What's happenned to AGR?

[MAX_THRUST]

Ok, having only seen one race this year (StPete), my only knowledge of this years season is via this web site and forum.

But on headlines alone it seems AGR are not packing the punch they did a couple of years ago, when they had Dan, Tony, Dario, Herta racing for them. Now I know Tony is still there, but are the team strugling due to lack of experienced drivers, or has it been down to bad luck, statergy, and so on.

YEs I know Danica has won a race. I'm not trying to bash anyone, but with a four car team you'd expect them to be more dominant as in previous years.

[Shai-Hulud]

Ok, having only seen one race this year (StPete), my only knowledge of this years season is via this web site and forum.

But on headlines alone it seems AGR are not packing the punch they did a couple of years ago, when they had Dan, Tony, Dario, Herta racing for them. Now I know Tony is still there, but are the team strugling due to lack of experienced drivers, or has it been down to bad luck, statergy, and so on.

YEs I know Danica has won a race. I'm not trying to bash anyone, but with a four car team you'd expect them to be more dominant as in previous years.

Wasn't their dominance mainly the result of the Honda factor? When AGR won their championships with Kanaan and Wheldon, Penske and Ganassi still had the disadvantage of the Toyota engines. With everybody running Honda engines, the advantage of certain teams (AGR and, to a lesser extent, RLR, who became dismal from then on) was gone. Even in 2006, when they had the same driver line-up except for Wheldon, the team was a lot less competitive, so I wouldn't say it's necessarily the drivers' fault, although the current drivers are indeed a lot less experienced and that might not be entirely beneficial.

[Chris R]

They used to have 3 or 4 drivers with lots of experience and decent setup skill. Now they appear to only have one. I do not know about Mutoh - but from the various clips on the TV and internet over the past several year it sounds like Danica and Marco are not very good development drivers and often use a teammate's setup..... I have no direct knowledge of this (just putting the pieces I have seen/heard together) so please correct me if someone knows differently...

Also, can't help but notice that sponsorship looks as though it may be weak at AGR these days - perhaps without the Honda factory team $$ and less sponsorship they just do not have the funds to properly run a 4 car team.....

[Shai-Hulud]

Also, can't help but notice that sponsorship looks as though it may be weak at AGR these days - perhaps without the Honda factory team $$ and less sponsorship they just do not have the funds to properly run a 4 car team.....

Good point; sponsorship on the 26 and 27 cars aren't what they used to be. I have been wondering for a while if this sponsorship issue is the reason they hired Mutoh. He's doing quite well, but to me it would have made a lot more sense to choose a more experienced driver and let Mutoh have a couple of years to build up some experience in a lesser team. When it became clear that Dario was leaving the team last year, I was kinda hoping they would hire Vitor, opening up the position at Panther for Mutoh.

[Chris R]

I am also curious as to how good the Motorola sponsorship is - they do not seem to be doing any sort of activation and Danica is an advertising/media dream - you would think that would be a no brainer......

[bones]

AGR has it right. I like that AGR is developing their own talent in-house with Matos. Extending him IRL testing opportunities and putting him in the ALMS seat this weekend is fantastic. Long-term developmental driver relationships look like the way to go.

[Shai-Hulud]

AGR has it right. I like that AGR is developing their own talent in-house with Matos. Extending him IRL testing opportunities and putting him in the ALMS seat this weekend is fantastic. Long-term developmental driver relationships look like the way to go.

Possibly, but then again, who was the last IPS graduate or, generally, rookie to actually deliver? Jeff Simmons only delivered the mechanics a lot of work, Jay Howard hasn't really impressed so far and Alex Lloyd... well okay, he didn't really have a chance to prove himself.

[bblocker68]

The "Danica Factor" is kicking in, lol.

They'll be better when Matos joins the fray.

[icehammer97]

Possibly, but then again, who was the last IPS graduate or, generally, rookie to actually deliver? Jeff Simmons only delivered the mechanics a lot of work, Jay Howard hasn't really impressed so far and Alex Lloyd... well okay, he didn't really have a chance to prove himself.

Yes but when was the last time a rookie had a decent ride? Marco drove in the IPS and won a race his rookie year. The Indy Lights has undergone many name changes. It used to be IPS and before that it was also called Indy lights and had champions like Scott Dixion (2000), Servia (1999), Da Matta (1998), Kannan (1997), Greg Moore (1995), Bryan Herta (1993), and Paul Tracy (1990). When the name changed in 2002 the talent left. It is starting to come back now. Drivers like Matos (the 2007 Atlantic champion), the Sam Schmidt teammates, and Battistini are better drivers then guys who won a championship such as Mark Taylor and Thiago Medeiros.

