Racing team or now known as Andretti Autosport, let's talk Tony Kanaan. Tony had probably the worst luck of anyone in a long time. The only luck he had was bad luck it seemed. I like Tony Kanaan and it was heart wrenching watching all the bad luck. Im sure he is glad this season is over and is ready for a big turn around this year. His bad luck started at this year's Indianapolis 500 where he had a big crash where he broke some ribs and bruised up his whole right side pretty good. He had several car malfunctions causing him to be out of a few races early. And then his car's ****pit along with him partly caught fire at Edmonton. That was a scary scene.

And for Scott Dixon, what can I say, the name says it all. He is the iceman of the IRL. It is how he drives, ice cold. Scott had another great year. He was the defending Indy 500 champion and the Series champion. He had 5 wins, 14 Top 10's, and 12 Top 5's. He finished 2nd in the championship only 11 behind Dario Franchitti.

The other big powerhouse of this season was the other driver for Team Penske, Ryan Briscoe. He had a great year. Ryan was able to get 4 wins, 13 Top 5's, 13 Top 10's, and 4 poles. Ryan finished 3rd in the standings, only 12 points behind Dario Franchitti. If hadnt of been for Ryan's bad mistake at Twin Ring Motegi this year, when he hit the wall coming out of the pits, he would have been your 2009 champion.
 
And now for the drivers that I was impressed with this year. These were good suprises. The first driver that really impressed me was Mario Moraes at KV Racing. Mario had some impressive runs this year. He was fast, no doubt it. He had 3 Top 5's and 6 Top 10's. I honestly look for this guy to be on the podium a couple times next year.

I also liked Raphael Matos. He was the 2009 Rookie-of-the-year. He had 8 Top 10's. He had a great year for a rookie and I expect to only see him improve next year.

Graham Rahal had a decent year. Graham racked up 5 Top 5's and 9 Top 10's, along with 2 poles. He finished 7th in the points standings. He is another driver that is very young and keeps improving.

Justin Wilson had a good year with Dale Coyne Racing. Justin gave Dale his first IndyCar win. I hope Justin can ride this wave of success and have a great 2010 season.

On to Will Power, the newest addition to the Penske Racing Team, and a deserving one at that. Will only started in 6 races this year with Penske on a partial schedule. But what a 6 races it was. Will managed to get 1 win, 4 Top 5's, 6 Top 10's, and 2 poles. Will didnt get to start his 7th race of the year due to the horrific crash with Nelson Philippe during practice at Infineon Raceway. Will suffered some fractured vertebrae and missed the race. Will is healthy again and ready for the new season. I expect Will to be a contender for the championship next year.
 
Another dark moment in the 2009 season was the bad crash of Vitor Meira during the Indianapolis 500 when he collided with Raphael Matos and went crashing into the wall and riding on its side for some time. Vitor broke 2 vertebrae in his lower back causing him to miss the rest of the season.
Ryan Hunter-Reay then stepped in to replace Vitor at AJ Foyt Enterprises for the remainder of the season. Unfortunately, Ryan just never got into a groove and had a pretty bad year. He is definitely a better driver than the results showed. I look for Ryan to be contender in races next season when he comes to Andretti Autosport (Man, its going to take awhile to get used to saying that...lol).

I would have to say the other disappointments this year were Dan Wheldon, EJ Viso, Marco Andretti, and Robert Doornbos.

Dan Wheldon moved to Panther Racing in 2009 and placed 2nd at the Indianapolis 500. I figured this would be the start of some good finishes but his season never panned out.

EJ Viso showed speed and promise in the 2008 season but he wasn't nearly as competitive in 2009 as expected. I thought we would see better results from his this year.

Now to Marco Andretti. I like this guy a lot. Im not sure why he didnt have a better year this year. He has quite a bit of bad luck as well. I figured though with a couple years of experience under his belt as well as racing in several A1GP races this year, he would be a top contender in the road courses. Marco has the best equipment and a top team, I expected much more. Marco did have some good moments this year but the bad luck prevented him from a possible podium. Let's hope next year we can see him win another race.

Robert Doornbos was a rookie this year, racing for Newman Haas Lanigan for 12 races this year. He showed some good talent early in the season but it was short lived. He never really had a break out moment like I thought he would. Now he is with HVM Racing full time so let's hope they can improve his performance next year.
 
I wish I could have seen the final 3 races of the season. Supposedly they were pretty good, but DirecTV doesn't carry Versus anymore, so I could only see highlights on TSR.
 
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