Pit Stop Challenge
Pit Stop Challenge | |
---|---|
Sport | Indy Car Racing |
Competition | Pit stop contest |
Discipline | NTT IndyCar Series |
Awarded for | Outstanding performance by a pit crew |
History | |
First award | 1977 |
First winner | Jim McElreath (Carillo Racing) |
Most wins | Team Penske (17) |
Most recent | Marcus Ericsson (Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) |
The TAG Heuer Pit Stop Challenge is a pit stop contest held during activities leading up to the Indianapolis 500. Since 1977, the event has been held on Carb Day, following the final practice session.
As many as twelve top teams in the field compete in a single-elimination, tournament-style competition, two teams at a time. Under the current rules format, during each heat, two cars line up side by side in a specially constructed pit lane, which resembles a drag racing layout. The cars go from a standing start and race into the pit box. Pit crews must change four tires and hook up a dummy fuel hose to simulate a refuel. The driver races out of the pit box to cross a finish line a couple hundred feet down the lane. The time is taken from the drop of the green flag to the crossing of the finish line. Time penalties are assessed for infractions such as unsecured lug nuts, jumping the start, and pit box violations. Since 2017, the final round has been a best-of-three style.
Since 2013, the event has been sponsored by TAG Heuer.
Eligibility[]
The participants for the Pit Stop Challenge are selected from the teams that are registered in the NTT IndyCar Series and entered for that year's Indianapolis 500. The bracket has varied from as few as four teams to as many as twelve. The current qualifying procedure for the event is based on the following criteria:
- Pit stop performance from the previous season's races and current season's races
- Top teams from the Indianapolis 500 starting grid.
- Top teams from IndyCar Series points standings.
In previous years, the selection criteria were based on top qualifiers for the Indy 500, top pit crews from the previous IndyCar season, pit stop time trials conducted during the week, former winners of the contest, provisionals, and other various criteria.
A random draw is usually held to set the tournament bracket and to award some drivers a first-round bye.
Past winners[]
Year | Winner | Runner-up | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Driver | Chief Mechanic | Time (seconds) | Team | Driver | |||
1977 | Carillo | Jim McElreath | Dave Kylm | 15.09 | Patrick Racing | Wally Dallenbach | ||
1978 | Team McLaren | Johnny Rutherford | Phil Sharp & Steve Roby | 13.80 | Polak Racing | Larry Dickson | ||
1979 | Team McLaren | Johnny Rutherford | Steve Roby | 13.51 | Jerry O'Connell | Tom Sneva | ||
1980 | AMI Racing/Sherman Armstrong | Tom Bigelow | Paul Leffler | 14.04 | AMI Racing Division | Greg Leffler | ||
1981 | Penske Racing | Bobby Unser | Laurie Gerrish | 13.00 | Kraco Racing | Larry Cannon | ||
1982 | Penske Racing | Rick Mears | Peter Parrott | 13.93 | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | A. J. Foyt | ||
1983 | Penske Racing | Rick Mears | Peter Parrott | 13.860 | Alex Morales | Pancho Carter | ||
1984 | Kraco Racing | Michael Andretti | Brian Stewart | 18.520 | Mayer Motor Racing | Howdy Holmes | ||
1985 | Penske Racing | Danny Sullivan | Chuck Sprague | 11.742 | Forsythe Racing | Howdy Holmes | ||
1986 | Penske Racing | Danny Sullivan | Chuck Sprague | 20.288 | Truesports | Bobby Rahal | ||
1987 | Newman/Haas Racing | Mario Andretti | Colin Duff | 18.050 | Truesports | Bobby Rahal | ||
1988 | Penske Racing | Danny Sullivan | Chuck Sprague | 14.782 | Newman/Haas Racing | Mario Andretti | ||
1989 | Galles Racing | Al Unser, Jr. | Owen Snyder | 14.716 | Newman/Haas Racing | Mario Andretti | ||
1990 | Galles-Kraco Racing | Al Unser, Jr. | Owen Snyder | 14.094 | Galles-Kraco Racing | Bobby Rahal | ||
1991 | Patrick Racing | Danny Sullivan | Mike Hull | 13.114 | Galles-Kraco Racing | Bobby Rahal | ||
1992 | Rahal-Hogan Racing | Bobby Rahal | Jim Prescott | 13.324 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Eddie Cheever | ||
1993 | Galles-Kraco Racing | Al Unser, Jr. | Owen Snyder | 13.118 | Newman/Haas Racing | Mario Andretti | ||
1994 | Forsythe Green Racing | Jacques Villeneuve | Kyle Moyer | 16.104 | Team LOSI | John Paul Jr. | ||
1995 | Team Green | Jacques Villeneuve | Kyle Moyer | 14.556 | Newman/Haas Racing | Michael Andretti | ||
1996 | Galles Racing | Davy Jones | Mitch Davis | 14.176 | Pagan Racing | Roberto Guerrero | ||
1997 | Galles Racing | Kenny Bräck | Gary Armentrout | 14.284 | Team Cheever | Eddie Cheever | ||
1998 | Panther Racing | Scott Goodyear | Kevin Blanch | 17.307 | Team Menard | Robbie Buhl | ||
1999 | Galles Racing | Davey Hamilton | Darren Russell | 12.680 | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Kenny Bräck | ||
2000 | Panther Racing | Scott Goodyear | Kevin Blanch | 11.19 | Treadway Racing | Robby McGehee | ||
2001 | Kelley Racing | Scott Sharp | Robert Perez | 9.20 | Galles Racing | Al Unser Jr. | ||
2002 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Rick Rinaman | 8.555 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Jeff Ward | ||
2003 | Cheever Racing | Buddy Rice | David Meeham | 8.8401 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | ||
