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2005 IndyCar season
2005 IndyCar season
IndyCar Series
Season
Races	17
Start date	March 6
End date	October 16
Awards
Drivers' champion	Dan Wheldon
Manufacturers' Cup	Honda
Rookie of the Year	Danica Patrick
Indianapolis 500 winner	Dan Wheldon
	← 2004 2006 →

Dan Wheldon (pictured in 2007) won his first Indianapolis 500 and Drivers' Championship, driving for Andretti Green Racing

The 2005 IRL IndyCar Series began on Sunday, March 6 and ended on Sunday, October 16. The season, which consisted of 17 races, was the 10th season of the IRL IndyCar Series since it split from CART in 1995.

Dan Wheldon was the dominant driver in the series in 2005, winning six races, including the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500, setting the record for most victories in an IRL season. However, the big story of the season was that of Rahal Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick, the fourth woman to compete in the Indy 500 and the first to lead a lap. She would eventually wind up in fourth. Danica's presence was a boost to the IRL's television ratings. The Indy 500's ratings were up 40% from the year before and subsequent races also saw a boost in ratings. Dan Wheldon was also became the first IndyCar driver to won the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series overall driver's title respectively in the same season since Jacques Villeneuve in 1995 PPG IndyCar World Series season and also first ever in the Indy Racing League era.

The season was the first ever to introduce road courses and street circuits when the series held races at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International, where the series was previously known to have held events exclusively on oval tracks. Wheldon also became the series' first road/street course winner when he won in St. Petersburg.

The season was also the last for Chevrolet in the series, who confirmed in August that they would not return to the IRL (Chevrolet returned in 2012). At the start of the season, only Panther Racing's Tomas Scheckter and Tomáš Enge raced Chevrolet powered cars (although A. J. Foyt IV also started racing for Chevy beginning with the AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300 at Kentucky). The manufacturer situation within the IRL was the hot issue during the second half of the season and continued into the off-season. Toyota announced that they would leave the series shortly after the 2005 season ended, leaving Honda as the only remaining manufacturer in the IRL. Honda extended their engine supply contract through 2009 despite expressly saying that they did not wish to be the IRL's only supplier. The IRL announced that they extended their chassis supply contract with Panoz and Dallara through 2006.

Rule changes for 2005

A mandated switch to the single-point re-fueling systems used by some teams in 2004. The IRL only approved one type of fueling probe and buckeye, and these only work as a single-point system. In the approved system, two hoses coming from the storage tank combined at the fueling mechanism handled by the fueler. The crew member previously responsible for the operation of the vent and jack was now free to operate only the jack.
Cars raced on all ovals in the same configuration introduced at the 88th Indianapolis 500 in May 2004 with minimal aerodynamic changes. The changes were limited to specified areas of the underwing and sidepods. The IRL required teams to use the same engine cover as last year without modification.
Defending champion Tony Kanaan finished second in the championship.
Teams were allowed to change engines prior to qualifying without penalty at the following events, which were scheduled to be three-day events: Homestead, St. Petersburg, Motegi, Texas, Milwaukee, Infineon, Watkins Glen and California.
The amount of methanol teams may have in their trackside tanks was changed. Teams were allowed to carry 85 gallons for 187.5-mile races, 90 gallons for 200-mile events, 100 gallons for 225-mile events, 125 gallons for 260-mile races, 135 gallons for 300-mile events, 175 gallons for 400-mile events and 225 gallons for 500-mile events.
The mandatory minimum weight of cars was 1,600 pounds, 75 pounds heavier than the oval minimum weight. The additional weight was attributed to the brake system, which consisted of an aluminum brake caliper, steel rotor and pad as specified by the IRL, as well as the limited slip differential in the gearbox.

