There is not a lot going on in motorsports right now but there has been some progress. NASCAR plans to be back this weekend and it has four races in 11 days scheduled. IndyCar is setting up its season opener at Texas at the start of June. Outside of that, not much is making headway.
With this free time, we are allowed to be imaginative and get lost in thoughts. We got lost in iRacing but that is dialing back. This is a chance to go back and revisit something I had done last year. In April 2019, I put together a little exercise of giving drivers from three categories one IndyCar race with one team and explaining why such combinations make sense. The categories are drivers who have never run an IndyCar race, drivers who have a few IndyCar races and then drivers who would be considered making a comeback, i.e. guys who have at least contested one full season worth of races.
A couple of rules, in the never category, you are not going to see Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jordan Taylor. For the rare or comeback drivers, these aren't going to be drivers necessarily hanging around IndyCar who have just lost a ride (Sébastien Bourdais, Spencer Pigot, James Hinchcliffe) or the guys who have been hanging around for some time (J.R. Hildebrand, Gabby Chaves, James Davison, Pippa Mann).
Here is how it is going to work: We are going to name a driver, give what team that driver will compete with, where that driver will race and why that driver is getting the opportunity. The goal is to mix up the team selection and track selection. You are not going to see Indianapolis listed as the track 12 times or ten guys getting a shot with Team Penske. A mixture keeps it fresh. Each category will feature five drivers. We will start with the never class of drivers.
Never:
Colin Braun
What: DragonSpeed Chevrolet
Where: Austin
Why: Braun has one of the most diverse careers for an American driver at the age of 31. Sports car prototype race winner, NASCAR national series race winner, rallycross competitor and he has been itching at an IndyCar opportunity for the last few years.
The good news is we could be close to seeing this happen. Braun drove for DragonSpeed at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January and won the LMP2 class. DragonSpeed had only confirmed Ben Hanley was going to compete the St. Petersburg season opener but the remainder of its season was up in the air. Braun could make his IndyCar debut in his home state of Texas and he has knowledge of the track from his sports car experience.
Joey Hand
What: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Where: Laguna Seca
Why: Hand is unemployed, and back in January, that was hard to swallow. Hand had won races in the Ford GT and had a long history of success going back to his days in Daytona Prototypes and with BMW. At the start of last decade, after he won the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona, there was some buzz of Hand getting an IndyCar shot. He was driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's BMW program in the American Le Mans Series. He had this tie to Ganassi. It wasn't crazy to think it could happen, ultimately it hasn't.
However, Hand is not doing much. Laguna Seca is a home track. What is one spin in an IndyCar? It has been over 15 years since Hand has run a single-seater car but let's give him his shot.
Regan Smith
What: Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Where: Indianapolis
Why: Let's get a Smith in the Indianapolis 500. One-hundred and three races, 777 drivers and none of them have had the last name Smith. Let's get this out of the way. Regan Smith is wasting away as Fox's eighth guy on the NASCAR broadcasting depth chart, he gets a one-off here and there when a driver is ill, hurt or suspended for something moronic and he is 36 years old.
Go get one Indianapolis 500 start. He has already run at Indianapolis in Cup but to be the first Smith to start the Indianapolis 500 makes him the answer to the most overused trivia question for the next century. Let's just rip this Band-Aid off. Why McLaren? I am sure Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson could pull a few strings for a friend.
Gustavo Menezes
What: Carlin Chevrolet
Where: Iowa
Why: Menezes has quietly become one of the best American sports car drivers. He has a Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers' championship, he has won at least one race in the last four WEC seasons, including three overall victories in the last two seasons. He has a Le Mans class victory. That is a pretty good run. Does it help that he drives for Rebellion Racing in a two-manufacture LMP1 class with Toyota being strapped with an anchor? Yep, but after decades of having zero Americans in the top class of sports car racing, Menezes is now the man on the scene, and he is making the most of it.
