Notes taken during the VERSUS broadcast of the Honda Indy 200, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Aug. 7, 2011.
pressdog® Beer of the race is EKU Pils, brewed by KULMBACHER BRAUEREI (which is in ALL-CAPS GERMAN on the label), Bavaria, Germany.
1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.0776 (119.405)
2. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.3359 (118.954)
3. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.4016 (118.839)
4. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.4212 (118.805)
5. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.5796 (118.531)
6. (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.7423 (118.250)
7. (06) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.7701 (118.203)
8. (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.8412 (118.080)
9. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.8653 (118.039)
10. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.8665 (118.037)
11. (19) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.9115 (117.960)
12. (59) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 01:08.9427 (117.907)
13. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.4161 (117.103)
14. (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.3009 (117.297)
15. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.4369 (117.067)
16. (82) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.3013 (117.297)
17. (27) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.4904 (116.977)
18. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.3851 (117.155)
19. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.6059 (116.783)
20. (2) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.4935 (116.972)
21. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.6061 (116.783)
22. (34) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.7105 (116.608)
23. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.2166 (115.767)
24. (18) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 01:09.8061 (116.448)
25. (24) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.4537 (115.378)
26. (17) Martin Plowman, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.2533 (115.707)
27. (67) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 01:12.3720 (112.320)
We're all queued up (in a Circus Music-like fashion), so let's light this candle.
GREEN. Quickly into the standard nine-wide fugly formation going into turn 1. Mental function returns however and we're through turn 1, clear. Circus musicians visibly disappointed.
Hinch goes for an extended mowing experience in a later turn. He's through the grass until he can come back on the track in last.
Marco under Simona and clear. Conway takes a look but ... NO. Did Simona throw a block party for Conway? I thought I saw her car shoot out in front of Conweezy. Not motivated enough to check the DVR replay though.
Speaking of replay, we're onboard with Power and BAM, his right front smashes into Dario's left rear. THUNG. No damage or spinning though. Both continue.
Marty Snider, pit stallion, reports that Hinch radioed in to his pit wondering how a guy who is on probation (Tag) could drive him into the grass and not get penalized. Replays. Looks like Tag had to go to evasive maneuver Tango X-ray Charlie to avoid someone and that caused him to swerve into Hinch who reacted by taking the grass. IHJ (Chief Steward Brian Barnhart) deliberates (probably wearing a robe and white powder whig) and ruleth .. Tag is ... NOT GUILTY. No penalty.
Lap 2 -- Show's over. Get a beer. We're settled into lockstep.
Lap 5 -- Top 20: Dixon, Briscoe, Dario, Power, RHR, Rahal, Tag, Kimball, Sato, Viso, Bourdais, Helio, JR, Kanaan, Marco, Simona, Conweezy, Pagenaud, Vitor, Saveedra.
Lap 10 -- Top 20: Dixon, Briscoe, Dario, Power, RHR, Rahal, Tag, Kimball, Sato, Viso, Bourdais, Helio, JR, Kanaan, Marco, Simona, Conweezy, Pagenaud, Vitor, Saveedra.
Lap 20 -- Top 20: Dixon, Briscoe, Dario, Power, RHR, Rahal, Tag, Kimball, Sato, Viso, Bourdais, Helio, JR, Kanaan, Marco, Simona, Conweezy, Pagenaud, Vitor, Servia (!). Pass for P20 actually happened on lap 16.
Replay: Danica inhales Saavedra (happened on lap 20).
Lap 20 Hinch pits. Yellow yellow yellow. Saavedra into the tires. May have been so distraught that Danica inhaled him on camera that he couldn't continue. Or something was going wrong in his car which caused Oriol and then Danica to overtake him.
MERRY HINCHMAS. Since Hinch just pitted, he'll move waaaaaaayyyy up when everyone else pits under yellow. It's a lump of coal for Will Power, though, who was pitting when the yellow came out BUT hadn't made the pit-in line before the yellow came out, so he CANNOT stop. Has to drive through. Sucks to be Will.
Festival of pitting coming on Lap 23. EVERYONE pits except Danica and Hinch. Simona hit a tire! Simona clipped a tire laid out in Marco's pit, which TV pretty much missed. Jon noticed it on a replay. Insert howling calls for a penalty on Simona as when Dario hit a tire a few races back here. No, there were no such howls. No such penalty for Dario OR Simona either and rightly so. Rahal also has to wait for Jakes to come around him before leaving his pit box and stalls it. Briscoe's left front tire changer dropped a nut (HI-YOOOO) so he had to grab the spare wheel nut changers carry on them and slap it on instead. Good heads-up move to 1) hold Briscoe for an extra couple seconds and 2) get the spare nut on there.
