Editor's note: Phoenix International Raceway, which hosted Indy car races from 1964-2005, is celebrating its 50th anniversary season. In that first race, sanctioned by USAC, Parnelli Jones earned the pole and A.J. Foyt won the 100-lap race on March 22. Below, three-time IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. recalls the last Indy car race on the one-mile oval contested on March 19.
There’s an affinity for Phoenix International Raceway shared by Sam Hornish Jr. and hundreds of other race car drivers over the years.
“Phoenix has been a place that has been special to me because I won my first Indy car race there, the last one they had there,” said Hornish, the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship runner-up. “I made my first start in a Nationwide car at Phoenix, my first win in a Nationwide car was at Phoenix, my first Cup start I made there and I got my first Cup top 10 there.”
The IndyCar Series event on March 19, 2005, was the close of the 61-race association between the track and Indy car racing dating to its opening when A.J. Foyt won the inaugural race. Hornish, a two-time series champion who was coming off a runner-up finish in the season opener, won for the second time at Phoenix by holding off Penske teammate Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti of Andretti Green Racing.
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“We were battling Franchitti toward the end of the race and Tony Kanaan drove from 21st to third,” Hornish recalled. “Dario and some others chose to pit and take tires and Helio and I stayed out. I remember that vividly.
“We were able to stretch out our lead, but another yellow came and packed the field back up. The TV pit reporter asked Roger Penske how he felt about Dario having fresh tires and he said, ‘Well, Dario might have tires but we have Hornish.’ That was a pretty good compliment in my eyes.
“On the restart we were able to take advantage and Dario wound up in the marbles, and that allowed Helio to get up there and finish second. To be able to win what turned out to be the final Indy car race was great.”
Other 1-2 Indy car finishes at Phoenix by teammates:
*Gordon Johncock and Wally Dallenbach (Patrick Racing) in 1973
*Gordon Johncock and Steve Krisiloff (Patrick Racing) in 1978
*Tom Sneva and Howdy Holmes (Mayer Racing) in 1984
*Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. (Team Penske) in 1994
*Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran (Team Penske) in 2002
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Hornish said the track was “perfect” for Indy cars.
“I love the old configuration because of how tight it was coming off a corner,” he said. “No matter what you raced there, you were always biting your nails to know if you were going to have enough room to make it coming off the corner near the exit of the wall at Turn 2.
“Once it got that age to it, tires wore out, you had to manage your equipment. There is so much about that tricky little track that you could be really good in one end and had to really carry the car in the other. You were never going to be perfect for both ends. It’s one of my favorite places to race for many reasons, but just the difficulty level of it made it fun.”