What people might not realize is Menezes has Road to Indy ties. He started in the Star Mazda championship, competing in 2011 and 2012 before moving to Europe. Though Menezes never won a Star Mazda race, his best finish was third at Iowa and he was ahead of Zach Veach in the 2012 championship. While Menezes ran for Juncos Racing in Star Mazda, he competed for Carlin in European Formula Three, so there is a tie.
Christopher Bell
What: Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
Where: Richmond
Why: Bell has been lights out at Richmond in his career and while we talk about wanting NASCAR guys running Indianapolis, but I want to see how these guys hold up at Richmond, Iowa, Texas and so on. There is a reason why last time I had Kyle Busch at Iowa. I want to see him fight an IndyCar on worn tires at Iowa, the same is true for Bell. I am not sure how Richmond is going to run when IndyCar returns but I want to see a short track guy at a short track.
Bell is a short track guy, Ed Carpenter was a short track guy, that is a pairing that makes too much sense.
Rare:
Jan Magnussen
What: Team Penske Chevrolet
Where: Mid-Ohio
Why: I had Magnussen on my list after he lost the Corvette gig last year, but this has increased in interest since Magnussen's successful runs in the Legends Trophy simulator events that The Race has hosted during this pandemic. The Dane had a glowing single-seater career, dominating the British Formula Three championship, running the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix with McLaren before spending a season and a half with Stewart Grand Prix and getting a few IndyCar attempts.
However, his final IndyCar start was the 1999 Surfers Paradise race. Twenty years later, Magnussen still has it. He made his IndyCar debut at Mid-Ohio in 1996 with Team Penske. Twenty-four years later, let's do it again.
Franck Perera
What: A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet
Where: St. Petersburg
Why: No one else would include Perera but earlier this year Perera wrote an article titled "How to overcome mental burnout after your F1 dream has died" and I felt for the guy. He was a Toyota reserve driver, he was runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in GP2 at Monaco, his only points finish in GP2 and he was runner-up in the 2007 Atlantic Championship, behind Raphael Matos and ahead of Robert Wickens, James Hinchcliffe, Jonathan Bomarito and J.R. Hildebrand.
Perera started the first three IndyCar races in the 2008 season with Conquest Racing and then the recession forced his sponsor into bankruptcy and ended his season there. His didn't light the world on fire in his three starts but he started 13th and finished 14th on debut at Homestead. He qualified tenth at St. Petersburg before an accident in the final ten laps ended his race. He qualified third and finished sixth in his only race in the Panoz DP01 chassis at Long Beach. Foyt brought Perera back for the Chicagoland finale, where he started 24th and finished 15th.
Would Perera still be in IndyCar today if he hadn't lost his sponsor? Would he be an IndyCar race winner? Probably not but I want to see a good guy get a second chance and Perera was out of motorsports for six years before he came back in GT3 racing. He has since won the GTD class at the 24 Hours of Daytona with Grasser Racing Team. He's got something.
Casey Mears
What: A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet
Where: Indianapolis
Why: It is often forgotten Mears made five CART starts, including a fourth on debut at Fontana in 2000, drove three Indy Racing League races for Galles Racing at the start of 2001, failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 and he substituted for Alex Zanardi at Mo Nunn Racing for the final four races of 2001.
Mears had respectable Indy Lights results before he transitioned to stock car racing in 2002 and went from 21st in the Busch Series to full-time Cup ride with Ganassi in 2003 and thus began the 15-season NASCAR Cup Series career. Mears didn't light up the world in NASCAR, his lone victory was the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 and a fuel gamble gone right. In 489 starts, he had 13 top fives and 51 top ten finishes. His best championship finish was 14th in 2006, his final year with Ganassi, where he was runner-up in the Daytona 500 and, outside of NASCAR, took a surprise 24 Hours of Daytona victory with Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon.
No one is going to act like Mears was some world-class driver but, with a name like Mears, the fact he never leveraged his name to get another Indianapolis 500 attempt is a missed opportunity. I don't think Mears would be competing for a top ten finish at Indianapolis but if you have a chance to say you ran the Indianapolis 500 and your career is nothing but one fluky NASCAR Cup victory you take it. You fluff your career as much as you can and add your name to the list of drivers to run both the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 and the pairs of fathers and sons to both start the Indianapolis 500. You make yourself an object of motorsports lore.
