We are only four days removed from the most recent IndyCar race, but we are still 17 days away from the next IndyCar event. With all this downtime during spring for IndyCar, it has allowed me to explore some areas we don't know about the record book, or at least explore them to the best of our abilities.
For a record book that stretches back over a century, there are still holes. Some of it is information that was not tracked for a long portion of time. Some information is there but no one has collected it or noted it in a specific way. Instead of left wondering over some of these answers, here is an opportunity to get an answer or at least try to find one.
When you look at an IndyCar box score, fastest lap is one of the recognized statistics. As we have covered previously, though it is in every box score, official records are not shared, not even in the IndyCar record book. We know total laps led, podium finishes, top five finishes and so on, but we do not have official records on fastest laps.
From the best we can gather, fastest lap is something we only have full information on since the start of the 1993 CART season. Not every statistic in every sport has been accurately covered from day one. Fastest lap appears to be one of those for IndyCar, even than it is mostly inconsequential to an outcome of a race or showing a driver's ability.
Fastest lap has a greater role in other forms of motorsports. Formula One has closely tracked it since day one. NASCAR is now awarding a point for fastest lap in each race. Fastest lap kind of matters. It otherwise is just a fun footnote in the records, but important enough to list in the box score every race.
Where fastest lap is most celebrated is in combination with other excellence. The most celebrated form is in Formula One. When a driver starts on pole position, leads every lap and scores fastest lap, it is considered a "grand slam." There have not been many in Formula One history, but when it occurs it is appreciated. It is seen as a perfect day. That driver put his name at every notable area of the box score. The story of the race is that driver, from start to finish. No one in the middle even made a blip on the radar.
For Formula One, we know all of the grand slams and who has the most (Jim Clark, 8). There have been 68 total over the 1,129 races that have count to the world championship. That is 6.023%.
For IndyCar, if we do not have official records on fastest lap, you know we do not have official records on grand slams.
Why not try to find out how many have occurred?
With the competitiveness of IndyCar, it feels like if one has happened, it would be shared. We would all know when it has happened, but I can never remember a time it has mentioned. It is a case of we do not have many drivers lead every lap from pole position. With the number of pit stops and pit cycles in an IndyCar race, it is very difficult to do that. Throw in oval races where there is even greater variety, significantly more laps in races, and less emphasis on single-lap pace, it is not as likely to happen as a Formula One race.
IndyCar does have a fair number of road and street course races. The opportunity for grand slams is there.
You might think it is going to be hard to complete a full list of IndyCar grand slams. It actually isn't because the number of races where the pole-sitter has led every lap is quite low to begin with. For example, in the DW12 era of IndyCar (since 2012), it has only happened twice. Scott Dixon did it in a shortened Belle Isle race in 2012 and Will Power did it in the second race of the 2020 Harvest Grand Prix from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Neither Dixon nor Power scored fastest lap in the those race.
Since reunification, there have been two other races where the pole-sitter led every lap. Dario Franchitti did it at Sonoma in 2009. Will Power did it at Barber Motorsports Park in 2011. On both occasions, neither scored fastest lap.
So how many grand slams have there been then? Let's just note based on the records we have, we can only look at races since 1993, which is a limited number of races to begin with. From what we can gather, there have been eight grand slams in IndyCar. Here they are in order.
1. Paul Tracy: 1993 The Chicago Tribune Presents the Texaco/Havoline 200 (Road America)
Already a winner three times that season, Tracy shared the front row with Nigel Mansell. Though there was an early caution for an Adrián Fernández, Tracy was able to skate away from the competition, leading all 50 laps and winning by over 27 seconds ahead of Mansell. Bobby Rahal rounded out the podium from tenth on the grid.
2. Paul Tracy: 1994 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Bank of America 300 (Laguna Seca)
Closing out one of Team Penske's most historic seasons, Tracy put his Penske PC-23 on pole position ahead of rookie Jacques Villeneuve and the departing Nigel Mansell.
For Tracy, he won by nearly 22 seconds ahead of Raul Boesel with all 84 laps led. It locked up a 1-2-3 sweep in the championship behind Al Unser, Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi. This was Team Penske's 12 victory in 16 races. Five of those victories were from pole position but this was the only time a Penske car led every lap let alone be a grand slam performance.
This was also Mario Andretti's final IndyCar race, which ended after 80 laps, four shy of the finish, due to an engine issue.
3. Hélio Castroneves: 2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
This was one of Castroneves' best performances. He took pole position by over a half-second from Kenny Bräck. If it wasn't for cautions, this race would have been a runaway. Castroneves set fastest lap on lap 71, but a caution for Tora Takagi getting into the barriers on lap 75 set up a four-lap sprint to the finish.
