The 2004 IRL IndyCar Series was the ninth season of the IRL IndyCar Series, a motor racing series recognized by its sanctioning body, the Indy Racing League (IRL), as a top-level American open-wheel car racing formula. It encompassed the 93rd national open-wheel championship season with the rival Champ Car World Series' 2004 season. Teams and drivers contested 16 races, beginning at Homestead on February 29 and ending at Texas on October 17, as they competed for the Drivers', Entrants', Engine Manufacturers', and Chassis Manufacturers' Championships. It was the last season of the series that solely featured oval tracks before road courses and street circuits were added beginning in the 2005 season.
The season was dominated by cars with engines supplied by Honda, which won fourteen consecutive races and claimed its first Engine Manufacturers' Championship at the Belterra Casino Indy 300. Andretti Green Racing was the best of the Honda teams, winning half of the season's races, as their driver Tony Kanaan maintained consistent race performances to clinch his only Drivers' Championship at the Toyota Indy 400. He completed all 3,305 laps in the season, the first driver to do so in top-level motor racing. Buddy Rice, who initially served as a temporary stand-in for the injured Kenny Bräck at Rahal Letterman Racing, enjoyed a breakthrough season, winning the 88th Indianapolis 500 and two other races to finish a career-best third in the championship. Kosuke Matsuura won the Rookie of the Year title.
Honda's advantage over fellow engine manufacturers Chevrolet and Toyota left previously successful teams such as Panther Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing winless. Scott Dixon—a driver of the latter team—entered the season as the reigning champion, but endured what he later described as a "dreadful year", failing to win any races and finishing tenth in the championship standings. It was Dixon's final season in American open-wheel car racing without a victory until 2026.
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 2004 IRL IndyCar Series. All teams competed with tires supplied by Firestone. TeamChassisEngineDriverA. J. Foyt EnterprisesDallaraToyota14 A. J. Foyt IVAllG-Force41 Larry Foyt 4Access MotorsportsG-ForceHonda13 Greg Ray1–6 Mark Taylor 8–16Andretti Green RacingDallaraHonda7 Bryan HertaAll11 Tony KanaanAll26 Dan WheldonAll27 Dario FranchittiAllRed Bull Cheever RacingDallaraChevrolet51 Alex BarronAll52 Ed Carpenter AllTarget Chip Ganassi RacingG-ForceToyota 1 Scott Dixon All10 Darren Manning 1–15CURB/Agajanian/Beck MotorsportsDallaraChevrolet98 P. J. Jones4Dreyer & Reinbold RacingDallaraChevrolet24 Robbie Buhl1–3 Felipe Giaffone4–16Dreyer & Reinbold/Hemelgarn Racing91 Buddy Lazier4 Fernández Racing G-Force Honda5 Adrián Fernández2–16 Super Aguri Fernández Racing55 Kosuke Matsuura AllKelley RacingDallaraToyota8 Scott SharpAll39 Sarah Fisher4Pioneer Mo Nunn RacingDallaraToyota12 Toranosuke TakagiAll21 Jeff Simmons 4Newman/Haas RacingG-ForceHonda36 Bruno Junqueira4Panther RacingDallaraChevrolet2 Mark Taylor 1–6 Townsend Bell7–164 Tomas ScheckterAllPatrick RacingDallaraChevrolet20 Al Unser Jr.4–6 Jeff Simmons 7 Jaques Lazier8–14 Tomáš Enge 15–16PDM RacingDallaraChevrolet18 Robby McGehee4Rahal Letterman RacingG-ForceHonda 15 Buddy Rice All16 Roger Yasukawa 3–4 17 Vítor Meira 3–16Robby Gordon MotorsportsDallaraChevrolet 70 Robby Gordon 4 Jaques LazierRoth RacingDallaraToyota 25 Marty Roth 4Sam Schmidt MotorsportsG-ForceToyota33 Richie Hearn4Marlboro Team PenskeDallaraToyota3 Hélio CastronevesAll6 Sam Hornish Jr.All Sources: Key Symbol Meaning Eligible for Rookie of the Year
Team changes All teams that competed in the 2003 season returned for 2004 with the exception of Team Menard, which merged with Panther Racing. As a result, Cheever Racing lost their research and development program, but later gained a technical partnership with former Formula One engine builder Mecachrome. During the offseason, Fernández Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing switched their chassis supplier from Dallara to G-Force, while Mo Nunn Racing shifted to Dallara, having run their chassis in two races from the previous season.
Driver changes
Former Champ Car World Series (CCWS) champion Gil de Ferran previously indicated that he would continue racing in 2004, but following two severe crashes and a victory in the 2003 Indianapolis 500, he decided to retire at the end of the 2003 season. His replacement was Sam Hornish Jr., a two-time IndyCar Series champion (2001, 2002) who became the series' winningest driver by earning his ninth career victory at Kentucky Speedway in 2003. Tomas Scheckter thus took the vacant seat at Panther Racing and was teamed with 2003 Infiniti Pro Series champion Mark Taylor. Tony Renna signed with Chip Ganassi Racing to replace Scheckter for 2004, but following his death in a testing crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 21, 2003, Darren Manning drove for the team instead. Though Manning had never raced in the IndyCar Series before, his prior oval track racing experience in the CCWS made him ineligible to win the Rookie of the Year title. Manning's teammate and reigning series champion Scott Dixon changed his car number to 1.
