Random Facts For An Off Weekend

With IndyCar taking the week off, not a lot of major news to talk about. For fun and because I had general interest I decided look up who was the last American to win four consecutive races? Answer: Al Unser Jr. In 1990. He won Toronto, Michigan, Denver and Vancouver. Since Little Al only three drivers have won four in a row. Alex Zanardi in 1998 (Detroit, Portland, Cleveland, Toronto), Cristiano da Matta in 2002 (Laguna Seca, Portland, Chicago, Toronto) and Sebastien Boudais won the first four races of the 2006 ChampCar Season (Long Beach, Houston, Monterrey and Milwaukee). Before Little Al won for in a row, you have to go all the way back to 1970 for the next occurrence, where his father Al Unser actually won five in a row in a championship season. (DuQuion, the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Sedalia, Trenton and Sacramento). Since 1956, Al Unser is the last, and only one of two drivers to end up winning four consecutive races in a season and not win the championship. In the 1968, Al won five in a row (Nazareth, two heats at the IRP road course and two heats at Langhorne) but his brother Bobby, who won four in a row that year as well (Stardust, Phoenix, Trenton and Indianapolis) won the championship. The other driver to have it happen was the year prior in 1967, when Mario Andretti won on the IRP road course, Langhorne and two heats at Mosport. AJ Foyt won the championship that season. Other facts, Ryan Hunter-Reay has not won a pole since Milwaukee 2004. He would go on to Grand Chelem, leading every one of the 250 laps from pole, get fastest lap in the race and win the race. The winners of the Edmonton race have always alternated. In the days of ChampCar, Sebastien Bourdais won in 2005, Justin Wilson won in 2006 and Bourdais would win again in 2007. Since unification under the INDYCAR banner, Scott Dixon has won in the even years (2008 and 2010) and Will Power was won the odd years (2009 and 2011). This year's Edmonton race is on July 22, as was the 2007 race won by Bourdais and the IRL race at Mid-Ohio was held on that same day. That race was won by Scott Dixon. Last driver to win on July 22 not named Bourdais or Dixon, was Patrick Carpentier at Michigan in 2001. To bring it full circle and back to the beginning, the last driver to win on July 22 before Carpentier was Al Unser Jr. at Toronto in 1990.