DANICA LEADS. Somewhere in a Key West Bar Todd Harris sits straight up, sending a pile of empty Red Stripe beer bottles skittering everywhere and screams "SALLY RIDE TURN THE TRICK!!!" then slumps back into unconsciousness.
Power fell from P4 to P6 on the pit cycle, which wasn't bad considering he had to drive through the pits and not stop due to the whole "didn't reach the commitment line before the yellow" thing.
Danica leads for three laps under yellow.
Wake up and pay attention, because we got ourselves a restart.
Lap 27 -- GREEN. Danica is quickly inhaled by Hinch and then Dixon.
Lap 28 -- Helio and JR have contact, perhaps with each other. Not sure. Both will have to pit. Replay -- Viso under JR .. spears for the memories. Marco goes to evasive maneuver William Tango Foxtrot to avoid issues. Helio got in there as well. Helio pits for a new nose. JR in for a new nose as well, but has more issues. IHJ deliberates ... NOT GUILTY. No penalty.
Danistar is back to P5 now, why is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Inhaled on old tires, etc. I imagine. Danica will pit soon. I guess they were hoping for a quick yellow after we went green, because YELLOWS BREED YELLOWS (sometimes).
Dixon now stalking Hinch. I think he's saving fuel back there, but Jon points out that Hinch is tossing up some good times, so maybe it's more than that.
Bob talks over car-to-pit radio traffic here. Dude. We want to here that. Jon jumps in: "You heard a little bit of the radio traffic." Precious little, Jon.
Lap 30 -- Hinch, Dixon, Dario, Power, Danica, RHR, Briscoe, Kimbal, Tag, Viso.
Lap 31 -- Festival of fuel saving here.
Lap 34 -- Pagenaud goes off-roading in the same exact place that Wilson did in practice, getting airborne briefly, just as Wilson did, although Wilson landed flat and causing a compression fracture in his back that lead to Pagenaud subbing for Wilson. Deja vu! Luckily no injury this time for Pagenaud's version of the incident. Jon says the track posse went out there and put some fill dirt in that area after Wilson's injury and that probably helped Pagenaud avoid a similar fate.
Lap 35 -- Power is several seconds back in P4, I suspect he's saving fuel. Split screen with Power and Power. Power's car from the outside on one screen and Power's onboard on the other screen. Kind of disconcerts me for some reason.
Lap 36 -- Danica is P26. Why? NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. I suspect she pitted and the lap chart says ... YES. She did pit on Lap 31.
Lap 40 -- Hinch, Dixon, Dario, Power, RHR, Briscoe, Kimball, Tag, Viso, Bourdais. Exactly the same as Lap 30 except Danica pitted and everyone behind her moved up.
Lap 41 -- Replay of Conweezy inhaling Vitor for P14 (actually happened on Lap 40.) Too bad Versus wasn't on Conway before that, because he inhaled his way from P22 on the restart to P14 in 12 laps, with only Danica pitting giving him one spot. In other words, that's SIX on-track overtakings by Conweezy -- a f-bombing rampage by road course standards -- that were NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.
Lap 50 -- Hinch, Dixon, Dario, Power, RHR, Briscoe, Kimball, Tag, EJ, Bourdais.
Much discussion in here about if Hinch can stay out long enough to pit once more and make it to the end. We're talking fuel while Conway is ramming through the field -- in stealth mode, apparently, because it goes undetected.
Lap 53 -- Hinch pits. Should have enough to go the distance. Dixon gets the wings back and goes supersonic. Has to throw up a huge lap to gap the field so he can get into the pits and get back out ahead of Hinch in the cycle. Conweezy is now up to P13.
Hinch comes back out of the pits in position NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. (P10 according to the lap chart).
Lap 55 -- Dixon pits. Stayed out two laps longer than Hinch. Dario stays out and now he'll try to get the wings back and jump Hinch AND Dixon in the pits.
Lap 57 -- Dixon back out in front of Hinch. But meantime yellow yellow yellow. We got Rahal around. Replays. Danica inside Rahal outside, spear tackular action. Insert Rahal accusing Danica and Danica saying she had the position here. Later Danica said Rahal was coming out of the pits and tried to slot in and Danica wasn't gonna give it up. Rahal said he was speared and IndyCar loves Danica more. Read comments from both drivers here.
