2006 Indy Pro Series

2006 Indy Pro Series season
2006 Indy Pro Series season
Indy Pro Series
Season
Races	12
Start date	March 26
End date	September 9
Awards
Drivers' champion	Jay Howard
Teams' champion	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
Rookie of the Year	Jay Howard
	← 2005 2007 →

The 2006 Indy Racing League Indy Pro Series was the fifth season of the developmental open-wheel racing series. It was the first season to include double-header races on road and street courses. The season began at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 26 and finished September 9 at Chicagoland Speedway.

English rookie Jay Howard, driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports narrowly won the championship by four points over American rookie Jonathan Klein of Andretti Green Racing.^[1] Defending series champion Wade Cunningham, driving for , finished third in points despite missing two races due to an appendix removal, with a better points per race ratio than Howard and Klein.^[2] Rookie Alex Lloyd won two races, but missed three due to funding issues and finished seventh in points. Brazilian rookie Raphael Matos swept the race weekend at St. Petersburg, his first two series starts. Graham Rahal made his only Indy Pro Series start at the Liberty Challenge getting the pole position and coming close to winning the race.^[3]

41 different drivers competed in a race but only six started all twelve races.

Drivers and teams[]

All teams competed in Firestone-shod Dallaras.

Team	No.	Drivers	Rounds
	1	Wade Cunningham	1, 4–12
	1		2–3
	33		1, 4, 7
	3	Brett Van Blankers	1–9
		Daniel Gaunt	10–11
		Veronica McCann	12
Dave McMillan Racing	2		1–5
	2	C. R. Crews	12
	22		6
Roth Racing	4	Marty Roth	1–3
Guthrie Racing	4	Phil Giebler	4
		Logan Gomez	6
		C. R. Crews	9
			10–11
			12
		Sean Guthrie	5
	41	Sean Guthrie	4, 7, 9, 12
		Travis Gregg	1
		Raphael Matos	2–3, 5–6
		Scott Mansell	10–11
Matt Young Motorsports	6	Jon Herb	1–6
Sam Schmidt Motorsports	7	Jay Howard	All
	38		10–11
	77	Travis Gregg	9
	77		12
	8	Mishael Abbott	1, 4–5
			2–3
		C. R. Crews	6
		Scott Mansell	7
		P. J. Abbott	8, 10–11
			9, 12
	9	Bobby Wilson	1–3
			4
		C. R. Crews	5
		Scott Mansell	6
		Travis Gregg	7
			8
			9–12
Andretti Green Racing	11	Jaime Camara	All
Andretti Green Racing	27	Jonathan Klein	All
	24	Jeff Simmons	1–3
	24	Bobby Wilson	4–12
	42		4, 7–9, 12
		Phil Giebler	5
		Graham Rahal	6
AFS Racing	25	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	1–3, 5, 7, 12
		Tyce Carlson	4
		Phil Giebler	6
	26	Alex Lloyd	2–7, 9–12
	26	Thiago Medeiros	8
Cheever Racing	51	Chris Festa	1–7, 9, 12
Cheever Racing	52	Nick Bussell	All
	76	James Chesson	4, 7
	76	Mike Potekhen	6, 9–12

Race Summaries[]

Miami 100[]

Date: March 26
Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway
Time of Race: 36 Minutes 41 Second
Average Speed: 162.712 mph (261.860 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.0199 of a Second
Pole Winner: Jay Howard 186.589 mph (300.286 km/h)^[4]

Top 5 Results

Jeff Simmons
Nick Bussell
Jay Howard
Arie Luyendyk Jr.
Bobby Wilson

Streets of St. Petersburg 1[]

Date: April 1
Location: Streets of St. Petersburg
Time of Race: 52 Minutes
Average Speed: 83.055 mph (133.664 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.5075 of a sec.
Pole Winner: Raphael Matos 95.513 mph (153.713 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Raphael Matos
Jeff Simmons
Jay Howard
Nick Bussell
Jonathan Klein

Streets of St. Petersburg 2[]

Date: April 2
Location: Streets of St. Petersburg
Time of Race: 50 Minutes 32 Seconds
Average Speed: 85.316 mph (137.303 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 5.7206 Seconds
Pole Winner: Chris Festa^[5]

Top 5 Results

Raphael Matos
Jay Howard
Alex Lloyd
Jeff Simmons
Jonathan Klein

Freedom 100[]

Date: May 26
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Time of Race: 32 Minutes 29 Seconds
Average Speed: 184.679 mph (297.212 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.6889 of a sec.
Pole Winner: Wade Cunningham 186.423 mph (300.019 km/h)^[6]

Top 5 Results

Corning 100[]

Date: June 4
Location: Watkins Glen International
Time of Race: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes, 23 Seconds
Average Speed: 77.555 mph (124.813 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 3.2795 seconds
Pole Winner: Bobby Wilson 107.135 mph (172.417 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Bobby Wilson
Wade Cunningham
Phil Giebler
Jaime Camara
Jonathan Klein

Liberty Challenge[]

Date: July 1
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Time of Race: 35 Minutes 53 Seconds
Average Speed: 100.159 mph (161.190 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.666 of a Second
Pole Winner: Graham Rahal 109.580 mph (176.352 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Sun Belt Rentals 100[]