Confirmed entries

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Rounds
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Dallara Panoz^{[N 1]}	Toyota Chevrolet^{[N 2]}	14	A. J. Foyt IV	1–13, 15, 17
			14	Jeff Bucknum (R)	14, 16
			41	Larry Foyt (R)	5
			48	Felipe Giaffone^{[N 3]}	5
Aguri-Fernández Racing Delphi Fernández Racing	Panoz	Honda	5	Adrián Fernández	5
			8	Scott Sharp	All
			55	Kosuke Matsuura	All
Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	7	Bryan Herta	All
			11	Tony Kanaan	All
			26	Dan Wheldon	All
			27	Dario Franchitti	All
Cheever Racing	Dallara	Toyota	51	Alex Barron	All
Cheever Racing	Dallara	Toyota	83	Patrick Carpentier	All
CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports	Dallara	Chevrolet	98	Arie Luyendyk Jr. (R)	5
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dallara	Honda	24	Roger Yasukawa	All
			44	Jeff Bucknum (R)	4–5
			44	Thiago Medeiros (R)	17
Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Toyota	91	Paul Dana (R)	1–2, 4
Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Toyota	91	Jimmy Kite	5–13, 15, 17
Marlboro Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	3	Hélio Castroneves	All
Marlboro Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	6	Sam Hornish Jr.	All
Newman/Haas Racing	Panoz	Honda	36	Bruno Junqueira	5
Newman/Haas Racing	Panoz	Honda	37	Sébastien Bourdais	5
Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	2	Tomáš Enge (R)	1–9, 12–17
				Buddy Lazier	10
				Townsend Bell	11
			4	Tomas Scheckter	All
			95	Buddy Lazier	5, 9, 11–12, 15
Playa del Racing	Panoz	Toyota	21	Jaques Lazier	5
Rahal Letterman Racing	Panoz	Honda	15	Buddy Rice	1–4, 6–17
			15	Kenny Bräck	5
			16	Danica Patrick (R)	All
			17	Vítor Meira	All
Roth Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	25	Marty Roth (R)	5
Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Panoz	Chevrolet	70	Richie Hearn	5
Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Toyota	9	Scott Dixon	4
	Panoz		9	Scott Dixon	1–3, 5–17
			10	Darren Manning	1–10
				Jaques Lazier	11–13, 15, 17
				Giorgio Pantano (R)	14, 16
			33	Ryan Briscoe (R)	1–15
Vision Racing	Dallara	Toyota	20	Ed Carpenter	All
Vision Racing	Dallara	Toyota	22	Jeff Ward	5

Schedule

Rnd	Race Name	Track	Location	Date
1	Toyota Indy 300	O Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida	March 6
2	XM Satellite Radio Indy 200	O Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona	March 19
3	Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg	S Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	April 3
4	Indy Japan 300	O Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan	April 30
5	89th Indianapolis 500	O Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	May 29
6	Bombardier Learjet 500	O Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas	June 11
7	SunTrust Indy Challenge	O Richmond International Raceway	Richmond, Virginia	June 25
8	Argent Mortgage Indy 300	O Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas	July 3
9	Firestone Indy 200	O Nashville Superspeedway	Lebanon, Tennessee	July 16
10	ABC Supply Company A. J. Foyt 225	O The Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	July 24
11	Firestone Indy 400	O Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	July 31
12	AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300	O Kentucky Speedway	Sparta, Kentucky	August 14
13	Honda Indy 225	O Pikes Peak International Raceway	Fountain, Colorado	August 21
14	Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix	R Infineon Raceway	Sonoma, California	August 28
15	Peak Antifreeze Indy 300	O Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois	September 11
16	Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix	R Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	September 25
17	Toyota Indy 400	O California Speedway	Fontana, California	October 16
Source:^[1]

O Oval/Speedway
R Road course
S Street circuit

Results

Rd.	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Race winner
Rd.	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine
1	Homestead	Tomas Scheckter	Buddy Rice	Dan Wheldon	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
2	Phoenix	Bryan Herta	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon	Sam Hornish Jr.	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota
3	St. Petersburg	Bryan Herta	Dario Franchitti	Ryan Briscoe	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
4	Motegi	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dan Wheldon	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
5	Indianapolis	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
6	Texas	Tomas Scheckter	Tomáš Enge	Tomas Scheckter	Tomas Scheckter	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet
7	Richmond	Sam Hornish Jr.	Kosuke Matsuura	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota
8	Kansas	Danica Patrick	Ryan Briscoe	Dan Wheldon	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
9	Nashville	Tomas Scheckter	Scott Sharp	Tony Kanaan	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
10	Milwaukee	Sam Hornish Jr.	Tomas Scheckter	Sam Hornish Jr.	Sam Hornish Jr.	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota
11	Michigan	Bryan Herta	Townsend Bell	Bryan Herta	Bryan Herta	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
12	Kentucky	Danica Patrick	Danica Patrick	Dan Wheldon	Scott Sharp	Fernández Racing	Panoz	Honda
13	Pikes Peak	Hélio Castroneves	Dario Franchitti	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
14	Sonoma	Ryan Briscoe	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
15	Chicagoland	Danica Patrick	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda
16	Watkins Glen	Hélio Castroneves	Scott Dixon	Scott Dixon	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Panoz	Toyota
17	California	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon	Tomas Scheckter	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda

Race summaries

Toyota Indy 300

On March 6, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dan Wheldon led 158 of 200 laps to get the victory. Tomas Scheckter sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

XM Satellite Radio Indy 200

On March 19, at Phoenix International Raceway, Sam Hornish Jr. won his first race of the season. Bryan Herta sat on the pole. This would be the last time IndyCar would compete at Phoenix until the race was revived in 2016.

