Dixon wins first race in unified open-wheel series

[Schwartz Fan]

Dixon wins first race in unified open-wheel series
By MIKE HARRIS, AP Auto Racing Writer


HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP)—Scott Dixon took the lead after Tony Kanaan crashed Saturday night and went on to win the first race of the new era of American open-wheel racing.

Dixon, who lost the IRL IndyCar Series championship when he ran out of fuel on the last lap of the 2007 season, got off to a great start with a victory in the Gainsco Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kanaan came out of the last round of green flag pit stops in the lead and appeared well on the way to a victory until Ernesto Viso, a rookie driving for one of the former Champ Car World Series teams that just joined the IRL, spun on the 193rd of 200 laps.

As Viso slid broadside across the track, Kanaan tried to duck around him but hit with the right front of his Dallara Honda, knocking his tire askew.

Kanaan stayed out front for several laps behind the pace car, but ducked into the pits as the green flag waved on lap 197, giving up the lead to Dixon, who won for the second time on Homestead’s 1.5-mile oval.

“We were catching (Kanaan) quick and that was the best part about it,” Dixon said. “It would have been close at the end.

“This is fantastic. I think it’s four wins in a row for Ganassi cars at Homestead.”

Marco Andretti finished second, followed by Dan Wheldon, who had won the last three Homestead races for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, and Helio Castroneves.

Ed Carpenter finished a lap off the pace in fifth, followed by Danica Patrick.

Of the eight former Champ Car entries, Oriol Servia was the top finisher in 12th.

Despite the fact that most of the newcomers had little or no oval racing experience, there were only three caution flags in the race.

Before Viso spun, the only cautions were brought out by debris on the track and then when Milka Duno spun and hit Ryan Briscoe as he tried to squeeze by near the top of the banking.


Dixon wins first race in unified open-wheel series - IRL - Yahoo! Sports

[SmokeFan14]

Ok, someone answer this for me - Now, I haven't watched open-wheel in a while because of the rift between the two. But, I've always said that for the good of the sport they need to work out their differences and if the get it together I would at least give it a shot. So, that being said - How is it that they still only run a 16 week season, instead of the 36 race season the NASCAR does (I know, it's long, but 16 races doesn't even seem like a warm-up), they are ow getting 25-28 cars entered in a race instead of 16 or 17, and the drivers were complaining last night?

I think Kanaan, who I do like, was complaining that there are too many cars out there to run safely.

Oh yeah, and the other thing - 26 starters - 4 cars on the lead lap at the end? They better improve the racing now, otherwise it's just watching cars on slot track.

[Schwartz Fan]

I think things will be much better next year a lot of things to work out, teams learning new cars, a lot of drivers are new to ovals, a lot of the cart teams where just caught with their pants down on the switch and don't have back-up cars, motors and aren't willing to push the envelope just yet. A lot of factors that are going to figure into how the series will grow.

As far as the schedule goes, I think they will bring back road courses and street courses and that will level the playing field quite a bit...and the schedule will grow back to 20 to 25 races a year (maybe more) we're just going to have to have some patience on this one...

And as long as they chose to let them start and do restarts the way they do the field will always be spread out from begining to end and the guys in the middle to the back of the pack will never have a fair chance to catch up....