This crash and yellow sets off some chaos, TV wise. Briscoe is in front of Power. I think, or maybe not. Notes are sketchy. Replays. Briscoe beats Power out of the pit as Power has to steer a bit to avoid him. Dario leads because he pitted before the track went yellow, but but Power got screwed on the yellow. Rahal also makes angry hand gestures in here for the safety crew to get him started quicker.
Replays ... Dario in the pit beat Dixon on the track to the blend line, so Dario leads. Dixon probably would have had it if the track stayed green.
Restart will be key. Here it comes. Lap 61 --GREEN.
Dixon goes inside out and under Dario. CLEAR. Leads. It's possible Dario didn't put up a real big fight here. Still, nice restart move there to take the lead.
Hinch gets inhaled a few times and then goes off course. Then back on. Many positions lost.
Lap 62 -- Dixon, Dario, RHR, Sato, Tony, Conway (!), Kimball, Tag, Marco, Servia.
Lap 63 -- Power in P16 behind Bia freaking out but can't get around her. When Power can't pass Bia (no slam on Bia, but there's a talent and equipment disparity there), you know it's "difficult to pass."
Conweezy is smoking (not him pesonally, but his car). Smoke. Looks BLOWN up, SIR. He's getting inhaled and takes it into the pits.
That's a bitch because Conway drove from P22 to P6 when it went wrong. TIRE-RIFIC march through the field, not that any of it was YOUR BUSINESS.
Lap 65 -- Conway out of the car. Rahal back out but he's behind Danica. Rahal's radio "Use your head here. Don't use your car (to retaliate)." Stay with this shot, Mr. Director, so we can see if Rahal administers some spear justice. No, we cut away.
Go to the pit where Miller is in front of the flat screen and tells us how lucky Dario is. That flat screen in the pits deal doesn't work very well. Usually can't see it due to sun and is often used for no real reason, as in this case where Robin uses it to point to a mug shot of Dario, in case we've forgotten what he looks like.
Dixon has the wings back in the delta and is super sonic. GONE. Will win barring air strike. Go back to Danica and Rahal. I'm begging you.
Lap 68 -- Kevin with Conway. Says the exhaust broke and that melted a bunch of stuff and then Conway couldn't shift.
Lap 70 -- Dixon, Dario, RHR, Sato, TK, Kimball, Tag, Marco, Orio. How did TK get all the way up there? NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
Lap 79 -- Kimball off. Replay. Back on. Sucks to be him becuase he had a P6 going. Booth guys are talking randomly here. May be talking about their fantasy football leagues. I am clearly not paying attention since I am talking to my wife about taking my daughter back to college soon.
Lap 80 -- Dixon, Dario, RHR, Sato, TK, Tag, Marco, Servia, Bordais, Vitor.
Lap 82 -- Rahal passes Danica. Not sure if they showed it on TV. Maybe just the end. One thing is for sure, I KNOW Rahal will feel he was incredibly wronged ... and tell us about it ... as is his custom.
White. Dixon is up by 8.5 seconds. Ed Carpenter is still on the lead lap, which was his goal going in. Good for Ed. More impressive given only two yellows in this race.
Emma Dixon-Davies (Scott's wife) gets monster air. Says a few words. Gives a "shout out" to their daughter at home, Poppy. Emma is eight months preggers with their second child, not that you can tell that by looking at her. She's a thin, pregnant woman. Insert envious rage from most women here.
Post race interviews. Kevin talks to Power about the banging of Dario on the start and Power says "Yeah, like Toronto." (BAM!) Kevin charges gamely in and asks if this is how it's going to be from now on and Power says "Well, that's just racing, that's all." Hi-yoooooo. Love the anger.
IZOD IndyCar Series
Honda Indy 200
LEXINGTON, Ohio - Results Sunday of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.258 mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
2. (3) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
3. (5) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
4. (9) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
5. (16) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
6. (8) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
7. (19) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
8. (20) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
9. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
10. (21) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
11. (10) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
12. (14) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
13. (18) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
14. (4) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
15. (12) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
16. (2) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
17. (25) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
18. (26) Martin Plowman, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
19. (15) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
20. (7) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
21. (23) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
22. (27) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
23. (24) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
24. (6) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
25. (13) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 81, Running
26. (17) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 63, Mechanical
27. (22) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 20, Contact
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 105.861 mph
Time of Race: 01:48:46.9509
Margin of victory: 7.6508
Cautions: 2 cautions for 8 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders: Dixon 1 - 23, Patrick 24 - 26, Hinchcliffe 27 - 52, Dixon 53 - 54 Franchitti 55 - 56, Power 57 - 58, Franchitti 59 -60, Dixon 61 - 85
Point Standings: Franchitti 428, Power 366, Dixon 335, Kanaan 283, Servia 268, Andretti 258, Briscoe 253, Rahal 230, Castroneves 224, Hildebrand 222.
