As you probably know by now, the IZOD IndyCar Series is celebrating its 200th event this weekend at Kentucky Speedway (Sat., 8 p.m. ET, Versus). A lot of things have happened since Buzz Calkins won the inaugural race back in 1996 — if you’ve been following along for a while, you know what I’m talking about and there’s no need for exposition.
With that in mind, I find myself trying to think of my favorite speedway race and favorite road race from the last 199 events. There’s been plenty of exciting ones over the years, but it didn’t take long for two of them to stand out in my mind.
Best oval race: Texas II, 2002 — Panther kills the Penske giant
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
Ro5GGMimSHU[/youtube]
In retrospect, you could call this the final race of the “old” Indy Racing League. Team Penske’s arrival in the 2002 season would foreshadow the CART exodus of 2003 that saw teams and manufacturers cross over to Tony George’s series. But before the IRL’s DNA was altered forever, Sam Hornish Jr. and Panther Racing managed to defy the odds and take down the flagship team of American open-wheel racing for their second straight League championship. Keep in mind that Hornish could’ve finished second to Penske driver Helio Castroneves at the ’02 season finale in Texas and still would’ve won the crown…yet he dueled the Brazilian anyway and won by .0096 of a second.
Two years later, Hornish would join Team Penske and eventually, he claimed his third series championship with them in 2006. He then moved to Roger Penske’s NASCAR squad in 2008 and promptly descended into mid-pack status where he is today. But we’ll always have this race to look back on.
It’s a true classic.
Best road/street race: Sao Paulo, 2010 — Sometimes, messy is good
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
c553Arr-07M[/youtube]
Yeah, the road racing debut for the IRL in 2005 showed that the series could be just as entertaining as Champ Car on the twisty tracks. But this year’s season opener in Brazil was absolutely insane. First, folks weren’t sure if the event would even go off. Then when it did, drivers kept slipping, sliding and crashing on the course’s main straight during practice, which necessitated an overnight diamond grinding before race day.
Finally, the race itself — it had everything but a plague of locusts descend upon the track. You had a wild first-turn crash that ended with one car (Mario Moraes) stacked on another car (Marco Andretti), a major storm that stopped the race and knocked out the power, Ryan Briscoe throwing away a clear victory by stuffing it in the tires late, and Will Power triumphant in his first full-time run with Team Penske. Not to mention all the good racing that the nearly mile-long backstretch and final hairpin created.
A lot of people claim street racing is boring and sometimes, they’re right. But this street race was far from it. For pure entertainment, the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300 was a blast to watch.
