The open road to success: with competitive racing and continued poaching of talent and sponsors from CART, the upstart IRL seems as if it has finally turned the corner - IRL

Auto Racing Digest, Feb-March, 2003 by J.J. O'Malley

IN A YEAR HIGHLIGHTED BY FANtastic finishes, it was only fitting that the IRL championship came down to a side-by-side sprint to the checkered flag in the season's final race. In that contest at Texas Motor Speedway, Sam Hornish Jr. edged Helio Castroneves by .0096 seconds to win his fifth race of the season and his second consecutive IRL championship.

One week earlier, at Chicagoland Speed-way, Hornish nipped A1 Unser Jr. by .0024 seconds--the closest finish in IRL history--with Castroneves glued to Unser's rear wing in third. One slip or bobble in either of those races and the championship could have gone to a different driver.

The 2002 IRL season was one of the most competitive in motor sports history. Eight of the 15 races had a margin of victory of less than one second. Five races were decided by the razor-thin margin of less than one-tenth of a second, and the average time separating victor and runner-up was .8045 seconds.

Of the IRL's 13 green-flag finishes, the widest checkered flag advantage was 2.14 seconds at Phoenix, with Gateway the only other race above the two-second mark.

Despite a season of mostly breathtaking racing, the Indianapolis 500--the IRL's flagship race--ended under caution, and it took five weeks to officially determine the winner. Paul Tracy was about to pass Castroneves before a lap 199 caution flag. Tracy completed the pass and took the checkered flag under caution, but the victory was awarded to Castroneves. Tracy's Kool Team Green filed a protest, but Castroneves' victory was upheld by IRL president Tony George.

There were many new faces in the IRL thanks to the additions of CART defectors Marlboro Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Hollywood Mo Nunn Racing. Along with those new teams came increased competition and parity: The IRL had nine different race winners and nine pole winners in 2002. The series also added a trio of new facilities: California Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, and Nazareth Speedway.

With a crowded field, the pressure on 2001 champ Hornish to repeat intensified. But while most of the newcomers were adjusting to the IRL, the 23-year-old showed veteran poise, winning two of the first three races of 2002, at Homestead and California, en route to the title.

Hornish also triumphed midway through the year at Richmond, and closed the campaign with back-to-back photo-finish wins at Chicagoland and Texas. In the Chicagoland race, Hornish and Unser ran side-by-side at 217 mph for the final 21 laps.

Castroneves and Hornish bumped several times--with a pack of cars in close pursuit--in the final laps in the Texas finale, but finished the race without incident. Hornish knew if either Scott Sharp or Vitor Meira were able to draft past him on the last lap, he would finish third and lose the title by three points. "It was a tough race all the way, because Helio didn't want to lose and I didn't want to lose," Hornish said after the finale. "We were both out there pushing real hard to try to get a win. There is no better way to earn a championship than by winning the season's final two races.

"IRL racing is a high-speed game of chess. It's setting yourself up for the last 10 laps, knowing where your car works better, whether it be on the high line or low line, and setting the guy up for the last four laps--the last four feet some of the time."

Statistically, Hornish's 2001 season ranked as one of the greatest in open-wheel history. He finished all 13 races that year, completing all but seven of a possible 2,650 laps, and led an IRL record 11 of the 13 races. While his 2002 numbers weren't quite as impressive, they were close. Hornish set an IRL single-season record with five victories, and he led in 12 of the 15 races for 654 laps total. An accident in the June race at Texas ended his streak of finishing 16 consecutive races.

Castroneves also recorded solid numbers. He finished all 15 races, leading 12 of them for 351 laps. His two victories included his second consecutive Indianapolis 500 triumph and he banked an IRL record 82,512,965.

Heading into the season, many expected Marlboro Team Penske to dominate in its first full IRL campaign. At first, the team lived up to the lofty expectations. Gil de Ferran finished second behind Hornish in the Homestead opener, with Penske teammate Castroneves taking third. In the second event, Castroneves won over de Ferran, the first of three one-two Penske sweeps.

After Hornish won in the season's third race, the path to Victory Lane was guarded by a revolving door. Nine different drivers scored victories over a nine-race span, including six first-time IRL winners. Among the winners over that stretch was Jeff Ward, who earned a June victory at Texas over Unser by .0111 seconds--at the time, the closest finish in IRL history. Ward's first career victory was also the first for Ganassi, who switched his entire Champ Car operation to the IRL at the end of the 2002 season.

The other first-time winners over those nine races were de Ferran, at Pike's Peak; Airton Dare, at Kansas; Alex Barron, at Nashville; rookie Tomas Scheckter, at Michigan; and Felipe Giaffone, at Kentucky. Besides Hornish, the only other veteran to win over that stretch was Sharp, who claimed his seventh career IRL race at Nazareth. De Ferran finally ended the streak of different winners at Gateway.