Top Ten Results

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

On April 3, the Honda Grand Prix on the Streets of St. Petersburg (Florida) marked the first non-oval event for the IndyCar Series. Dan Wheldon won his second race of the year. Bryan Herta sat on the pole. Andretti Green Racing drivers swept the top 4 finishing positions.

Top Ten Results

Indy Japan 300

On April 30, at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan, Dan Wheldon won his third race of the season. Sam Hornish Jr. sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

89th Indianapolis 500

On May 29, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Dan Wheldon won his first Indy 500 and his fourth race of the season. However, the focus of the race was on Danica Patrick who led 19 laps, the first time a woman has ever led a lap at Indy. Tony Kanaan sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

Bombardier Learjet 500

On June 11, at Texas Motor Speedway, Tomas Scheckter won his first race of the season, sitting on the pole and leading for 119 of 200 laps. This was the last victory for Chevrolet engine in the series before the temporary withdrawal until 2011.

Top Ten Results

SunTrust Indy Challenge

On June 25, at Richmond International Raceway, Hélio Castroneves won his first race of the season. Sam Hornish Jr. sat on the pole.

Top Ten Results

Argent Mortgage Indy 300

On July 3, at Kansas Speedway, Tony Kanaan won by a fraction of a second over Dan Wheldon and Vítor Meira. Danica Patrick won her first career IndyCar Series pole.

Top Ten Results

Firestone Indy 200

On July 16 at Nashville Superspeedway, Dario Franchitti won, leading 74 of 200 laps. Tomas Scheckter sat on the pole. Tomas Enge fractured his back in a lap 27 crash in turn 1 and would miss the next 2 races.

Top Ten Results

ABC Supply Company A. J. Foyt 225

On July 24 at The Milwaukee Mile, Sam Hornish Jr. won from the pole, leading 123 of 225 laps.

Top Ten Results

Firestone Indy 400

On July 31 at Michigan International Speedway, Bryan Herta won from the pole, leading 159 of 200 laps.

Top Ten Results

AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300

On August 14 at Kentucky Speedway, Scott Sharp won for the first time since 2003 at Twin Ring Motegi, holding off Vítor Meira for the last laps to win. Danica Patrick sat on the pole for the second time in the season after rain washed out qualifying and the starting grid was determined by the fastest times in practice. Tomas Enge returned from injury to finish 11th.

Top Ten Results

Honda Indy 225

On August 21 at Pikes Peak International Raceway, Penske Racing teammates Hélio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. started 1–2. Dan Wheldon won his fifth race of the season, tying Sam Hornish Jr.'s record for most victories in a season. This was the final IRL race at PPIR as the track was sold to International Speedway Corporation for intent to be shut down as ISC looked for a new Denver-area circuit, but plans failed and the track was sold for testing but cannot be used for competition per ISC regulation.

Top Ten Results

Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix

On August 28 at the circuit's inaugural race at Infineon Raceway, Tony Kanaan won the race, taking the lead on lap 52 from points leader Dan Wheldon, who was hampered by fuel problems all day and finished out of the race in 18th. Ryan Briscoe sat on the pole, but caused a three-car accident on lap 20 that also eliminated Hélio Castroneves and Danica Patrick from the race.

Top Ten Results

Peak Antifreeze Indy 300

On September 11 at Chicagoland Speedway, Dan Wheldon won his sixth race, breaking the all-time record for most wins in an IRL season. Ryan Briscoe originally won the pole but was disqualified for a technical infraction and sent to the back of the grid. The pole winner after this became Danica Patrick for her third (and final) IndyCar pole. Briscoe's weekend got significantly worse as he was involved in a fiery crash with Alex Barron on lap 20. Briscoe was taken by helicopter to a Chicago-area hospital with head and back pain, but was alert. He suffered a concussion, two broken collarbones, a bruised lung and contusions to his arms and legs. The accident resulted in a 16-minute red flag.

