Fearless 2022 Predictions

Welcome to the first race week of the 2022 NTT Data IndyCar Series season!

Florida is calling for those who will be making the trip to the GP of St. Pete, or, as a handful of locals call it "The Prix" or the "NASCAR 500 IndyCar race".

Editor's note: There is a story behind that. If you want to know, just ask!

Like a lot of you, I'm approaching this season with a lot of excitement. Every year, it seems, we say "it can't get any better" and then the next season, it does.

History could be made in a lot of different ways: can Colton Herta or Pato O'Ward win their first championships? Can Alex Palou match his championship-winning form in 2021? Can Helio Castroneves become the first five-time winner of the Indy 500?

Lots of good stuff is out there, and I'm ready to make my fearless predictions for the 2022 season. I've done these in the past, and looking back I miss on most of them, but that's the beauty of the series, it's unpredictable that way.

But I'm going to try. Here's what I'm seeing for 2022.

Champion: Colton Herta. After closing out last season with wins at Laguna Seca and Long Beach, the soon-to-be-22-year-old already has his first victory of they year, which came at the Rolex 24 when he combined with fellow IndyCar drivers O'Ward and Devlin Defrancesco to win the LMP2 class for DragonSpeed. As always, it will come down to a fight involving several drivers, but one thing Herta has shown is that he knows how to close out seasons strong, and this year it all falls in line for him.

Indy 500 winner: Conor Daly. Save me a seat on the Conor hype train! After watching his dominant performance at Indy last year, I think he is ascending to the point where he can win the race. If not for hitting an errant tire last May, he could have already done it as he was one of the cars to beat. One thing we need to remember, is that in the past Daly ran the non-Indy ovals with Carlin and the 500 with ECR. Now he is with ECR for the ovals too, and I think that having that consistency will help. His confidence at Indy has been growing over the years, so look for him to be up front on May 29.

First first-time race winner: Romain Grosjean. Grosjean was one of the pleasant surprises of 2021, both on and off the track. Off the track he truly enjoyed being part of the IndyCar community, and his quotable interviews and rapport with the fans quickly made him a favorite among the fanbase. On the track, he was quicker than anyone had anticipated, won the pole at the Indy GP in May and notched three podiums, including a thrilling drive at Laguna that may have been the drive of the year. Now he is with Andretti Autosport, and that combination will put him on the top step of the podium at some point, maybe as early as this weekend.

Rookie of the Year: Kyle Kirkwood. I'm not basing this on who will be ROY, I'm basing it on who is the best of the rookie class and who will have the best career out of this year's class. Given his impressive run at the August Indy GP I'm going to say that Christian Lundgaard will be the official, points-based ROY, but Kirkwood is still a year away from really being able to show what he's got. It's good for him to be in IndyCar, he's happy where he is at right now and it gives him a chance to learn without a lot of pressure. 

Drivers with the most to prove: Alexander Rossi and Graham Rahal. Rossi enters the 2022 season having last won at Road America in 2019, and over the last two years has finished 9th and 10th, respectively, in the season standings. Not everything has been his fault, though in the end "ball don't lie", you are what your standing says you are. With Rossi in a contract year and a couple of plum seats possibly opening up for 2023, it's time for him to get back on track.

Rahal, meanwhile, hasn't won since going back-to-back at Detroit in 2017, and while his performance hasn't been bad, per se, I'm still waiting for him to take the next step in his career. He's the lead driver for his team, he should be winning more and contending for championships. 

So those are my predictions! Let's check back in October to see how well I did.

One Last Thing

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the passing of Roger Rager, who drove in the 1980 Indy 500. While I don't mention the passing of most drivers, Rager's was a little closer to me personally because for one month of May when I was 10 years old, he was one of my idols. Of course most people know that he qualified 10th with a car using an engine block from an old school bus, but the story doesn't describe the sound. His car was so loud you could hear it all the way around the track, and a car driven by a dude named Rager? 

