Incredibly, the 2015 Verizon IndyCar season is already half over and it seems a certainty that the champion will be wearing a Bowtie to the banquet in less than three months.

After eight of 16 races, the aero kit era has been a one-sided beat-down by Chevrolet teams as they own six victories, every pole position, eight of the top 10 in the point standings and have led 587 out of 724 laps.

Thanks to a couple of rain races Honda has managed to get into victory lane twice but is outmanned in terms of winning drivers and depth, not to mention being out-performed by General Motors.

So, keeping that discrepancy in mind, the mid-term report cards will be graded on a curve and if you have a problem with that then go bitch to Race Control but take a number because there’s already a long line.

GRADE A:

CHEVROLET: Pratt & Miller kept the aero kit simple and, when it stays on the ground, it’s damn-near impossible to beat.

HOLMATRO SAFETY TEAM: The extrication, quick thinking and performance under pressure from this crew saved James Hinchcliffe’s life on May 18th.

Pruett Says: Two of the greatest themes to come forth in 2015. Chevy and P&M assembled a new, dedicated aero kit design team that has schooled the veterans at Wirth Research. The Holmatro team has been thrust into the spotlight for the first time in years, and hopefully it stays there – right where it belongs.

GRADE B+:

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING: Graham Rahal’s resurgence has him fifth in the points and atop Honda’s thank you and Christmas present list. The second-generation driver has renewed confidence thanks to Eddie Jones and Martin Pare and nobody has passed more cars. RLL’s pit stops also have been outstanding.

TEAM PENSKE: Juan Montoya and Will Power are 1-2 in the standings with three wins between them and JPM is back to his badass self. Defending champ Power is still the fastest in the paddock (three poles) but his seasoned teammate is going to push him hard. Helio Castroneves started out strong but has faded lately while Simon Pagenaud has only one podium despite a strong run at Indy.

Pruett Says: We had a feeling RLL would be strong this year, but not this good. It’s hard to see Rahal win without rain or strategy coming into play – unless Honda gets a break with its aero kit – but the kid is closer than ever to earning his second IndyCar victory.

Penske has the most wins so far (3), Helio just got a few points returned by IndyCar, moving him up to fourth in the standings, but the team falls short of earning a grade of A because Pagenaud has been unexpectedly quiet – outside of Indy – in the dominant Chevy package. Once he figures out the Penske way, the rest of the teams will have four potential winners to deal with at every round.

GRADE B:

CHIP GANASSI: Since running 1-2 and looking like the class of the field at the Indy 500, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan have hit some speed bumps. Third in the points with a win at Long Beach, Dixie is still way ahead of where he usually is at this point in the season but got taken out in Motown #2 by a teammate. T.K. dropped out of the top 10 following his crash at Indy and had a dual disappointment at Detroit (13th & 20th). Charlie Kimball had an excellent month of May (fifth and third) while rookie Sage Karam got taken out on the first lap at Indy and lost his first pole position at Detroit to a controversial call to halt qualifying. Sebastian Saavedra did a nice job at Long Beach (10th) in his first start of 2015 but took a hard shot in the Indy 500.

KVSH RACING: Sebastien Bourdais remains as good as anyone on street and road courses as his qualifying and finishing stats show so far in 2015. A hard-earned W at Detroit to go along with a fourth and a pair of sixths has Seabass in the sixth slot in the championship. Rookie Stefano Coletti is having the typical rookie learning curve but appears to be getting more comfortable.

Pruett Says: Another great story to come from the 2015 season involves Dixon and Chris Simmons, who took over engineering duties for Eric Bretzman after 12 years on Dixie’s car. Kanaan and his new engineer Todd Malloy haven’t found the same instant chemistry, but they’re getting closer with each race. Kimball is driving better than ever, thanks to heavy coaching from Dario Franchitti, and Karam…is sowing his rookie oats. He’s hitting a lot of things, picking fights, and forcing the learning process a bit too hard. He’s yet to finish better than 12th, and his other five finishes have been 16th or worse. A “Come to Jesus” talk from Ganassi would be timely.

KVSH has been a consistent performer, and Bourdais’ influence can be seen in the team’s competitiveness on road and street courses. He and Olivier Boisson make a hell of a driver/engineer combo, and while Coletti has been less polished than expected once the green flag waves, his engineer Matt Curry has made great strides this year.

