Honda Indy 200

Honda Indy 200

IndyCar Series
Venue	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Corporate sponsor	Honda Westfield Insurance
First race	1970
First IRL race	2007
Distance	203.22 mi (327.05 km)
Laps	90
Previous names	Red Roof Inns 150 (1980) Escort Radar Warning 200 (1983–1988) Red Roof Inns 200 (1989–1990) Pioneer Electronics 200 (1991–1994) Miller Genuine Draft 200 (1995) Miller 200 (1996–1997) Miller Lite 200 (1998–2001) Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio (2002) Champ Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio (2003) Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by Westfield Insurance (2007) Honda Indy Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio (2008) Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (2009, 2012-Present) Honda Indy 200 (2010-2011)

The Honda Indy 200 is an Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

The U.S. Formula 5000 series ran open wheel races at Mid-Ohio beginning in 1970. The race transferred to the revived Can-Am series in 1977.

The CART series debuted at the track in 1980, and continued to race there from 1983–2003. In 2007, American open wheel racing returned to the venue, when the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series held an event. The race used to be part of a doubleheader with the American Le Mans Series, however in ALMS chose not to return to the track during its final year, 2013. On November 21, 2006, it was announced that weekend of racing secured the sponsorship of Honda.^[1]

The history of open-wheel races has a unique footnote. The race has been won consecutively on six occasions, including four times in a row from 1991–1997. It is also one of only a few Indy car races to be won by two sets of fathers & sons. (Mario & Michael Andretti and Bobby & Graham Rahal).^[2]

The initial contract will have the race held for three years from 2007–2009. On June 5, 2007, Truesports, the promoters of the race, announced a three-year partnership with Westfield Insurance to serve as presenting sponsor of the IndyCar Series event.^[3]

Race scheduling

In early years of the event under CART, the race was scheduled for Labor Day weekend. ^[4] In 1990, it was pushed back two weeks into mid-September. Rain and cooler temperatures, however, prompted officials to move the race to the summer. For 1994, it was situated in early to mid-August, the weekend after the Brickyard 400.

When the race was revived by the Indy Racing League in 2007, it was placed in July. Carried by ABC, it immediately followed final round coverage of the British Open. Such a lead-in usually created a strong television audience, but it was at the risk of the golf tournament running long due to a playoff, as it did in 2007. Starting in 2009, the race was moved back to its early August slot.

Course layout

Through 1989, the race utilized the original full 2.4-mile track layout, which included the chicane (turns 2 and 3) just before the keyhole (turn 4). During a track repaving project in early 1990, a straightaway segment was paved to create an alternate layout which bypasses the chicane. The alternate layout measured 2.25 miles. Since the 1990 race, the Indy cars have utilized the alternate course, bypassing the chicane and creating a passing zone going into the keyhole.

In all years, the Indy cars have utilized the starting line located on the backstretch. The finish line and all other scoring is done at the line on the pit straight.

Past winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
Formula A/Formula 5000 history
1970	September 27	George Follmer	O'Neil Racing	Lotus	Ford	42	100.8 (162.221)	1:03:21	95.464	Report
1971	July 5	Sam Posey	Champ Carr Inc.	Surtees	Chevrolet	60	144 (231.745)	1:31:11	94.75	Report
1972	Not held
1973	June 3	Jody Scheckter	Taylor-Entin	Trojan	Chevrolet	42	100.8 (162.221)	1:02:32	96.708	Report
1974	June 2	Brian Redman	Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	42	100.8 (162.221)	1:01:04	99.023	Report
1975	August 10	Brian Redman	Carl Haas/Jim Hall	Lola	Chevrolet	42	100.8 (162.221)	1:04:51	93.24	Report
1976	August 8	Brian Redman	Carl Haas/Jim Hall	Lola	Chevrolet	42	100.8 (162.221)	0:59:07	102.29	Report
1977 – 1979	Not held
CART Champ Car history
1980	July 13	Johnny Rutherford	Chaparral Cars	Chaparral	Cosworth	65	156 (251.057)	1:48:04	86.601	Report
1981 – 1982	Not held
1983	September 11	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	March	Cosworth	84	201.6 (324.443)	2:01:49	98.755	Report
1984	September 3	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Cosworth	84	201.6 (324.443)	1:59:50	100.388	Report
1985	September 1	Bobby Rahal	TrueSports	March	Cosworth	84	201.6 (324.443)	1:52:23	107.041	Report
1986	August 31	Bobby Rahal	TrueSports	March	Cosworth	84	201.6 (324.443)	1:56:18	103.43	Report
1987	September 6	Roberto Guerrero	Andy Granatelli	March	Cosworth	84	201.6 (324.443)	1:51:58	107.431	Report
1988	September 4	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	84	201.6 (324.443)	2:14:18	89.57	Report
1989	September 3	Teo Fabi	Porsche	March	Porsche	84	201.6 (324.443)	1:54:46	105.395	Report
1990	September 16	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	89	200.25 (322.271)	2:19:27	85.751	Report
1991	September 15	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	89	200.25 (322.271)	1:59:49	99.789	Report
1992	September 13	Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske Racing	Penske	Chevrolet-Ilmor	89	200.25 (322.271)	1:51:23	107.352	Report
1993	September 12	Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske Racing	Penske	Chevrolet-Ilmor	89	200.25 (322.271)	1:56:59	102.704	Report
1994	August 14	Al Unser, Jr.	Penske Racing	Penske	Ilmor	83*	185.754 (298.942)	1:40:59	110.387	Report
1995	August 13	Al Unser, Jr.	Penske Racing	Penske	Mercedes-Benz-Ilmor	83	186.75 (300.544)	1:44:04	107.11	Report
1996	August 11	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	83	186.75 (300.544)	1:46:49	104.358	Report
1997	August 10	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	83	187.414 (301.613)	1:41:16	110.456	Report
1998	August 9	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	83	187.414 (301.613)	1:53:39	98.428	Report
1999	August 15	Juan Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	83	187.414 (301.613)	1:42:08	109.606	Report
2000	August 13	Hélio Castroneves	Penske Racing	Reynard	Honda	83	187.414 (301.613)	1:44:59	106.558	Report
2001	August 12	Hélio Castroneves	Penske Racing	Reynard	Honda	83	187.414 (301.613)	1:44:54	106.627	Report
2002	August 11	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	92	207.736 (334.318)	1:56:17	106.68	Report
2003	August 10	Paul Tracy	Forsythe Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	92	207.736 (334.318)	1:56:45	106.251	Report
2004 – 2006	Not held
IRL/IndyCar Series history
2007	July 22	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	191.93 (308.881)	1:47:24	107.222	Report
2008	July 20	Ryan Briscoe	Penske Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	191.93 (308.881)	2:01:23	94.873	Report
2009	August 9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	191.93 (308.881)	1:46:06	108.541	Report
2010	August 8	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	191.93 (308.881)	1:54:32	100.542	Report
2011	August 7	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	191.93 (308.881)	1:48:47	105.861	Report
2012	August 5	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	191.93 (308.881)	1:39:49	115.379	Report
2013	August 4	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	90	203.22 (327.05)	1:43:29	117.825	Report
2014	August 3	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	90	203.22 (327.05)	1:52:45	108.14	Report
2015	August 2	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Dallara	Honda	90	203.22 (327.05)	1:55:20	105.72	Report