Loud cars and a sweet last name carries a lot of cred with a 10-year-old boy. But like teenage summer love, it was over so fast, as he crashed out just past the quarter-mark of the race and finished 23rd and never raced at IMS again. Still he has my utmost respect because: 1) he qualified for the greatest race on the planet and 2) led 2 laps, making him just one of 236 drivers who have led a lap in the race, and matches the total of laps led by both Dan Gurney and 1912 winner Joe Dawson.

Godspeed.

Helio Makes Magic Again

 Like many others, over the last few years I had documented what I thought was the tail end of Helio Castroneves' career.

He doesn't have his fastball, I once said, another time I said that when he stopped being a full-time driver after the 2017 season that his chance at winning a fourth Indy 500 was gone. I probably said a few other things, but you are getting the idea.

I'm hear to say, I was not quite right, as Arthur Fonzarelli once succinctly said. 

I wasn't right, because right now Helio may be one of the hottest drivers on the planet. In the last two-plus seasons he has won the WeatherTech SportsCar DPi championship, his fourth Indy 500, and, as of Sunday, his second consecutive Rolex 24 overall win driving for Meyer Shank Racing (last year he won with Wayne Taylor Racing), who will also be running him full-time in IndyCar in 2022.

Editor's note: Congrats also go out to Helio's teammates Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist and Simon Pagenaud, and everyone involved with MSR. It was an incredible effort by a team that just seems to keep getting better and better all the time.

I think what all of this leads to is that maybe it's time to step back and reassess Helio's racing legacy.

In other words, he's an all-time great.

Look at it this way: on top of his two Rolex wins (and a class win at the 2008 Petit LeMans) he's 10th all-time in IndyCar with 31 wins, fourth with 50 poles and has four wins and four poles at Indy. 

Obviously, the elephant in the room is his lack of an IndyCar championship. It's kind of crazy thinking he never won one at Team Penske, but he was in the hunt almost every year. From 2002-2017 he finished in the Top 5 in points 13 times.

In any sport, athletes are measured by championships -- it's why we play, right? But the margin is so thin in Helio's case (he's finished second in points four times), does he really need a championship to cement his legacy?

In IndyCar history, a total of 42 drivers have won a single championship. I'm going to say without a second's pause that Helio's resume is better than all but a handful of them.

As a fan of the Indy 500 first, success at the Speedway carries a lot of weight with me. Meaning, Helio's record at IMS pushes the lack of a championship.

Along with his four wins and four poles, he has nine total Top 5 finishes and 15 Top 10 finishes in 21 total starts. Over the course of his career, he's completed the full race distance (factoring in the rain-shortened races in 2004 and 2007) 17 times.

He is, without a doubt, one of the All-Time greats at the Speedway, which means to me that he is one of the All-Time greats of IndyCar

Discuss.

More Rolex News

A total of 12 full-time IndyCar drivers took to the track at the Rolex 24, and five came home with Rolexes for overall or class wins. We've already mentioned Helio and Simon, but also receiving new timepieces were Colton Herta, Pato O'Ward and Devlin DeFrancesco, who teamed up with Eric Lux to win the LMP2 class for DragonSpeed.

Also having a great weekend at Daytona International Speedway was Robert Wickens, who returned to competition 3 1/2 years after his horrific crash at Pocono in 2018. Competing for Bryan Herta Autosport in the touring class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge, Wickens opened the 4-hour race behind the wheel and after close to 90 minutes in the car, turned it over to Mark Wilkins as the pair worked together to put it on the podium in third place.

Like me, I'm sure most of you have followed along with Robert on his journey via social media, and it's nothing short of inspiring. Add to it the fact he and his wife, Karli, announced they were becoming parents later on this year, and 2022 is starting off in a good way for Wickens.

Speaking of fastballs, Robert still has his. He was pretty hacked after qualifying seventh for the race and afterwards was talking about the goal this year was to win the series title. He showed in his first race that he is still super competitive, both in his mindset and his driving, so why not?

After all I've watched him go through, I'm a believer!

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Another New Face on The Grid

There's no other way to say it, this year's IndyCar rookie class is stacked. 

It features a diverse set of drivers: some came up through the Road to Indy ladder, others have European experience, including in the F1 feeder series. They come from all over the world, and represent a new class of young drivers who could make up the backbone of IndyCar at some point.