GRADE C+:

ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT: Carlos Munoz and Marco Andretti finally got a smile out of Michael last Saturday by using great strategy to run 1-2 but that’s about all this power team has had to shout about in 2015. That and Andretti being seventh in points in his Honda. But team leader Ryan Hunter-Reay is mired in 13th in the standings and has yet to lead a single lap of competition. Simona Di Silvestro ran fourth at NOLA and Justin Wilson qualified sixth and ran in the lead pack at Indy for a while to help bring this grade up.

CFH RACING: Josef Newgarden scored his initial IndyCar win at Barber with a popular triumph and J.R. Hildebrand ran strong at both IMS races but it’s been an expensive exercise since then. JoNew and boss man Ed Carpenter flipped and wrote off cars during Indy practice, then Ed crashed in the race and Newgarden hit the wall hard twice at Detroit while Luca Filippi hydroplaned into the tires as well. The price of Hartman Oil should be going up.

SCHMIDT PETERSON MOTORSPORT: Hinch gave Honda its first W of the season with a fuel mileage gem aided by a sea of caution flags and teammate James Jakes joined him on the podium. But, other than Conor Daly’s double good job at Detroit and Ryan Briscoe’s pinch hit at Indy, it’s been a rough season as Canada’s favorite son recovers from his Indianapolis accident.

Pruett Says: The Andretti team reckon they spent so much time helping Honda develop its aero kit pieces, they didn’t have enough time to work on their own chassis development workload during the offseason, and it shows. Marco Andretti heads the team in the standings in seventh, Carlos Munoz is the only one with a win, and team leader Ryan Hunter-Reay is at the bottom of the pile in 13th.

CFH has been plagued by misfortune, but Newgarden is maturing into a threat at every track. Filippi has been missing from the lead pack more often than expected, but that should improve, and SPM has earned everyone’s respect while rolling with the punches.

GRADE C:

AJ FOYT RACING: Nothing ever changes with Takuma Sato – it’s either good, bad or ugly. Qualifying fifth at Long Beach and storming from 15th to second at Detroit were the pluses and trying to stick his car between the wall and Karam at Indy, not so much. Teammate Jack Hawksworth got back-to-back seventh places in Motown but has been victimized by other people’s mistakes all year. The best news is that A.J. looks good.

BRYAN HERTA: A rookie on a one-car team with a small budget isn’t supposed to kick butt but Gabby Chaves has run better than his results show. He was headed for the Fast Six at NOLA before qualifying got rained out and he keeps racking up miles and experience.

DALE COYNE: Tristan Vautier’s nifty fourth place at Detroit and last-minute qualifying effort at Indy are easily the high points for the team that’s already had eight different drivers in 2015. Daly’s pinch hit at Long Beach for Rocky Moran Jr. was also impressive, as was Davison at Indy. Imagine what this group might do with a couple of steady drivers.

Pruett Says: Hawksworth has endured a hellish debut in Foyt’s ABC Supply colors, and has more than justified his place alongside Sato. Taku hasn’t been bad, but he also hasn’t looked stellar. If Jack can get through a few problem-free races, Sato could struggle to maintain his No. 1 position in the team.

BHA, rookie driver Chaves, and new engineer John Dick have been a low-key revelation so far. They haven’t been particularly fast, but the 2014 Indy Lights champ is incredibly consistent, doesn’t make silly mistakes, brings his car home in one piece, and adds warmth and energy to the team. The kid’s a gem, and is currently wedged between veterans Sato and James Jakes in the points.

DCR is the only grade I’d adjust. A C+ seems like a better fit for a squad that has fielded eight drivers in eight races. If you’ve struggled to keep track of who’s driving (or qualifying) for Coyne on any given weekend, imagine what it must be like to engineer someone new race after race. Daly, Davison, and Vautier have shown the team’s true capabilities, but with the uncertainty over who’s driving each weekend, plus the varying levels of Pro-Am talent behind the wheel, a grade of C is probably a fair call over the first half of the season.

GRADE (WT)F:

RACE CONTROL: Delayed penalties, rescinded penalty points, different penalties for blocking, no penalties for blocking, a pair of questionable calls to cancel qualifying in NOLA and Detroit and the Pole Day fiasco at Indy all adds up to WTF is going on?

Pruett Says: When did the “Wednesday Post-Race Penalty Report” become a thing? If the series can’t be bothered to referee the game while it’s happening, it’s worth asking why the series spends money on staffing Race Control. It already feels like the control tower is empty – like they meet up Monday morning to watch the replay and jot down fines and penalties after the race is over. There are a lot of good people who work in Race Control – it would be a welcome change to see them left alone by upper management so they can do their jobs from flag to flag.