2005 IndyCar Series

2005 IndyCar season

IndyCar Series
Season
Races	17
Start date	March 6
End date	October 16
Awards
Drivers' champion	Dan Wheldon
Rookie of the Year	Danica Patrick
Indianapolis 500 winner	Dan Wheldon
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2004	2006

The 2005 IRL IndyCar Series began on Sunday, March 6 and ended on Sunday, October 16. The season, which consisted of 17 races, was the 10th season of the IRL IndyCar Series since it split from CART in 1995.

Dan Wheldon was the dominant driver in the series in 2005, winning six races, including the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500, setting the record for most victories in an IRL season. However, the big story of the season was that of Rahal Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick, the fourth woman to compete in the Indy 500 and the first to lead a lap. She would eventually wind up in fourth. Danica's presence was a boost to the IRL's television ratings. The Indy 500's ratings were up 40% from the year before and subsequent races also saw a boost in ratings.

The season was the first ever to introduce road courses and street circuits when the series held races at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International, where the series previously known to have held events exclusively on oval tracks. Wheldon also became the series' first road/street course winner when he won in St. Petersburg.

The season was also the last for Chevrolet in the series, who confirmed in August that they would not return to the IRL. At the start of the season, only Panther Racing's Tomas Scheckter and Tomáš Enge raced Chevrolet powered cars (although A. J. Foyt IV also started racing for Chevy beginning with the AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300 at Kentucky). The manufacturer situation within the IRL was the hot issue during the second half of the season and continued into the off-season. Toyota announced that they would leave the series shortly after the 2005 season ended, leaving Honda as the only remaining manufacturer in the IRL. Honda extended their engine supply contract through 2009 despite expressly saying that they did not wish to be the IRL's only supplier. The IRL announced that they extended their chassis supply contract with Panoz and Dallara through 2006.

Team and Driver Chart

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Notes
Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	2	Tomáš Enge	Missed 2 races due to injury at Nashville
				Buddy Lazier	Stood in for Enge at Milwaukee
				Townsend Bell	Stood in for Enge at Michigan
			4	Tomas Scheckter
			95	Buddy Lazier	Indy 500, Nashville, Michigan, Kentucky and Chicagoland only
Marlboro Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	3	Hélio Castroneves
Marlboro Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.
/ Aguri-Fernández Racing	Panoz	Honda	5	Adrián Fernández	Indy 500 Only
			8	Scott Sharp
			55	Kosuke Matsuura
Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	7	Bryan Herta
			11	Tony Kanaan
			26	Dan Wheldon
			27	Dario Franchitti
Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Panoz	Toyota	9	Scott Dixon	Dallara chassis used Motegi
			10	Darren Manning	Lazier replaced Manning after he was released before Michigan; Pantano replaced Lazier on road courses
				Jacques Lazier
				Giorgio Pantano
			33	Ryan Briscoe	Missed Milwaukee race due to practice crash. Was injured during Chicagoland race and missed final 2 races
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Dallara	Toyota	14	A. J. Foyt IV	Panoz chassis used St.Pete. Chevrolet engine used the last six races
		Chevrolet	14	Jeff Bucknum	Sonoma and Watkins Glen only
		Toyota	41	Larry Foyt	Indy 500 only
	Panoz		48	Felipe Giaffone	Indy 500 only
	Panoz		48	Scott Mayer	Failed to complete Indy 500 Rookie Orientation; replaced by Giaffone
Rahal Letterman Racing	Panoz	Honda	15	Buddy Rice	Bräck replaced Rice for Indy 500 Only after he was injured in practice
			15	Kenny Brack
			16	Danica Patrick
			17	Vitor Meira
Vision Racing	Dallara	Toyota	20	Ed Carpenter
Vision Racing	Dallara	Toyota	22	Jeff Ward	Indy 500 Only
Playa del Racing	Panoz	Toyota	21	Jacques Lazier	Indy 500 Only
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dallara	Honda	24	Roger Yasukawa
			44	Jeff Bucknum	Motegi and Indy 500 only
			44	Thiago Medeiros	Crashed in Practice at California; Did not Start
Roth Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	25	Marty Roth	Indy 500 Only
Newman/Haas Racing	Panoz	Honda	36	Bruno Junqueira	Indy 500 Only
Newman/Haas Racing	Panoz	Honda	37	Sébastien Bourdais	Indy 500 Only
Cheever Racing	Dallara	Toyota	51	Alex Barron
Cheever Racing	Dallara	Toyota	83	Patrick Carpentier
Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Panoz	Chevrolet	70	Richie Hearn	Indy 500 Only
Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Toyota	91	Paul Dana	Kite replaced Dana for the rest of the season after he fractured his spine in Indy 500 Practice
Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Toyota	91	Jimmy Kite
CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports	Dallara	Chevrolet	98	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	Failed to qualify for Indy 500