Mears made one serious attempt at the Indianapolis 500 in 2001 with Galles Racing, a team long past its prime and spread thin with three cars, none of which had much speed. He was 23 years old, had an accident in practice and that was it. He is 42 years old, much more experienced and has frequented Stadium Super Truck in recent years.
Foyt will take money from anyone and you could probably sell a Foyt/Mears combination at Indianapolis even if it is the bottom of the cellar IndyCar team with an average driver.
Giorgio Pantano
What: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Where: Barber
Why: Pantano was the epitome of a super-sub for a six-year period, introduced to IndyCar when drafted in for Sonoma and Watkins Glen to fill the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Toyota. Sonoma was a rough race, but he started second and finished fourth at Watkins Glen. Six years later, Pantano returned to IndyCar, back at Sonoma to fill in at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the injured Justin Wilson and he qualified 11th after not being in the car for six years! His next two races at Baltimore and Motegi were not stellar but encouraging. When Charlie Kimball injured his hand in 2012, Ganassi recalled Pantano to run Mid-Ohio. The Italian qualified 24th but drove to 14th.
Pantano's sporadic IndyCar career is not littered with remarkable drives that are stuff of legend, but this is a talent that emerged in the motorsports world either five years too late or five years too early. He lost the 2002 International F3000 championship to Sébastien Bourdais by two points and he was third in the championship the year after that. It got him a seat at Jordan Grand Prix for 2004, which scored five points all season, none of which Pantano was responsible for. Nick Heidfeld scored three and Timo Glock scored two when substituting for Pantano at Montreal and Glock replaced Pantano for the final three races.
For the next four years, Pantano revived his career in the GP2 Series, regularly finishing on the podium and winning a handful of races. He made it back to the top in 2008, taking the GP2 championship over Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi, Romain Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado and Sébastien Buemi.
Unfortunately, the GP2 title did not lead to a second Formula One shot. He went to Superleague Formula, one of the handful of open-wheel series that popped up and quickly evaporated due the recession, and outside of his few IndyCar cameos, he ran some GT3 series and has been out of motorsports since 2014.
If Pantano emerges five years earlier, he is in prime position to replace Alex Zanardi at Ganassi when Zanardi joins Williams or he is a candidate for a handful of other CART rides. If he emerges five years later, he has the GP2 career he has without the Jordan baggage, perhaps gets a better Formula One shot and even if that doesn't pan out, he is at least in position to be a top sports car driver or Formula E driver.
I don't know Ganassi but I would like to think he has a soft spot for Pantano and would give him one final thrill around Barber Motorsports Park.
Stefan Wilson
What: Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Where: Texas
Why: Stefan Wilson is a nice guy and nice guys deserve nice things. Wilson has been pretty good during this iRacing period. He won Dinner with Racer's Thursday Night Blunder race at Talladega. He was strong in the one IndyCar iRacing event he partook and that was Indianapolis where he had to qualify while Robert Wickens, James Hinchcliffe and Felipe Nasr didn't.
Let's give Wilson an oval opportunity that isn't Indianapolis and with his victory at Talladega I think Texas is perfect for him and Wilson was the 2007 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner. His career gets to come full circle in this case.
Comeback:
Mike Conway
What: Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Where: Belle Isle
Why: Since leaving IndyCar, Conway found a lovely home in Toyota's LMP1 program. With a handful of victories and three runner-up finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Conway finds himself leading the 2019-20 World Endurance Drivers' Championship with three rounds remaining, should the season ever resume.
Conway left IndyCar on a high note. After stepping away from ovals, Conway turned that decision into multiple race victories in the series, most famously stepping into Dale Coyne Racing's #18 Honda at Belle Isle and won on debut with the team. The next day he won pole position and finished third. In 2014, Conway filled in for Ed Carpenter on road and street courses, where he won at Long Beach and Toronto.
