2011 Indy Car Power Rankings After Milwaukee

Yes, I do realize we are about half way through the season, but I realized it would be a cool idea to do, Indy Car Power Rankings. Power Rankings are huge during the NFL and NBA season, so maybe it will take off. I will do 20 drivers, quickly recap their last race and as we move forward, where they were the week before. I will take in account results, streaks and qualifying performances, just because I rank a driver 7th doesn't mean he or she is 7th in points. Obviously it will differ every week, and it will mostly be drivers that run full time. Hope you Enjoy!

1. Dario Franchitti- No Surprise here, he has won two races in 8 days to tie Will Power at the top of the IZOD Indy Car Series Standings. Dario has three wins on the season and has Top 10's in 7 of 8 races.

2. Will Power. Tied atop the Indy Car Series standings, won his first race on an oval last week in Texas. Will came from 17th to 4th at Milwaukee and is tied with Dario with three wins this season.

3. Scott Dixon- Dixon sits 4th in points, but a seventh place finish at Milwaukee to go with a pair of runner ups at Texas has Dixon back on track after finishing outside the top 15 in two of the first three races. Dixon struggles a bit at Iowa, he has yet to land a podium there.

4. Graham Rahal- A quiet runner up at Milwaukee, Rahal quickly put his 30th place finish in the second race at Texas behind him. The only laps Rahal has led this year came at Indianapolis.

5. Oriel Servia- Oriel sits third in points but could easily be flipped with Graham on these rankings. Besides finishing 15th and 21st at Texas, Servia has scored top 10's in each race, including his season high in Milwaukee of 3rd. He has not raced at Iowa since 2008.

6. Ryan Briscoe- Briscoe has had a pretty quiet season so far, he struggled at Indy but scored a 3rd and a 6th place finish in Texas. Briscoe was 11th at Milwaukee

7. Tony Kanaan- TK had a solid run going at Milwaukee, and had the best chance of anyone to beat Dario, but a turn four wreck ended his day early. He led 33 laps in Milwaukee and 39 in Race 2 at Texas, TK heads to Iowa as the defending champion.

8. Danica Patrick- This may be a surprise to most but Danica is starting to gain momentum. She earned her first top five of the season at Milwaukee and was eighth in race 2 at Texas. Maybe focusing on Indy Car will help her over the next few races.

9. Takuma Sato- After finishing dead last at Indy, Sato has put together three consist oval runs. He was 8th at Milwaukee and scored a top five in race #1 at Texas. The addition of TK to KV Racing seems to have helped the entire three car operation.

10. Alex Tagliani- Tags has started on the pole two out of the last four races, two out of three if you take out Texas's blind draw. But the results have not been there. Outside of his fourth place run in race 1 at Texas, he has finished 14th or worse dating back to Sao Paulo.

11. Helio Castroneves- Helio wound up a disappointing 9th at Milwaukee. He lead 31 laps after starting on the front row. After a disappointing 17th place run at Indy, Helio has been in the top ten the past three races.

12. Marco Andretti- Marco is yet to lead a lap this season, and has a season best of only 6th coming in race two at Texas. He has two podiums at Iowa back in 07 and 08.

13. James Hinchcliffe- Hinch Town had his best oval performance at Milwaukee finishing 6th. He quietly has three top tens on the season.

14. J.R Hildebrand- Living off the momentum, or lack their of after Indianapolis, Hildebrand has struggled most of his rookie campaign. Outside of Indy, his best finish is 10th, He has finished 18th or worse in the three races since the 500.

15. E.J Viso- Yes, he did put it into the wall, yet again at Milwaukee, but before that it was a pretty solid weekend at the Mile, qualifying 6th. He had two top tens at Texas, Viso was third at Iowa last year, avoid contact and Viso could move up this list.

16. Justin Wilson- Wilson has struggled for most of the season. He picked up his best oval result (10th) at Milwaukee. He hasn't had the results he is capable of, even on the road courses where he has a high of 7th at Sao Paolo.

17th. Vitor Meira- Meira has be inconsistent to say the least this season. He had a season best 8th place finish at the first Texas race, Meira has only one top ten start this season, that being on a blind draw at the second Texas race.

18th. Mike Conway- After the win in Long Beach, its been all down hill. His first year at Andretti Autosport hasn't gone as smooth as planned, following a 6th at Sao Paolo, Conways best finish is 12th. The road courses cant come soon enough.

19th. Ed Carpenter - Ed has not been up to speed outside of Indy. He is yet to break into the top 10 this year, and has been 16th or worse since Indianapolis.

20th. Charlie Kimball- Three drivers could be consider at the last spot on the list. Charlies has shown promise, despite wrecking at Texas, he placed 14th at Milwaukee

On the Outside looking in is Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alex Lloyd and Simona De Silvestro. Don't forget to watch the Iowa race on Saturday evening at 8 E.S.T on Versus and 1070 The Fan here in Indianapolis

Bittersweet to Say the least.

