Notes taken during the NBC Sports Network broadcast of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Barber Motor Sports Park, Birmingham, AL on April 1, 2012.
Welcome to the GORGEOUS FACILITY, as Barber is always known. pressdog® DRINK, ye BASTARDS™ Beer of the Race is Smithwick's Irish Ale. Get your DRINK, ye BASTARDS drinkware HERE.
Bob Jenkins, Wally Dalenbach Jr. and Jan Beekhuis are in the booth. Marty Snider, Townsend Bell and Kevin Lee are the pit infantry.
Bart Starr gives the command after calling an audible and thanking the academy for inviting him to be grand marshal. Barber Motor Sports Park must be incredible picturesque because everyone who goes there says or tweets about its GORGEOUSNESS. Plus the sculpture ... the Lady in the Lake this year is new, judging by the 3.2 million photos of it that got tweeted out over the weekend. GORGEOUS.
I kid Barber about being a GORGEOUS FACILITY in part because people often refer to it when they have nothing good to say about the racing. BUT, I give Barber huge mad props for their gorgeousness and unique sculpture exactly because it does attract interest and attention and differentiate them from other, land-fill-like road tracks.
Cue the hat (running order at the top of the screen). Yo yo yo to my firends in the NBCSN B-unit. I hope you'll at least wait until Lap 18 to get heavily into the Patron. Cue the hat ... CUE IT MAN.
Trackside Online starting order. Trackside is a subscription-based news service that generates original content from every IndyCar race and most major tests. Joe was working it gorgeously at Barber and delivered several exclusive nuggets this week. $22 for a calendar year is freakishly cheap for what ya get. SUBSCRIBE, ye BASTARDS.
1. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 01:10.4768 (117.485)
2. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 01:10.5222 (117.410)
3. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.5291 (117.398)
4. (14) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.8791 (116.819)
5. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevy, 01:11.0759 (116.495)
6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 01:11.3740 (116.009)
7. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 01:11.5257 (115.763)
8. (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 01:11.5841 (115.668)
9. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 01:12.0098 (114.984)
10. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 01:14.2839 (111.464)
11. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, No Time (No Speed)
12. (2) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, No Time (No Speed)
13. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 01:10.6512 (117.195)
14. (8) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevy, 01:10.5664 (117.336)
15. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.6851 (117.139)
16. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.6111 (117.262)
17. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Lotus, 01:10.7255 (117.072)
18. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.6749 (117.156)
19. (18) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 01:11.5524 (115.719)
20. (19) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 01:10.7526 (117.028)
21. (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Lotus, 01:11.5721 (115.688)
22. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 01:11.3594 (116.032)
23. (98) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Lotus, 01:12.5778 (114.084)
24. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 01:11.8672 (115.213)
25. (6) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Lotus, 01:13.6457 (112.430)
26. (22) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Lotus, 01:13.3349 (112.907)
The Beek tells us that smaller fuel cells in the new car will probably minimize fueling and pit strategy impact. I pause here to weep enthusiastically. Smaller fuel cells make doing the race on two stops impossible even if you streeetttchhhh it. Going to take a Festival of Yellow Laps to make a two-stopper possible.
Tim Cindric (Power's pit boss) asked how Power will move up from P9 to P1. Gonna rely on yellows. Awesome. Not. Let's light this GORGEOUS candle ... we're green (as in verdant)!
Circus musicians complain bitterly! Second week in a row that we've had a clean turn 1 and first lap.
Tagliani is dead sick. Toast in the middle of the track. Full course yellow? Yep. Yellow yellow yellow.
Tag towed. Long ass yellow. Tag car hauled off. Let's go green the next time by. Or not.
Beeky tells us here that everyone was working their knobs. Take it easy ... the were all working the fuel saving knobs. Adjusting the fuel mix knob. RIP OUT THE KNOB. Adjust your fuel mix with your foot.
Lap 4 -- GREEN. BEER SPEW. The restart was actually double file. Human sacrifice ... dogs and cats ... living together ... MASS HYSTERIA.
