The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season continues with the second race, the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix, at the 1.022-mile ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. This marks the 64th IndyCar race at the Phoenix-area track and 13th in the IndyCar Series.
Here’s a quick look at some interesting statistics and tidbits regarding the race.
- This weekend’s race marks the 13th time for the series in the state of Arizona, all at the one-mile ISM Raceway in Avondale. The first race for the series came in 1996, the second-ever for the Indy Racing League, with Arie Luyendyk winning from the pole position.
- Overall, since 1911, Championship Car and IndyCar racing has visited Arizona a total of 79 times; this weekend’s race will be the 80th. Barney Oldfield won the first Championship Car race, part of the AAA National Championship, in Tucson in March 1915. Earl Cooper also won a dirt track race in Phoenix in November.
- This will be the 64th IndyCar race at ISM Raceway (29 USAC, 22 CART and 13 IRL/ICS).
- Al Unser leads all drivers in victories with six – four in USAC and two in CART – followed by Gordon Johncock with five wins, including the inaugural CART race at the track in 1979. A total of 32 drivers have won an IndyCar race at ISM Raceway.
- A.J. Foyt, who has four victories, won the inaugural IndyCar race at ISM Raceway, in 1964, as part of the USAC Championship Trail.
- Sam Hornish Jr. (2001, 2005) and Tony Kanaan (2003, 2004) are the only two drivers to win multiple races in the IndyCar Series. A total of 10 drivers have won at the track in the IndyCar Series, including Simon Pagenaud, who won the 2017 race.
- Buddy Lazier, the 2000 race winner, is the only driver to win an IndyCar Series race at ISM from outside the top 10 starting positions. Lazier won from 26th.
- Three drivers have won races at ISM Raceway from the pole position: Arie Luyendyk (1996), Helio Castroneves (2002) and Tony Kanaan (2003).
- Defending race winner Simon Pagenaud won from the fifth starting position in 2017. It marked his 10th career IndyCar Series victory and first ever on an oval; Pagenaud now has 11 series wins. Will Power is the last driver to win a race from the fifth starting position, at Pocono Raceway last August.
- Eight drivers have earned their first IndyCar victory at ISM Raceway: Gary Bettenhausen (1968-2), George Follmer (1969-1), Swede Savage (1970-2), Kevin Cogan (1986-1), Roberto Guerrero (1987), Robby Gordon (1995), Jim Guthrie (1996-97) and Sam Hornish Jr. (2001). For Follmer, Savage, Cogan and Guthrie, it marked the only IndyCar victories of their careers.
- Mario Andretti earned his final IndyCar victory at ISM Raceway, in 1993.
- Nine drivers have won at least one race at ISM Raceway and gone on to win the series championship in the same season: Al Unser (1970, 1985); A.J. Foyt (1964); Mario Andretti (1966); Bobby Unser (1968); Rick Mears (1982); Bobby Rahal (1992); Buddy Lazier (2000); Sam Hornish Jr. (2001); and Tony Kanaan (2004).
- The last driver to win consecutive races at ISM Raceway was Tony Kanaan, in 2003 and 2004.
- Team Penske’s four drivers combined to lead all 250 laps of the 2017 race, and the team has led 345 laps out of 500 in the last two years. Only Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon has broken Penske’s monopoly in the last two seasons, leading 155 laps in 2016 en route to winning.
- Though he’s not racing this weekend, Helio Castroneves is the only driver to lead consecutive races at the track; he’s led the last three (2005, 2016 and 2017).
- Since joining the IndyCar Series in 2002, Team Penske cars have led each of the last six races at ISM Raceway.
- The 1986 and 1995 CART races at ISM Raceway featured a race-record 11 lead changes each.
- Chevrolet has nine victories to lead active manufacturers in wins at ISM Raceway (most recently Simon Pagenaud in 2017), while Honda has two wins. Cosworth leads all manufacturer wins with 17, the last win coming in 1987 (Roberto Guerrero).
- Of the 12 IndyCar Series races at ISM Raceway, seven have been won by the driver that led the most laps, including each of the last two races (2016 and 2017). In a 250-lap race, Scott Dixon holds the record for most laps led in a race by the winner: 155 (2016). Tony Kanaan holds the record for a winner in any race: 191 (2004).
- Sam Hornish Jr. won the 2005 race leading the fewest laps by an IndyCar Series race winner: 25.
- Tony Stewart holds the record for most laps led by a driver that didn’t win in an IndyCar Series race: 127 (out of 200 laps in 1998).
- The largest field in an IndyCar race at ISM Raceway is 28 cars, in three different races: 1994 (CART); 1998 (IRL); and 1999 (IRL).
- Simon Pagenaud’s win in 2017 came at a record-pace of 144.058 mph.
- Helio Castroneves earned the pole speed record at 194.905 mph, in 2016.
- Sebastien Bourdais earned the pole position for this year’s race at 188.539 mph, his third IndyCar Series pole (first on an oval and first since 2014) and 34th career IndyCar pole position overall (first on an oval since 2006 at Milwaukee and fourth in career on an oval; also EuroSpeedway Lausitz in 2003 and Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2005). Bourdais is making his 100th career IndyCar Series start and 173rd IndyCar race.
- French drivers swept the front row, with Simon Pagenaud qualifying second.
- There has never been a race-shortened IndyCar race at ISM Raceway.
- Scott Dixon is making his 250th IndyCar Series start and 289th in an IndyCar. He qualified 17th, his first start at ISM Raceway outside the top eight.
- Two drivers will make their IndyCar Series debuts this weekend: Pietro Fittipaldi (qualified 10th) and Kyle Kaiser (14th). Kaiser won the last Indy Lights race at Phoenix in 2016.
- Two other drivers are competing in their first IndyCar Series race on an oval: Robert Wickens (qualified 6th) and Matheus Leist (qualified 16th).
- Josef Newgarden is the last driver to win back-to-back races in the IndyCar Series, having won last year’s events at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington. Newgarden is the defending series champion.
- Ten countries/nationalities are represented in this weekend’s race: United States (10), Brazil (3), Canada (2), France (2), United Kingdom (1), New Zealand (1), Australia (1), United Arab Emirates (1), Japan (1), and Colombia (1).
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