Round 17: GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Sonoma, CA. September, 14 - 16.

[gert]

Indycar just handed Rossi some massive help: he was just in front of RHR (so just not lapped), could join the back, make a free pitstop and join the back again.

And all that for a single car next to the track.

[Armco Bender]

Advert breaks....

[BudLightJaguar]

Scott Dixon is THE champion!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Dixon on his 5th driver's championship and to Chip Ganassi Racing and of course congrats to RH-R on winning the race.

[BudLightJaguar]

That was a great season, now good night everybody. 4AM here

[S griffin]

Well done Dixon on another title

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result:

1 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 85. 2h02m19.1667s
2 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 2.7573s
3 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 3.6550s
4 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 4.6306s
5 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 85. 19.8030s
6 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 21.6393s
7 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 85. 28.3778s
8 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 34.6288s
9 Patricio O'Ward, Harding Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 42.8662s
10 Ed Jones, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 44.2254s
11 Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 44.6273s
12 Tony Kanaan, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 1m00.4138s
13 Jordan King, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 1m04.0637s
14 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 85. 1m05.4899s
15 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 85. 1m12.8026s
16 Pietro Fittipaldi, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 1m14.2459s
17 Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 1m15.6462s
18 Carlos Munoz, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 85. 1m18.6345s
19 Matheus Leist, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 1m22.3819s
20 Colton Herta Harding Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 1m23.4673s
21 Max Chilton, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 84. 1 Lap
22 Charlie Kimball, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 76. 9 Laps
23 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 66. 19 Laps
24 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 38. Mechanical
25 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 15. Mechanical

Driver's Standings:

1 Scott Dixon 678
2 Alexander Rossi 621
3 Will Power 582
4 Ryan Hunter-Reay 566
5 Josef Newgarden 560
6 Simon Pagenaud 492
7 Sebastien Bourdais 425
8 Graham Rahal 392
9 Marco Andretti 392
10 James Hinchcliffe 391
11 Robert Wickens 391
12 Takuma Sato 351
13 Ed Jones 343
14 Spencer Pigot 325
15 Zach Veach 313
16 Tony Kanaan 312
17 Charlie Kimball 287
18 Matheus Leist 253
19 Max Chilton 223
20 Gabby Chaves 187
21 Ed Carpenter 187
22 Jordan King 175
23 Zachary Claman 122
24 Jack Harvey 103
25 Carlos Munoz 95
26 Pietro Fittipaldi 91
27 Santino Ferrucci 66
28 Rene Binder 61
29 Conor Daly 58
30 Kyle Kaiser 45
31 Patricio O'Ward 44
32 Helio Castroneves 40
33 J.R. Hildebrand 38
34 Stefan Wilson 31
35 Oriol Servia 27
36 Alfonso Celis 23
37 Colton Herta 20
38 Danica Patrick 13
39 Jay Howard 12
40 Sage Karam 10
41 James Davison 10

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

That was a great season, now good night everybody. 4AM here

I would say overall it was a good season but not a great season. The UAK threw a few unexpected curves. It produced a great season opener at St. Pete but in contrast the 500 was somewhat lack luster, with the rest of the season being a bit of a mixed bag. However, hats off to IndyCar for at least trying to improve the racing, from both the driver's, fan's and team's perspectives. Hopefully with the off-season, IndyCar and Dallara can take what they've learned and make the necessary changes to the IR-18.

The downer was obviously Wicken's accident. Both he and SPM showed they were more than capable of challenging the top three teams and it was Wicken's rookie year. I think next season, they would have been up there.

Anyway, looking forward to next year and seeing what improvements have been made to the car, plus two different venues being added to the calendar, with return of Laguna Seca and COTA replacing Phoenix, though I would like to see one more oval. Of course there is the big question as to whether Alonso will be competing next year.

[champcarman]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

That was a great season, now good night everybody. 4AM here

Absolutely agree. If anyone was not impresssedm by IndyCar in 2018 then I want to see if they have a pulse! The best racing Series on the planet.

[NaBUru38]

Congratulations to Scott Dixon.


Chip Ganassi doing crowdsurfing, that was unexpected!

[fieldodreams79]

Just wrapped this up. Good for Dixie. Rossi shot himself in the foot at the start but holy smokes, what a drive and effort to make it interesting but just wasn't enough. Scott looks like he didn't break a sweat! What an incredible driver. Glad that I've watched him over the years.

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

Advert breaks....

NAPA songs and Chevy commercials may be the lasting memory of this one. One more of those dame songs and

[Dixon9]

That was a good season, and not coz I'm biased. It's refreshing to see a world tier open wheel championship so competitive.

[broadrun96]

Even good news from Sonoma's ratings looks bad compared to even F1, remembering that it was on early morning, it seems. Although up 100k is a good percentage for them and better than NASCAR's dip, but still half of a mid day Monday delayed race. From Racer.com:

The*Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series*playoffs opened Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, earning a 1.3 rating and averaging 2.1 million viewers. That’s down a tick from last year’s playoffs opener held at Chicagoland Speedway on the same weekend, which scored a 1.4/2.3m.

