Rookie of the year?

[Down F0rce]

Not only do we have five guys fighting it out for the championship, we have two very promising rookies fighting it out for the Rookie of the Year Award. And so...In the Red corner, it's AGR's Dan Wheldon...and in the blue corner, Super Aguri Fernandez Racing's Rodger Yazukawa....


Dan Wheldon
I've been very impressed with Dan this year. Coming into a top team with (at the time) three very experienced team mates in Tony Kanaan, Michael Andretti and Dario Franchitti with only two career starts to your name must haven been a daunting prospect. He was thrown in right at the deep end when he was called up to sub for Dario at Motegi, and he managed to finish a very respectable seventh. He was also very good at Indy, untill that rookie error that lead to a very spectacular accident...after that, he had a pretty quiet year but has bounced back with top tens, top fives and has even threatened the podium on occaison. Certanly a star for the future...I'm sure that he'll win a race next year...if not at Texas. Hey, anything can happen.

Rodger Yasukawa
Until this year, I hadn't actually heard of Rodger. This year has been pretty quiet for him - apart from a few accidents, we havent seen a whole lot of him. But he's been giving consistent results, and if his performance at Chicagoland is anything to go by, he's certainly got what it takes to be a race winner. I think that perhaps he could benefit from a teammate, preferably a veteran. This was his first year after all, and this team he was with is also pretty new, at least to IndyCars. Still, I think we'll be seeing a lot of Rodger in the years to come.

Personally, I'd like to see Dan win it. On the whole, I think that he's done a better job then Rodger (not to disrespect Rodger, of course) despite his rookie mistakes, he's matured into a very good racing driver.

Who do you think is gonna win?

[Raven]

What about Scott Dixon?

[BootsOntheSide]

Driver's who've competed in CART don't count as rookies. Which is only fair - Rookie Of the Year is for young newcomers who've been handed a great chance to madke a name for themselves, not guys who've switched from the other strong series.

Dan missed the first 2 races of course, and would've taken teh honours if he'd've started them. Then again, he's been in a much stronger team.

Still, I think Dan's the deserving winner, and a better driver than Rodger / Roger (not quite sure how you spell that one) and ultimately Rodger / Roger got the drive because he was the only Asian-American in contention, as Hodna wanted someone to market for both those territories. Both should be featuring strongly in years to come though.

[macdaddy]

Nigel Mansell was listed as a "rookie" champion in 93.
They list any Speedway freshman as a "rookie".
So why not Dixon?

[BootsOntheSide]

You've answered your own question there mac. Mansellw as new to the ovals and sueprspeedways. Wheldon and Yasukawa hadn't previously driven them in anythign vaguely close to IRl speed cars, wehreas Dixona dn Kanaan ahd.

[marcus]

tough call , Ive been impressed with both of them to an extent.

Wheldon had some problems to start the year with accidents and such but has really come on strong lately and been very impressive , just shows how much a driver can improve over a course of a year.

Yasukawa has been steady all year really , had some good results and some accidents but thats to be expected.

I guess im gonna go for Roger on this one due to the fact his team may not be as well funded as the Andretti team.

but both have performed well this year.

[marcus]

gee and I see im the only one who has voted for Roger so far

[Jordi]

Is there an option for Roger Yasukawa instead of Rodger Yazukawa? :P Just joking Down...

[Down F0rce]

There is now

[Jordi]

Where?

BTW... Isn't Super Aguri Fernandez Racing a funny name? No disrespect, but I like the Super part of it...