In a week, IndyCar will be back on track for the first practice sessions of the season. We have previewed all ten teams and the drivers set to participate in the 2022 season, but those were big picture previews, setting full season expectations.
However, we sometimes miss the history happening in front of us. A season moves at a rapid pace. It is difficult to keep track of the statistics and where a driver stands in the record book. We focus on victories, the championship points and entire season storylines. When a season ends, we get a chance to reflect, look at the numbers and only then do we realize what we missed.
Instead of falling behind, let's prepare for history. There are plenty of milestones awaiting in 2022. Some will be reached. Others are possibilities but might not occur. You would rather be safe than sorry.
There are a few drivers who can make more history than others, but there is plenty of milestones that could be met for a few different drivers this season.
Scott Dixon - Second all-time in victories
Where is he at: 51 victories, currently third all-time.
What does he need to do: Two victories would move Dixon into second all-time, surpassing Mario Andretti's 52 victories and putting Dixon only behind A.J. Foyt's 67.
We have been waiting for Dixon to reach second all-time ever since he hit 50 victories at Gateway in 2020. It felt like he was going to get second all-time in 2021, especially after winning the third race of the season at Texas. However, that was his only victory. Now he needs one to tie Andretti and two to surpass him.
The good news for us, and the good news for Dixon, is he has won a race in 17 consecutive seasons and in 14 of those seasons he won at least twice. I think we will see this happen at some point in 2022.
(By the way, this isn't the last time you are going to see Dixon. No surprise that Dixon could make a lot of history this season).
Hélio Castroneves - Five-time Indianapolis 500 winner
Where is he at: Four-time Indianapolis 500 winners, one of four drivers with four Indianapolis 500 victories.
What does he need to do: Simple, win the Indianapolis 500.
This is the first time since 1993 a driver will be attempting to win a fifth Indianapolis 500. The last driver to take a shot was Al Unser driving the #80 Budweiser Lola-Chevrolet for King Racing. Twenty-nine years later, Castroneves will now get a chance to move himself ahead of A.J Foyt, Rick Mears and Unser.
Back in 2009, right after Castroneves won his third, it felt like a fourth Indianapolis 500 victory would be an incredible achievement, and a fifth felt realistic for Castroneves considering he was winning one out of every three Indianapolis 500 starts. Maybe it has been time, nearly 13 years since that third "500" victory for Castroneves, or the pandemic, but for as great as it was to see Castroneves win his fourth Indianapolis 500, it didn't resonate as much as I would have thought it would have. I cannot imagine a fifth being all that different. It would be cool to see, but a minor deal in the sporting world.
Dixon - Most different tracks with a victory
Where is he at: 25 different tracks with a victory.
What does he need to do: Win at two different tracks, and any combination of St. Petersburg, Barber, the IMS road course, Nashville, Portland and/or Laguna Seca will do.
Mario Andretti holds this record with 26 different circuits, but Dixon is there. Dixon has been one of the best at Barber, but he hasn't been able to pull out a victory. He can win anywhere, and no one would be surprised if he got this record.
Castroneves - 100 Podium Finishes
Where is he at: 94 podium finishes.
What does he need to do: Obviously, six more podium finishes, but what 100 podium finishes mean is he would become just the fifth driver to reach 100 podium finishes.
Mario Andretti is the all-time leader with 144. Dixon is second on 127 podium finishes and counting. A.J. Foyt is on 119 and Michael Andretti retired on an even 100.
How likely is it that Castroneves reaches this mark in 2022? Unlikely, but not impossible. Castroneves had had five seasons with at least six podium finishes (seven in 2002, eight in 2003, six in 2006, 11 in 2008 and six in 2014). IndyCar is much tougher than it was in those five seasons and Castroneves has not been full-time since 2017. I think three podium finishes would be a great year for Castroneves. Six would be tremendous.
Jimmie Johnson - Second-oldest Indianapolis 500 rookie
Where is he at: Zero Indianapolis 500 starts.
What does he need to do: Start the Indianapolis 500.
If Johnson takes the green flag on the afternoon of May 29, 2022, he will be 46 years, eight months, and 12 days old. The only driver to make an Indianapolis 500 debut at an older age is Jean Alesi when the Frenchman made his one and only ill-fated "500" start in 2012 driving a Lotus-powered car at 47 years, 11 months, and 16 days old.
I am not sure there is a better fact to illustrate what Johnson is doing in his career than this one. This is a second career for him. This isn't Kurt Busch attempting The Double and Indianapolis is forever a one-off thing he did at 35 years, nine months, and 21 days old. This isn't a disillusioned Fernando Alonso coming to Indianapolis because the McLaren F1 entry is dreadful at 35 years, nine months, and 29 days old. Johnson is nearly 11 years older than those famous Indianapolis 500 entries. He isn't in his prime. His skills aren't at his sharpest, and yet he is taking the shot.
This isn't even the biggest history Johnson could make at Indianapolis. The two-time Daytona 500 winner could join Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt as the only drivers to win the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. Now that is history!
Dixon - 20th season with a victory
Where is he at: 19 seasons with a victory.
What does he need to do: Win a race!
