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Joseph Stud! Newgarden, who's having the Breakout
season of his young IndyCar career - Hero Card obtained at 2014 Sonoma IndyCar
race. (The Tomaso Collection)
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As I previously mentioned before, I began compiling
my thoughts upon this year's grid prospects prior to St Pete, and then
attempted picking up thy ball after some 'lil 'Ol race at Mother Speedway,
which as typical has since slipped 'til Fourth 'O July...
Chevy's simply been Kicking ARSE and Taking Names ever since the season began, having
won 8-of-10 races prior to Fontana; with Honda's two wins coming in Rain fest
races...
As Curty' Cavin pointed out the obvious in the
middle 'O June by noting that Chevy's won the past 19 Poles and 16 Races preceding
the Fontana 500-mile Oval race; which
Y'all know how that turned out...
And while I' was still a Wee bit embarrassed
over Honda's LAME ARSE excuse (Pre-Fontana) that they'd
focused their Aerokit efforts solely on winning the Indianapolis 500; Hmm? May be, just may be? the race would have turned
out different if the Aerokit War hadn't been turn on its head after Chevy's
three major accidents and the subsequent Aero modifications, eh?
Thus, having only scribbled down my initial
Bowtie Brigade thoughts Pre-St Pete for another story that didn't get bottled
in time, I'll take up with the remaining Full-season Chevy runners plus add
my Honda teams thoughts from midway thru
the 2015 season, following Belle Isle's wacky weather induced "Double your
Trouble" weekend!
CHEVROLET (12-cars)
Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing, (2)
KVSH Racing, (2) Target Chip Ganassi Racing (4) and Team Penske. (4)
Target Chip Ganassi Racing (2 Wins)
Obviously 'Cheep (Ganassi) AIN'T pleased with
being Second Fiddle to 'El Capitano. (Roger Penske( And although 'TK
"Follow-your-Schnoz!" (Kanaan) is still hungry, witness his runner-up
finish at Texas, along with another two podiums, (St Pete, Fontana) not to
mention having just crossed the holy grail of 300 career starts at 40. He's now
the sport's elder statesman, turning 41 on the final day of December.
Scott Dixon continues chipping away at moving
up the All-time win stats whilst in search of a fourth championship, having
pushed his win tally to 37 with victories at Long Beach and Texas to date.
Moving him just two wins shy of tying fourth All-time winner B-I-G' AL's
(Unser) tally of 39 and then zeroing in on Mikey' Andretti's record of 42,
third overall; CRIKEYS! Which Y'all would ARSE-sume he'll surpass them while having
just celebrated his 35th birthday on July 20th.
Only "Wildcard" seemingly for
Ganassi is rookie Sage Karam, although he's supposedly extremely talented and
most likely will push Charlie "Murphy;" Err Kimball for best of the
"Ganassi rest."
As why did hearing
"The Voice," aka Paul Page describe Kimball's livery at Fontana
immediately make me think of that 'Ol Judas Priest song Green Manalishi!
although the somewhat curious late addition
of "S2," aka Sebastian Saavedra as
a partial season driver makes me wonder what's really going on here?
Hmm? Me thinks Cheep was eager to take Gary Peterson's
Moolah, eh? Or is this some sort of "Insurance Policy" if Karam
doesn't Pan Out? Although it now appears a clever way to fund Karam's ride,
since initially I wasn't too sure how this fourth seat was gonna play out. As the
rookie appears to be getting more 'N more comfortable as a TCGR regular, while
look for Saavedra to replace Karam at the season
finale at Sonoma...
Yet the brash 20yr old Karam led his first laps
ever at Fontana and wasn't afraid to stick his nose into the brawl, especially
when running the "High-line" against the series "Heavy
Hitters!" While Ditto at Milwaukee before he hit the wall...
CFH Racing (2 Wins)
It'll be interesting to see if Ed, Sarah
& Andy and wink 'lil racing team can
upset the Chevy "Heavy Hitters" parade, with Joseph Newgarden
hopefully "Breaking his Duck" this season, whilst can the speedy Italian
Luca Filippi be
tempered into a race finishing winning driver?