[nigelred5]

Yes but when was the last time a rookie had a decent ride? Marco drove in the IPS and won a race his rookie year. The Indy Lights has undergone many name changes. It used to be IPS and before that it was also called Indy lights and had champions like Scott Dixion (2000), Servia (1999), Da Matta (1998), Kannan (1997), Greg Moore (1995), Bryan Herta (1993), and Paul Tracy (1990). When the name changed in 2002 the talent left. It is starting to come back now. Drivers like Matos (the 2007 Atlantic champion), the Sam Schmidt teammates, and Battistini are better drivers then guys who won a championship such as Mark Taylor and Thiago Medeiros.


Yeah, they were all graduates of the CART ladder to Champcars but the current Indy lights has zero connection to the current Indy lights series other than name. just like the merger, give it time, and eventually drivers will move up from the ladder series.

[weeflyonthewall]

Good point; sponsorship on the 26 and 27 cars aren't what they used to be. I have been wondering for a while if this sponsorship issue is the reason they hired Mutoh.

Wasn't this a topic of subsidized sponsorship argued during the OW civil war? A certain oval based series was known to be offering a very good deal for team title sponsors. Now we can see just how true that so-called speculation was. When budgets are tight, resources are normally reduced which usually reflects on a team/drivers performance and results.

[weeflyonthewall]

Yes but when was the last time a rookie had a decent ride? Marco drove in the IPS and won a race his rookie year. The Indy Lights has undergone many name changes. It used to be IPS and before that it was also called Indy lights and had champions like Scott Dixion (2000), Servia (1999), Da Matta (1998), Kannan (1997), Greg Moore (1995), Bryan Herta (1993), and Paul Tracy (1990). When the name changed in 2002 the talent left. It is starting to come back now. Drivers like Matos (the 2007 Atlantic champion), the Sam Schmidt teammates, and Battistini are better drivers then guys who won a championship such as Mark Taylor and Thiago Medeiros.

IIRC, the original support series ARS which became Dayton Indy Lights was run by Steve and Pat Patrick. When CART shut down the series in 2001 due to financial difficulties, series manager Roger Bailey proposed the IPS concept to TG. It became a natural home for the Infiniti engines, a slight improvement over the old Buick V6's which lasted years beyond their effectiveness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indy_Lights

[NickFalzone]

You can break it down into AGR isn't doing this, or is doing that, or sponsorship, or whatever. But the only difference I see is Mutoh instead of Dario. Dario was great at car setups and he and Kanaan would make significant improvements on the car before race day. But that hasn't made a huge difference on results. Danicas running about the same, TK about the same, Marco about the same, and Mutoh decently but he's a rookie. So as individual drivers they're about where they were last season. If Dario was here would they be doing better? Maybe. But I would not say they're in a slump by any means.

[pits4me]

Ganassi and Penske are showing their experience in the pits and behind the wheel. Dario was more than just a shoe for AGR. Same goes for Herta. That's a lot of responsibility on Kanaan's shoulders. The other three combined are no match for Dario's expertise. AGR reaps what they sow.

[Old3Fan]

Kanaan is a great driver and team person, Marko needs to be sent back to a lower level to learn how to drive as he sure doesn't have it, Danika is a mid to 3/4 level talent especially when all the X Cart teams get up to speed, and the new guy Mutah shows promise. Originally the team was top notch across the board in talent and equipment but last year and in particular this year is just not up to snuff.

[MDS]

There has been a brain drain at AGR on and off the track. When they had Bryan, Dario and Tony all working on setups they fed off each other. Now, the team feeds off of Tony and with some help from Marco and Dannica to a much lesser extent than the other three veterans. From what I hear Hedki's not bad at setups, but he's just not experienced enough to be much help. In a few years he might be the best one there.

Some of their engineering department has been pilfered by KVRT and NHL and there have been some retirements there too.

Also add into the fact that Danica is an average driver, Hedki is a rookie and Marco propensity to find other cars and crash into them, that creates a lot of work for the crew and you have a recipe for mid-pack performance.

I thought, and still think today, that NHL will probably end up with as many or more wins than AGR

[MAX_THRUST]

Thanks guys....

[The instant classic]

i think what happen to AGR is what TK said once, "they never had any prob when it was me dario Herta on team AGR, but now TK is the only one left on that team and marco and danica are more out there for themselfs and not really team players