Buddy Rice was named as the replacement for Rahal Letterman Racing driver Kenny Bräck, who suffered serious injuries in a crash during the 2003 Chevy 500. Rice was originally intended to be a temporary substitute, but he finished the season with the team as it became clear that Bräck was not yet ready to return to the IndyCar Series. Cheever Racing retained Alex Barron, who was hired by the team to replace Rice for the final three rounds of the 2003 season, while appointing rookie driver Ed Carpenter for their new second car. The team's owner, Eddie Cheever, considered fielding a third entry for him to drive in that year's Indianapolis 500, but ultimately decided against doing so to focus on running his team.
Dario Franchitti returned to the IndyCar Series after competing in only three races the previous season as he recovered from back injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash. His fill-in for the majority of the season, Bryan Herta, continued racing for Andretti Green Racing in a new fourth entry. Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan remained with the team as well; the latter of whom signed a four-year extension deal the previous October.
Entering their second season in the IndyCar Series, Fernández Racing replaced Roger Yasukawa with Kosuke Matsuura, who previously won races in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup and German Formula Three series.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Mo Nunn Racing, and Kelley Racing each trimmed their IndyCar Series programs to one full-time car due to a loss of sponsorship, leaving their respective former drivers—Sarah Fisher, Felipe Giaffone, and Al Unser Jr.—without a ride for the 2004 season.
Mid-season changes
Two days after appearing at the CCWS media tour in Long Beach, Adrián Fernández announced his departure from the series that he had competed in since 1993 to race full-time in the IndyCar Series beginning in the second round at Phoenix International Raceway. He explained that the media tour left him with "serious doubts" over the future of the CCWS after Open Wheel Racing Series (OWRS) bought the assets of the CCWS' original sanctioning body, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), and relaunched the series under governing from the newly-formed Champ Car. The move prompted a largely negative reaction from his Mexican fanbase, and some internet users and press members labelled him a "traitor".
A week later, three-time CCWS champion and Rahal Letterman Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal followed suit, announcing his team's withdrawal from the series in order to expand his IndyCar Series program to two full-time cars and a third part-time entry. He did not bring along his CCWS sponsor Gigante or his driver Michel Jourdain Jr., but instead hired former Team Menard driver Vítor Meira starting from the Indy Japan 300 and Yasukawa for the Indy Japan 300 and the Indianapolis 500. Rumors soon circulated that Fernández and Rahal were each paid $6 million to switch their allegiance to the IndyCar Series by either Honda, one of the series' engine suppliers, or Indy Racing League (IRL) chief executive officer (CEO) Tony George.
Robbie Buhl, a co-owner–driver of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, retired from motor racing after the Indy Japan 300, allowing Giaffone to take his seat from the Indianapolis 500 onwards. Pat Patrick, one of the co-founders of CART, moved his Patrick Racing team to the IndyCar Series after 24 years in the CCWS and hired Unser, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, for the final 12 rounds of the season. Patrick Racing's IndyCar Series program was housed at the base of CCWS team Walker Racing in Indianapolis because the team underwent a major restructuring at the end of the 2003 CCWS season.
Several teams entered one-off entries for the Indianapolis 500:
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver Larry Foyt made his American open-wheel car racing debut in the race for his father A. J. Foyt's team, A. J. Foyt Racing, joining A. J. Foyt IV as the second member of the Foyt family to compete in the race in 2004. CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports partnered with P. J. Jones, son of 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones, for his first start in the event with a paint scheme that resembled the car which the elder Jones drove to his victory, nicknamed "Old Calhoun". Following a split between Hemelgarn Racing and 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier towards the end of 2003, the team focused their efforts on the Menards Infiniti Pro Series, but partnered with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to enter a car for Lazier in the Indianapolis 500. Air conditioning company Bryant Heating & Cooling, which sponsored Janet Guthrie in her historic debut attempt in 1976, returned to fund Fisher's effort to race in the Indianapolis 500 with Kelley Racing. A runner-up finish by Jeff Simmons in the Freedom 100 earned him a ride with Mo Nunn Racing for his first Indianapolis 500 start. After a nine-year absence, CCWS team Newman/Haas Racing returned to the Indianapolis 500 with Bruno Junqueira, who had started two previous editions of the race. PDM Racing initially had a multi-race agreement with 2003 ASCAR champion Ben Collins, but once the deal fell through, owner Paul Diatlovich considered shutting down his team until Robby McGehee signed on for the Indianapolis 500 with a car leased from Gordon's team. For the third consecutive year and the fourth overall, Robby Gordon of his self-owned Robby Gordon Motorsports attempted the Double Duty challenge of completing the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race on the same day. However, after the race was stopped on the 27th lap because of rain showers, Gordon exited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a private jet and left Jaques Lazier to complete the remainder of the Indianapolis 500; he became the first relief driver to take part in the Indianapolis 500 since Larry Cannon in 1977. Marty Roth, who formed Roth Racing after buying the assets of Panther Racing's Menards Infiniti Pro Series program at the end of 2003, entered the Indianapolis 500 as the race's oldest rookie since Jack Hewitt in 1998. As they had last year, Sam Schmidt Motorsports leased a spare chassis from Team Penske and hired veteran racer Richie Hearn, who previously ran with the team in the 2002 edition of the race.