Top Ten Results

Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix

On September 25 at Watkins Glen International, Scott Dixon won his first race since his 2003 IndyCar Series Championship season. Hélio Castroneves sat on the pole. This was the first major open-wheel race at Watkins Glen since 1981 and Dixon's first road course victory. As of 2024, this was the final IndyCar Series victory for Toyota engine to date.

Top Ten Results

Toyota Indy 400

On October 16 at California Speedway, Dario Franchitti won his second race of the year over Tony Kanaan by 0.111 s. Chevrolet powered cars finished 7th and 8th in their final IRL race while Toyota powered cars had a best finish of 5th in theirs. IndyCar would not return to this track until 2012.

Top Ten Results

Points standings

Pos	Driver	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RCH	KAN	NSH	MIL	MCH	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	Pts
1	Dan Wheldon	1*	6*	1	1	1	6	5	2*	21	5	2	3*	1	18	1*	5	6	628
2	Tony Kanaan	3	3	2	6	8	3	19	1	19*	4	4	20	3	1*	5	2	2	548
3	Sam Hornish Jr.	2	1	15	7	23*	2	18	12	2	1*	5	7	2*	17	3	7	5	512
4	Dario Franchitti	22	4	3	17*	6	8	2	4	1	2	8	18	7	8	12	3	1	498
5	Scott Sharp	13	5	18	2	7	4	17	6	4	10	7	1	9	12	8	9	4	444
6	Hélio Castroneves	5	2	20	11	9	5	1*	8	5	16	21	5	4	21	2	12	9	440
7	Vítor Meira	4	11	5	15	2	9	20	3	16	9	14	2	5	9	7	18	3	422
8	Bryan Herta	14	7	4	5	3	10	8	15	22	6	1*	19	12	13	14	8	11	397
9	Tomas Scheckter	11	17	17	10	20	1*	4	5	17	3	3	21	14	16	4	20	7*	390
10	Patrick Carpentier	7	9	8	13	21	16	3	14	3	7	9	12	10	4	9	10	15	376
11	Alex Barron	8	13	10	19	13	14	6	13	15	8	11	4	18	3	21	17	14	329
12	Danica Patrick RY	15	15	12	4	4	13	10	9	7	19	20	16	8	20	6	16	18	325
13	Scott Dixon	16	12	6	21	24	11	22	18	6	13	19	23	16	7	19	1*	10	321
14	Kosuke Matsuura	12	10	13	9	17	7	9	20	14	11	16	8	13	6	23	6	19	320
15	Buddy Rice	19	22	7	3	Wth	21	11	10	18	17	22	14	11	2	13	19	12	295
16	Tomáš Enge R	21	20	16	DNS	19	19	7	11	23			11	6	5	20	13	8	261
17	Roger Yasukawa	17	18	11	18	18	15	16	22	11	15	18	17	15	11	15	15	16	246
18	Ed Carpenter	18	16	19	16	11	20	12	17	10	12	23	22	19	15	17	14	20	244
19	Ryan Briscoe R	20	19	14*	12	10	12	21	21	8	Wth	10	13	20	19	22			232
20	A. J. Foyt IV	9	14	21	14	28	18	14	16	12	21	12	9	21		11		21	231
21	Darren Manning	6	8	9	8	29	17	15	7	20	20								186
22	Jimmy Kite					32	22	13	19	13	14	13	10	17		18		13	163
23	Buddy Lazier					5				9	18	6	6			10			140
24	Jaques Lazier					16						17	15	Wth		16		17	81
25	Jeff Bucknum R				22	22									10		11		63
26	Giorgio Pantano R														14		4		48
27	Paul Dana R	10	21		20	Wth													44
28	Sébastien Bourdais					12													18
29	Adrián Fernández					14													16
30	Townsend Bell											15							15
31	Felipe Giaffone					15													15
32	Thiago Medeiros R																	Wth	12
33	Richie Hearn					25													10
34	Kenny Bräck					26													10
35	Jeff Ward					27													10
36	Bruno Junqueira					30													10
37	Marty Roth R					31													10
38	Larry Foyt R					33													10
—	Arie Luyendyk Jr. R					DNQ													0
—	Scott Mayer R					Wth													0
Pos	Driver	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PIK	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	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 (Ret)
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
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps (3 points)
DNS	Any driver who qualifies but does not start (DNS), earns all the points had they taken part.
RY Rookie of the Year
R Rookie

Ties in points broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., and then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.