• 1994: Race shortened due to time limit.

Past races

• 1987: With less than 20 laps to go, Bobby Rahal held an impressive lead, going for his third consecutive win in the event. He tangled with backmarker Rick Miaskiewicz, however, and fell to second place. Roberto Guerrero went on to win the race. A few days later, however, Guerrero would suffer an almost career-ending practice crash at Indianapolis.
• 1989: Teo Fabi won the only race of the Porsche Indy car program.
• 1990: Despite heavy rain, Michael Andretti dominates, with his father Mario Andretti finishing second.
• 1993: Nigel Mansell starts on the pole, but tangles with Paul Tracy in the esses on the first lap, damaging his front wing. Tracy dominates for the first 20 laps, but spins off course trying to pass the lap car of Scott Pruett. Emerson Fittipaldi leads the rest of the way to victory.
• 1998: Michael Andretti suffers a serious crash at the end of the backstretch, touching wheels with P. J. Jones. His car flipped several times and landed in the sandtrap in the runoff area.
• 2009: Scott Dixon earns his 20th Indy Racing League IndyCar Series victory, making him the most successful driver in series history.
• 2013: Charlie Kimball led a race-high 46 laps, and earned his first victory in Indy car competition. In a race that went caution-free, Kimball set an all-time Mid-Ohio record with an average speed of 117.825 mph.
• 2014: Scott Dixon won his record fifth Mid-Ohio Indy car race.
• 2015: Hometown favorite Graham Rahal won the race, thirty years after his father Bobby Rahal won at Mid-Ohio. On lap 66, Rahal made his final pit stop, just as the yellow came out for a controversial spin by Sage Karam at the end of the backstretch. Rahal led the rest of the way, holding off Justin Wilson on a restart with 6 laps to go.

Broadcasting

CART

IRL/IndyCar

• NOTE: The 2012 broadcast aired on ABC, but featured NBCSN’s announcing team. This was due to scheduling conflicts with the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Atlantic Championship/Indy Lights winners

Season Date Winning Driver Formula Atlantic history 1986 September 27 Scott Goodyear 1987 September 6 Calvin Fish 1988 September 4 Steve Shelton September 24 Steve Shelton 1989 June 4 Jocko Cunningham July 16 Colin Trueman 1991 September 14 Jimmy Vasser 1992 September 14 Stuart Crow 1993 September 11 Jacques Villeneuve 1994 August 14 Colin Trueman 1995 August 13 Richie Hearn 1996 August 10 Patrick Carpentier 1997 August 10 Alex Barron 1998 August 9 Lee Bentham 1999 August 15 Kenny Wilden 2000–2002: Not held 2003 August 17 Michael Valiante 2004–2008: Not held 2009 August 8 Jonathan Summerton

Season Date Winning Driver Indy Lights history 1986 August 31 Steve Millen 1987 September 6 Juan Manuel Fangio II 1988 September 4 Jon Beekhuis 1989 September 3 P.J. Jones 1990 September 16 Paul Tracy 1991 September 15 Brian Till 1992 September 13 Robbie Groff 1993 September 12 Bryan Herta 1994 August 14 André Ribeiro 1995–1999: Not held 2000 September 13 Townsend Bell 2001 September 12 Townsend Bell 2002–2006: Not held 2007 July 22 Richard Antinucci 2008 July 19 Raphael Matos 2008 July 20 James Davison 2009 August 9 James Davison 2010 August 8 Martin Plowman 2011–2012: Not held 2013 August 4 Gabby Chaves 2014 August 2 Jack Harvey August 3 Jack Harvey 2015 August 1 R.C. Enerson August 2 Sean Rayhall

See also

• Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio

References