Lap 6 -- Restart replay. Again, a good two-wide restart. Let the record show most drivers thought two-wide restarts were an INVITATION FOR DEATH and that they had NO PLACE IN MOTOR RACING. Hold that thought.
Hinch dives inside Dixon who has to go to Evasive Maneuver Tango Bravo Sierra to avoid contact. Everyone continues. Bob calls Helio "Helio Castro." Beer spew. I've missed you Bob. Somewhere in Havana Fidel and Raúl are cheering in front of a TV while hammering Coronas. DRINK, ye CRAZY DESPOTIC BASTARDS.
Bourdais INHALES Barrichello for P17. Wait a second ... that was an overtake.
Bourdais working on RHR. Tags says the engine was BLOWN up, SIR!. Doubt it. Usually they aren't BLOWN UP, but we'll see.
Lap 10 -- Helio, Hinch, Dixon, Rahal, Kanaan, JR, Conway, Pags, Power, JR.
Lap 14 -- Pagenaud under Conway. CLEAR. Overtaken on camera. I am becoming disoriented. And nobody has commented on the GORGEOUSNESS of Barber for a while. Looked like Conway let him go, honestly. Pagenaud is now working on JR.
Servia pits. Pit window is open. Jan does a nice job here of explaining the strategy involved with pitting early in the window or late. In general, leaders will wait as long as they can to pit.
Lap 17 -- Dario pits. Cue the Festival of Pitting coming up.
Lap 18 -- RHR & Sato pit. Marco inhales Katherine Legge, who is not having a Fun Time so far this year with her Lotus engine. Lotus, as everyone explains (and generally excuses) is far behind in their engine development. So they are cut acres of slack for having un-shaken-down engines. Meanwhile, there aren't enough Lotus engines in existence to allow Lotus to test at Indy next week with the rest of the kids. Which kind of SUCKS for someone like Katherine who may need to make the 500 field to keep her sponsors. (Just speculating here.) So she's hosed out of Indy testing time because Lotus is "behind."
Lap 20 -- Marco all up in Sato's business. Freak of the week! Marco is on Sato like Gorgeous on Barber. Finally overtakes him. Sato didn't put up much of a fight there. Still, we've had about five traditional Barber races' worth of overtaking so far. And suddenly, with overtaking to talk about, nobody is commenting at length on the GORGEOUSNESS. Amazing.
Marco is now chrome horning Viso. Holy Role Reversal. The front wings on these new cars must be made out of cast iron, because they are definitely prodding each other out there. (Simmer down.) MARCO IS DRIVING ANGRY.
Bill Murray Voice .. ."Check your mirrors. It's just side of the eye ... side of the eye. Don't drive angry. Don't drive angry."
Sato is on the reds trying to make up time.
Ahhhhhh, here it hits me that the red sidewall tires (softer tires) are noticeably faster than the black sidewall tires. AH HA. I called for a bigger gap between the two tires all this week. So you're welcome! I love you Firestone!
Tire note ... all teams have two kinds of tires, red sidewall and black sidewall. They must use each type at least once. IN GENERAL, the red sidewall tires (reds) have more grip but degrade faster. The blacks have less grip but last longer. IndyCar introduced the two tire rule (much to the dismay and disgust of many purists out there) to encourage passing. (Pssst. ChampCar had it first here in America.) A car on blacks should have a disadvantage to a car on fresh reds. Hence ... PASSING.
So while Power lurks back in P9-ish, he's on blacks, while most others are on reds. So if he can maintain his position on blacks, when he gets to reds and everyone else goes to blacks, he may charge forward. Add in here that with some setups, blacks may actually be FASTER than reds, so you see the strategy goodness that can be had if the reds and blacks are a lot different.
Lap 21 -- Power pits and ditches the blacks. Red sidewalls. You can almost see the wins folding back in the delta as he leaves the pits. (Random pressdog expression guide: "wings back in the delta" refers to an F-14 with its movable wings tucked back in the delta for maximum speed.)