There were NOOOO penalties in this race (per the box score, although there may have been secret penalties. Never know.)
That's it from Mid-Ohio. Clearly not my favorite race a'tall. Festival of non-overtaking. I wondered out loud via Twitter why IndyCar continues to go to Mid-Ohio where the facility is gorgeous and historic and the racing is clearly putrid (in my opinion, to be sure). I was immediately accused of being a road/street course hater, or a NASCAR lover, of course. You can't criticize one twisty without being hater of all twisties, clearly.* (*Denotes sarcasm.)
But the better reason for the repeated races at Mid-Ohio is that Honda has a production plant nearby and that the race gets a big crowd. (Whether or not those two facts are related I have no idea.) I am sure everyone who goes to the race is a great person and I am glad they seem to enjoy it, but on TV it's lethally dull. AND making decisions on where to race based on at-the-track attendance foremost worked well for ChampCar.
So at least we can feel good that the people AT the race were entertained. It will be interesting to see what TV ratings are, unless they are NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. If ratings are NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS (there are no stories on ratings based on unidentified sources), I'd say that's because they are bad. The IndyCar race might have gotten a break when the NASCAR race at Pocono was rain delayed.
Tune in for the next race, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, Aug. 14, 3:30 p.m. on ABC.
What a boring race. Worst race of the year.
Posted by: KT | August 08, 2011 at 06:29 AM
I think people need to give some of these faster, momentum tracks a pass until 2012. Since the current gen of Dallaras aren't designed for road courses, they are easily trimmed out to the point where it is almost impossible to pass in dirty air (see Power/Beatriz).
P2P was a plan to solve this, but Honda couldn't squeeze out more than 10-20 hp (or thereabouts) which isn't enough for-- well-- pretty much anything. With the turbos, they should be around ~100 if they so choose.
Mid-Ohio (while a tad on the narrow side) put on fantastic races in the mid-late 90's. I don't think it's unrelated that their most boring (although, aside, I'll admit that there doesn't have to be non-stop passing everywhere for me to enjoy a couple hours of fast cars going around a technically challenging circuit) races have occurred with this outdated chassis.
Posted by: WxTurtle | August 08, 2011 at 08:03 AM
With all the weight of hopes piled onto the new car, it's amazing it can even roll. I'm willing to give the new car a shot at these parade grounds.
Posted by: pressdog | August 08, 2011 at 08:13 AM
I don't mean to offend purists who have the knowledge to appreciate "technical" racing, but I just don't think the average viewer wants to see that. I think they want to be entertained. By cars overtaking cars, cars bumping other cars, cars going wheel-to-wheel, cars spinning out, tight competition and close finishes. I don't if it's the the track or the car or both, but if Indycar wants the bigger audience, which I think they do want, parades at beautifully historic venues won't cut it. Just one average fan's opinion... Thanks for the notes, P-Dog.
Posted by: redcar | August 08, 2011 at 08:21 AM
I was the first to complain about the boring race, however if RHR or someone other than Dixon/Franchitit/Power won the race, I'm sure my thoughts may have been different. I was engaged when Hinchcliffe was leading but once he was 5 seconds behind after pit stops, it lost my attention. Dixon couldn't be beat but there was little excitement even in the back of the pack for this race.
Posted by: KT | August 08, 2011 at 08:40 AM
Sorry this may be a great event for the folks who are actually attending but on TV it is awful...It made Pocono look exciting by comparison.
Posted by: BR | August 08, 2011 at 09:20 AM
The new car isn't going to make Long Beach or Mid Ohio or Barber wider and racier.
Those of you who keep hoping for this are dreaming.
I thought VERSUS employee Robin Miller had the best 2 comments of this dull race yestarday:
1. With 15 laps to go (which is a lot in road racing), he already told the audience that Dixon was going to win. I doubt you see that ever said on a Cup telecast.
2. With a few laps to go, Robin chimed in that maybe Toronto's crashathon wasn't so bad compared to this boring turd of a race (OK, he didn't say that exactly, but its what he meant).
