After 11 years Indycar is returning to Phoenix this weekend. Huzzah! Your humble host welcomes all race fans to the Valley of the Sun for some gorgeous weather, which is to say the last time the race was here it was substantially less than optimal.
Back on March 19th of 2005, we had a bit of a cold spell here in the valley. It was windy and overcast and the temperature was in the 50s, but it was a dry cold, or something. Point being, as tough as it is to market an Indycar race at a track that already had two scheduled NASCAR events, well, the weather didn’t help. There were like 42 people there, and even your humble host can’t recall why he did not attend. Yes, I forgot, because I’ve slept since then.
A quick check of the race-database refreshes the mind: Bryan Herta started on the pole, Dan Wheldon led the most laps, and Sam Hornish Jr won the race. But the story was Tony Kanaan, who after an engine change was forced to start at the back, and, as you can see in the video below, wasted no time in carving up most of the field. A tour de force one might say, if one spoke French.
Incidentally, Kanaan won this event in 2003 and 2004, and although the track dimensions have changed since then, he’s still the man to beat this weekend. Old guys rule, and get off my lawn!
WARNING: the moment you start the video you get Todd Harris SHOUTING IN YOUR FACE.
billytheskink
April 1, 2016 at 4:12pmScott Goodyear never should have quit drinking coffee… or whatever it was he had before calling that 2005 Phoenix race.