2004 | Rahal Letterman Racing | Buddy Rice | Ricardo Nault | 12.3365 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | ||
2005 | Team Penske | Sam Hornish, Jr. | Matt Johnson | 8.9704 | Andretti Green Racing | Bryan Herta | ||
2006 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Rick Rinaman | 8.0852 | Andretti Green Racing | Dario Franchitti | ||
2007 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Rick Rinaman | 8.335 | Team Penske | Sam Hornish Jr. | ||
2008 | Event cancelled due to rain | |||||||
2009 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Rick Rinaman | 7.962 | Andretti Green Racing | Marco Andretti | ||
2010 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Sean Hanrahan | 8.001 | Newman/Haas Racing | Hideki Mutoh | ||
2011 | Team Penske | Ryan Briscoe | Matt Jonsson | 7.882 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dario Franchitti | ||
2012 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Scott Dixon | Ricky Davis[1] | 13.769 | Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Oriol Servià | ||
2013 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Sean Hanrahan | 14.854 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dario Franchitti | ||
2014 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Scott Dixon | Blair Julian | 11.737 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Kingdom Racing | Sage Karam | ||
2015 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Travis Law | 12.561 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Charlie Kimball | ||
2016 | Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | Travis Law | 12.235 | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Mikhail Aleshin |
Best-of-three final round[]
Year | Winner | Best of 3 Results |
Runner-up | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Driver | Chief Mechanic | Team | Driver | ||||
2017 | Team Penske No. 12 | Will Power | Matt Jonsson | 2–1 | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports No. 5 | James Hinchcliffe | ||
2018 | Chip Ganassi Racing No. 9 | Scott Dixon | Blair Julian | 2–1 | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports No. 7 | James Hinchcliffe Jay Howard | ||
2019 | Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports No. 7 | Marcus Ericsson | Bob Jansen | 2–1 | Chip Ganassi Racing No. 9 | Scott Dixon | ||
2020 | Cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak. |
NOTE: In 2018, the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was that of driver Jay Howard. James Hinchcliffe, who failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, drove the car in the pit stop competition, as the team assigned Hinchcliffe's pit crew to the car. While the qualification standard was based on overall series pit stop performance (which Hinchliffe qualified as the No. 5 during the season), the crew was assigned to the No. 7 car for the race.
Statistics[]
Most victories – Team
- Penske Racing: 17
- Galles Racing: 6
Most victories – Driver
- Hélio Castroneves: 8
- Danny Sullivan: 4
Most victories – Chief mechanic
- Rick Rinaman: 4
- Matt Jonsson: 3
- Owen Snyder: 3
- Chuck Sprague: 3
Won Pit Stop Challenge and Indianapolis 500 in the same year
- 1981: Bobby Unser, Penske Racing
- 1985: Danny Sullivan, Penske Racing
- 1995: Jacques Villeneuve, Forsythe Green Racing
- 2002: Hélio Castroneves, Penske Racing
- 2004: Buddy Rice, Rahal Letterman Racing
- 2009: Hélio Castroneves, Penske Racing
Note: No one has won the Pit Stop Challenge, Indianapolis 500, and the National Championship in the same year
History[]
Since its inception, the event has been held on Carb Day, the day in which the final practice session is held for the Indianapolis 500. From 1977 to 2004, the event was held on the Thursday before the Indy 500. Starting in 2005, Carb Day was moved to Friday and the event moved to Friday along with the Freedom 100.
In 2008, the event was cancelled due to rain and the posted prize money was donated to charity. However, since 2014, as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway race weekend includes both oval and road course events, and pit stops are now conducted often in the rain with rain tires (which are on site), the event could be held with rain tires in the rain, and can only be stopped by lightning.
Previous event sponsors include Miller (1977–1995), Coors (1996–2002), Checkers/Rally's (2003–2007), McDonald's (2008), Izod (2010–2012).
During the 1980s and 1990s, this contest was held alongside a second official pit stop competition. During the actual race itself, each team that completed the race was timed for all of their routine pit stops. The team that accrued the shortest elapsed time for all pit stops combined won a cash prize, a substantial prize package of hand tools, or both.
Broadcasting[]
Television coverage of the first contest appeared on ABC's Wide World of Sports. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, ABC would show highlights of the contest during the race broadcast on Sunday during down times. From 1995 to 2007, coverage was shown live or same-day tape on ESPN/ESPN2. Since 2009, coverage has been live on Versus/NBC Sports Network.
References[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2017 Indianapolis 500 Carb Day Pit Stop Challenge. |
- 2011 Indianapolis 500 Media Guide
- Indianapolis 500