What a day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After being towed from Georgetown Road The night before, I was stressed to the max about getting my car from the tow lot, paying the fine at the Police station, getting my car, and making the race. After little to no sleep, I decided to worry about my car after the race, and the 165 dollars it would take to get it. Traffic was horrid, but luckily we made it to our seats in plenty of time to cheer for Dan Wheldon and Tomas Scheckter. Of course, Dan took the win and Tomas finished top 8, this had me in a great mood and I quickly forgot about the towing disaster.

After the unpredictable finish, as Wheldon crossed the stripe and the reality of his win set in, I got a bit emotional. It was great for him, Dan is an excellent guy, surrounded by excellent people from his crew, family and his friends. He was patient all day, and the disappointment of the last 2 years is now gone.

Hats off to JR Hildebrand for a great drive. Sitting in 3 he had been off the throttle for the last 2 laps saying fuel, I'm not 100% sure but I think he ran out in T4, what a finish and glad everyone was safe.


I decided to try to get down to victory circle seeing is I knew a few people close to the team. I ran into friend Bayleigh who is very close with Dan, I talked up the yellow shirt and we got in ( I'm sure someone would have gotten us in anyway, but hey, I felt like a BA) It was a blessing to be in victory circle with Dan, and some friends. As I stopped to remind myself that this may be a once in a lifetime moment that thousands of people would kill to have, I took a breath, fist bumped Mr. Wheldon and shed a tear.  What a race, what a great, and what a great deserving champion.

Breaking Down the 500

As the 100th anniversary of the 500 nears, I thought I would take a stab at handicapping the field, who has the best and worse odds to win, based on starting position, crew and past experience in the race. As we all know the 500 is the hardest race and for that matter hardest sporting event to predict, but hey, its worth a shot so here we go, I'm putting all my fan hood aside on this..

2-1 Scott Dixon
3-1 Will Power
4-1 Dario Franchitti
5-1 Townsend Bell
6-1 Helio Castroneves
7-1 Dan Wheldon
8-1 Alex Tagliani
9-1 Ed Carpenter
10-1 Buddy Rice
11-1 Oriol Servia
12-1 Ryan Briscoe
13-1 Tomas Scheckter
14-1 Tony Kanaan
15-1 JR Hildebrand
16-1 Vitor Meira
17-1 Graham Rahal
18-1 Paul Tracy
19-1 Justin Wilson
20-1 Marco Andretti
21-1 James Hinchcliffe
22-1 Danica Patrick
23-1 Bertrand Baguette
24-1 Davey Hamilton
25-1 Simona De Silvestro
26-1 John Andretti
27-1 Alex Lloyd
28-1 Takuma Sato
29-1 Ryan Hunter Reay
30-1 Ana Beatriz
31-1 EJ Viso
32-1 Charlie Kimball
33-1 Jay Howard
34-1 Pippa Mann

Pole Day Qualifying

As I did last year, and probably failed miserably, I am going to attempt to predict the 33 starters for the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. I said it last week, and I will stand by it, their are 13-15 legitimate contenders to win this years Indy 500, but drivers still have to run the first race, and that's 4 laps, 10 miles around the worlds greatest race course. So here we go.

I'm going to take Scott Dixon for the pole. It would be Dixon's 2nd pole position at the Brickyard, but really you can take all the Ganassi and Penske Guys, throw them in a hat and pick one. Filling out the front row, ill take Helio Castroneves and Will Power. Lets run through the rest of the 22 starters that will be locked in as of 6pm tomorrow.
Row 2- Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti Townsend Bell
Row 3- Graham Rahal Alex Tagliani Ed Carpenter
Row 4- Dan Wheldon Bertrand Baguette JR Hildebrand
Row 5- Vitor Meira Marco Andretti Davey Hamilton
Row 6- Buddy Rice Oriel Servia Tony Kanaan
Row 7- Takuma Sato James Hinchcliffe Tomas Scheckter
Row 8 Danica Patrick Justin Wilson and Paul Tracy

There is my top 22- this leaves,  Ana Beatriz, , , Alex Lloyd, Jay Howard ,Ho Pin Tung, Pippa Mann ,EJ Viso, Bruno Junqueira, Ryan Hunter Reay, John Andretti, Ralphael Matos, Mike Conway, James Jakes, Sebastian Saavedra, Simona De Silvestro and Scott Speed to qualify on Sunday. Who knows if Speed will last, and I hope to see Sarah Fisher Racing turn out the 57 car and get in. Hope everyone enjoys Pole Day as I know I will.

The 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. Opening Weekend

Although the rains dampened the afternoon yesterday and all day today, it was a great opening weekend at the worlds greatest race course. Saturday got off to a delayed start, not by rain, but a sprinkler on the backstretch. Hope this isn't a sign of whats to come with the weather, as today was a wash, and the next 6 days have rain in the forecast.