Race Summaries

Toyota Indy 300

On March 6, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dan Wheldon led 158 of 200 laps to get the victory. Tomas Scheckter sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

XM Satellite Radio Indy 200

On March 19, at Phoenix International Raceway, Sam Hornish, Jr. won his first race of the season. Bryan Herta sat on the pole. This would be the last time IndyCar would compete at Phoenix until the race was revived in 2016.

Top Ten Results

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

On April 3 on the Streets of St. Petersburg (Florida) marked the first non-oval event for the Indycar Series. Dan Wheldon won his second race of the year. Bryan Herta sat on the pole. Andretti Green Racing drivers swept the top 4 finishing positions.

Top Ten Results

Indy Japan 300

On April 30, at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan, Dan Wheldon won his third race of the season. Sam Hornish, Jr. sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

89th Indianapolis 500

On May 29, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Dan Wheldon won his first Indy 500 and his fourth race of the season. However, the focus of the race was on Danica Patrick who led 19 laps, the first time a woman has ever led a lap at Indy. Tony Kanaan sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

Bombardier Learjet 500

On June 11, at Texas Motor Speedway, Tomas Scheckter won his first race of the season, sitting on the pole and leading for 119 of 200 laps.

Top Ten Results

SunTrust Indy Challenge

On June 25, at Richmond International Raceway, Hélio Castroneves won his first race of the season. Sam Hornish, Jr. sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

Argent Mortgage Indy 300

On July 3, at Kansas Speedway, Tony Kanaan won by a fraction of a second over Dan Wheldon and Vitor Meira. Danica Patrick won her first pole.

Top Ten Results

Firestone Indy 200

On July 16 at Nashville Speedway, Dario Franchitti won, leading 74 of 200 laps. Tomas Scheckter sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

ABC Supply Company A.J. Foyt 225

On July 24 at The Milwaukee Mile, Sam Hornish, Jr. won from the pole, leading 123 of 225 laps.

Top Ten Results

Firestone Indy 400

On July 31 at Michigan International Speedway, Bryan Herta won from the pole, leading 159 of 200 laps.

Top Ten Results

AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300

On August 14 at Kentucky Speedway, Scott Sharp won for the first time since 2003 at Twin Ring Motegi, holding off Vitor Meira for the last laps to win. Danica Patrick sat on the pole for the second time in the season after rain washed out qualifying and the starting grid was determined by the fastest times in practice.

Top Ten Results

Honda Indy 225

On August 21 at Pikes Peak International Raceway, Penske Racing teammates Hélio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. started 1-2. Dan Wheldon won his fifth race of the season, tying Sam Hornish Jr.'s record for most victories in a season. This was the final IRL race at PPIR as the track was sold to International Speedway Corporation for intent to be shut down as ISC looked for a new Denver-area circuit, but plans failed and the track was sold for testing but cannot be used for competition per ISC regulation.

Top Ten Results

Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix

On August 28 at the circuit's inaugural race at Infineon Raceway, Tony Kanaan won the race, taking the lead on lap 52 from points leader Dan Wheldon, who was hampered by fuel problems all day and finished out of the race in 18th. Ryan Briscoe sat on the pole, but caused a three-car accident on lap 20 that also eliminated Hélio Castroneves and Danica Patrick from the race.

