Scheckter, Hunter-Reay Weigh In On Series’ New Dual Championships

The Indy Racing League announced this week that in addition to the series overall championship, it will recognize both an oval and a road/street champion. 

The decision reflects the league's desire to differentiate itself from other forms of auto racing while creating storylines and momentum around the drivers.  Explaining this new development, IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernand shared the seed that blossomed into this week's announcement:  “What hit me square in the head is that we have the fastest and most versatile race car and drivers in the world--and no one can deny that--and now we have to show why we’re the fastest and most versatile.”

Tomas Scheckter, who recently announced that he would be back for this year’s Indianapolis 500 driving for Dreyer & Reinbold in the MonaVie-sponsored car, believes the league has the right mix of short and big ovals, super speedways, street circuits and road courses to highlight that versatility.  He recalled his earlier years in the series, when competition was mostly on ovals, and contends that “the person who wins the [series] championship at the end of the year will be the most complete driver.”

Scoring for the dual championships will be retroactive to the first race of the season with the road/street championship concluding on August 22 in Sonoma, California at Infineon Raceway and the oval championship ending on September 19 when the series heads over the Pacific to Twin Ring Montegi (Japan).

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who won the series' last race before a crowd of 180,000 in Long Beach, considers highlighting two different displicines of racing in one series to be a positive move by the IRL, but doesn’t expect the newly-created championships to change a driver's primary goal.

Rather, he views them as “kind of a side note” and stressed that “what really matters is winning the Indy 500 and the series championship.”

Robyn Lynne Schechter