Pretty stout, right? Let's add one more name to that impressive rookie lineup.

After a solid test at Mid-Ohio last July, AJ Foyt Racing was so impressed with Tatiana Calderon that they have tabbed her to pilot the No. 11 car on road and street courses for 2022, acting as a teammate to Indy Lights champ Kyle Kirkwood, who will carry the famous No. 14 in a full-season effort. 

The 28-year-old Colombian spent last year driving Super Formula races in Japan (the same series that gave us Alex Palou three years ago) while competing in sports cars and acting as a test driver for Alfa Romeo in F1. Calderon may also be familiar to some Road to Indy fans, as she drove for two seasons (2010-11) with Juncos Racing in the Star Mazda series.

This is a really exciting hire. Calderon has experience in several types of cars, competed with some of the best drivers in the world, and has ample testing experience. Plus it's another (pretty much) full-time AJFR entry, which will be a huge help to Kirkwood as he now has a teammate to work with and exchange ideas. They will get their first chance to collaborate tomorrow when they test at Sebring.

I'm not sure how Calderon will fare this season, but if anything she will definitely hold her own. As we discovered with drivers like Palou and Robert Wickens recently that drivers with experience in many disciplines helps. While Calderon didn't have the success those two guys did, the background she brings to the table will be an asset.

And, yeah, I'll admit it, it's great to have a female driver back on the grid again. Between its drivers and tracks, IndyCar is the most diverse series in the world, and this just reflects it even more. Given Calderon's background, who knows, maybe it will inspire other women who are grinding away in Europe to think about giving IndyCar a try.

So the question becomes, if Calderon isn't driving the ovals, who does? Given his history with the team, I'd have to figure Charlie Kimball for Indy, and possibly JR Hildebrand in a third car.

Other than that, you know who I think they should call for the ovals? Sage Karam.

Yeah I beat the drum for Sage and I'm gonna keep doing it. He's tied up for the 500, of course, but he's had success at Iowa, has raced Texas before in 2015 and would probably run at Gateway. For the love of all that is holy, can someone give him a solid chance?

Back for one more (and maybe one more after that, you never know)

Chip Ganassi Racing confirmed today that 2013 Indy 500 winner and 2004 IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan will be back in the saddle for the team at the 500, carrying sponsorship from the American Legion. Kanaan finished 10th in last year's race and should he qualify this year (which of course he will) it will be his 21st start, tying him with Gary Bettenhausen for the eighth most career starts by a driver.

(Editor's note: His countryman, Helio Castroneves, goes on his drive for five and will make his 22nd start, tying him with the greatest pinch hitter and Bump Day driver ever, George Snider. Don't know much about Ziggy? Read my post on him from 2011.)

Also confirming he will be on track in May was Ed Carpenter. Carpenter will be looking to make start No. 19, which ties him with Al Unser Jr., Bobby Unser, and, as of this writing, Scott Dixon, who is likely to earn his spot in the 20-time club in May.

The Rumble Strip Podcast

Speaking of Kyle Kirkwood, I discussed my thoughts on his ride with AJ Foyt Racing, as well as what I think of his prospects for 2022. You can listen here. 

An updated episode will be dropping tomorrow!

JPM and Sage Are Back

 As we move into 2022, the Indy 500 car count continues to grow.

Several one-off efforts have been announced, and of those, there are two entries that I'm really excited about: two-time Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya making another run with Arrow McLaren, and Sage Karam giving it a go in attempt to make his ninth start at Indy (and 25th overall IndyCar start) in a Dreyer & Reinbold machine.

You know why I'm so excited for these two guys? Because I think either of them has a legitimate chance to win the race. And that matters, for both JPM and Karam.

The reasons are totally different between the two, but winning the race would change everything, for either one of those guys.

As far as JPM goes, his resume speaks for itself. Flat out, he's won in everything he's ever driven, but I feel like the respect he deserves isn't there. And I think it's for two reasons: NASCAR and the jet dryer.

Somehow, a guy who has won Indy twice, won endurance races at both Daytona and LeMans, and in Formula 1 was victorious at places like Monaco, Monza, Hockenheimring and Silverstone, still struggles to find respect.

