1995 season

luke · 12 Feb 2005, 21:23 (Ref:1223917)

Hi everyone!

I can't wait for the up and comming season, but I would also like to know a bit about those earlier seasons, You may remember that I did a thread on the 1996 season.
Well unfortuately as you may or may not know, my Champ Car knowlege doesn't go back that far as I was only 6 at the time.

On the way I have the 1995 Autoccourse indy car yearbook, and I can't wait for it to arrive.
Could we discuss the main, and best parts of the '95 season?

Btw I've seen highlights of the Cleveland race, and was boy was that exciting.

Cheers,
luke.

Jordi · 12 Feb 2005, 23:16 (Ref:1223977)

Mate, you're young!

Basically that year Team Green, through a nice package (Reynard-Ford-Goodyear) a great driver in Jacques Villeneuve and even better chemistry between Jacques, Barry and Kim Green, Tony Cicale et al, was able to beat the mighty Penske team.

But then again Penske didn't qualify at Indy...

macdaddy · 13 Feb 2005, 01:01 (Ref:1224014)

Yeah... Couldn't make the grid at Indy... Yet almost won Michigan. Strange, that was.

I sure wish Race Director archived those old races! I'd love to watch some of them again.

Kicking-back · 13 Feb 2005, 08:57 (Ref:1224124)

Cleveland 1995, particularly the closing laps and what happened after the race will be an endearing memory for me!

Jordi · 13 Feb 2005, 12:51 (Ref:1224299)

Newman-Haas had Tracy and Andretti and you would have expected to be right up battling for the title, but they were not.

luke · 13 Feb 2005, 15:15 (Ref:1224370)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Cleveland 1995, particularly the closing laps and what happened after the race will be an endearing memory for me!

Saw the clip. Was it intentional?

Kicking-back · 13 Feb 2005, 15:47 (Ref:1224388)

Absolutely!

JohnSSC · 13 Feb 2005, 19:14 (Ref:1224516)

I loved it. I watched the race "live" on the telly that day. Great dice between Michael Andretti and Robby Gordon. Robby's nerf of Michael afterwards was completely uncalled for, inappropriate and the coolest thing I've seen in years! A real "warrior's see you next time" signoff!

Snrub · 13 Feb 2005, 19:50 (Ref:1224527)

'95 was a wierd year because Penske conquored all in '94. Al Jr., Emmo and PT made for a very strong lineup. It was definately a change in the dynamics of the series because Penske has never since been able to dominate the way they did before and '95 was the year that they lost that something that made them so dominant.

It's been much discussed, but JV's Indy performance was quiet spectacular and he won from 2 laps down. My memory has gotten foggy, but I seem to recall that in both '94 and '95 PT and JV battled it out for victory @ RA. I remember that the championship went down to the wire @ Laguna despite Unser Jr's somewhat unremarkable season (I suppose mostly compared to '94). I think Unser Jr. was towards the front of the field and JV was further back and needed to finish 10th or better and Unser Jr. either had to win or come close to it.

Jordi's mention of NH with Andretti and PT actually sparked a thought in my head. Two of the greatest CC drivers in the history of the series were teammates with PT and hated him.

Later Andretti and PT were back on the same team at Green, but recall that Andretti's team was semi-seperate from Dario & PT. Recall that Andretti practically wrote his own final driving contract (they gave him whatever he wanted). I wonder if some of that had to do with Andretti not wanting to work with PT? Recall that Green was never able to make the team work after Andretti came on board and much was made of the stretched resources/efforts, etc.

Jordi · 13 Feb 2005, 23:08 (Ref:1224686)

1995 also saw the debut of the Tasman team, and Honda engines started being competitive. There was the return of Firestone as well. Gil de Ferran was the rookie of the year ahead of Christian Fittipaldi. De Ferran gave Hall his first win since John Andretti at Surfers'91.
1995 was also the last year of the Rahal-Hogan partnership.
It was also the year of Stan Fox's massive Indy accident, of Andre Ribeiro's first win...

Hazza · 17 Feb 2005, 02:02 (Ref:1227815)

And the basis of the great game IndyCar Racing 2.

Or what ever they changed it too after the split.

Omega99 · 17 Feb 2005, 03:03 (Ref:1227828)

They changed it to CART Racing. I still play it. It's still one of the best racing sims I own.

jjspierx · 17 Feb 2005, 04:54 (Ref:1227853)

Yep, I was always a fan of Papy's racing sims, starting with Indy 500, and then Indycar Racing 1. Grand Prix Legends and Nascar Racing 2003, are the 2 best racing sims available, especially with the Trans-Am mod(s) for NR2003.

Sparky05 · 17 Feb 2005, 06:20 (Ref:1227888)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

Two of the greatest CC drivers in the history of the series were teammates with PT and hated him.