Date: July 15
Location: Nashville Superspeedway
Time of Race: 39 Minutes 57 Seconds
Average Speed: 150.332 mph (241.936 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 2.3705 Seconds
Pole Winner: Wade Cunningham 180.459 mph (290.421 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Jay Howard
Jamie Camara
Jonathan Klein
Wade Cunningham

Milwaukee 100[]

Date: July 22
Location: The Milwaukee Mile
Time of Race: 46 Minutes 28 Seconds
Average Speed: 131.060 mph (210.921 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.6614 of a Second
Pole Winner: Wade Cunningham 147.783 mph (237.834 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Jamie Camara
Wade Cunningham
Jonathan Klein
Bobby Wilson
Nick Bussell

Kentucky 100[]

Date: August 13
Location: Kentucky Speedway
Time of Race: 37 Minutes 57 Seconds
Average Speed: 156.752 mph (252.268 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.0190 of a Second
Pole Winner: Jonathan Klein 189.392 mph (304.797 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Carneros 100[]

Date: August 26
Location: Infineon Raceway
Time of Race: 48 Minutes 32 Seconds
Average Speed: 85.278 mph (137.242 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.6108 of a Second
Pole Winner: Wade Cunningham 99.840 mph (160.677 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Wade Cunningham
Alex Lloyd
Nick Bussell
Jonathan Klein
Bobby Wilson

Valley of the Moon 100[]

Date: August 27
Location: Infineon Raceway
Time of Race: 49 Minutes 3 Seconds
Average Speed: 84.383 mph (135.801 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 6.2400 Seconds
Pole Winner: Mike Potekhen

Top 5 Results

Alex Lloyd
Bobby Wilson
Jonathan Klein
Wade Cunningham
Jay Howard

Chicagoland 100[]

Date: September 9
Location: Chicagoland Speedway
Time of Race: 49 Minutes 9 Seconds
Average Speed: 124.305 mph (200.050 km/h)
Margin of Victory: 0.6097 of a Second
Pole Winner: Jay Howard 188.774 mph (303.802 km/h)

Top 5 Results

Driver standings[]

Pos	Driver	HMS	STP		INDY	WGL	IMS	NAS	MIL	KTY	SNM		CHI	Pts
1	Jay Howard	3	3	2	2	6	18	1	7	1	10	5	3	390
2	Jonathan Klein	15	5	5	6	5	3	3	3	2	4	3	2	386
3	Wade Cunningham	10			1	2	16	5	2	3	1	4	1	379
4	Bobby Wilson	5	8	6	7	1	9	7	4	7	5	2	17	343
5	Nick Bussell	2	4	10	10	15	5	6	5	6	3	13	8	319
6	Jaime Camara	11	12	13	3	4	13	2	1	14	7	14	16	298
7	Alex Lloyd		10	3	5	17	1	DNS		16	2	1	4	294
8	Chris Festa	16	6	8	4	14	15	9		8			5	205
9	Brett Van Blankers	8	9	11	14	7	17	10	8	15				179
10	Raphael Matos		1	1		13	4							154
11	Jon Herb	6	13	9	19	8	8							126
12	Jeff Simmons	1	2	4										122
13	Mike Potekhen						11			10	6	6	7	121
14					9			4	9	12			9	116
15	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	4	DNS			11		11					6	105
16		14	7	7	13	10								105
17		7	11	13	8			12						104
18	Sean Guthrie				11	16		8		5			18	99
19	C. R. Crews					9	6			11			13	86
20	Scott Mansell						14	14			11	7		77
21	Phil Giebler				16	3	7							75
22										13	12	11	12	72
23	Travis Gregg	12						13		4				67
24	Marty Roth	9	14	12										56
25	P. J. Abbott								11		13	12		54
26	Ryan Justice										8	8		48
26	Mishael Abbott	13			17	12								48
28	Graham Rahal						2							43
29											9	10		42
29										9			10	42
31	Daniel Gaunt										14	9		38
32					12								15	33
33			15	14										31
34	Thiago Medeiros								6					28
35									10					20
35	Logan Gomez						10							20
37	Veronica McCann												11	19
37	James Chesson				18			DNS						19
39							12							18
40													14	16
41	Tyce Carlson				15									15
Pos	Driver	HMS	STP		INDY	WGL	IMS	NAS	MIL	KTY	SNM		CHI	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
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 (1 point)
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps (2 points)
¹	Qualifying cancelled no bonus point awarded
Rookie of the Year
Rookie

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
Points	50	40	35	32	30	28	26	24	22	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

References[]

^ "Howard Captures First Career IRL Indy Pro Series Championship at Chicagoland Speedway". Chicagoland Speedway. 2006-09-09. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
^ "IPS: St. Pete: Friday practice notes". Motorsport.com. 2006-01-04. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
^ "IRL Lloyd beats heat & Rahal ." Racecar.com. 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
^ "2006 Miami 100". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
^ "2006 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Race 2". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
^ "2006 Freedom 100". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

External links[]

IndyCar official site

[1] "Howard Captures First Career IRL Indy Pro Series Championship at Chicagoland Speedway". Chicagoland Speedway. 2006-09-09. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

[2] "IPS: St. Pete: Friday practice notes". Motorsport.com. 2006-01-04. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

[3] "IRL Lloyd beats heat & Rahal ." Racecar.com. 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

[4] "2006 Miami 100". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

[5] "2006 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Race 2". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

[6] "2006 Freedom 100". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

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