IndyCar will not be going back to Richmond this year, but I had already watched the first five of nine IndyCar races held at the track when the Richmond cancellation was announced, so we're doing this.
In the grand scheme of IndyCar history, Richmond was around for a minute. First introduced during the split, the track hosted a race from 2001 to 2009. After taking a decade off, and regular calls to return, 2020 was supposed to see a return to the 3/4-mile oval. It was a short history that was going to see an additional chapter added.
There is not much there to look at when it comes to Richmond. A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti did not visit the track during the 1960s with Gordon Johncock and Bobby and Al Unser. It was not on the CART schedule. At nine races, only the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Austin had hosted fewer races of the tracks on the original 2020 schedule. Gateway, Iowa and Barber each have hosted ten races. Indianapolis, Long Beach, Mid-Ohio, Toronto and Texas have all hosted more than 30 races. Road America hosted 29 races and Portland 26 races.
Richmond, though old, is still new. It came up during the split. It weathered it with the IRL and hosted two races after reunification. Nearly half of its races were spec races with one chassis and one engine manufacture. We don't have a lot to go off of and a lot has changed in a decade.
I watched all nine Richmond races to get a feel of what to expect. It is easy to get hyped up for a race and say how every race was spectacular at a given track but that is not realistic. Not every race is spectacular. Every track has a couple of stinkers, Indianapolis included. This is a chance to prepare for what is to come. This is also a reminder of how things once were in IndyCar and a chance to see how IndyCar has changed.
Due to length, I broke this review into three parts and part one covers the first three races from 2001 to 2003.
2001
Drivers talked about how slick the track was and with a USAC Silver Crown race before the IndyCar race, there was concern about the different rubber compound laid into the track. A ten-lap practice was held before the IndyCar race to get some of the USAC rubber out. Before the race Buddy Lazier and Billy Boat both expressed it would be demanding and hard to pass.
Buddy Lazier took the lead from fourth on lap one and his brother Jaques, slipped back from pole position, only to spin on lap 14 after contact with a back marker.
Tires wore quickly and lapped traffic was caught just as quick. Buddy Lazier jumped out to a three-second lead quickly after the restart and he had lapped up to seventh by lap 50 out of 21 cars.
Most of the passes were into turn one and turn three and traffic played a big factor into passes. If lapped traffic was caught in the middle of the corner it would really disrupt a driver's run and make them vulnerable to being passed.
Airton Daré and Felipe Giaffone had a good battle, running side-by-side through the turn three and turn four.
Under one of the cautions, about halfway through the race, Scott Sharp was interviewed over the radio and he said the track was still slick and had difficulty getting bite off the corners.
There was not much passing and the way the cautions fell allowed for alternate strategies. Under the sixth caution, with just over 100 laps to go, some drivers stopped hoping to make it to the end, notably Sam Hornish, Jr., Eliseo Salazar and Giaffone. Lazier and Eddie Cheever stayed out and hoped to make a stop later and have fresher tires at the end of the race.
Lazier pulled out to a comfortable lead again and ended up lapping Giaffone. A few laps later, Giaffone and Daré got together after a slight wiggle from Daré in our two caused him to get into Giaffone. Under that caution, Lazier and Cheever got their tires and Salazar took the lead. Cheever jumped ahead of Lazier after pit stops.
After leading the first 187 laps, Lazier couldn't get pass Salazar and Cheever. Even Cheever remained behind Salazar despite the perceived advantage in tires. Shigeaki Hattori brought out a caution for a spin exiting turn two.
On that next restart, Cheever made a move on the inside of Salazar into turn three but got into the Chilean and both drivers were out of the race. Lazier re-inherited the lead with Hornish, Didier André and Al Unser, Jr. behind him.
Back in the top spot, Lazier pulled away again. Hornish experienced acceleration issues all night with a possible broken header. Unser, Jr. pushed Hornish for second but could not get through. Lazier took a this one handily. Hornish held on for second with Unser, Jr. in third.
Perhaps Salazar could have held on if Cheever didn't get into him. There was nothing to suggest Lazier could have driven from third to first in those final 35 laps. This was a single groove track. Traffic would have had to play a role.
How was the crowd?
The grandstands were full, from turn one to turn four. It was noted on the broadcast Richmond opened more grandstands on three different occasions due to increased ticket sales.
Did they mention a USAC Silver Crown race happening before the IndyCar race and needing some number of laps to pick up that rubber and lay down Firestone rubber?
See the first paragraph.
Signs of the Time:
At lap 75, the leader got $10,000 because it was the 10,000th lap in Indy Racing League history. Lazier took that check.
This was Cheever's fifth retirement in seven starts.
Broadcasting Gems:
It only took 210 laps for a pit stop to be shown. Not a green flag pit stop, any pit stop.
The first four cautions all happened during a commercial break or heading to a commercial break and during those breaks pit stops took place without be shown.
2002
This race comes after Team Penske moved over to the series. The team swept the front row with Gil de Ferran on pole position and Hélio Castroneves to his outside.