I think that's because of his stint in Cup, where he only won twice in 255 races and never finished better than 8th in the season standings while racing for Chip Ganassi. But let's be honest, CGR was never a top NASCAR team, and while drivers in their stable won some big races, they were never title contenders. 

I mean, look at Kyle Larson. The guy who is the flavor of the week for "Best Driver in The World", ran 219 races with CGR, won six times and had a best finish in points of 6th. He moves to the Hendrick camp in 2021, wins 10 times and captures his first Cup title. That coming from a guy who came up racing stock cars and where, yes, he is the best stock car driver on the planet. 

Given their backgrounds, their careers at CGR were pretty much a wash.

Then there is the jet dryer incident, where, as we remember, in 2012 JPM had a mechanical issue at Daytona with 100 miles to go and hit a jet dryer that was cleaning the track. Somehow, many see that as the highlight of JPM's career. Was it a bit embarrassing? Maybe. You know what is more embarrassing? Crashing at the front of the field at Daytona or Talladega and taking out 25 other cars. Yet, we never hear that incident being discussed in the careers of other Cup drivers, it's just one of "them racing things".

Somehow, to many, JPM's legacy begins and ends in Cup, and that's a bunch of bullcrap.

So here's where I say I hope he wins in May, because if he does, it broadens his legacy. A three-time winner at Indy speaks volumes, just ask the few guys that have made it to that rarefied air. I think a win at the 500 -- especially at this time of his life and career at age 46 -- reminds people how freaking good he is, especially if he heads there after picking up a win at the Rolex 24, which is a very good possibility.

I think Montoya is one of the best drivers I've seen in my lifetime, and he is certainly the best all-around wheelman of this century. It just seems like some people need a reminder of that face.

What helps are two factors: one, he running with Arrow McLaren, which put two cars in the Top 10 a year ago -- JPM finished ninth -- and saw Pato O'Ward win twice and finish third in the championship standings, and two, it's obvious the Speedway fits his eye. Other than his 33rd-place finish in 2016, JPM has an average finish of 4.4 in his five other starts and while other than 2000 he hasn't qualified well but has always raced his way to the front.

Then there is Karam. Eight years ago, when he finished ninth at Indy in his first start at age 19, it looked like the start to a long, successful career. After winning the USF 2000 title in 2010, and an Indy Lights title in 2013, he was a guy on the rise, and his finish in 2014 was an indicator that he could be something special.

Then came 2015. Karam competed in 12 races for Chip Ganassi and earned a 5th at Fontana and a 3rd at Iowa, the latter coming in a spirited battle with Ed Carpenter down the stretch. He also had solid 12th-place finishes at Detroit and Texas, and was on his way to winning at Pocono before he was sidelined by an accident late in the race.

But for some reason, he's only run 11 IndyCar races since. Why is one of the most baffling questions I can think of, and while I know funding has been an issue, talent is not.

Admittedly, Sage in the past hasn't helped his own cause, carrying a little bit too big of a chip on his shoulder and perhaps alienating people who matter in the sport. 

What's aggravating to me as a fan of his, is that while he has shown a lot of maturity over the last couple of years, he's still being judged on his past. I've had several discussions with Sage since 2019, and I've found that he's way more mature than he was in his younger days, and just wants an opportunity to prove himself.

That chance is now. In 2019, he made it clear in an interview with myself and Mike Joachim of Pit Lane Parley was determined to finish the race. After his stellar rookie run, he posted four straight DNFs in a row, with all of them involving crashes, some of which were by his own volition. But three years ago, he did finish the race in P19, then followed with a P24 the next year.

Last year, it finally came to him, as he drove from his P31 starting spot to finish P7, his best finish in seven years. 

This year? Let's call it a harmonic convergence. In his past experiences with DRR, he has raced as a single-car entry, which left him at a huge disadvantage as he had no one to compare data with and no one to push him on track.

He's definitely found someone to push him, as hard-charging Santino Ferrucci will be joining him in 2022. I'm not going to lie, my feelings on Ferrucci are a bit mixed, but one thing's for sure, he knows the fast way around IMS and has finished P7, P4 and P6 in his three 500 starts.