Top Ten Results

Peak Antifreeze Indy 300

On September 11 at Chicagoland Speedway, Dan Wheldon won his sixth race, breaking the all-time record for most wins in an IRL season. Ryan Briscoe was involved in a fiery crash with Alex Barron on lap 20. Briscoe was taken by helicopter to a Chicago-area hospital with head and back pain, but was alert. He suffered a concussion, two broken collarbones, a bruised lung and contusions to his arms and legs. The accident resulted in a 16-minute red flag.

Top Ten Results

Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix

On September 25 at Watkins Glen International, Scott Dixon won his first race since his 2003 IndyCar Series Championship season. Hélio Castroneves sat on the pole. This was the first major open-wheeled race at Watkins Glen since 1981.

Top Ten Results

Toyota Indy 400

On October 16 at California Speedway, Dario Franchitti won his second race of the year over Tony Kanaan by 0.111 s. Chevrolet powered cars finished 7th and 8th in their final IRL race while Toyota powered cars had a best finish of 5th in theirs.

Top Ten Results

Season Summary

Race results

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Track	Location	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most Laps Led	Winner
1	March 6	Toyota Indy 300	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida	Tomas Scheckter	Buddy Rice	Dan Wheldon	Dan Wheldon
2	March 19	XM Satellite Radio Indy 200	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona	Bryan Herta	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon	Sam Hornish, Jr.
3	April 3	Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	Bryan Herta	Dario Franchitti	Ryan Briscoe	Dan Wheldon
4	April 30	Indy Japan 300	Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Dan Wheldon	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon
5	May 29	89th Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Dan Wheldon
6	June 11	Bombardier Learjet 500	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas	Tomas Scheckter	Tomáš Enge	Tomas Scheckter	Tomas Scheckter
7	June 25	SunTrust Indy Challenge	Richmond International Raceway	Richmond, Virginia	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Kosuke Matsuura	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves
8	July 3	Argent Mortgage Indy 300	Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas	Danica Patrick	Ryan Briscoe	Dan Wheldon	Tony Kanaan
9	July 16	Firestone Indy 200	Nashville Superspeedway	Lebanon, Tennessee	Tomas Scheckter	Scott Sharp	Tony Kanaan	Dario Franchitti
10	July 24	ABC Supply Company A.J. Foyt 225	The Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Tomas Scheckter	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Sam Hornish, Jr.
11	July 31	Firestone Indy 400	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Bryan Herta	Townsend Bell	Bryan Herta	Bryan Herta
12	August 14	AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300	Kentucky Speedway	Sparta, Kentucky	Danica Patrick	Danica Patrick	Dan Wheldon	Scott Sharp
13	August 21	Honda Indy 225	Pikes Peak International Raceway	Fountain, Colorado	Hélio Castroneves	Dario Franchitti	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Dan Wheldon
14	August 28	Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix	Infineon Raceway	Sonoma, California	Ryan Briscoe	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan
15	September 11	Peak Antifreeze Indy 300	Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois	Danica Patrick	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon	Dan Wheldon
16	September 25	Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	Hélio Castroneves	Scott Dixon	Scott Dixon	Scott Dixon
17	October 16	Toyota Indy 400	California Speedway	Fontana, California	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon	Tomas Scheckter	Dario Franchitti

Oval/Speedway

Road Course/Street Circuit

BOLD indicates a Superspeedways.

