If you love open wheel racing as I do, this weekend’s race is the one that you wait all year to see. This is especially the case right now as the brain surgeons who have destroyed American open wheel have rendered the rest of the season only quasi-watchable. Word out of Indy this week is that Honda may be playing the role of broker in a future deal between the two circuits and we can only hope that they will be successful.

In the meantime, the great race awaits. So much publicity has swirled around Danica Patrick, who is probably the most legitimate woman driver ever at the Brickyard (and yes, I know that is damning with faint praise!). She did run the fastest lap in qualifying. Some other attention has surrounded Dan Wheldon, this year’s IRL points leader and driver du jour. And “invader” Sebastien Bourdais from the rival Champ Car circuit is stirring up interest as well.

I find the chalk pick strangely compelling, despite the fact that he has never tasted the post-race milk at Indy. But like the smart money, I look for that to change this weekend as defending series champ Tony Kanaan takes the checkered flag. Look for two-time former champion Helio Castroneves to place and Wheldon to show.

Proposed Fantasy Scoring

For many first-time fantasy sports players, getting started can seem an impossible obstacle. Organizing a proper scoring system is often the hardest part.

As a service to our readers, we offer the following suggested guidelines for organizing a fantasy open wheel league.

It should be noted first and foremost that we have combined IRL and Champ Car drivers for one combined format. While the powers-that-be in American open wheel racing are too short-sighted and greedy to recognize that the current racing scene is diluted with two separate circuits, we at Drafthelp.com are acutely aware of that. As such, we are advising fantasy open wheel owners to incorporate both circuits into their game.

As with most sports, a standard serpentine draft works best for the dispersal process. We’d suggest that you round up 4-6 owners and draft 5-6 players per team, given that our Drafthelp.com draft board goes 28 deep overall and that we wouldn’t urge you to dip further into the talent pool than that.

Regarding scoring, we would recommend a Rotisserie-style structure. Since both circuits tally points in different manners and since the IRL runs 17 races to Champ Car’s 14, constructing a unified scoring system was not easy, but we have done it!

Since the three additional races that the IRL runs amounts to approximately an extra 20% of racing, Champ Car drivers should receive an extra 20% of points per race to keep everything even. For IRL racers, the following point totals should be awarded per race:

1^st Place : 50 points
2^nd Place : 40 points
3^rd Place : 35 points
4^th Place : 30 points
5^th Place : 25 points
6^th Place : 20 points

7^th Place : 18 points
8^th Place : 15 points
9^th Place : 12 points
10^th Place : 10 points
Pole Position: 15 points
Most Laps Led in Race: 15 points

With the 20% inflation, the following point totals should be awarded per race for Champ Car drivers:

1^st Place : 60 points
2^nd Place : 48 points
3^rd Place : 42 points
4^th Place : 36 points
5^th Place : 30 points
6^th Place : 24 points

7^th Place : 22 points
8^th Place : 18 points
9^th Place : 14 points
10^th Place : 12 points
Pole Position: 18 points
Most Laps Led in Race: 18 points

2005 Open-Wheel Draft Board

First Tier

1. Sebastien Bourdais (Champ Car)
2. Tony Kanaan (IRL)

Second Tier

3. Bruno Junqueira (Champ Car)
4. Helio Castroneves (IRL)
5. Dan Wheldon (IRL)|
6. Cristiano da Matta (Champ Car)
7. Buddy Rice (IRL)
8. Adrian Fernandez (IRL)
9. Dario Franchitti (IRL)
10. Sam Hornish, Jr. (IRL)
11. A.J. Allmendinger (Champ Car)
12. Patrick Carpentier (IRL)
13. Scott Dixon (IRL)
14. Paul Tracy (Champ Car)
15. Vitor Meira (IRL)
16. Mario Dominguez (Champ Car)
17. Bryan Herta (IRL)
18. Alex Tagliani (Champ Car)
19. Jimmy Vasser (Champ Car)

Third Tier

20. Justin Wilson (Champ Car)
21. Darren Manning (IRL)
22. Alex Barron (IRL)
23. Oriol Servia (Champ Car)
24. Ryan Hunter-Reay (Champ Car)
25. Scott Sharp (IRL)
26. Michel Jourdain, Jr. (Champ Car)
27. Tomas Scheckter (IRL)
28. A.J. Foyt IV (IRL)


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