IndyCar enters Laguna Seca and celebrates a strong season

MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) – Nearly two dozen fans stood in the California morning chill, patiently waiting for their chance to snap a selfie with The Phoenix.

There is always a line around Romain Grosjean who patiently works his way through the crowd and accommodates as many fans as possible, because this surge of appreciation was such a pleasant surprise when he switched from Formula 1 to IndyCar.

They come and wave his wares, and supplies are difficult to keep in stock. It’s almost impossible to get the “The Phoenix” branded hat – recognition for Grosjean’s F1 crash last November that saw him get out of a fireball. Fans often bring him jerseys that represent the local fire brigade because fighting fires is forever linked to the Frenchman who still has an off-season surgery on his badly burned left hand.

Grosjean estimates he was given at least 15 jerseys – Sunday’s race at Laguna Seca is the 15th of the season – and the one he was given on Saturday was at the top of his favorites list.

“Carmel-by-the-Sea,” grinned Grosjean. “Can’t beat that.”

Grosjean, along with seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, Australian supercar star Scott McLaughlin and newbies Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward, have completely changed the face of IndyCar this season. As the season draws to a close in Long Beach next Sunday, IndyCar has a line-up of superstars going head-to-head on the track as the competition has never been so close.

The series takes great pride in the fact that the Indianapolis 500, which was held in May with approximately 150,000 attendees, unofficially reopened America and its rules in the pandemic for access to garages resulted in a 100% vaccination rate for their drivers and nearly 95% to have. from the rest of the garage. No IndyCar driver missed a race due to illness during the pandemic.

So sentiment among second year owner Roger Penske is optimistic as significant changes are made to keep IndyCar growing.

The story goes on

Palou is in his second season in IndyCar, but first drives for Chip Ganassi Racing as a team-mate of six-time reigning champion Scott Dixon. Nobody had heard of the 24-year-old Spaniard when he fulfilled his childhood dream by turning two racing seasons in Japan into one inclusion in the IndyCar series.

Now he takes a 25 point lead over O’Ward in Saturday’s race at Laguna Seca with a mathematical chance of winning his first major racing championship with one race left. Although he has never raced the 11-corner, 2,258-mile road route before, his temperament seems appropriate for the precision required on the twisty route.

O’Ward, a 22-year-old who was hoping to advance to F1 at some point, has not been as consistent this season and his aggressive style could be a challenge for O’Ward during the race. He wobbled in Saturday practice just before a hard fall by Dalton Kellett interrupted the session for a cleanup of more than 12 minutes.

It robbed Johnson of critical practice time for the IndyCar rookie, who turned 46 on Friday – he received a T-shirt that read “Girl Dad” in reference to the two daughters who had upset his performance by about 20 years. by convincing him to shave his long-standing beard. Johnson is making steady progress in the series and while his best result is 19th place he is last twice in practice or qualifying and the Portland race was his most successful of the year last week.

Now his mid-life career change is on the home stretch, with races on two tracks that the Californian native always hoped to race one day. When the series ends in Long Beach next week, Johnson will have shut himself up at an event he attended with his parents and two brothers, proudly hanging on a fence and watching Indy cars go by.

But first Laguna Seca.

“I always wanted to come here and drive something and that quickly became an Indy car in my dream. Finally being here is really cool, ”said Johnson, who had never visited the Pacific Ocean track before testing it last November.

The end of a 2121 season that could be the last of this era begins on race Sunday. Ryan Hunter-Reay is out after 12 seasons of an Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar championship with Andretti Autosport. He is expected to be replaced by Grosjean on the first of major changes to the grid.

Two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato is looking for a seat and Dale Coyne says he spoke to Sato about the vacancy at Coyne after Grosjean left. But as driver / owner Ed Carpenter noted, everyone is talking to everyone right now, and drivers are looking for every possible sponsorship dollar.

The 2022 payout is a schedule that, when announced, will have a record number of races on NBC and is expected to take place before the race on Sunday. Johnson and Grosjean both seem determined to get into the Indy 500, and the two have been the best IndyCar marketing tools in years.

In Portland, for three days, a crowd stood in front of O’Wards truck singing in Spanish and trying to get the Mexican to meet. He made a commitment in general.

The passion surprised Grosjean, who said he couldn’t quite understand why so many were drawn to him. He suspects that his story moved from the near-death experience in Bahrain last year to this road trip across America that completely changed his life and love of racing.

“We drive for ourselves, but also for the fans, and without them we couldn’t do our job,” said Grosjean. “Your support made this year so special. They love to see that I am happy and I love that and I love IndyCar and I see they love it, it’s just a gift for both parties. “