BALANCING ACT; The Indy Racing League saw plenty of highs and lows in 2006.(Motorsports)

Byline: Curt Cavin

Dan Wheldon could accept losing this year's Indy car championship on a tiebreaker because Sam Hornish Jr.'s season had fewer lost opportunities.

It was a familiar refrain through the Indy Racing League's paddock. Third-place-finishing Helio Castroneves might have won as many races as Hornish (four), but he wasn't as consistent in the other nine events on the schedule.

Fourth-place-finishing Scott Dixon also couldn't make a case that he was more deserving of the title than Hornish, who won his third in the IRL since 2001. The same goes for Vitor Meira, who finished fifth. Meira was consistently strong, yes, with six top-three finishes, but he went winless for his fourth consecutive full season, running his drought to a league-record 59 events. That's not what champions do.

There were highs and lows at every turn in the 2006 season:

HIGH: The season began with glorious Florida sunshine and all three of Bobby Rahal's cars qualifying in the top 10. Danica Patrick was third, Buddy Rice sixth and Paul Dana ninth.

LOW: Tragedy struck in practice prior to the race when Dana ran headfirst into Ed Carpenter's sliding car. Dana never had a chance to survive the horrific impact; Carpenter was fortunate to escape with little more than a concussion. Carpenter was held out of the next week's race at St. Petersburg, Florida, as precaution.