Obviously the year's been a major success for
Joseph STUD! Newgarden, now having scored his first two IndyCar career
victories! First breaking out at Barber Motorsport Park and then leading the
team's debutant 1-2 finish Up North Eh! Where Twisty's Wingman Filippi smartly followed him home instead of breaking
racing's Golden Rule: DON'T take your team-mate out when fighting for the lead.
OOPSADAISY! That's exactly what team boss
"Fast Eddie" did to his No. 1 driver Joseph Newgarden at Fontana,
before lamely blaming his accident upon his spotter.
Next, Newgarden scored his maiden IndyCar Pole at
the fabled Milwaukee Mile - as Y'all gotta be mightily impressed with this 'lil
Two-car effort that's supplanted Schmidt Peterson Motorsports as the
"David" Giant Killers of the sport this season!
KVSH Racing (2 Wins)
While I've totally overlooked le
'Hamburgular, nee Sebastain Bourdais, who I've really never been a fan of. The
Frenchman was pretty humble upon
comparing his latest win, his 33rd overall, with the majority coming during his
four successive championships in Champ Car vs. his second in the mergified
IndyCar series.
As le 'Hamburgular's career win total first put him
a single W' behind someone named 'lil Al before putting on a driving Clinique
at Milwaukee where he tied Al Unser Jr's career tally with his 34th win. Putting him three wins clear of his good
buddy 'PT (Paul Tracy) and Dario Franchitti - and just one shy of tying thee
legendous' "Uncle Bobby!" (Unser)
And while I've been curious over how Bourdais
new rookie team-mate Stefano Coletti from Monaco gets on? As the eight times
GP2 winner seems to acclimated himself to Indy Cars pretty easily and should
win the rookie Of the Year contest. Nevertheless, I wonder how many Gray Hairs
he's caused to sprout up on Jimmy Vasser's du, eh? Especially with the number
of crashes to date, as I'm sure Jimmy's deferring to Kevin "Smiley Face" Kalkoven
to write the cheques; Hya!
Yet I didn't get any closer to the Honda Boyz
before my Sabbatical to thee "Other Florence" and Summer got in Duh Way, and hence, I'll attempt wrapping things
up immediately after thee 4th 'O July, when there will only be five races remaining
on the 2015 calendar; SHEISA!
For which IndyCar Curmudgeon 'R, aka Robin Miller
so rightly pointed out HOW ludicrous the current ending of Indy Cars season
before Labour Day is in his pointed message lambasting Mark "I've Got a
Plan! Miles after the season's Humdinger at Fontana. (Especially since the
media keeps rubbing our noses with the news of IndyCar Post-season testing
taking place in September, and may be October? And why the BLEEP aren't we just
racing instead...)
2015 INDYCAR SEASON
16 Rounds: 5 Road Courses, 4 Street Circuits* and 6 Ovals.
(Detroit's Belle Isle Double Header weekend marks
season's Halfway point)
(Rd/Date/Venue/Winner/Team/Engine)
9) June 6: Dallas, TX; Scott Dixon, Ganassi
(Chevrolet)
2nd: Tony Kanaan, Ganassi/Chevrolet; 3rd: Helio
Castroneves; Penske/Chevrolet.
10) June 14: Toronto, ON, Canada; Joseph Newgarden,
CFH Racing (Chevrolet)
2nd: Luca Filippi, CFH Racing/Chevrolet; 3rd: Helio Castroneves; Penske/Chevrolet.
11) June 27: Fontana, CA; Graham Rahal, RLLR
(Honda)
2nd: Tony Kanaan, Ganassi/Chevrolet; 3rd: Marco
Andretti, Andretti/Honda.
12) July 12: Milwaukee, WI; Sebastain Bourdais,
KVSH (Chevrolet)
2nd: Helio Castroneves, Penske/Chevrolet; 3rd:
Graham Rahal, RLLR/Honda.
---------------------------------
13) July 18: Des Moines, IA
14) Aug 2: Mid-Ohio, OH
15) Aug 23: Pocono, PA
16) Aug 30: Sonoma, CA#
(Double Points race)
