The 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season finished up in suspenseful fashion on August 30th at the GO Pro Grand Prix in Sonoma, CA. This wasn’t the best season for Chip Ganassi’s drivers, but they fought and scraped and overcame adversity to come away with the Astor Cup. Scott Dixon came from 47 points back of series leader Juan Pablo Montoya to claim his fourth IndyCar championship.
After all the twists and turns to an otherwise exciting season, it came down to a three-horse race at Sonoma. Indianapolis 500 winner and Juan Pablo Montoya came into the finale as points leader. Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Rahal’s son Graham Rahal, was 34 points behind in second, and Scott Dixon sat in third.
Montoya’s heady and consistent driving had the points leader poised to take home the title, but he got entangled in the middle of the pack during a mid-race caution. A few laps later, Montoya made significant contact with teammate Will Power. The points leader was sent to the rear of the field where it’s nearly impossible to pass, which essentially cost him the championship.
What happened to Juan Pablo was out of Dixon’s control, but a few things that the Ganassi team did helped propel Dixon to the title. First, on lap 35 the pit crew gave him a efficent pit stop that put him virtually at the front of the pack. Second, teammates Charlie Kimball and Tony Kanaan finished ahead of Montoya, which proved to be the difference in Dixon tying Montoya with 556. Tied? That’s right. After all the laps and cautions and drama a racing season can hold, two drivers were knotted up at the end.
IndyCar rules state that if two drivers happen to be tied in points at the conclusion of the season, they will defer to who won the most races that season. Dixon won three and Juan Pablo two. It just goes to show racing fans how important every lap and every pit-stop and every point accumulated can really be.
Team Ganassi won by banding together as a team to get one guy the championship, while for most of the season Team Penske had four guys who were battling each other with their own agendas. That ultimately spelled the downfall of their title hopes.
At the end of the day, you cannot deny that Will and Juan were racing each other hard throughout the whole race and they ended up partially damaging their cars upon contact. When that finally happened, it cost them a championship. A true testament in how driving, although done by a single driver and his vehicle, can win or lose on the tenacity of his racing partners.
Winning the championship for Ganassi was a big shot in the arm for his team. There was a lot of gossip that Target was on the fence about the level of commitment they were going to continue to have with the Ganassi team. Target had a very large presence at Sonoma, with a big hospitality tent for it’s employees and customers, so it was the perfect time for Dixon and his team to put on a terrific show and revive the interest in the program.
This championship was bitter-sweet for Dixon. Like any dangerous sport where speed is the deciding factor, often life and death can hang in the balance. The later of this proved true on August 23 of 2015, at Pocono Raceway.
Justin Wilson, a close friend of Dixon, was struck in the head by debris from a single-car crash that occurred in front of him. He was pronounced dead hours later after succumbing to his injuries. Wilson is survived by his wife, Julia, and two daughters. His younger brother Stephan is an accomplished race car driver who has competed in the IndyCar Verizon Series and the Indy Lights.
The Verizon IndyCar series is the most multifaceted racing series on the planet, and that’s been a trademark for American open-wheel racing for a while now. Five of the races are on ovals, or semi-ovals, where limited shifting and steering is needed and drafting at speeds of over 200 is at a premium.
The other 11 tracks on the circuit are road courses, where down-shifting, fuel mileage, and passing placement are the key. NASCAR may vary a little with its two road races, but there is no other series that comes close to the variety of competitive venues.
