HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE SLOWED; LAST YEAR'S DOMINATORS AND STRUGGLERS TRADE PLACES THIS YEAR.(Motorsports)

Byline: CURT CAVIN

As the Indy Racing League reaches its season midpoint, the story isn't the contenders; it's the pretenders.

Defending champion Scott Dixon is struggling to remain in the title hunt. So is two-time IRL series winner Sam Hornish Jr., who looked like a sure bet to contend when he moved to Team Penske in the off-season. Even Tomas Scheckter, who replaced Hornish at Panther Racing, isn't challenging as expected.

Instead, the Andretti Green Racing tandem of Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon led the charge into the July race in Milwaukee, and Honda is making a joke of its competition with Toyota and Chevrolet. Honda won seven of the first eight races, including the two biggest prizes: the Japan race on its home turf at Twin Ring Motegi and the 88th Indianapolis 500.

The pretenders haven't been able to catch Buddy Rice either. Not only did Bobby Rahal's driver win the Indy 500 from the pole, he left Nashville third in points with six front-row starts in eight events. He also won the pole at Homestead. "Our car seems to be good everywhere now,'' Rice said.

Dixon signed a contract extension with Ganassi Racing after it became apparent a Formula One offer wasn't coming from Frank Williams. But that has been the extent of Dixon's good news this season. He has led only three laps after leading 748 last year, and those three came just moments ahead of a spin into the pit wall at Homestead.

Dixon rallied to finish second at Phoenix, but he has not been much of a factor in races since. A fifth in Japan and eighths at Indy and Richmond do not tell the story of his inability to challenge up front. He was the last car on the lead lap at Richmond after leading all 206 laps a year ago. He crashed at Texas.