Final driver standings

Further information: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems

Pos	Driver	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PIK	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	Pts
1	Dan Wheldon	1*	6*	1	1	1	6	5	2*	21	5	2	3*	1	18	1*	5	6	628
2	Tony Kanaan	3	3	2	6	8	3	19	1	19*	4	4	20	3	1*	5	2	2	548
3	Sam Hornish, Jr.	2	1	15	7	23*	2	18	12	2	1*	5	7	2*	17	3	7	5	512
4	Dario Franchitti	22	4	3	17*	6	8	2	4	1	2	8	18	7	8	12	3	1	498
5	Scott Sharp	13	5	18	2	7	4	17	6	4	10	7	1	9	12	8	9	4	444
6	Hélio Castroneves	5	2	20	11	9	5	1*	8	5	16	21	5	4	21	2	12	9	440
7	Vitor Meira	4	11	5	15	2	9	20	3	16	9	14	2	5	9	7	18	3	422
8	Bryan Herta	14	7	4	5	3	10	8	15	22	6	1*	19	12	13	14	8	11	397
9	Tomas Scheckter	11	17	17	10	20	1*	4	5	17	3	3	21	14	16	4	20	7*	390
10	Patrick Carpentier	7	9	8	13	21	16	3	14	3	7	9	12	10	4	9	10	15	376
11	Alex Barron	8	13	10	19	13	14	6	13	15	8	11	4	18	3	21	17	14	329
12	Danica Patrick	15	15	12	4	4	13	10	9	7	19	20	16	8	20	6	16	18	325
13	Scott Dixon	16	12	6	21	24	11	22	18	6	13	19	23	16	7	19	1*	10	321
14	Kosuke Matsuura	12	10	13	9	17	7	9	20	14	11	16	8	13	6	23	6	19	320
15	Buddy Rice	19	22	7	3		21	11	10	18	17	22	14	11	2	13	19	12	295
16	Tomáš Enge	21	20	16	DNS	19	19	7	11	23			11	6	5	20	13	8	261
17	Roger Yasukawa	17	18	11	18	18	15	16	22	11	15	18	17	15	11	15	15	16	246
18	Ed Carpenter	18	16	19	16	11	20	12	17	10	12	23	22	19	15	17	14	20	244
19	Ryan Briscoe	20	19	14*	12	10	12	21	21	8	DNS	10	13	20	19	22			232
20	A. J. Foyt IV	9	14	21	14	28	18	14	16	12	21	12	9	21		11		21	231
21	Darren Manning	6	8	9	8	29	17	15	7	20	20								186
22	Jimmy Kite					32	22	13	19	13	14	13	10	17		18		13	163
23	Buddy Lazier					5				9	18	6	6			10			140
24	Jacques Lazier					16						17	15	DNS		16		17	81
25	Jeff Bucknum				22	22									10		11		63
26	Giorgio Pantano														14		4		48
27	Paul Dana	10	21		20														44
28	Sébastien Bourdais					12													18
29	Adrián Fernández					14													16
30	Townsend Bell											15							15
31	Felipe Giaffone					15													15
32	Thiago Medeiros																	DNS	12
33	Richie Hearn					25													10
34	Kenny Brack					26													10
35	Jeff Ward					27													10
36	Bruno Junqueira					30													10
37	Marty Roth					31													10
38	Larry Foyt					33													10
—	Arie Luyendyk Jr.					DNQ													0
Pos	Driver	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PIK	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	Pts

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th & 5th place
Light Blue	6th-10th place
Dark Blue	Finished (Outside Top 10)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn (Wth)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Did not participate (DNP)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps (3 points)
DNS	Any driver who qualifies but does not start (DNS), earns all the points had they taken part.
Rookie of the Year
Rookie

Ties in points broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., and then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.

Engine manufacturers

Pos.	Manufacturer	Points	Gap
1	Honda	153	Leader
2	Toyota	125	-28
3	Chevrolet	96	-57

Chassis manufacturers

Pos.	Manufacturer	Points	Gap
1	Dallara	164	Leader
2	Panoz	125	-39

External links

American Championship car racing (IndyCar) seasons

AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

NASCAR	1952 1953

USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95

CART / CCWS	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~

INDYCAR	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Years marked in italics are not official championship years.

IndyCar Series

Seasons

Indianapolis 500

Champions

Tracks

Ovals	Gateway Indianapolis Iowa Phoenix Pocono Texas

Road courses	Barber Indianapolis Mid-Ohio Road America Sonoma Watkins Glen

Street circuits	Detroit Long Beach St. Petersburg Toronto

Former	Atlanta Baltimore Charlotte Chicagoland Dover Edmonton Fontana Homestead Houston Kansas Kentucky Las Vegas Louisiana Michigan Milwaukee Motegi Nashville Nazareth New Hampshire Pikes Peak Richmond São Paulo Surfers Paradise (exhibition) Walt Disney World

Cancelled	Boston Brasília Qingdao

Road to Indy

History of IndyCar racing • All-time winners • Races • Drivers • Teams

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2005 IndyCar Series

Team and Driver Chart

Race Summaries

Season Summary

Race results

Final driver standings

Engine manufacturers

Chassis manufacturers

See also

External links