There were many practice accidents involving Robby McGehee, George Mack, Scott Sharp and Sam Hornish, Jr. It took only eight laps for the first spin in the race and it was Castroneves, who spun exiting turn two and made contact with the inside barrier on the backstretch. It was similar to the accident Mack had in practice.
There is not a lot of room for error exiting turn two and the transition from 14 degrees of banking to two degrees on the backstretch makes it a difficult corner. It is an abrupt change and it is kind of a drop from the turn to the straightaway. If you get on the gas at the wrong time, the car just steps out on a driver. Billy Boat had a similar accident about 22 laps later in the race and Mack had another accident in turn two getting on the throttle and spinning on accident.
Scott Sharp would have an accident exiting turn four after a bobble. Marbles made the groove tighter than the year before.
In the first 28 laps, Tomas Scheckter went from 18th to eighth and, surprise, he kept moving up. He was in the top five by lap 68. He was attempting a move on Buddy Lazier for fourth in turn three and lost momentum. This allowed Hornish to take a position back.
De Ferran led but Laurent Rédon of all people was running second, within a second of the Brazilian. Rédon capitalized when de Ferran was balked in traffic in turn three and took the lead. Rédon would lead 28 laps until a caution when Buddy Lazier lost an oil line and caused a large pit fire. The leaders made pit stops but Greg Ray and Jeff Ward both adopted alternate strategy. Fifty-nine of the first 115 laps were under caution.
De Ferran would pass Ward for second while Rédon worked his way ahead of Al Unser, Jr. and Jeff Ward. Ray continued to lead, three-seconds ahead of de Ferran.
A Jon Herb accident brought out another caution and split strategy again. Rédon and Alex Barron stayed out. Rédon wanted to stop. The rest of the leaders did. On the restart, Barron was almost picked by the lapped car of Mark Dismore and de Ferran took the position.
When Sarah Fisher had an accident exiting turn four, Rédon made his final stop but this shuffled him to the rear of the field. Barron stayed out again while de Ferran retook the lead. Barron was a sitting duck and fell down the order once back to green flag racing.
The final caution came when Eddie Cheever and Rédon got together in turn four. Rédon got air and slid along the top of the wall. This set up a final 55-lap stint to the checkers. Scheckter moved up to second on Ward and a bad run into turns three and turn four allowed Giaffone and Hornish to get by. The top four remained close throughout the closing laps, about two seconds covering those four. Lapped cars played a role and Scheckter dropped to fifth after getting caught behind Barron. He would get back to fourth with 20 to go. The top four tightened over the closing laps with just a second covering those positions.
De Ferran never had it easy and Hornish was racy in third. Hornish kept looking high at both ends of the track on Giaffone but ultimately made the pass on the inside of turn one with five to go. With two laps to go, Hornish went inside of de Ferran into turn one and took the lead. Hornish flew away. De Ferran had no chance to counter and Hornish took the victory after not really being in contention in the early portion of the race.
How was the crowd?
It looked on-par with 2001. It could have been a little higher in attendance. The stands in turn one and turn four looked more packed than the year prior.
Did they mention a USAC Silver Crown race happening before the IndyCar race and needing some number of laps to pick up that rubber and lay down Firestone rubber?
Extra pace laps were used to scrub in the tires after the Silver Crown race. Expectations were it would take 20 laps to rubber in the track.
Signs of the Time:
Each crew had a guy with a pit board on the backstretch. We do not see that today anywhere. Everything is over the radio or on the steering wheel.
Billy Boat got a private tour of the White House before this event.
Broadcasting Gems:
This was an odd time for American open-wheel racing when you had two series but three main announcers. You had Paul Page, Bob Jenkins and Bob Varsha. Varsha was on CART but Page was lead commentator for the IRL and Jenkins was forced into this odd host role, which doesn't really work for IndyCar because the races are short and it doesn't get an hour or two-hour pre-race for every event nor does it get an hour post-race show following.
Jack Arute had an interesting line after Ray took the lead under caution: "You have got to like the shot Greg Ray has, did you know on his mother's side of the family, they traced their heritage back to one Robert E. Lee?"
What? What does any of that have to do with Ray having a shot to win this race? I get it is Richmond but how does Ray's potential relationship to the general of the Confederate Army have any bearing on his chances of winning this race?
2003
With another handful of teams switching to the IRL, the 2003 Richmond race saw a two-car Chip Ganassi Racing effort and Andretti Green Racing on the grid.
Practice again saw four accidents, all single-car incidents, all occurring in turn two and involving Tora Takagi, Sarah Fisher, Sam Hornish, Jr. and Robbie Buhl.
The start had a fair bit of action. Scott Dixon held the lead from pole position, but Tony Kanaan went from fourth to second. Greg Ray moved up from sixth to fourth after making it three-wide in turn four below Fisher and Hornish. Scheckter made up seven spots in the first six laps, getting up to sixth position, and held fifth for a moment before Hornish passed him on the outside of turns one and two.