32 drivers logged laps at the Brickyard yesterday with local Ed Carpenter taking the top speed at 224. 786. Ed shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. He has ran well at the speedway, leading laps two years ago at the 500, and making the Top 11 in qualifying last season. The Surprise should be in Sarah Fisher Racing. SFR has made significant strides in the off season, and with an experienced driver in Carpenter, along with long time engineer Nathan O'Rourke. Rumor is Buddy Lazier could be in line for the #57 ride with SFR if Ed makes it safely into the field on Pole Day.

I think this will be one of the most competitive fields in recent history. I feel their are 17 drivers that have a legit shot at winning, I guess I should back, in no particular order. 1. Dan Wheldon 2. Helio Castroneves 3. Will Power 4. Ryan Briscoe 5. Scott Dixon 6. Dario Franchitti 7. Tomas Scheckter 8. Tony Kanaan 9. Graham Rahal 10. Justin Wilson. 11. Marco Andretti 12. Mike Conway 13. Ed Carpenter 14. Paul Tracy 15. Ryan Hunter Reay 16. Townsend Bell 17. Alex Tagliani.

Right after that list there are a few that wouldn't be shocking, such as Danica, Simona Oriel Servia, Buddy Rice, JR Hildebrand, Bertrand Baguette and Alex Lloyd. There should be a good battle for Rookie of the Year as well, with James Hichcliffe, Scott Speed and JR Hildebrand, not to mention a few others. Not that I have crazily said that half the field could contend, Ill be back Friday for my pole day predictions.

It was great to see familiar faces at the speedway all weekend, and hopefully more to come. Ill continue to be that guy that roams around the pits by himself, taking pictures like an Asian in a parking lot, but I'm OK with that, this only comes around once a year, got to soak it up while I can.

Month of May Bucket List

The Month of May is here, well almost. The 2 weeks of May that will make up practice and qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 gets under way Saturday May 14th. This year, outside of the race itself, it should be a fun and exciting as the Speedway celebrates the 100th birthday of the first 500 back in 1911.  Talking to a good friend of mine who shares the same passion for the 500 as I, We decided to come up with a bucket list of things to do this month. Here is mine.

1. Spend every time at the speedway that its open for track activity. I accomplished this last season, I'm fortunate to have a Silver badge, and plan to be out there everyday.

2. Tweet. Follow my personal twitter @tonyd6624 and also follow me on @500coverage for up to the minute update from the Speedway.

3. Check out the Museum. With most of all the past 500 winners cars, defiantly worth the time to check out.

4. Take a minimum of 200 pictures. This may be the easiest, plenty of things to capture and keep for years to come, especially with family and friends coming down for the race.

5. Meet someone new everyday. These days, it is about who you know, and there is nothing such thing as knowing too many people.

6. Watch a practice session from the top deck in turn 1. A great view looking straight down the front stretch, I could probably take 200 pictures up their alone.

7. Survive Carb Day. Pretty self explanatory.

8. Continue some traditions that have been set. Spending race morning with friends and family. Walk Georgetown Road at 1am race morning, buy a cheap 5 dollar T-shirt after the race.

9. Meet every driver that will start the 500. This shouldn't be too hard, just need to meet maybe 5.

10. Take in the month, the advantages and opportunities I have and hope it does not end too soon.

Thats a Wrap

37-45. Not the best of records, but enough to get into the NBA Playoffs for the Pacers, that's the good news, the bad news, the Bulls, the #1 overall seed would await them. The Bulls are a hell of a team, Derrick Rose takes your breath away, Bulls lover or hater, any fan of the game would pay money just to see him. The sure MVP of the league, is one of the NBA's new born stars, and he is only 22.

The Pacers are young, and came into the playoffs with a nothing to lose mind set. They took the Bulls to the brink in the first three games, but inexperience, the lack of a closer, and no post presence let the Bulls take the first 3 games right from under the Blue and Gold. These Pacers remind you a little bit of the 8 seeded Bulls of a year ago, unfortunately, a #1 draft pick is not in the Pacers future any time soon.

It doesn't matter if your a die hard Pacer fan, or a casual follower of the NBA, you knew the Pacers would not win this series. The meaning of a best of seven series is to have the best team win. Anyone can beat anyone once, but to do it four out of seven tries is hard. The Pacers gained valuable experience, grew as a young team, played physical, and earned the respect of the NBA.

The off season brings some unknowns to the table. Who will return? Who will be brought in? One thing is for sure, the Pacers have cap room, and they need a Power Forward. Danny Granger needs to become more of a vocal leader, work on his defense, and practicing driving to the cup. This could be the first of many years we see the Pacers in the playoffs.

As for the Bulls, Luol Deng and Derrick Rose played outstanding. Carlos Boozer was disappointing to say the least, especially for a 90 million dollar man with tons of playoff experience. Kyle Korver earned his paycheck this entire series and the role players did what is expected. I'm not sure this is the year the Bulls win it all, but I do know they are built for the future, a future that is bright for both the Pacers and Bulls. A new emergence of contenders have arrived, The Bulls, Thunder, Sixers and Pacers all have bright futures ahead.