The NASCAR race led directly into the championship finale for the*Verizon IndyCar Seriesfrom Sonoma, early Sunday evening for East Coast viewers on NBCSN. The telecast scored a 0.38 rating and averaged 629,000 viewers, an increase from last year’s 0.33/528,000, also on NBCSN.

The*NASCAR Xfinity Series*race from Las Vegas scored a 0.49/832,000 late Saturday afternoon on NBCSN. Last year’s race on this weekend (again from Chicagoland rather than Vegas) scored a 0.53/807,000.

Meanwhile, NBCSN earned 1.24 million viewers for last Monday’s postponed Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Last year’s race — which started on its scheduled Sunday in July and on the NBC broadcast network rather than NBCSN — averaged 5.6m viewers.

Formula 1*was back in action under the lights in Singapore, and posted a fairly typical rating for its early morning time slot — a 0.32 — and averaged 469,000 viewers. Last year on NBCSN, this race had a 0.28/450,000.

[NaBUru38]

Road and street races were even better than last year, but most oval races have been very boring.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Road and street races were even better than last year, but most oval races have been very boring.

It's a long off season, with the season opener at St. Pete on March 10, so plenty of time to sort out the UAK, regarding ovals.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Even good news from Sonoma's ratings looks bad compared to even F1, remembering that it was on early morning, it seems. Although up 100k is a good percentage for them and better than NASCAR's dip, but still half of a mid day Monday delayed race. From Racer.com:

The*Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series*playoffs opened Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, earning a 1.3 rating and averaging 2.1 million viewers. That’s down a tick from last year’s playoffs opener held at Chicagoland Speedway on the same weekend, which scored a 1.4/2.3m.

The NASCAR race led directly into the championship finale for the*Verizon IndyCar Seriesfrom Sonoma, early Sunday evening for East Coast viewers on NBCSN. The telecast scored a 0.38 rating and averaged 629,000 viewers, an increase from last year’s 0.33/528,000, also on NBCSN.

The*NASCAR Xfinity Series*race from Las Vegas scored a 0.49/832,000 late Saturday afternoon on NBCSN. Last year’s race on this weekend (again from Chicagoland rather than Vegas) scored a 0.53/807,000.

Meanwhile, NBCSN earned 1.24 million viewers for last Monday’s postponed Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Last year’s race — which started on its scheduled Sunday in July and on the NBC broadcast network rather than NBCSN — averaged 5.6m viewers.

Formula 1*was back in action under the lights in Singapore, and posted a fairly typical rating for its early morning time slot — a 0.32 — and averaged 469,000 viewers. Last year on NBCSN, this race had a 0.28/450,000.

Following on from your post.

https://www.indycar.com/News/2018/09...nske-500th-win

[mstets]

Haven't been following NASCAR so wasn't aware that Penske got the 500th win. Rarely (never?) root for Penske to win because he wins so often, but have huge respect for him. I remember him best as the first member from another team to come up and ask about "my" driver's condition after a tire failure at MIS, which ultimately resulted in the postponement of the race.


Glad the 500th win came in NASCAR as that series was perhaps his toughest nut to crack.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by mstets

Haven't been following NASCAR so wasn't aware that Penske got the 500th win. Rarely (never?) root for Penske to win because he wins so often, but have huge respect for him. I remember him best as the first member from another team to come up and ask about "my" driver's condition after a tire failure at MIS, which ultimately resulted in the postponement of the race.


Glad the 500th win came in NASCAR as that series was perhaps his toughest nut to crack.

Was that in 1985 and the driver Bobby Rahal?

[mstets]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Was that in 1985 and the driver Bobby Rahal?

Yes. Mid 80s were scary times at MIS. In '84 Al Holbert ran into the back of Bob when Bob braked to avoid an accident in front. Al's car was fitted with "speedway" brakes, and they just weren't powerful enough to slow the car. Steve Horne had words with Johnny Capels (he and Horne were friends - on most days) about the brakes. We ran normal road course brakes everywhere. We had a hell of a time just getting that car into the trailer after the race. The most miserable racing weekend that I can remember for multiple reasons. The tub ended up in the dumpster. Sad day for me as it was my first Indy 500 car. Our Snap On dealer fished the tub out and took it home. Snap On dealers are smarter than race car mechanics.



Pretty sure '84 was the year that Chip and Al Jr. touched in the back stretch and tumbled endlessly, with Chip hitting the inside wall. Believe he raced again after that but the accident was pretty much the end of his driving.


As to 1985: I think we were at or very near the top of the lap times when the tire let go. I don't remember if it was "my" car or my team mate's car, just the sick feeling that resulted.



Back to the original point in the previous post: I don't know of anyone in motor racing that I respect more than Roger Penske. That said, hope to see Coyne, RLL, or SPM win the championship next year.

[JHamilton]

I forgot to give congratulations to Dixie! ...I'm sure he's been wondering about the delay.

A great Indycar season and great prospects for next year.