He's going to push Karam for sure, and the two will be a formidable team, both from an information standpoint and a competitive one. The latter might be the most important, because both have shown that their competitive streaks are off the charts.

The big question I see is whether or not they can co-exist, but if it happens, either one can be a contender on race day.

Why do I want to see Karam win? Redemption, for one. I want him to prove that he's in a great place in his life and is ready for the opportunity at another full-time seat. The other, I want him in IndyCar, because IndyCar is better with him in it.

The latter statement is in jeopardy, unfortunately. Karam was pretty busy last year between rallycross and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and this year he has already committed to several races in Xfinity in 2022. It seems like, for many reasons, stock cars may be in his future, which if he went that way and ultimately moved into some Cup events, he might be lost to stock cars for the rest of his career.

Which is sad. He's an open wheel guy and I think he wants to be an open wheel guy. But if the opportunities aren't there, no one can blame him for looking elsewhere. Winning the Indy 500? Yeah, not only would it change his life, it would finally give him the chance to shake his past and hopefully pick up a full-time IndyCar ride in the future.

All he needs is the chance to prove himself, and if everything falls into place, that can come sooner rather than later.

The Rumble Strip Podcast

First-time reader? Long-time reader who didn't know I had a podcast? Either way, check out my pod on Soundcloud. I've talked a lot of racing over the past couple of years, and I know you will find an episode that you will like. Look for a new episode to drop later this week!

The DTS Dilemma

Like many of you, I was blown away by the show F1 put on at Circuit of the Americas over the weekend.

It was incredible from beginning to end, a true "stars and cars" weekend that drew the (second largest) race crowd in North America this year. And they put on a pretty good race. 

It was also a bit of a harmonic convergence too. It was the first time back at COTA in two years, the F1 drivers were really pumped to be there -- which I don't think is always the case for every race, sorry -- and it got network coverage on ABC (with no commercials!), including a pretty strong pre-race show.

Of course, the rehashing done today focused mostly on the effect the Netflix series Drive to Survive and how it has helped bump up interest in F1 in the United States. I've watched all three seasons of DTS and look forward to S4 when it is released next spring. It's piqued my interest in F1 -- I now have a favorite team, McLaren, and a favorite driver in Daniel Ricciardo -- and while I don't watch all of the races I am a lot more interested in F1 than I was a couple of years ago.

Of course, the thought now becomes whether or not a DTS-inspired type of series could help IndyCar.

The easy answer is: absolutely. The not-so-easy answer is: it depends.

What is getting lost in the whole DTS mania is the fact that it is just one of three areas of focus F1 has used to grow its audience. The other two areas are social media and eSports. Formula 1 and its teams have dedicated themselves to those three pillars, and it is paid off.

Here's where the "it depends" answer comes in. F1 was able to do this because they can. 

I'm not even going to guess how much a single episode costs to produce, but given the cameras, helicopters, drones, technology, global travel and personnel involved, it's probably not cheap. It results in a slick, very sexy production, but is that something that IndyCar would be able to produce? Because the standard has been set, an IndyCar 36-style show will no longer cut it.

No doubt, IndyCar wouldn't be able to put together that kind of a massive production, so is it worth it? The problem is that, again, the standard has been set. A DTS type of show isn't something they can half-ass, because the fans will see right through it, and it won't bring in new people to the sport. One thing that frustrates me about IndyCar is that it seems to revolve its interaction with people who are already fans of the sport. This type of show needs to get its tentacles around everyone, and it has to show IndyCar in the same type of crazysexycool (thank you TLC, RIP Lisa Lopes) format that F1 uses.

Along with that comes a multi-year commitment. The thing about the content game is that you always have to keep giving consumers more and more, or it won't work. We're talking tens of millions of dollars here, with a commitment to keep going even if it doesn't come with an instant ROI, which it won't.

Formula 1 is the biggest form of motorsports in the world. They come to the table with instant credibility, and because of their reach they can grow in an exponential manner that IndyCar can't, and that is something that needs to be put into the thought process as well.

