Just last Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the Indy car race in Phoenix. It was quite a race…won by Scott Dixon driving the #9 Target Car…the very car shown here. Except I did not take this photo in Phoenix. Rather, I photographed it last August in the winners circle in Sonoma, CA when he won that race and the 2015 Driving Championship. He is one heck of a driver. It was nice to see him win again.
The Sonoma track and the Phoenix track are two birds of a different feather. The Sonoma Raceway is a 2.5 mile road course…Phoenix is a one-mile oval track…well almost oval. It has four banked turns built into it…not sharp turns, but turns never-the-less.
I’ve been to two races in Sonoma and now one at the Phoenix course. This is the first time in 11 years that Indy cars raced in Phoenix (to be truthful, although the course is named The Phoenix International Raceway, it is actually in Avondale, just west of Phoenix). In Sonoma, I was far enough back from the course, that the engine noise didn’t bother me. Not true in Phoenix. Although we were high up, the course is small enough that the noise was unbelievably loud…especially at the start. Wow! And I didn’t bring any earplugs.
These cars moved at unbelievable speeds, anywhere from 185 to 191 MPH. And they never braked for the turns…they just took those turns at full speed. They could complete one lap in 19 seconds. I was using the Verizon Indy Car app on my iPhone, so I could not only monitor the race standings, but the individual car statistics, including speed, gear changes, braking and more.
The Chevy equipped cars had the advantage over the Honda cars on this course. The top ten qualifiers were all Chevys. Three Honda cars hit the wall on Friday before the race, but were all rebuilt and raced on Saturday, although they started at the back of the pack. At the end of the race, 8 out of the top 9 finishers were all Chevys.
There was a lot more drama here about drivers and their cars than I’ve told you, but it would probably only interest hard core racing fans. It was exciting and fun and I got to watch a replay of the race Sunday morning on TV. I will go back next year for sure but will chose different seats. We were right at the start/finish line, but when the cars came off the last turn they were hugging the wall in front of us, so it was not a good view and the forget about decent photos. In fact, one driver hit the wall in front of us and skidded down the track along the wall. We never saw it.
One nice thing about this year’s cars, they have large computer generated electronic numbers on their cars that show their positions on the track during the race. I must admit at 190 miles per hour, it was difficult to see the number as they came by us. The light can also show their time in the pits when they come in for fuel and tires. Pit stops are critical in racing. The faster you can get in and out the better. In fact you could say Scott Dixon won the race in the pits as he moved up because he pitted faster than one or two cars in front of him.
Of course, for me, this is just a preliminary race for the big one coming up on Memorial Day Weekend in Indianapolis. It is the 100th running of “the greatest spectacle in racing” and I will be there for my very first time. Can’t wait. I got my ticket, airline flights, cars, and hotels all arranged. After Saturday’s race, I am ready!
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