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2002 Indy Racing League Series Recap

 

Driver Point Champion - Sam Hornish, Jr. -Panther Racing
Rookie of the Year - Laurent Redon Mi-Jack Conquest Racing

Indy Racing League (IRL) Information
Indy Racing League (IRL) Drver Champion

The 2002 Indy Racing League (IRL) season was one of transition, with many CART teams participating in a partial IRL schedule while retaining "lame duck" status in their original series with their CART engine suppliers Toyota and Honda. On the IRL front, the Infiniti engine was in its "lame duck" year and the General Motors engine was now branded as a Chevrolet rather than an Oldsmobile as that marque was being phased out. Sam Hornish, Jr. won 5 races on his way to his second straight championship ahead of Penske Racing juggernaut Hélio Castroneves who won three races, including a second straight Indy 500.

2002 Indy Racing League Series Races

 

Date
Race
Track
Miles
Type
Winner
3/2/02
Homestead
300
PO
Sam Hornish, Jr.
3/17/02
Phoenix
200
PO
Helio Castroneves
3/24/02
Fontana
400
PO
Sam Hornish, Jr.
4/21/02
Nazareth
225
PO
Scott Sharp
5/26/02
Indianapolis
500
PO
Helio Castroneves
6/8/02
Ft. Worth
300
PO
Jeff Ward
6/16/02
PPIR
225
PO
Gil de Ferran
6/29/02
Richmond
187.5
PO
Sam Hornish, Jr.
7/7/02
Kansas
300
PO
Airton Dar
7/20/02
Nashville
260
CO
Alex Barron
7/28/02
MIS
400
PO
Tomas Scheckter
8/11/02
Kentucky
300
PO
Felipe Giaffone
8/25/02
Gateway
250
PO
Gil de Ferran
9/8/02
Joliet
300
PO
Sam Hornish, Jr.
9/15/02
Ft. Worth
300
PO
Sam Hornish, Jr.

 

2002 Indy Racing League Series Driver Points

 

Rank Driver Points Behind Starts Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10 Winnings
1 Sam Hornish Jr. 531 Leader 15 2 5 11 12 $2,470,615
2 Helio Castroneves 511 -20 15 1 2 12 14 $2,512,965
3 Gil de Ferran 443 -88 14 4 2 10 11 $1,267,715
4 Felipe Giaffone 432 -99 15 0 1 8 12 $1,316,315
5 Alex Barron 366 -165 15 0 1 4 11 $1,119,765
6 Scott Sharp 332 -199 15 0 1 4 9 $943,215
7 Al Unser Jr. 311 -220 13 0 0 4 7 $931,015
8 Buddy Lazier 305 -226 15 0 0 2 7 $900,265
9 Airton Dare 304 -227 15 0 1 2 5 $923,015
10 Eddie Cheever Jr. 280 -251 15 1 0 2 7 $878,465
11 Jeff Ward 268 -263 15 0 1 2 5 $944,015
12 Laurent Redon 229 -302 15 0 0 1 3 $866,015
13 Billy Boat 225 -306 15 1 0 0 4 $847,165
14 Tomas Scheckter 210 -321 12 3 1 2 3 $840,515
15 Richie Hearn 204 -327 10 0 0 1 6 $719,015
16 George Mack 184 -347 15 0 0 0 0 $758,765
17 Robbie Buhl 177 -354 13 0 0 0 2 $735,015
18 Sarah Fisher 161 -370 10 1 0 1 3 $369,965
19 Raul Boesel 158 -373 9 0 0 1 2 $577,015
20 Eliseo Salazar 157 -374 9 0 0 2 2 $362,000
21 Robby McGehee 142 -389 9 0 0 0 1 $242,950
22 Buddy Rice 140 -391 5 0 0 2 4 $226,250
23 Greg Ray 128 -403 11 0 0 0 0 $516,715
24 Tony Renna 121 -410 6 0 0 1 4 $172,100
25 Vitor Meira 96 -435 4 1 0 1 3 $208,750
26 Jaques Lazier 90 -441 4 0 0 1 2 $194,750
27 Shigeaki Hattori 78 -453 6 0 0 0 2 $241,565
28 Rick Treadway 76 -455 8 0 0 0 1 $347,765
29 Mark Dismore 73 -458 6 0 0 0 0 $334,315
30 Anthony Lazzaro 70 -461 4 0 0 0 2 $189,650
31 Jon Herb 70 -461 6 0 0 0 0 $95,250
32 Hideki Noda 54 -477 6 0 0 0 1 $96,900
33 John de Vries 53 -478 4 0 0 0 0 $109,500
34 Paul Tracy 40 -491 1 0 0 1 1 $489,315
35 Will Langhorne 36 -495 3 0 0 0 0 $40,400
36 Dan Wheldon 35 -496 2 0 0 0 1 $35,100
37 Arie Luyendyk 30 -501 2 0 0 0 0 $352,815
38 Michael Andretti 26 -505 1 0 0 0 1 $218,715
39 Robby Gordon 24 -507 1 0 0 0 1 $204,000
40 Jimmy Vasser 23 -508 2 0 0 0 1 $172,415
41 Tyce Carlson 23 -508 2 0 0 0 0 $52,300
42 Kenny Brack 19 -512 1 0 0 0 0 $188,315
43 Max Papis 16 -515 2 0 0 0 0 $185,565
44 Dario Franchitti 11 -520 1 0 0 0 0 $153,565
45 Billy Roe 9 -522 1 0 0 0 0 $10,800
46 Memo Gidley 9 -522 1 0 0 0 0 $32,200
47 Scott Harrington 9 -522 1 0 0 0 0 $10,600
48 Cory Kruseman 4 -527 1 0 0 0 0 $10,000
49 Jeret Schroeder 3 -528 1 0 0 0 0 $10,200
50 Tony Kanaan 2 -529 1 0 0 0 0 $167,665
51 Bruno Junqueira 1 -530 1 1 0 0 0 $282,715