Photo by Art Landino

by Chuck Givler
Sunday August 31, 2008, 7:49 PM

Justin Wilson, of England, heads through a turn on the way to winning the IndyCar Series' Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix auto race. It was Roger Penske's party Sunday at the Raceway at Belle Isle. The Detroit Grand Prix was his baby.

Penske resurrected Indy car racing on the Isle, spruced up the sagging facility, brought in mega buck sponsors and created excitement in a city that desperately needs the boost.

With Penske Racing's star driver Helio Castroneves looking to score a win and close in on IndyCar Series point leader Scott Dixon, Penske's storybook ending was ruined by an official's call late in the race.

In what was refreshing in an era when so often it's heard that officials should "swallow the whistle" or not make a call that affects the result down the stretch, IRL officials did the correct thing on Sunday.

Castroneves had the lead but was obviously blocking Justin Wilson. Blocking is not allowed. With Dixon running fifth at Detroit with only one race to go, the Castroneves team drove a desperate race.

Castroneves got one warning for blocking. When he continued to clog the track screening Wilson's McDonald's Honda, race director Brian Barnhardt radioed him to move over or incur a penalty. Castroneves gave ground.

Wilson moved on to win the race shortened from its planned 90 laps to 87 by a TV time constraint. Castroneves took second and got bonus points for leading the most laps.

Dixon came home fifth and left Belle Isle for Chicagoland with a 32 lead in the standings over Team Penske's driver.

The IRL has assessed blocking penalties before, but never to the leader. Although some traditionalists on hand argued that the only way a driver should take the lead in any race is on the track no matter what, Barnhardt's decision was the right one.

It certainly enhance the IRL's chops, when the biggest gun of all - Penske on his Detroit playground - gets the same "whistle" as any other team.

The win by Wilson, one of the drivers who came over to the IRL when Champ Car went out of existence, was a big one for his team's owners. Wilson drives for the storied Newman-Haas Racing team, which came to the IRL this year with a record of 105 wins and eight titles, including by five different drivers.



The Express-Times area's Mario and Michael Andretti won championships driving for the NHR, owned by Carl Haas, and movie star Paul Newman, who is currently ailing.

Wilson won four races when the team raced in Champ Car. He brushed off the suggestion that he should have backed off so not to involve himself in the chase for the 2008 title.

"I'm not here at this point trying to win a championship," Wilson said. "I'm here to win a race and that's what I did."

Before Sunday, Wilson's only podium finish was third at Edmonton.
Castroneves did not deny he was blocking. But he groused that he was due a Mulligan.

"I thought I'd get more than one bite of the apple," said winless Castroneves, who recorded his eighth second-place finish of the season.

"I've been in this series since 2002, and never got in a situation like this," Castroneves said. "We always had a warning. All of a sudden I didn't get any warning. It was, 'Move over, or you're going to be black-flagged.' It was uncalled for."

Barnhardt said, "Unfortunately you have to call it like you see it. We want to race clean and fair and we need to call them like we see them."

If the foul hadn't been called and Castroneves had held off Wilson, which is a big IF, he would be seven points closer to Dixon.

TONY KANAAN SAVES THE DAY FOR TEAM ANDRETTI: Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan ran a solid if not spectacular race, finishing third. That cemented Kanaan third in the standings, but he's out of title contention.

Marco Andretti of Bushkill Township, Danica Patrick and rookie Hedeki Mutoh finished out of the top 10. Mechanical problems ended Andretti's day early (81 laps) and in 18th place. That left the Notre Dame High grad eighth in the standings going into the last race.

Patrick had two on-track brushes and wound up 16th, a lap down. Mutoh was 11th. The 21-year-old grandson of racing great Mario Andretti said the day was a complete downer.

"We've had terrible luck at this place. This was just a disappointing weekend for us," Andretti said. "We lost second gear near the end and that ended our day."

A GREAT DAY FOR A RACE: The raceway is located on Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, separating Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Once the site of bustlng yacht and boat clubs and a popular gathering place, the island had fallen in disrepair in recent years.

Motorsports and business giant Penske helped revive the island for the first Detroit Grand Prix last year. For the Motor City, the Grand Prix, along with the 29th Detroit Jazz Fest over the weekend, offered a welcome respite from gloomy news about the auto industry and the city's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's legal woes.

A crowd estimated at about 40,000 attended the race, held in bright sunshine. For a complete picture of the Detroit Grand Prix with the race and a wide range of event sidelights and other Motown news try the website tellusdetroit.com.

GRAND PRIX ODDS AND ENDS: In what was the best day of the season for Champ Car transition drivers, Justin Wilson won, Orio Servia was 4th, Bruno Junquera 7th, Will Power 8th, and Graham Rahal 13th...Second-place finisher Helio Castroneves led the most laps (53) to claim 3 bonus points... Canadian driver Marty Roth never made it to the starting line. After having a number of spins in practice Friday and Saturday, Roth withdrew to race day....Next week's Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., is the final point race of the year. The last race is a non-point affair in late October at Surfers Paradise, Australia.