While many jockeyed for position, Dixon and Kanaan pulled away from the field. Throughout the years, Hornish ran his own line at Richmond, about a half-lane higher than the rest and it mostly paid off for him. One point early though, Hornish had to lift and it cost him two positions.
In traffic, Kanaan lost second to Gil de Ferran into turn one and Hélio Castroneves took third on the outside of turn three on lap 41. Hornish kept climbing forward and would get up to the top four by lap 50.
Vitor Meira brought out the first caution after getting into the marbles in turn two and hitting the wall. This brought everyone to pit road and Hornish would drop to 15th after contact with Felipe Giaffone exiting his pit box. On the subsequent restart, Tomas Scheckter had a half-spin exiting turn four while in fifth. He was able to continue despite making slight contact with Al Unser, Jr., damaging Unser, Jr.'s front wing.
The next green flag run would last 55 laps and Hornish tried to use the high line to climb his way up the order. He really mastered the line of running high exiting turn two and then carrying momentum to make a pass low into turn three. He did have another moment where he needed a big lift exiting turn two to keep the car out of the wall.
Dixon continued to lead without much pressure and in lapped traffic, Castroneves was balked behind Buddy Lazier, losing a lot of time in third.
A.J. Foyt IV was making his Richmond debut and spun exiting turn two into the inside barrier. This caution allowed everyone to make a pit stop but rumblings of potential weather approaching the track started to make waves. This weather caused an issue with the lights located inside the backstretch. A brief surge caused the lights to go out and extended this caution to 25 laps. Because of this extended yellow, the Toyotas of Dixon, de Ferran and Castroneves felt good to make it on fuel while the Honda and Chevrolet teams were not as certain.
Under the caution, Kanaan was interviewed over the radio and he said he had to use lapped cars to make passes.
With weather approaching, there was increased anxiousness and Ray spun coming to the restart, similar to Scheckter's, and Ray kept it out of the barrier.
Hornish restarted in eighth on lap 159 and started picking off a few cars. It took him a handful of laps to get around Dan Wheldon, but he passed Felipe Giaffone on the outside in turn two and then took Kanaan on the outside of turn one a few laps later.
At lap 195, no one told Dixon about impending rain and three laps later the skies opened up. The caution lasted nine laps. With the rain and lightning, the checkered flag was shown at the end of lap 206. To a chorus of boos, Dixon took the victory ahead of Castroneves, de Ferran, Hornish, Jr. and Kanaan.
Dixon said he was saving fuel all race and had a good car, though Castroneves was closing prior to the yellow. De Ferran stated he was running flat out at the end and was running at a near qualifying pace. After making numerous passes, Hornish was not sure he would have been able to challenge Dixon but thought he could have gotten a few more spots.
How was the crowd?
This was better than the first two races. You had the grandstand packed from turn four to the middle of turn one and turn two.
Did they mention a USAC Silver Crown race happening before the IndyCar race and needing some number of laps to pick up that rubber and lay down Firestone rubber?
Yes. There were concerns over the Hoosier rubber build up and the broadcast said patience was necessary for the first 50 laps.
Signs of the Time:
There were two chassis manufactures and three engine manufactures at this time and here are the combinations in this race:
G-Force/Toyota: 5 (Dixon, Scheckter, Foyt IV, Takagi, Giaffone)
Dallara/Toyota: 5 (Castroneves, de Ferran, Unser, Jr., Jaques Lazier, Scott Sharp)
Dallara/Chevrolet: 6 (Hornish, Buhl, Fisher, Meira, Buddy Rice, Buddy Lazier)
Dallara/Honda: 5 (Kanaan, Wheldon, Bryan Herta, Kenny Bräck, Roger Yasukawa)
G-Force/Honda: 1 (Ray)
Quick side bar: There were ten Toyotas on the grid at this time? I forgot the level of invested Toyota had in IndyCar. It is a damn shame it is no longer involved considering this level of support.
Panther Racing owner John Barnes was interviewed during the race and he was wearing a back-to-back champions hat. I feel like this is something we would only see in motorsports and most likely only with John Barnes. You are not going to see Patrick Mahomes on the sideline this October wearing his Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl champions hat. There is a very short shelf life for championship apparel. You get to wear it immediately after your championship until the parade and then that is it. Maybe you get to wear it to Disney World the following week, but you get to wear for all of a month and then you look foolish. It makes me wonder why we make at all.
Kenny Bräck's band played in Richmond that Thursday night and Bryan Herta made a guest appearance on vocals.
Broadcasting Gems:
There was a bit during the broadcast where kids were interviewed about who their favorite driver was and here is the breakdown:
Fisher: 4
Castroneves: 2
Kanaan: 1
Unser, Jr: 1
Buhl: 1
Foyt IV: 1
Hornish: 1
Tomorrow, we will look at the second-third of Richmond races. These races feature a new surface, late cautions and the introduction of a few notable drivers.
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