2005_IndyCar_Series

2005 IndyCar Series season

2005 IRL IndyCar Series season

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The 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series season 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 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 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.

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

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 for redevelopment at the end of the 2005 season.

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 18 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

Final 2005 point standings

Drivers

Pos	No.	Name	Team	Starts	Points	Gap	Earnings
1	26	Dan Wheldon	Andretti-Green	17	628	Champion	$2,711,005
2	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti-Green	17	548	-80	$1,554,105
3	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	17	512	-116	$1,424,505
4	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti-Green	17	498	-130	$1,299,555
5	8	Scott Sharp	Aguri-Fernandez	17	444	-184	$1,160,055
6	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	17	440	-188	$1,150,805
7	17	Vitor Meira	Rahal Letterman	17	422	-206	$1,453,454
8	7	Bryan Herta	Andretti-Green	17	397	-231	$1,251,805
9	4	Tomas Scheckter	Panther	17	390	-238	$1,082,805
10	83	Patrick Carpentier	Cheever	17	376	-252	$987,755
11	51	Alex Barron	Cheever	17	329	-299	$933,055
12	16	Danica Patrick	Rahal Letterman	17	325	-303	$1,037,655
13	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi	17	321	-307	$919,805
14	55	Kosuke Matsuura	Aguri-Fernandez	17	320	-308	$893,105
15	15	Buddy Rice	Rahal Letterman	16	295	-333	$699,100
16	2	Tomáš Enge	Panther	15	261	-367	$778,255
17	24	Roger Yasukawa	Dreyer & Reinbold	17	246	-382	$821,805
18	20	Ed Carpenter	Vision Racing	17	244	-384	$830,505
19	33	Ryan Briscoe	Chip Ganassi	15	232	-396	$793,055
20	14	A. J. Foyt IV	Foyt Enterprises	15	231	-397	$744,605
21	-	Darren Manning	Chip Ganassi	10	186	-442	$586,405
22	91	Jimmy Kite	Hemelgarn	11	163	-465	$570,405
23	95	Buddy Lazier	Panther	6	140	-488	$492,405
24	10	Jaques Lazier	Chip Ganassi	6	81	-547	$386,305
25	44	Jeff Bucknum	Dreyer & Reinbold	4	63	-565	$325,555
26	-	Giorgio Pantano	Chip Ganassi	2	48	-580	$98,800
27	-	Paul Dana	Hemelgarn	3	44	-584	$119,800
28	37	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman-Haas Racing	1	18	-610	$234,555
29	5	Adrian Fernandez	Aguri-Fernandez	1	16	-612	$226,305
30	48	Felipe Giaffone	Foyt Enterprises	1	15	-613	$247,305
31	-	Townsend Bell	Panther	1	15	-613	$35,100
32	-	Thiago Medeiros	Dreyer & Reinbold	1	12	-616	$31,300
33	70	Richie Hearn	Sam Schmidt	1	10	-618	$202,305
34	-	Kenny Bräck	Rahal Letterman	1	10	-618	$275,805
35	22	Jeff Ward	Vision Racing	1	10	-618	$194,805
36	36	Bruno Junqueira	Newman-Haas Racing	1	10	-618	$192,205
37	25	Marty Roth	Roth Racing	1	10	-618	$195,305
38	41	Larry Foyt	Foyt Enterprises	1	10	-618	$189,305