It is approaching six years since Conway's last IndyCar start and that is a bit of a shame. He would be great as a frequent guest on the grid. If he were to comeback, let's try and recreate that magic Motor City weekend in 2013.
Jack Hawksworth
What: Andretti Autosport Honda
Where: Grand Prix of Indianapolis
Why: After an encouraging rookie season, Hawksworth's IndyCar career took a nosedive at A.J. Foyt Racing, which isn't his fault. Sadly, no IndyCar seat was open for him after the 2016 season, but he landed in Lexus' GTD program and he has turned that into a race-winning seat and even made a NASCAR Grand National Series start at Mid-Ohio.
One of Hawksworth's best days in IndyCar was the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis where he led 31 laps from second on the grid. He faded back to seventh after a couple of cautions, but it was a promising day and later that season he was on the podium at Houston.
That rookie season was with Bryan Herta Autosport, which has since merged with Andretti Autosport. Similar to Conway, let's see if we can recreate the magic.
Timo Glock
What: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Where: Portland
Why: Glock has had an interesting career. Two points on his Formula One debut, went to Champ Car, nearly won a race as a rookie at Montreal but still got rookie of the year honors, returned to Europe, won the GP2 Series championship, returned to Formula One with Toyota, score a fair amount of points, stood on a few podiums, moved to Virgin/Marussia, rode around for the final three years of his Formula One career, moved to Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and won a handful of races.
It has been a while since Glock got behind the wheel of a single-seater car, but it would be nice to see what he can do today. Through his BMW connection, he could get into a RLLR entry and he has been to Portland before. It has been 15 years, but it could be fun.
A.J. Allmendinger
What: Meyer Shank Racing Honda
Where: Long Beach
Why: We already got the Allmendinger comeback in 2013 when he ran six races with Team Penske. While he had a memorable Indianapolis 500, finishing seventh, the remainder of the results are a little disappointing but do not tell the entire story. Allmendinger started tenth at Barber but the race didn't pan out. He started 14th at Long Beach but had a mechanical issue end his race early. He failed to complete a lap in both Belle Isle races because of accidents despite qualifying 13th and 12th in the two races. He qualified on the front row at Fontana but had an accident after 188 laps.
Allmendinger returned to NASCAR after that, won a Cup race at Watkins Glen and had a good career, scoring a few more top five finishes and top ten finishes. I would like to see him get one more shot in an IndyCar just to put an entire race together. Fortunately, the one race he did finish in 2013 was Indianapolis but the numbers tell a misleading story.
One more shot, at Long Beach, his home race, with Meyer Shank Racing, a team he has a long relationship with, would be a fitting final race for his IndyCar career.
Ryan Briscoe
What: Team Penske
Where: Texas
Why: Briscoe has been underrated but I feel his victory in this year's 24 Hours of Daytona got him a lot of due respect. The Australian has seven IndyCar victories, two 24 Hours of Daytona class victories, two 12 Hours of Sebring class victories, many victories between the Porsche RS Spyder and Ford GT and was a Formula 3 Euro Series champion, Toyota F1 test driver and Supercars podium finisher.
Briscoe is a good guy. He was fun to watch in IndyCar and a title slipped through his fingers in 2009. I don't think he gets his due. I am not saying he is one of the greatest of his generation, but he had a good career and I think people unjustly cast him off as someone whose results stem from his time at Penske. He is clearly more than that.
Back in 2010, Briscoe put together the best performance of his IndyCar career, leading 102 laps from pole position on his way to victory at Texas. Similar to Conway and Hawksworth, this would be another chance at a bright day.
I will admit these are tough to do and keep them from being predictable and bland. The rare category is most difficult because there aren't that many drivers between one and 15 starts that necessarily deserve another shot. There are plenty of drivers that made five or six starts but there is a clear reason why they made five or six starts. Comeback is the second toughest category. There are some drivers we saw enough of and these have to be somewhat plausible. Mario Andretti is not walking through that door.
I might need to take a three or four-year break before doing this again. We got to let some of these categories build up.
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