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AUTO RACING: Winners And Losers Of 2011
The list could go on for days, but here’s a dozen choices for the winners and losers amongst the open-wheel and sports car ranks in 2011.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted December 28, 2011  
Plenty of highs and lows emerged in 2011. (Photos: LAT/Marshall Pruett)
SPEED.com’s site-wide series of end-of-year lists continues today with “Winners and Losers.”

The list could go on for days, but here’s a short selection of a dozen choices for the winners and losers amongst the open-wheel and sports car ranks in 2011.

WINNERS

• Will Power for cementing his place as the IndyCar driver to beat from round to round.
It didn't come easy, but IndyCar's elder statesman kept the next generation in check once again. (LAT)

• The ALMS/ACO for packing the pits at Sebring and again at Petit Le Mans with 50-plus entries.

• Dario Franchitti for claiming three consecutive IZOD IndyCar Series titles.

• Ricky Taylor for earning six straight Daytona Prototype poles and taking three wins—all done while barely out of his teens.

• The Firestone Indy Lights Series, after years of generating unconvincing talent, for delivering future stars like James Hinchcliffe and JR Hildebrand, amongst others, to IndyCar.

• Derrick Walker and his merry band of racers for turning Falken Tire’s ALMS program from an afterthought into a two-time winner in their first season together.

• The Indianapolis Motor Speedway for putting on an incredible Centennial celebration and a whale of a 500-mile race with Dan Wheldon and Hildebrand at the center of the last-lap drama.

• GRAND-AM for embracing a more traditional look for its Daytona Prototypes (set to debut at the Rolex 24) and GM Racing for hitting a home run with its Corvette DP, the first example of the new body shape.

• Sam Schmidt Motorsports for winning its fifth Indy Lights title since 2004.

• Peugeot Sport for dominating Audi in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and BMW Team RLL for commanding the ALMS GT category.
Amongst the losers, the brand-new Panoz Abruzzi GT racer was my-eyes-are-burning ugly. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

• Sarah Fisher Racing for stunning the IndyCar community by beating the likes of Ganassi and Penske at Kentucky with Ed Carpenter, and following it up by signing 21-year-old American Josef Newgarden, the 2011 Indy Lights champion, as its new driver.

• Joey Hand, for proving that life not only goes on after one’s open-wheel dreams collapse, but things can become downright rosy with plenty of talent and the right attitude. Wins at the Rolex 24, 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2011 ALMS GT driver’s championship made for a career-defining season, but the Sacramento native wasn’t done, going from anonymity to the breakout star of the Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercars invitational, stunning his employers at BMW during his first test of their new DTM car and, as the ultimate reward for his speed and service, being offered a full-time DTM drive in 2012--the first American to do so—on their behalf.
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