If the money is there, by all means spend it. IndyCar has so much to offer and the world needs to see it, and if done well could raise the image of the sport tremendously. But it would take some time, would the commitment be there for as long as it needs to be? 

The next step is social media. F1 and its teams have that on lock. While I am a McLaren fan because I'm intensely in love with their road cars, I was also drawn to the team because of the social media presence of not just the team, but the two drivers. 

As a social media professional, what frustrates me about sports social media in this country is that we don't take it as seriously as many other sports in the rest of the world. Social media is supposed to be creative, and to me it's just a version of short-form writing. Of course it's a marketing tool, but social media accounts shouldn't be run by interns or marketing people, they should be run by writers who know how to create content, which the marketing team helps to push out.

There's a science to social media, which I know sounds funny. After all, we all do it, right? Yeah, but we all drive cars too, that doesn't make us an IndyCar driver.

I'm not trying to be critical of the series or its teams, but good social media is imperative to growing the sport. F1 gets that. Do you think F1 would announce some big news, like, say the release of the ticket design for the Indy 500, at 6 p.m. on a Friday night? Yes, that happened! How? Why? 

Everyone in IndyCar can do so much more with social media, but it starts with a collective agreement that everyone would take it to a scientific level, with intersectional planning that will maximize the reach as much as possible. F1 understands that. It's got to be about the whole content package: writing, video, photography, stuff like realtime posts that lets fans know what it going on, right then and there. 

I may be watching the race on TV or a device or whatever, but I'm on social at the same time. I want the info, I want to be taken inside. I want to be along for the ride. I'm not alone, that's what everyone wants, right? I want my social media to ooze with the passion and drama that made me fall in love with racing in the first place.

Back in 2005, I participated with a team in the then-Busch, now-Xfinity series that offered members of the media to be a "pit crew member for a day". I won't name the driver or the PR person (but I will say they are now married), but one thing I remember about that PR person is that she was constantly in my ear, pumping up her driver. This was before social media, of course, but that's the kind of feeling I want, I want to be inside the car with my driver while being pumped up by the race they are driving. I wrote an incredible story about that experience, but I give all the credit to the PR person, who gave me everything I needed to know.

Make the race big for me. Bring me in as a pit crew member and get me so pumped up about my driver, or that race, that it takes a couple hours to come down afterwards. That's the goal.

By my count, @McLarenF1 tweeted 39 times from yesterday's race. That's right, 39 times. If that can't get you pumped up, I just don't know what to say. But if you look through their timeline, don't you almost feel as if you are there with them? One of my beliefs is that when the event is happening, you can't oversaturate your followers, because it isn't possible. I mean, do I want to see Tweets every five minutes on a Tuesday in December? No, but do I want it when my car and favorite driver is on the track? Yes, as a matter of fact I do.

The last thing I want to talk about is eSports. Again, another thing that needs to be taken even more seriously. I took an eSports class last spring and it opened my eyes to the scope and potential of eSports.

While I'm pumped about IndyCar looking to get back into the video game game in the next year or two, I also think that they should find a way to follow the F1 model and having a dedicated eSports series. 

I mean, look at this page and tell me it isn't cool. On YouTube alone, many of the races have well over 600-700,000 views. No, IndyCar can't do it up as big as F1, but man, can you imagine the number of kids that watch this kind of stuff? 

What's stopping the series from dropping some purse money and each team picking drivers that they pay a couple thousand bucks to drive for them. Build an eSports studio in Indy, stream it over every platform possible and even charge admission and then give out tickets to whatever is happening at the Speedway next. Getting new, young fans takes outside-the-box thinking, and I believe this is one of the ways to do it.

Yeah, I'm good at spending other people's money, aren't I? It's just the thing is, I think if IndyCar is going to go all-in, it needs to happen now. F1 has laid that blueprint and after IndyCar just finished one of its best seasons, yet, the iron is hot enough to make a big strike.

It's about going from hoping things happen to expecting them to. I will admit seeing IndyCar trend on Twitter in any way, shape or form, but how about we act like we've been there before, and deserve to be there, and expect IndyCar to be trending. Because it should. 

