Herta Has His Way In Michigan
Written by George Katinger · July 31, 2005
Bryan Herta finally transformed his pole position (his 3rd pole this year) into his first victory in two years. And no thanks to his teammates at AGR.
motorsport.com: Herta turns Michigan pole into a win
racingone.com: Herta Hammers Field
Teammates are teammates in the paddock, at press conferences and any other public event. On the track there is no such thing. Ask Sam Hornish and Helio Castroneves, or Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick. It has to be the team owner’s number one nightmare.
And while going for the win Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon came as close to wrecking themselves and leading teammate Herta without actual contact as you could possibly come. I have to admit it was more nerve wracking than exciting. Especially after watching the Bell-Yasukawa-Matsuura-Lazier near disaster.
And how about those Toyota and Chevy powered teams? Hornish, Scheckter and Lazier were on pace all race long and Scheckter had a chance to win at the end. Townsend Bell was on pace also before losing the car and causing the aforementioned wreck.
As to my prediction of Rice winning the race he was consumed by mechanical gremlins. But with Scheckter in third at least my prophecy of a non AGR sweep and no wins for Penske was accurate.
I still have one overriding concern for the series. During the finishing laps Scott Goodyear screamed that there “…wasn’t a single soul not on their feet.” Unfortunately Scott, I don’t think there was a single soul at the race! Compared to the junk race Champ Cars debuted at San Jose, the Indy race was far and away superior. I promised to lay off criticizing both series in the hope of avoiding negative comments about both unless they were race related. But the few camera shots that caught the main grandstand seemed to be highly reflective, as in bare aluminum as opposed to warm bodies.
Phoenix will be cancelled from the schedule next year, and attendance seems to continue to dwindle at all the tracks. I would love to know the REAL attendance figure if anyone can come up with an honest number. But the trend does not bode well for the series, and I will not even mention the dreaded m—-r word. But Tony and the series need to figure out something and soon. Their survival hangs in the balance.
Michigan race results
Pos Car Driver Chassis-Engine Laps Gap Status
1. 7 Bryan Herta Dallara-Honda 200
2. 26 Dan Wheldon Dallara-Honda 200 0.0374
3. 4 Tomas Scheckter Dallara-Chevrolet 200 0.1488
4. 11 Tony Kanaan Dallara-Honda 200 0.2357
5. 6 Sam Hornish Jr. Dallara-Toyota 200 0.4677
6. 95 Buddy Lazier Dallara-Chevrolet 200 0.5268
7. 8 Scott Sharp Panoz-Honda 200 0.9021
8. 27 Dario Franchitti Dallara-Honda 200 0.9717
9. 83 Patrick Carpentier Dallara-Toyota 199 1 lap
10. 33 Ryan Briscoe Panoz-Toyota 199 0.1851
11. 51 Alex Barron Dallara-Toyota 199 0.3817
12. 14 A.J. Foyt IV Dallara-Toyota 198 2 laps
13. 91 Jimmy Kite Dallara-Toyota 197 3 laps
14. 17 Vitor Meira Panoz-Honda 185 15 laps Handling
15. 2 Townsend Bell Dallara-Chevrolet 180 20 laps Accident
16. 55 Kosuke Matsuura Panoz-Honda 180 1.5535 Accident
17. 10 Jaques Lazier Panoz-Toyota 179 21 laps Accident
18. 24 Roger Yasukawa Dallara-Honda 179 0.5099 Accident
19. 9 Scott Dixon Panoz-Toyota 166 34 laps Electrical
20. 16 Danica Patrick Panoz-Honda 163 37 laps Mechanical
21. 3 Helio Castroneves Dallara-Toyota 138 62 laps Mechanical
22. 15 Buddy Rice Panoz-Honda 126 74 laps Mechanical
23. 20 Ed Carpenter Dallara-Toyota 118 82 laps Mechanical
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Is there any way to stop AGR?
I know some guys that can “take care” of this problem. Just don’t ask too many questions.