3. Hélio Castroneves: 2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
This was one of Castroneves' best performances. He took pole position by over a half-second from Kenny Bräck. If it wasn't for cautions, this race would have been a runaway. Castroneves set fastest lap on lap 71, but a caution for Tora Takagi getting into the barriers on lap 75 set up a four-lap sprint to the finish.
The main challengers were Cristiano da Matta and Gil de Ferran. Both filled Castroneves' mirrors, but neither could sneak through. Castroneves led the all-Brazilian podium with 1.787 seconds covering the podium finishers.
4. Cristiano da Matta: 2002 Molson Indy Toronto
This Toronto victory capped off what was the pivotal stretch of da Matta's championship run. This victory was da Matta's fourth consecutive and his fifth of the season. He only took pole position by 0.037 seconds over Paul Tracy, but despite the narrow margin in qualifying, da Matta held onto the lead at the start.
Though he led all 112 laps, fastest lap came on lap 108 at 58.806 seconds. Tracy fell out of the race due to brake issues. Third-place starter Bruno Junqueira was taken out after contact with Townsend Bell. Neither Kenny Bräck nor Christian Fittipaldi caused much trouble for da Matta.
5. Patrick Carpentier: 2003 Grand Prix of Monterey
At a time when Laguna Seca and American open-wheel racing did not mix to provide the most thrilling racing, the top three starters finished in the top three places. More dramatic was how pole position was decided. Michel Jourdain, Jr. had set the fastest lap, but his car was found to be underweight after the second qualifying session. With Jourdain, Jr.'s time disallowed, Carpentier inherited first on the grid.
Other than a waved off start, there were no cautions in this race.
Carpentier may have led all 87 laps, but he faced a stiff challenge from Bruno Junqueira, which we can see from Carpentier's fastest lap on lap 81. Carpentier held on for victory by only eight-tenths of a second.
6. Paul Tracy: 2003 Molson Indy Toronto
For the third time in his career, Tracy completed a grand slam, this time in his own backyard, and possibly a year after Cristiano da Matta did it in the same race. Tracy took pole position ahead of Bruno Junqueira. Tracy led 112 laps and was 4.5 seconds clear of Michel Jourdain, Jr. at the finish.
This was Tracy's fourth victory of the season, but his first since Long Beach in April. He would win seven races that season and claim his one and only championship.
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay: 2004 The Time Warner Cable Roadrunner 250 (Milwaukee)
Despite expecting a grand slam to be unlikely on an oval, it has happened. Hunter-Reay's second career victory came on a cool June night in 2004 at the Milwaukee Mile. With a field of 15 Lola-Fords and three Reynard-Fords, Hunter-Reay won this race comfortably.
Sébastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy were the first two cars out of the race due to accidents. The regulations combined with the conditions made it difficult to pass. Hunter-Reay lapped up to fourth-place. He led all 250 laps and finished nearly six seconds ahead of Patrick Carpentier.
8. Sébastien Bourdais: 2004 Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate Presented by Banamex (Mexico City)
The most recent grand slam in IndyCar history occurred over 20 years ago. This one capped off Bourdais' first championship season.
Bourdais held a 22-point lead over Newman/Haas Racing teammate Bruno Junquiera. With a maximum of 34 points for a victory and as little as two for last-place, Bourdais needed a good day to be champion. He just needed to finish ninth.
To ease his nerves, Bourdais took pole position ahead of Junquiera in second. Outside of an early caution for a spin, this race ran without interruption. Bourdais cruised to victory with 63 laps led. Junqueira took second on track and in the standings.
We can officially say there have been eight grand slams. I don't know if we should be surprised there hasn't been once since 2004. It makes sense but it also feels that even with the competitive balance in IndyCar and the mixed strategies we see are a regular basis in these races, but doesn't it feel like there would have been one race where Will Power or Scott Dixon or Josef Newgarden thrashed the competition and the result was never in doubt from the start? That technically has happened. There just hasn't been the case where they snagged fastest lap for good measure as well.
This list does feel light, but we cannot make up for the holes in the record books. If fastest lap was not tracked, it wasn't tracked. We cannot go back and find out who had the fastest lap. A driver's achievement has been lost to history. In all likelihood, there have been more than eight grand slams.
Out of the 18 occasions since 1993 where the pole-sitter led every lap, eight saw fastest lap claimed for a grand slam performance. From 1946 through 1992, there were 50 other races where the pole-sitter led every lap. In all likelihood, more grand slams happened. Is it at that same 44% rate that we have seen for the races over the last 31-plus years? Probably not, but there were likely a few more, and the likes of Andretti, Andretti, Foyt, Unser and Unser should belong on this list.
For now, it is unknown.