I love this sport and try to do everything I can to promote it and spread the IndyCar gospel. I know all of you do, too. It's IndyCar's time now, and while I don't know if they can quite reach the bar that F1 has set, I just want to see them freaking try.

Photo credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar Media

And Then There Was One

 

Tough day today, you know?

Not only is it the last Monday of the IndyCar season, it's the last Monday of summer. But let's not dwell on that, let's think about the show that the series put on at Laguna Seca yesterday, and how, for the 16th straight year, the championship heads to the final race of the season.

Think about that...16 years! It's pretty amazing. I mean, now it's kind of expected given the front-to-back competitiveness of the field, but even back in the day, when the field was more top-heavy with talent, it still involved the champion earning it on the final day of the season.

The championship is a post within itself, so we'll get to that later, but for now, let's look at yesterday's Top 5.

Winner -- Colton Herta. Just like two years ago, when IndyCar last came to the Monterey coast, Herta was the dominant winner Sunday, leading 91 of the 95 laps. About the only thing that got in his way Sunday was the rabbit he ran over in the closing stage of the race. Laguna definitely fits his eye, and with it being the last race of the season next year, if Herta is in the title mix when that comes around, just hand him all the trophies.

Second -- Alex Palou. One thing we've learned about the 24-year-old Spaniard this year, besides that he is incredibly quick, is that he is very smart too. He just doesn't make mistakes, and Sunday he did what he needed to do, which was to get to the front and stay there. While I'm sure he was like all of us in that somewhere internally he was screaming for the opportunity to challenge Herta for the race win, he and his team made the correct risk-versus-reward decision to not do anything to jeopardize his championship drive. Second place sucks to every driver, but his runner-up finish takes him to the streets of Long Beach up 35 points in the championship, meaning a Top 10 finish wins him the the Astor Cup.

Third -- Romain Grosjean. By far the driver of the race, Grosjean drove like a man possessed, bumping and hip-checking his way from his 13th place starting position, much to the delight of the crowd in attendance and those watching on TV. He had a great car underneath him and took a lot of chances, especially in the Corkscrew and overall made a total of 27 on-track passes! It was brilliant driving from someone who could be a title contender next year. I have a comp to Grosjean in terms of someone who came to the series from F1 in his late-30s and had an excellent IndyCar career, but I'm gonna hang onto it until after the Indy 500, just to make sure.

Fourth -- Graham Rahal. I know that he has finished higher in the point standings than the 7th place that he is more than likely locked into as his final result, but outside of winning he's had an incredible season. Sunday marked his seventh Top 5 of the season and eighth Top 10. As he said in an interview yesterday, there are a few what-ifs, especially his crash at Indy (which wasn't his fault) when he was fighting for the win but instead finished 32nd. He finished the 500 with 11 points, think about where he would be in the order if he had even finished in the Top 5 back in May. Really, that and getting caught up in a wreck at Gateway might be the difference between his current spot in the standings and having a chance to win the whole thing. Do those kinds of things happen to everyone? Of course, but when you look at the overall season he's had those are really the only two blemishes he has.

Fifth -- Pato O'Ward. Quite a day for O'Ward, who really had trouble with tire degradation but just kept battling and it paid off. While he has to basically sweep the weekend and hope for misfortune on the part of Palou to make up a 35-point deficit, it's not out of the realm of belief that he can accomplish that. What's crazy to think when it comes to the two main championship contenders is that both could've been out of IndyCar if circumstances had worked differently. Two years ago O'Ward was racing in Japan with the support of Red Bull, and last year Palou was in a spot where he wasn't sure if he had the funding to continue in IndyCar. So glad it all worked out for both parties.

Seventh, Josef Newgarden -- Although his title hopes are hanging by a thread as he looks at a 47-point deficit, we have to make mention of the third championship contender heading into the weekend. He had tire management issues as well Sunday, which required four pit stops to fix. Give him credit, though, for battling the hell out of his car and bringing it home they way he did. He has a lot in front of him to win his third title in five years, but even if he doesn't, it'll be his sixth straight year finishing fifth or better in points.