Loudon should be fun next week. Then its back to 3 sleep-inducing places (Snorenoma, Baltimore's mean streets and the motorcycle track at 1:00 AM EST in Japan). Not exactly the best way to finish the season in the pre-NFL summer.
Posted by: Oreo Loves The Ladies | August 08, 2011 at 09:56 AM
This was a dreadful race. Also, another Dario Franchitti luck out against Power, this is getting old. Pocono wasn't good but at least Brad keselowski won. I think the 2012 car has potential to improve things, but unless it's about a foot narrower it's not helping Mid Ohio, or any of the "Trinity of Boredom" (Infineon and Barber also). The biggest problem is that while NASCAR races can be just as boring at least they have the potential to produce surprise winners, which Indycar rarely does outside of this year's 500.
Posted by: Dylan | August 08, 2011 at 09:59 AM
@redcar. Fans can't have it both ways. You can't whine and mope and stomp your feet about how terrible Toronto was with all the wrecks and punting and whatnot and then go "but... but... but... there was no PASSING!" Not saying you are guilty, but a lot of people are.
@Oreo Loves the Lades. I don't know-- up until the Dallara showed up at Mid-Ohio it was a pretty racy place.
Of course, this new breed of fans (NASCARization?) that thinks every race needs to be decided by less than a second with passing for the lead on the last lap probably doesn't help things.
Posted by: WxTurtle | August 08, 2011 at 11:33 AM
Funny thing is, of course, the AMA Superbike race at Mid Ohio features races decided by less than a second with last lap passes, so it is theoretically possible on a road course.
Posted by: Dylan | August 08, 2011 at 11:35 AM
Wx--I probably am guilty.
And I'm afraid Nascarization is a fact of life if you want to attract that big, mainstream audience.
Posted by: redcar | August 08, 2011 at 12:05 PM
Mid-Ohio is the Annual Honda Summer Company Picnic. As long as Honda has a presence in Ohio I expect this race to continue. Maybe long enough for Graham to finally get a decent result.
Maybe someone with some Honda pull can suggest to them to move the Company Picnic to Cleveland instead.
Posted by: ThatGuy | August 08, 2011 at 12:11 PM
Saying it's either Toronto or Mid Ohio is like saying you either have to live at the North Pole or the South Pole. So there's no middle ground? Half way between crash fest and super-snoozer? There as to be, therefore I reject the either/or choice. I enjoyed Edmonton many times more than either Toronto or Mid Ohio, for example.
Posted by: pressdog | August 08, 2011 at 12:45 PM
By this time I can't write anything that hasn't already been written, except:
Dylan, Superbikes are much narrower than Dallara cars;
and Oreo, the Baltimore race won't induce sleep but be a festival of carbon fiber (a crashfest).
Posted by: Brian McKay in Florida | August 08, 2011 at 02:13 PM
I agree it's not a binary system, but it's tough to strike that perfect medium every, single, week at every, single, track. Case in point, my last non-Indy oval was Chicagoland 2009. Absolutely, breathtaking, fantastic race. But I know every Indycar oval won't be run that way, so when Dario runs away and hides at Homestead-- well-- I enjoy the race for what it is.
If you tell drivers who are already driving cars not-optimized for road course racing "stop sticking your nose in everyone's business at every turn," you eliminate the Toronto problem but you will inevitably get "snoozers" (I say snoozers because VS wouldn't do things like watch Conway dice up half the field) like M-O.
It's also just somewhat weird, since people quickly forget that (poor Dallara aside) many, many AOW races that drew huge ratings as recently as the late 90's/early 2000's would be considered similarly "boring" by today's mainstream IICS crowd. Not sure which way you go to fix that.
Posted by: WxTurtle | August 08, 2011 at 02:18 PM
So than make the Indycar's smaller. I'm just saying, lot's of passing is possible on a road course, Indycar just has to find out how to do it
Posted by: Dylan | August 08, 2011 at 02:22 PM
Greengrocer apostrophes aren't needed.
IndyCar has found "how to do it."
The "overtake" buttons,
multiple tire types,
2012's multiple engines,
multiple aero kits,
cars' varying braking capabilities
varying chassis setups,
and varying aero trims
allow for varying speeds and passing before apexes of turns
and passing soon after turns.
How does one account for Servia and others passing 8, 9, 10, or 11 competitors in race after race after race?
Because Versus viewers didn't see every racer passing another, we should assume that race fans who spent time and money to spectate in Mid-Ohio, Barber, and elsewhere didn't enjoy seeing Servia and Patrick passing others?