Dixon is already the all-time leader in seasons with a victory, but there is something about reaching that 20 seasons milestone that would put it over the top. Two complete decades with a victory. Neither Foyt nor Andretti did it and both were around for over 30 years. Al Unser won in only 14 of the 30 seasons he participated in.
No one else is really close to 20 seasons. Hélio Castroneves had won in 16 seasons, but he is five years older than Dixon and it is uncertain he will be around long enough to reach this milestone let alone win a race in four more seasons. Will Power is on 15 seasons, which is close, but he would need to win a race for the next five years. We aren't sure Power is going to drive for the next five years let alone win races in that time. Dixon could achieve this and be the only driver to reach this mark for quite some time.
Takuma Sato - 200th start
Where is he at: 198 starts.
What does he need to do: Start two races and it is likely he will reach this milestone at Texas. The start milestones are a sign of longevity. I am not sure many of us realize how long Sato has been around in IndyCar. He debuted in 2010 and was quietly around for an entire decade. That is forgetting he made 90 starts in Formula One, ranking him 89th all-time. If only he had been given the BAR-Honda seat in 2003, Super Aguri not folded in 2008 or Toro Rosso had hired him in 2009, Sato would be one of the few drivers with 100 starts in each Formula One and IndyCar.
He will soon fall down the Formula One order. Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc are all within ten starts of Sato and they are all still younger than Sato was when Sato made his grand prix debut.
Sato is set to become the 26th driver to reach the 200-start milestone. You can probably name most of the drivers who have made 200 starts, but there are probably plenty of drivers you would name and be wrong.
Who didn't make it to 200 starts? Emerson Fittipaldi and Adrián Fernández each retired on 195 starts. If it wasn't for Fittipaldi's accident at Michigan in 1996 then he would have easily cleared 200. If Fernández hadn't bloomed so late and if the financial landscape had been better in the mid-2000s, perhaps Fernández would have stayed in IndyCar and not moved to sports cars.
Dick Simon only made 182 starts, Bryan Herta 179. Lloyd Ruby 176. Danny Sullivan and Arie Luyendyk each ended on 170 starts.
Alexander Rossi - 100th start
Where is he at: 93 starts.
What does he need to do: Make seven more starts, and Rossi will likely reach this in Detroit.
I feel like 100 starts it the end to the first part of a career. Many drivers make it to 100. Only 55 drivers have made it to 150 starts. For Rossi, the last two seasons have been disappointing. After taking IndyCar by storm in his first three years, he has fallen short of a championship. Race victories have dried up. He once had a winning percentage of 11.667%. He won seven of his first 60 starts. He is now at 7.526% and if he goes winless through the first seven events of 2022, he will be down 7%.
That isn't bad. Ryan Hunter-Reay had a winning percentage of 6.38%. Tony Kanaan is down to 4.39%. At Josef Newgarden's 100th start, he was only at 5%. Now, Newgarden is up to 12.195%.
There is plenty of time for Rossi to swing back around, but everything that happens after Rossi's 100th start will define his IndyCar career.
Dixon - 300 consecutive starts
Where is he at: 288 consecutive starts.
What does he need to do: Start the first 12 races of 2022.
Dixon has not missed a race since a practice accident knocked him out of Milwaukee in 2004. He currently has the second consecutive longest start streak in IndyCar history, and he could become just the second driver to make 300 consecutive starts in IndyCar history.
If he runs the full season, he will finish on 305 consecutive starts and be just 13 off Tony Kanaan's record of 318 starts stretching from Portland 2001 to the 2020 season opener at Texas.
This is another record in grasp for Dixon, but it is two years away.
Graham Rahal - Third-most starts between victories
Where is he at: 73 starts since his last victory.
What does he need to do: Not win any of the first five races and then win a race.
It has been over four-and-a-half years since Rahal's most recent IndyCar victory, finishing the sweep of the Belle Isle doubleheader in 2017. He has had a few close calls, but he has not made it back to the top step of the podium.
Normally, we don't like to look at negative things like this, but there is something interesting about Rahal's drought. He hasn't won in 73 starts. If he were to win the 2022 season opener at St. Petersburg, this would be the fifth longest drought snapped in IndyCar history. If he were to win at Texas, he would tie Mario Andretti for the fourth longest drought snapped on 74 races. But if he were to not win one of the first five races and win this season, Rahal would have the third most starts between victories in IndyCar history.
What are the two longer droughts? Johnny Rutherford's 97 starts between his first career victory at Atlanta in 1965 and his second career victory in one of the California 500 qualifying races in 1973, and Graham Rahal's 124 starts between his first career victory at St. Petersburg in 2008 and Fontana in 2015.
Rahal could own the first and third longest droughts snapped in IndyCar history. No driver has snapped multiple droughts of 50 starts or more in a career. I know this is an honor no driver would like to have, and Rahal is chastised for not being more successful, but if Rahal does win a race this season, I think it shows perseverance. He should have won at least three or four times in the last four seasons. A few things didn't go his way, but Rahal keeps trying.
That next victory is coming and if he doesn't win one of the first five races and assures himself at least third on this dubious list, the sixth race of 2022 is the Indianapolis 500 and that would be the perfect place for a drought to end.