Overall I give the race an A+. While I would've liked to have seen some more action at the point, some days you just have to tip your hat to the winning driver, and this was one of those times. But through the rest of the field, all of the different strategies, hard, physical racing and tons of passing, was pure entertainment. I thought it was the most entertaining road course race we've seen in a while.

So for the first, and probably only time ever, it will all be settled on the streets of Long Beach. I'll be back later to talk about that, as well as the 2022 IndyCar schedule

The Rumble Strip podcast

OK, so I haven't dropped a new pod in quite some time, which I hope to rectify in the next couple of weeks. But in the meantime, check out some of my past episodes and give them a listen!

Photo credit: Chris Jones/IndyCar Media

Godspeed, Bob Jenkins

 

Like many of you, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Jenkins this afternoon. Now that I am in my fifties, I think 73 is too young to die, and if Bob had been able to beat the brain cancer that he was diagnosed with eight months ago, he would've had many, many more years at the mic at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But as with many of the icons of the Speedway before him, like Sid Collins and Tom Carnegie, his voice has been silenced forever. I wrote about the passing of Tom in 2011, and like Tom, though I never met him personally, I always thought Bob was my friend.

That's because he was very, very good at his job. He always said he was one of us who just happened to get a job in racing, and he brought that vibe every time he was on the mic, whether it was the biggest race in the world or a banquet the night before the Indy Mini Marathon.

He was also one of the voices of my youth. I took my first visit to the Speedway on Pole Day in 1979. From 1979-87, I got one day at the Speedway each year. One day! I mean, I more than made up for that driving by the Speedway every day when I lived at 30th Street and Lafayette Road in the early 90s, and over the last few years have been blessed to have covered the race and been a part of the 500, fulfilling my childhood dreams -- and then some.

But for those first few years, I had one day, and that one day had to last me the other 364 days. I had to rely on storytelling and picture painting, and all of that stuff you had to rely on before the iPhone, Internet and video boards.

People like Carnegie, Howdy Bell, Bob Jenkins and many others were responsible for giving me everything I needed for those 364 days I spent in Germantown Hills, Ill., wishing I were in Indy, or sitting on my bed in my room, imagining I was in one of those cars speeding around the track while they talked about me lapping the Speedway at 200 mph.

If you weren't there in those days, it was like a dance. Tom Carnegie was of course the Master of Ceremonies, but he had a capable crew with him. Tom's famous call of "Heeeeees...on it!" was only the start of a qualification run, the next three minutes were people painting a picture for us to see in our minds.

Like this: "Rick Mears is definitely on it as he takes two wheels to the white line in Turn 1. Mears drifts out to the short chute, about two feet off the wall, setting up for Turn 2. Through Turn 2 just under the white line with the left side tires and just off the wall as he sets up for the backstretch..."

Then Tom Carnegie, being the actor and master of drama, would keep us hanging until just the right moment. As Mears screamed down the backstretch he waited, and waited, and waited...

And just in enough time to give his color commentator a chance to jump in, he delivered the goods: "And here's the time and speed report, it's a neeeeeewwwww, track record!" Then he would give us the numbers we'd been waiting for, just in time to pass it back to whoever was high up in the tower.

It was beautiful, and amazing, and something I was so glad that I got to experience.

Bob Jenkins was one of those voices I heard over the loudspeaker in those years, and as I grew older he was still that voice. The guy was everywhere! On the mic at IMS, Saturday Night Thunder, NASCAR, the Indy Racing League, and of course, IndyCar. I can't even begin to think of how many races, how many times I've been to IMS, where his voice hasn't come through my speakers.

He called some of the greatest moments in racing, none in my mind bigger than this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6z5m_MKj3E

Again, listen to that dance, and listen to the love in the voices of the men who called those last two laps.

Because here's the thing about IMS: you can't be a phony. We can spot those kinds a mile away. That's why Bob Jenkins became such an icon -- he loved the race so much, and had such an appreciation. In a tribute video IMS released today, Bob referred to himself as "a race fan who got lucky".

No Bob, you had an amazing amount of love for racing and a talent that transcended everything, and you were kind, humble and generous. Most of all, you were one of us.

Rest easy, Mr. Jenkins, your work here is done.