Posted by: Brian McKay in Florida | August 08, 2011 at 05:48 PM
Before you get all impressed with a car advancing 12 places in a road race or whatever -- or chuck Versus under the bus for "not showing all the passing" -- you really need to check the lap chart to see how those passes were accomplished. For example, Hinch went from P26 to P2 when everyone else except Danica in front of him pitted. So he advanced 24 places, but not by carving his way through the field. Danica want from P13 to P1. Must be a rock star racer! Or she stayed out when everyone pitted. So those stats are pretty cheap until you check the lap chart: http://www.indycar.com:8080/var/assets/indycar-race-lapchart28.pdf. Servia drove a good race, but he got five of his spots on one restart (which takes skill, for sure, but its not like he was inhaling cars all day long) then three or four more due to attrition. Thank God for the double-file restarts that the drivers absolutely hated or there would have been less passing yet. So positions advanced on a road race is a slippery stat, just like "number of leaders" is a little goofy on ovals that stay green, because pit cycles gives you about nine different leaders alone.
Posted by: pressdog | August 08, 2011 at 06:10 PM
@wxturtle
A crashfest or a procession are not the only 2 choices for road courses. F1 has shown that it is quite possible to have exciting, clean racing with lots of passes. This is partially due to the fact that F1 does not race at Mid-Ohio :).
Posted by: skyh | August 08, 2011 at 07:10 PM
I knew I should've kept my mouth shut. I'd wanted to point out that spectators at tracks can see more passes than home viewers do and thus be more entertained. For instance, I've seen many more passes (for position) at Barber than home viewers do.
And racers have been lauded this season (and last) for advancing up to 11 places ("tire-riffic move of the race").
But because Helio and Will found advancing difficult and others think that antiquated Mid-Ohio club racing track is too narrow and the cars are too equal this season, I should've held my tongue. Sorry
Posted by: Brian McKay (contrite) | August 08, 2011 at 11:27 PM
I totally see what Brian's saying, though. That whole "the people there in person see more passes than what TV sees" is 100% true. I've been horrified to come home from a couple of races that I've been to (2010 Indy leaps straight to mind, but there have been others over the years) and find that the race has been labeled an "insomnia curing parade". As an in-person spectator, I can always find something to watch, even if it's just finding one gap between a couple of cars that's closing down. Now, I know that there'll be some folks who use that last sentence to claim that I'm saying that all road course races SHOULD be parades and that passing is not necessary for a good race. That's not what I'm saying at all. What I am saying is that when you have a race where different drivers are on different strategies the booth guys can highlight what exactly is going on (maybe even with some extra graphics), or the booth guys can look at the T&S monitor and see that somebody back in like 13th is the fastest car on the track (which is what I was doing in the middle part of the Iowa race with my stopwatch; there was no passing going on at the time, so I was monitoring Servia's laptimes as he reeled in the entire lead pack) and play that up, or if there really is nothing going on for a 4-5 minute stretch of green flag, even, god forbid, do a technical piece on what makes the cars so cool (something they do do, but not enough to grab the "car guys" out there in TV land who are horrified by things like NASCAR claiming its technical superiority because they just introduced a 1960s fuel delivery system). It's the whole "F1 on Speed" experience. I'm never bored with those guys, even during the most dire processions. There's no reason that, with 3-4 guys in the booth, 3 pit reporters and Robin Miller lurking around doing Robin Miller Things that we should ever feel for more than 5 minutes at a stretch that we're wasting our time (not that I basically ever feel that way, but then again, I'm the guy who's entertained by two kids racing their bikes down my street).
Oh, Brian (and others up above) is also right about the cars needing to be different. When a car that's 0.5% faster than the car in front, that car that's trailing is almost never going to get by without contact or the leading car making a blatant mistake. Next year's cars, which should have more performance variability, should help immensely there. No need to do anything other than watch a couple of YouTube videos from Mid-Ohio from 15-20 years ago to see that.
Posted by: The Speedgeek | August 09, 2011 at 08:40 AM
Slept through most of it -- didn't miss a thing!
Posted by: cartracer20 | August 09, 2011 at 01:15 PM
Why on earth are you "sorry," Brian. You have nothing to be sorry about as far as I can see.
Posted by: pressdog | August 09, 2011 at 10:48 PM
It might also be beneficial for IndyCar to not test at a track one week before they race there...
Posted by: Leigh O'Gorman | August 12, 2011 at 06:35 AM