Time is growing shorter for some of IndyCar's best from the early 21st century. For others, time is almost up. You forget how long some of these drivers have been in IndyCar, but the starts add up and the memories become more distant.
We are already looking at 2021 as a pivotal point, the same way the early 1990s were the final days of IndyCar's golden generation. A few from this era have already moved on or are slowing down. Others have a few years left but the finish line is approaching.
It is important to remember these long-standing drivers, but it is also important to see how their careers shaped IndyCar. Few drivers stay around for a decade and do not leave an impression on a series. Before these drivers are out of sight and not competing on a regular basis, we should take a moment and absorb the totality of a career, see how a career developed, where it started, where it ended up and what that driver meant to IndyCar.
Before this year ends, we are going to look at four drivers who are nearing the end of their IndyCar careers. Each has been around and been on top. The fan base can recite their highlights without thinking twice.
Each part of this series will ask the following questions:
Where was this driver coming from when he entered IndyCar?
What did IndyCar look like when he started in the series?
How does IndyCar look now?
What did he do in-between?
What impression did he live on IndyCar?
Our first driver? A two-time Indianapolis 500 winner: Takuma Sato.
Where was Sato coming from?
Heading to Europe with Honda support, Sato was a late-bloomer and a Formula One hopeful.
Sato was 21 years old when he made his first Japanese junior formula start. The following year he was racing in British Formula Three.
In 2001, Sato won the famed championship over a stacked field that included Anthony Davidson, James Courtney, Gianmaria Bruni, Andy Priaulx, André Lotterer, Ryan Dalziel and Alex Gurney. That championship led to a Jordan Formula One seat in 2002 where he scored his first points in the final race of the season at Suzuka.
He made one start for BAR-Honda in 2003 and finished sixth in the Japanese Grand Prix before returning to full-time competition in 2004. Sato scored 34 points with his best finish being third in the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis behind the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, and Sato was eighth in the championship. However, 2004 was the high-water mark for his career. He would only score five points over the next four seasons and made his final of 90 starts in the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix with Super Aguri.
Sato did not compete in 2009 but was in contention for a seat at Scuderia Toro Rosso.
What did IndyCar look like when Sato started in the series?
IndyCar was fresh off reunification heading into the 2010 season, but it was still a period of transition for the Champ Car teams, and IndyCar was trying to transition as well, moving to a new chassis and new engine formula hoping to attract more manufactures.
While all the teams had the same chassis and engines, IndyCar was coming off a season where only three teams split the victories in the 17 races in 2009: Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Coyne Racing with Justin Wilson at Watkins Glen.
Honda was the only engine supplier in the series, as it had been since the start of the 2006 season. Honda was key on having a Japanese driver competing in IndyCar, and after moving to the Indy Racing League Tora Takagi, Kosuka Matsuura and Hideki Mutoh were a few of its homeland representatives. Sato was Honda's biggest driver at the time, and with Honda out of Formula One, IndyCar was the biggest international stage for the manufacture at the time.
The 2010 season was set to be the first year in IRL history with more road and street courses than ovals. The twisty circuits out-numbered ovals nine to eight. While 13 races were in the United States, four races were international events. There were two races in Canada, Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, which had been hosting American open-wheel races since 1998, and 2010 marked the first trip to the São Paulo street course.
How does IndyCar look now?
A lot has changed since 2010. IndyCar has a new chassis, but still only one chassis option. It does not appear folks mind, as Dallara's DW12 chassis has been beloved for nearly a decade. The chassis has undergone a few aerodynamic tweaks, moving from the original aero kit in 2012 to manufacture-specific aero kits developed for the 2015 season. The manufacture aero kits cost a lot of money and did tilt the competitive balance in favor of Chevrolet teams for three seasons. In 2018, IndyCar adopted a new universal aero kit, which focused on ground effects more than downforce on the top of the car.
Honda has a competitor in the engine department. Chevrolet has been around since the DW12-era began in 2012. Lotus also entered the series in 2012, but that program collapsed after one season.
After having a 9-8 advantage, road courses have firmly taken control of the schedule with the 2022 season preparing to have 12 road course races on 11 different circuits while there will be five oval races on four different circuits.
IndyCar no longer visits three continents, and it no longer needs those frequent flyer miles. Its only international trip is a drive up to Toronto and even that is on thin ice. While it is mostly domestic, IndyCar does visit Road America, Portland, Laguna Seca and Gateway, four notable and historic IndyCar tracks that were not on the 2010 schedule.
What did Sato do in-between?
Sato had two distinctly different careers in IndyCar. There is his crash-prone, accident-waiting to happen career and then there is his successful, Indianapolis 500 winning career.
Starting with the bad, Sato had one top ten finish in his rookie season. Results improved but the top five finishes and pole positions were quickly cancelled out with spins and clattered barriers. After two seasons with the Lotus-sponsored KV Racing, Sato moved to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for 2012, which was returning to IndyCar full-time after three years as an Indianapolis-only entry.