Will Power - All-time pole position leader
Where is he at: 63 pole positions
What does he need to do: Win five pole positions this season.
Power could have gotten the all-time pole position record last year, but after a below-average year with one pole position meant he barely made a dent in his deficit to Mario Andretti's record. However, one pole position seasons are flukes for Power.
Since becoming a full-time driver in 2006, Power has seven seasons with five pole positions or more, and only three seasons with exactly one pole position.
Power is due for a market correction. Five pole positions is still a lot, but if any driver can do achieve it, Power is the guy. I think the worst he does this year is end 2022 tied with Andretti and enter 2023 knowing his next pole position is the record. Either way, the record is falling either this year or next.
Josef Newgarden - 3,000 laps led
Where is he at: 2,854 laps led.
What does he need to do: Lead 166 laps.
Newgarden could reach this milestone about halfway through the Texas race. Only 15 drivers have led 3,000 laps in a career. Newgarden enters 2022 only two laps behind Tony Bettenhausen for 18th all-time, 11 laps behind Dan Wheldon for 17th and 117 laps behind Rodger Ward for 16th. He will be passing some notable names on his way to 3,000 laps led.
How high could Newgarden climb in 2022? With Iowa having two races, the sky is the limit, but using data, Newgarden has led over 300 laps in seven consecutive seasons, and he has averaged 404.714 laps led over that spell with a median of 390. Using a range of 390 to 405 laps led, he could end up between 3,244 and 3,259 laps led. That would get him ahead of Bobby Rahal, who is 15th on 3,107 laps led but still over 100 laps behind Gordon Johncock in 14th.
Dixon - 6,500 laps led
Where is he at: 6,342 laps led.
What does he need to do: Lead 158 laps.
This is going to happen. He has led at least 158 laps in six of the last seven seasons and in 14 of the last 16 seasons. What does it mean if he reaches 6,500 laps led?
Dixon would be just the fourth driver to reach this milestone, but he could climb even higher. Dixon enters this season only 279 laps behind A.J. Foyt for third all-time and 350 laps behind Michael Andretti for second. He has led 340 laps and 401 laps in the last two seasons. He has led over 250 laps in five of the last seven seasons.
Colton Herta - Eight victories in 50 starts
Where is he at: Six career victories in 48 starts.
What does he need to do: Win the first two races of the season.
This sounds like an odd one. What is a big deal about eight victories in 50 starts? Well, six victories out of 48 starts means Herta is winning one out of every eight starts, a winning percentage of 12.5%, greater than Newgarden at the present moment. If he were to win eight of his first 50 starts, he would have a 16% winning percentage.
He will not be close to the record for most victories in the first 50 starts of a career. Sébastien Bourdais won 19 of his first 50 starts. Tony Bettenhausen had 18 victories in his first 50 starts. Jimmy Bryan had 17, Alex Zanardi had 15, Mario Andretti had 13, Johnnie Parsons had 11, Sam Hornish, Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, and Dan Wheldon all had ten and Paul Tracy had nine victories.
But do you know who had exactly eight victories in his first 50 starts? A.J. Foyt.
If Colton Herta wins the first two races of 2022, he will remain on pace with A.J. Foyt. Herta only turns 22 years old this March 30. It is too soon to think he will break Foyt's record of 67 victories, but if Herta is at least on pace, we have to keep it in mind.
It is unlikely Herta opens the season with two consecutive victories, especially after ending 2021 with two consecutive victories. Even if Herta only has six victories through 50 starts, it would tie him for 16th most victories at that point in a career with Danny Ongais. He already has more victories than Dario Franchitti, Bobby Rahal, teammate Alexander Rossi, Scott Dixon, Emerson Fittipaldi, Gordon Johncock and team owner Michael Andretti at this point in a career.
Herta is special, but the way he is going, he is set to do something great.
Tony Kanaan and/or Juan Pablo Montoya - Four different decades with an IndyCar victory
Where are they at: Kanaan and Montoya have each won a race in three different decades.
What do they need to do: Win one race from now until the end of eternity.
The problem for these drivers is Kanaan's plan is to only run the Indianapolis 500, and Montoya will only run the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the "500." Neither will have many opportunities to get that victory, and if Montoya doesn't win the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, then both drivers will only have the Indianapolis 500 to reach this milestone. Both cannot win the Indianapolis.
If either were to win in 2022, they would become just the second driver to win in four different decades, joining Mario Andretti. I think that is a crazy fact and Kanaan and Montoya are the only winners from the 1990s still around. If neither these drivers can do it we are waiting until 2030 for this to be achieved, and I am not sure Scott Dixon or Will Power are going to stick around. Graham Rahal still must win in this decade to have a shot for this achievement in 2030.
All we have are Kanaan and Montoya as one-offs. It likely will not happen, but it would be cool to see. Montoya could also join Bobby Unser as the only drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 in three different decades. That is a fitting accomplishment for Montoya, one of the greatest drivers of his generation.
There will be plenty of other historic things to happen this year, but these are just a few to keep in mind. Some will happen, and you be glad you were prepared for these moments.
