Season Opener

 

March 1, 2022

 

Season opener

The Indy Car season officially opened with the first race of the 2022 season at St. Petersburg. This year brought a lot of changes to the driver line-up with a slew of changes including a bunch of new rookies, some who moved up from Indy Lights. Drivers changing teams and sadly the loss of some long-time competitors, including my favorite driver James Hinchcliffe, who has stepped into a role of broadcaster for NBC.

The new line-ups and many changes are always an interesting factor at the first race of the season and it took a minute for me to get up to speed on identifying the new and changed drivers, and it was hard for example to see Romain Grosjean in the DHL yellow car that was so long occupied by Ryan Hunter-Reay, who is no longer driving Indy Cars.

The first qualifying session was a surprise as well as second year Penske driver Scott McLaughlin captured his first pole position of his Indy Car career. It is not a surprise that a Penske won the pole, but most certainly expected it to be Will Power (who qualified second) or Josef Newgarden. Power had won the pole at this event nine times previously and McLaughlin had shown flashes last year but, was inconsistent and had never started higher than fifth in Indy Cars.

The race itself was fairly exciting, especially the final ten laps or so, but McLaughlin backed up his pole by capturing his first Indy Car career win by holding off a charging defending series champion in the form of Alex Palou. Palou pressured McLaughlin mightily over the final portion of the race, but just could not get by. Will Power finished fourth followed by Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean came home fifth.

McLaughlin became the second consecutive driver to earn his first series victory in the season opener. The driver who pulled off that feat last year – Palou, at Barber Motorsports Park – stretched McLaughlin to his limit over the last 13 laps of the 100-lap race on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit.

A fascinating duel between drivers on two-pit stop and three-stop strategies unfolded into a straight fight between McLaughlin and Palou – and their two-stop plans – after six-time series champion Scott Dixon made his third and final pit stop in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on Lap 80, surrendering the lead to McLaughlin.

McLaughlin led 49 of 100 laps and collected his first victory in his 18^th Indy Car start and jump started his season.  I had a great time at the race, it was cool to see so many friends and I really enjoyed my new seating location outside of the first turn. I had been sitting in the same seats for years and this year wanted to switch to a different perspective, so I made the change.

The seats offer a much better view of the action heading into turn one, which is the best passing zone on the circuit and I was able to witness tons of passing, wheel banging and spin outs from this location. I will definitely be renewing them and may never return to my previous seats.

St. Petersburg Grand Prix

 

February 28, 2022

St. Petersburg Grand Prix

The St. Petersburg Grand Prix returned to its usual spot on the Indy Car calendar this year as once again the season opener was held on the street course that also incorporates the runways of the Albert Whitted Airport in downtown St. Pete. I have been in attendance for most of the events held since Indy car began racing there in 2003 and it has always been one of my favorite weekends of the year.

It was at this track where last year I took a ride around the circuit in the back of an Indy Car two-seater piloted by the legendary driver Mario Andretti.  This year I was able to take another lap around the track, this time in one of the pace cars for the event, which while not quite the same as being in an Indy Car, was still pretty damn exciting.

While waiting to take my ride, I was able to meet and talk to the legendary NFL running back Ezekial Elliott, who plays currently for the Dallas Cowboys. Zeke was on hand to take a two-seater ride of his own and was really excited to do so. He was as nice as can be to the few fans who were on hand and later got a private tour of the pits and paddock area of the Indy Car grid.

Elliott has been a three -time Pro-Bowler and twice named to the All- Pro team and has led the NFL in rushing twice after having a stellar college career at Ohio State.  He spent a lot of time hanging out with Ohio State superfan, driver Graham Rahal in the Rahal, Letterman, Lanigan pit and hospitality area.

Visiting St. Pete always involves catching up with friends and this year was no different. My friends from the Indy Car paddock were on hand as usual and my friend John and his wife, who live in the area were once again on hand. I always enjoy seeing everyone and it gets me excited to get the Indy Car season started and the official countdown to the Indy 500 coming up in May.

The first day of the weekend at St. Pete is always filled with the support series events and the first practice and qualifying for the Indy Cars. Generally, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the support series which include the USF2000, Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights, but this year I have a lot of interest in a couple of them. 

In Indy Lights, a young driver that I have gotten to know a little because he has spent a lot of time in my friend Brent’s suite at the Indy 500 over the past few years. Christian Rasmussen is an up and coming Danish driver from Copenhagen who won the Indy Pro 2000 championship last year and graduated to driving for Andretti Autosport in Indy Lights.

I was so excited to see him make an incredible double pass on the opening lap, then take the lead and dominated the race leading until he ran out of fuel with two laps to go, opening the door for his teammate Matthew Brabham to capture the win. It was a gutting experience for Christian but his domination of most of the race is a good sign going forward. The kid is a great driver.

A similar experience happed in the USF2000 championship race as the young driver I follow in that series, young Myles Rowe was battling for the lead on the final lap when he tangled with the leader at the time and crashed hard. Thankfully he was not injured and his teammate Jace Denmark went on to win the race.

The good news is that unlike the Indy Lights that only had a single race over the weekend, the USF2000 series had a second race on Sunday, allowing a chance at immediate redemption that Myles took advantage of by winning the second race in thrilling fashion. It is so cool to see a young driver of color on the top step of the podium at an Indy Car series event and even better to see his family celebrating in victory lane. Here’s hoping for a bright and successful future for these two young drivers.