Why should his teammates be any different than the fans?

Hazza · 17 Feb 2005, 06:46 (Ref:1227898)

'Sif, Mario's - Grandson's - Father is a ledgend!

*sigh* Why couldn't there have been annother ChampCar game done by Papyrus. We choose to ignore Cart Precision Racing for good reasons...

jjspierx · 17 Feb 2005, 17:53 (Ref:1228481)

The developers from Papy are working on a new sim, and have been for quite some times as an independent project(after Papy closed it doors). Its supposed to be an open ended sim where any type of car or track could added in the future(rally, open-wheel, stock-car, prototypes, touring, etc... I haven't kept up on the racing sim world in the last year. I used to be hugely involved in keeping up with that stuff. I should read up on it to see whatever became of it whenever I have time, which is almost never.

Snrub · 17 Feb 2005, 17:53 (Ref:1228482)

Andre Ribeiro was a pretty decent driver, what ever happened to him and why did he leave? I know he drove the Mecedes medical car for Sid Walkens in F1, but other than that I don't know.

I played Indy 500: The simulation as well, it was the first real racing sim, but I don't think I really appreciated that at the time. Nascar I, Indycar II, Grand Prix Legends, demos for Nascar II/IV/Legends.

JohnSSC · 18 Feb 2005, 01:27 (Ref:1228923)

Hazza, Michael Andretti's accomplishments in CART do indeed qualify him for legend status. No one, not even the immortal PT, is anywhere near number of wins, laps led or poles (not so sure about the poles - Little Al would be in there somewhere). He still has lead double the laps the second place driver in that category has led (that would be PT).

Snrub · 18 Feb 2005, 04:47 (Ref:1228987)

It's true, everyone likes to rag on Michael, but for all his faults he was one heck of a driver. I think it is worth mentioning that through mid-90s to his retirement he tended to have mediocre equipment. Even in the last couple years when it was clear his motivation was fading and he had some poor perfomances, he still had some terrific races.

I really think many of us would have a very different impression of Michael if he'd been at Ganassi from his return to F1 until the end. His already impressive stats would be very different.

His F1 record also clouds an otherwise great career, but when watching F1 Decade it was interesting to learn that back then the rules were such that he had very few laps to learn the tracks and getting smoked by a WDC teammate probably didn't help his motivation and we all Michael was prone to attitude issues.

JohnSSC · 18 Feb 2005, 12:54 (Ref:1229283)

You are quite right Snrub. Further, Senna had left McLaren and was not coming back. When he was done pouting (sorry, great as he was as a driver, he was by no means going to be put up for Sainthood) he decided to come back and that left Michael the odd man out.

We forget that despite all the politics going on behind the scenes, Michael still managed a podium. Something that even Zanardi was unable to do in either of his stints in F1 talented as he was.

I wonder too how much of his attitude was due to the constant attempts to compare him to his dad?

Hazza · 18 Feb 2005, 13:05 (Ref:1229288)

But, then again, Whilest sitting in 3rd place in the Italian grandprix, apart of Mikey's floor didn't fall off, like what happened to Zanardi. Everyone was hearbroken , and iirc, Schumacher Jr who inherited the spot after the incident dedicated the podium to Alex.

edit: oops, my memory wasn't correct.

Quote:

www.grandprix.com
In his efforts to keep back the chasers Zanardi ran over a kerb and damaged the underside of his car, gradually slipping backwards.

JohnSSC · 18 Feb 2005, 13:19 (Ref:1229308)

Hazza - believe me, I am not comparing Alex unfavorably here. Just trying to look at the results as they happen to be.

luke · 18 Feb 2005, 13:36 (Ref:1229321)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

You are quite right Snrub. Further, Senna had left McLaren and was not coming back. When he was done pouting (sorry, great as he was as a driver, he was by no means going to be put up for Sainthood) he decided to come back and that left Michael the odd man out.

We forget that despite all the politics going on behind the scenes, Michael still managed a podium. Something that even Zanardi was unable to do in either of his stints in F1 talented as he was.

Michael Andretti - " (Senna) He comforted me when I was having trouble at Mclaren and he callled to congratulate me when I won again this year (1994) in IndyCars". (taken from F1 autobiography)

JohnSSC · 18 Feb 2005, 13:52 (Ref:1229334)

I did not say that Senna was ungracious - he could be charming when he wanted to be. He played hardball with McLaren and won, and as a result Michael lost his ride.

luke · 18 Feb 2005, 14:14 (Ref:1229358)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

I did not say that Senna was ungracious - he could be charming when he wanted to be. He played hardball with McLaren and won, and as a result Michael lost his ride.

John - I only put a quote, that was relavent. Didn't disagree with your post at all..

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