Sato picked up his first podium finish with RLLR, a third at São Paulo, but that season is best remembered for Sato going to the wire with a chance at an Indianapolis 500 victory. Battling with the Chip Ganassi Racing entries of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, Sato was second at the start of the final lap when he attempted a move on the inside of Franchitti into turn one. Sato lost the back end of the car and spun into the barrier. Later that season he would finish second at Edmonton, but he had only five top ten finishes from 15 races with five finishes outside the top twenty as well.
For 2013, Sato moved to A.J. Foyt Racing and quickly showed promise. He won in his third start with the organization at Long Beach and was second in the next race at São Paulo after losing the lead in the final corner to James Hinchcliffe. These results had Sato leading the championship entering the Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately, Sato's apex with Foyt was four races into his time with the team. He only had one podium finish and five top five finishes in his final 65 starts with the organization with championship finishes of 17th, 18th, 14th and 17th in four years with the team.
Despite those results, Sato's relationship with Honda led him to Andretti Autosport for the 2017 season. This saw a shift in Sato's career and perception in IndyCar. He was fifth in his first start with the team and then he won the Indianapolis 500. He set a personal best with four top five finishes, a personal best average finish of 12.4, and Sato was in the top twenty in all 17 races, leading him to eighth in the championship, another personal best.
With Andretti Autosport continuing to evolve, Sato returned to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for 2018. He scored a victory at Portland. He won twice the following year, at Barber and Gateway, with four total podium finishes, a personal best, and he was ninth in the championship.
Sato started all 169 races that took place in the 2010s, but when the pandemic-delayed 2020 season finally got started at Texas in June, Sato spun in qualifying and was unable to participate in the season opener, the first race missed in his IndyCar career. He did bounce back with four consecutive top ten finishes before winning his second Indianapolis 500 in August after leapfrogging Scott Dixon during a late pit cycle. Another Indianapolis 500 victory led to another personal best championship finish in seventh.
In 2021, Sato did not win a race for the first time since 2016, but he did pick up eight top ten finishes in 16 races but fell just shy of a top ten championship finish in 11th.
What impression did Sato leave on IndyCar?
Sato has been overwhelmingly embraced after being dismissed for the first half of his career. We saw plenty of speed from Sato, but he was inconsistent and regularly tore up equipment. It was common theme during his time in Formula One as well. It didn't help that he was with Foyt for most of that time, but he didn't do himself any favors.
Winning cures most ills. Sato found success in quality cars. He stepped into an exceptional Andretti Autosport lineup and held his own. His second stint with RLLR came at a time when the organization was asserting itself as a regular challenger. Graham Rahal might have been the better driver over their four years as teammates, but Sato won races, something Rahal did not do.
Sato will be remembered for two Indianapolis 500 victories, but more so for the redemption after his 2012 defeat. Not many drivers get as close as Sato did to victory a second time. He got his second bite at the apple and made it count. Then he added another, which hopefully is the only Indianapolis 500 held in the month of August.
For how Sato ran, he never got down. At no point did it ever look like he was on the verge of leaving IndyCar even when the results were most discouraging. He stuck out the bad times and always enjoyed IndyCar. I don't recall him ever complaining about having to run Iowa in the middle of summer or running five consecutive weekends with doubleheaders sprinkled in.
We forget that Sato came from Formula One that is how long he has been in IndyCar, and he came to IndyCar at a time when not many drivers were moving to IndyCar from Formula One. Most Formula One drivers weren't going near IndyCar as an alternative option when they couldn't find a seat. He was not a trendsetter for what we are seeing now with Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean and others looking to IndyCar, but depending on how the next five to ten years go Sato could be viewed as ahead of his time.
While having two Indianapolis 500 victories, Sato is not one of the greatest IndyCar drivers of all-time. He has only six victories and he never finished in the top five of the championship. The easy comparison is Arie Luyendyk, another driver with two Indianapolis 500 victories, seven career victories and who never finished in the top five of the championship.
Luyendyk has a special place in IndyCar history, which is also aided because the Dutchman holds the track record at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While Sato might not have a 236 mph four-lap average on his record, he also will have a special place in IndyCar history. Sato will be remembered with fondness.
It sounds like Sato's time is not quite up yet. Dale Coyne Racing is his rumored destination for 2022, but he turns 45 years old in January. I don't get the sense he will hang around until he is 50. We are seeing his final days. He is two starts away from the 200-start milestone. Maybe he will only get to 215 starts. Perhaps he breaks 230 or maybe he gets to 250. There could be another victory or two ahead of him. Regardless of what comes next, I don't think anyone expected Sato to hang around IndyCar for over decade and win two Indianapolis 500s.
Sato defied our expectations and reinvented himself. He has mostly shaken his crash-prone past and will be remembered for his triumphs, all of which came driving to the limit and no less than that.
