• Peg It on GarageMonkey
MILLER: My Final IndyCar Musings Of 2012
Robin Miller takes a final pass through the 2012 IndyCar season.
Robin Miller  |  Posted January 02, 2013  
Will Power's final win of 2012 at Sao Paulo is Miller's first item of note. (Photo: LAT)
The good certainly outweighed the bad, but not the ugly in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar season.

It featured some of the best racing in 20 years, new cars and engines that were up to speed out of the gate, eight different winners in 15 races, a riveting duel for the title and an American champion of a united series for the first time since Al Unser Jr. in 1994.

But most of that positive news was nullified by a six-month witch hunt that finally ended last October with Randy Bernard being sabotaged and ousted by a rat pack of owners, board members and one manufacturer.

So here are some observations and opinions about the Year Of Ryan Hunter-Reay.

SURPRISE #1: Will Power won three races in a row in April but amazingly got shut out of victory lane the final five months.

TOUGHEST CALL: Hunter-Reay opting to turn down an offer from Roger Penske and stay with Michael Andretti.

BEST OVAL RACE: Indianapolis, Texas, Iowa and Fontana were all superb but 34 lead changes and Takuma Sato’s go-for-broke move on Dario Franchitti on the last lap gets Indy the nod.

HOW IN THE HELL? Did Scott Dixon lead a season-high 456 laps and only win twice? Some untimely cautions, a blown call by Race Control at Milwaukee and a mistake at Texas.

BAD DEAL #1: Simona de Silvestro and Keith Wiggins were stuck with Lotus all year and now it appears HVM may be out of IndyCar but at least the Swiss Miss finally gets a fighting chance in 2013 with Chevy and KV Racing.

BEST PASS: Charlie Kimball picked off three cars in one corner at TORONTO on his drive to the podium.

SURPRISE #2: Team Penske (6) and Target-Ganassi (3) collected nine victories but, for the first time since 2007, not the championship.

WELL DESERVED: After bouncing around from team to team in Champ Car and IndyCar and even being on the sidelines in 2006 despite his obvious abilities, Hunter-Reay finally found a home and showed what he could do with some continuity.

WORST MISTAKE: Graham Rahal throwing away a sure win at Texas with two laps left.

BAD DEAL #2: Paul Tracy didn’t get any kind of farewell tour or one last shot at Indy.

NO SURPRISE: Ilmor Engineering helped General Motors dominate Honda with 11 wins in 15 starts. There was a good reason The Captain didn’t want aero kits.

GOOD HIRE: New chief steward Beaux Barfield didn’t play favorites, made some tough calls and gave the Fontana fans who sat in 105-degree temps a race to the finish with a red flag.

A FINE WHINE: All the Chevy teams crying about Honda changing turbos. It was legal, the same company builds the turbos for everyone and it didn’t make any difference in the results.

BEST STREET RACE: Baltimore. Sure, it started out bad with the launch ramp on the front stretch for qualifying but the tweaks to a couple corners made for lots of overtaking and nine lead changes as RHR stormed from 10th to first.

WORST RULE: The engine change grid penalty. Confuses fans and punishes teams and drivers for something they have no control over. Change it.
Page 1 of 2
Prev
12
Next
robin_miller's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Miller

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.