INDIANAPOLIS -- The renewed rivalry between Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing has heated up nicely heading into the Indianapolis 500.
Penske driver Helio Castroneves leads the IRL IndyCar Series points standings after winning two of the first three races of the season, and teammate Sam Hornish Jr. has dominated the speed charts at Indianapolis this month, easily winning the pole for Sunday's race, with Castroneves second.
Dan Wheldon, last year's IRL and Indy champion, whom Ganassi plucked from Andretti Green Racing over the winter, won the opener at Homestead and is second in the points. He and his teammate, 2003 series champ Scott Dixon, will start third and fourth.
Wheldon pooh-poohed the team rivalry a bit, saying, "It just happens to be that the Ganassi cars and the Penske cars are the ones up front in these four races."
But the Englishman acknowledges a little friendly rivalry could certainly make the race more interesting.
"I think what's good about these two teams as the top two teams is the respect that both our teams have for one another," Wheldon said. "I think the rivalry is good, but what makes this one pretty special is it's very respectful and it will remain that way."
Team owners Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi have a lot in common.
Both own teams that race in the IRL and in NASCAR, both are former drivers and each of them has had considerable success in business outside of racing.
But, when it comes to the Indianapolis 500, Ganassi can't touch Penske.
Penske Racing heads into the 90th running of the 500 with a record 13 victories. The pole by Hornish also was a record 13th for Penske, and with his drivers starting 1-2, The Captain has had a total of 33 front-row starters -- another number nobody comes close to -- since he first arrived here in 1969.
Penske, a top notch sports car driver before he became a team owner, never drove at Indy, so Ganassi, the fastest rookie in 1982 and a veteran of five Indy races, has an edge there. But, as an owner, he only has one pole (Arie Luyendyk in 1993) and two wins (Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989 and Juan Montoya in 2000).
Another thing the two owners have in common is that both of their teams struggled last year while racing with underpowered Toyota engines that kept them a step behind the IRL's Honda-powered teams.
Now, Toyota is gone - giving its attention in the U.S. to preparing for its entry into NASCAR's Nextel Cup and Busch Series in 2007. Honda is the only engine competing in the IRL this year, giving everyone the same horsepower and allowing the Penske and Ganassi teams to regain their previous status as elite operations.
