American IndyCar drivers excel at Iowa

It was one of those nights at Iowa Speedway on Saturday.

Not only did the IndyCar Series put on the sort of race – frenetic, side-by-side competition with all sorts of passing, and a pinch of pit-road drama to boot – that it’s become famous for over the last four seasons racing the Dallara DW12 chassis, but the end result was a pleasing one if you’re an American who loves IndyCar racing.

For the first time since 2006, all three steps on the podium were filled by American-born drivers. In a series that doesn’t have the same name recognition as NASCAR’s Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series do simply because there are less American stars than there are Brazilians, Canadians, Colombians and Australians, the final stages of the Iowa Corn 300 were a sight for sore American eyes.

Floridian Ryan Hunter-Reay lead home Tennessean Josef Newgarden and Pennsylvanian Sage Karam was third.

A mainstay of the sport over the last decade, RHR is both an IndyCar Series champion and an Indianapolis 500 champion, while Karam and Newgarden are up-and-coming racers, who are undoubtedly the future of the IndyCar Series. And, based on what we saw for 300 laps on Saturday night, it’s a rather bright one.

Better still, Ohioan Graham Rahal, one of the pleasant surprise packets of the 2015 IndyCar Series, finished fourth, making Saturday night’s race the first 1-2-3-4 finish for American drivers since 2001 – fourteen years ago, back when the CART World Series ruled the roost and Tony George’s Indy Racing League was an all-oval series attracting a lesser calibre of drivers.

Much has changed. It’s been a long, long time between drinks.

You can certainly point to the fact that championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya crashed out early. Chip Ganassi Racing stars Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon had their own issues, with Dixon finishing multiple laps down, while TK didn’t even glimpse the checkers.

Australia’s Will Power struggled mid-pack for the entirety, and was scarcely mentioned on the NBC broadcast. Kanaan’s absence was the most surprising, given that he’s been a regular fixture on the Iowa podium.

Still, the fact that Hunter-Reay, whose team, Andretti Autosport, have won seven of nine races held at the lightning-fast 0.875-mile oval, was there at the end and displaying race-winning speed is something to be heralded, given the fact that the Andretti squad run Honda engines, and the Honda engines have been down on power compared to Chevrolets, whose power-plants have been dominant all season.

It was equally impressive to see Karam up there. The rookie, driving a limited schedule for Ganassi this year after an impressive run at Indianapolis a season ago, has become a lightning rod for controversy in recent races, and was the recipient of both a memorable one-finger salute and some stern post-race words from another American, Ed Carpenter, who disagreed with Karam’s moves late, when the winner’s trophy was up for grabs.

What can you say about Karam? He’s proven to be fast, doesn’t mind ruffling feathers and is unapologetic about it.

In short, he’s your typical twenty-something rookie: head-strong, and of the opinion that he can make every single move stick. He’s shown flashes of speed this year and last, and Iowa was his first IndyCar podium, coming in just his eleventh start.

When Karam learns to temper his enthusiasm and look after the car, he’s going to be dangerous. Maybe he already has? The next few races will be telling in that regard. For the record, I didn’t see anything wrong with the way he duelled Carpenter. It was go-time in the race, and everyone was trying to win. It was totally fine in my book.

Of Rahal, we can definitively say that he is back and finally displaying the talent that we all knew he had. A major shakeup at the team owned by his father and David Letterman, has seen Bobby, himself an Indianapolis 500 champion and legend of the sport, step away from race-day duties, and an engineering change has done wonders for a driver who, for the last few years, seemed destined to flame out and not realise his genetic talent.

A win at Fontana, coupled with impressive podium runs at Barber, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and Toronto, among other races, have seen Rahal leap to outright second in the championship, completely outshining all the other Honda runners, and some good Chevrolet-powered teams, too.

If there is a more deserving candidate for Improved Driver of the Year, I’d love to know who it might be. Rahal, who seems to have his personal life sorted – he’s engaged to Courtney Force, an NHRA funny car race winner – and apparently that’s done wonders for his on-track ability.

Imagine how good Rahal could be if he had an engine that could regularly compete with the Chevrolet brigade? He’d be flat-out scary.

As it is, Rahal, forty-two points back of Montoya in the points standings, is in the right place to capitalise on any further misfortune suffered by the Colombian. Pocono and Mid-Ohio each pay fifty points for a win, and the season finale at Sonoma is twice that.

I’m always been of the opinion that IndyCar is at it’s best when there are Americans winning and appearing on the podium with regularity. Back in the late nineties, when you had the likes of Jimmy Vasser, Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr winning races, CART was so popular that Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One were getting worried.

Since then, the decline in good American-born drivers as compared to those from other nations, has contributed to the decreasing popularity of IndyCar racing as compared to NASCAR racing in the United States.

A few more race results like we saw on Saturday night, fittingly, right in the middle of IndyCar – and American – heartland, and we might yet see a fresh rise in IndyCar racing popularity.