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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Top 10 Stories Of 2012
Marshall Pruett tears through a packed season of IndyCar stories and themes to pick his Top 10 and assembles an amusing list of honorable mentions.
Back during pre-season testing, few would have picked Ryan Hunter-Reay as the favorite to win the IndyCar championship, not could anyone predict the season would be filled with so much nonsense. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
If you happen to be reading this for the first time in the future--say in 2022 or 2032—and have already browsed many of the headlines from back in the day, it would probably take A LOT of explaining on my part and plenty of good faith on yours to believe the 2012 season was anything more than just a strife- and drama-filled mess.
It was actually loaded with amazing races and rivalries from start to finish, and if we limit the scope to just the on-track events, 2012 delivered everything the series could have hoped for. (No, really, it did. I swear.)
But it was the off-track nonsense that ranked 2012 as possibly the most tiring year of IndyCar-related news stories since the early 1990s, a time when open-wheel racing fractured and fell into a divisive civil war.
2012 had the look and feel of The Split, but was a bit of an oddball scenario where everyone stayed together, yet numerous splinter groups spent the year lobbing grenades at anyone or anything that displeased them.
(No matter how hard I try, I can’t help but be reminded of the fight scene from “Anchorman” when replaying the 2012 IndyCar season’s in-fighting. Semi-ridiculous, semi-lethal, and wholly unnecessary. Ron Burgundy’s line of “Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast!” was the behind-the-scenes 2012 season in a nutshell.)
And because of the all-change/all-strife funk the series found itself in--courtesy of its owners, drivers, manufacturers, management and board of directors, major storylines like crowning an American driving champion and an American auto company taking the manufacturers’ title felt like sub plots to the greater dysfunction that reigned.
For those who were there and lived it every round, I’m sure 2012 will be remembered more for the insanely tough and spirited competition that took place. To the fans—those who followed all of the races and the soap opera that cluttered the headlines, I imagine the 2013 season can’t come soon enough.
10: Rubens Barrichello Switches From F1 To IndyCar
The biggest pre-season story came with the announcement that 19-year Formula One veteran Rubens Barrichello had chosen the IZOD IndyCar Series as his new home—the first major grand prix star to make that move since Nigel Mansell in 1993.
With more than a million Twitter followers and a dedicated legion of international fans in tow, the Brazilian partnered with his dear friend Tony Kanaan at KV Racing and brought plenty of attention to the series.
Despite high hopes for a competitive showing with KV after a disastrous 2011 season spent with Williams, Barrichello struggled with the steep learning curve that came from piloting a new car on new tracks. He was a solid draw for American F1 fans that came out in droves at certain venues to see Barrichello up close, but with his team having a far less competitive year than expected, 2012 felt a lot like a continuation of 2011.
He would regularly feature among IndyCar’s second-tier, scoring a pair of Top-5 finishes as his best from 14 starts before signing off from the series to race Brazilian Stock Cars in 2013.
INDYCAR: Barrichello Settling In Quickly At Sebring
INDYCAR: Barrichello To Join IndyCar Series
INDYCAR: Barrichello Looking Forward To Indy Debut
INDYCAR: Barrichello Opts For Brazilian Stock Car Ride In 2013
It was actually loaded with amazing races and rivalries from start to finish, and if we limit the scope to just the on-track events, 2012 delivered everything the series could have hoped for. (No, really, it did. I swear.)
But it was the off-track nonsense that ranked 2012 as possibly the most tiring year of IndyCar-related news stories since the early 1990s, a time when open-wheel racing fractured and fell into a divisive civil war.
2012 had the look and feel of The Split, but was a bit of an oddball scenario where everyone stayed together, yet numerous splinter groups spent the year lobbing grenades at anyone or anything that displeased them.
(No matter how hard I try, I can’t help but be reminded of the fight scene from “Anchorman” when replaying the 2012 IndyCar season’s in-fighting. Semi-ridiculous, semi-lethal, and wholly unnecessary. Ron Burgundy’s line of “Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast!” was the behind-the-scenes 2012 season in a nutshell.)
And because of the all-change/all-strife funk the series found itself in--courtesy of its owners, drivers, manufacturers, management and board of directors, major storylines like crowning an American driving champion and an American auto company taking the manufacturers’ title felt like sub plots to the greater dysfunction that reigned.
For those who were there and lived it every round, I’m sure 2012 will be remembered more for the insanely tough and spirited competition that took place. To the fans—those who followed all of the races and the soap opera that cluttered the headlines, I imagine the 2013 season can’t come soon enough.
10: Rubens Barrichello Switches From F1 To IndyCar
The biggest pre-season story came with the announcement that 19-year Formula One veteran Rubens Barrichello had chosen the IZOD IndyCar Series as his new home—the first major grand prix star to make that move since Nigel Mansell in 1993.
With more than a million Twitter followers and a dedicated legion of international fans in tow, the Brazilian partnered with his dear friend Tony Kanaan at KV Racing and brought plenty of attention to the series.
Despite high hopes for a competitive showing with KV after a disastrous 2011 season spent with Williams, Barrichello struggled with the steep learning curve that came from piloting a new car on new tracks. He was a solid draw for American F1 fans that came out in droves at certain venues to see Barrichello up close, but with his team having a far less competitive year than expected, 2012 felt a lot like a continuation of 2011.
He would regularly feature among IndyCar’s second-tier, scoring a pair of Top-5 finishes as his best from 14 starts before signing off from the series to race Brazilian Stock Cars in 2013.
INDYCAR: Barrichello Settling In Quickly At Sebring
INDYCAR: Barrichello To Join IndyCar Series
INDYCAR: Barrichello Looking Forward To Indy Debut
INDYCAR: Barrichello Opts For Brazilian Stock Car Ride In 2013
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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