Power went into the pit P9 comes out of the pit in P11.
By Lap 22 Sebastien Bourdais is P7 (!). He got some help from pitting, but started P18 and INHALED his way forward for the most part.
Lap 23 -- Bourdais pits. Back out in P13. Dixon stays out.
Lap 25 -- Helio pits from the lead. Back out in P4. Hinch stays out and leads. He and Dixon gotta FLY now while Helio is in the pits.
Lap 26 -- Dixon Pits. Hinch pits and has issues. Left rear tire changer had trouble. Slow stop costs him a spot. Dixon's crew is faster and Dixon passes Hinch on pit road AND gets out in front of Helio. Pass for the lead in the pits. Hinch comes comes out behind Helio as well so he will cycle to third. Lost a spot on a slow pit stop.
Lap 31 -- Power is up to P6 now from P9. Working on Tony. Power claims Tony is throwing a BLOCK PARTY for him. Finally inhales Tony.
Lap 35 -- Bob says Power has gone purple (fastest lap of all so far).
Lap 36 -- Everyone has stopped at least once now. Dixon, Helio, Hinch, Rahal, Power (!!), Kanaan, Conway, Pag, JR, Briscoe, Bourdais. Bourdais in P11 has improved up SEVEN spots during the first stint after everyone has pitted. Power is up four spots.
Lap 38 -- Wally gives a good explanation of the red/black tire difference here. Great for first-time watchers. He captures the strategy well -- hold position on blacks, advance on reds.
Lap 39 -- Wooooe Kimball goes wide and does some gravel driving. He's back underway. Festival of lost positions, though.
Lap 41 -- Second round of stops coming. Power pits early. Hmmm. Interesting. RHR, Marco and Bourdais also pit. RHR's left rear has issues. Has to go back up on the jack again to get the left rear on. Gonna lose positions here.
Kevin says "in the mix" (twice) so DRINK, ye BASTARDS.
Meanwhile, back at the front (often the most boring place during a road/street race) Dixon is up 7.5 seconds on Helio. Dixon laps Servia in P17.
Lap 45 -- Aerial replay of RHR working on and overtaking Viso (for P18, but still). Great job by Beeky describing what the drivers are doing and thinking during the maneuver. Viewing enhanced.
Kimball is toast. Dead stick. Pulls off into a safe area. Happens to be by the ambulance. So we'll STAY GREEN. Big ups to Charlie for pulling it off so we can stay green.
Lap 47 -- Marco overtakes Hildebrand. CLEAR. Beekhuis says "momentum." DRINK, ye BASTARDS.
Lap 48 -- Dixon pits from the lead. Helio stays out. Dixon needed to have a freakishly fast in lap (the lap before you hit the pits), get a great stop and then have an even more freakish out lap (first lap out of the pits). Helio needs to fold the wings back and go supersonic while Dixon is in the pits so he can pass him as the pit cycles. Dixon in. Right rear issue! Precious seconds. Not a major delay, but some. Right rear guy throws his air gun in disgust. Booth guys make the great point that the new car has body work on either side of the rear wheel, so it's a more precise move to get the wheel on there than it used to be.
COULD THAT COST DIXON? Beek does a good job in here (or perhaps during the first stops) of explaining all this in and out lap business to viewers.
Lap 49 -- Helio pits from his blazing in lap. Now Dixon has to FLY on his outlap in order to flash by the pits before Helio comes out and maintain the lead.
Just as the moment of truth comes, they switch cameras away. Shit. Did Dixon keep the lead? NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
Marco did go around Bourdais for P10 though. That we saw.
Dixon leads, so I guess he managed to flash by the pits before Helio got back out.
Lap 51 -- Dixon, Power, Hinch, Helio, Rahal, Pags, Kanaan, Marco, Bourdais.
Lap 53 -- Briscoe is like a shared doobie ... being inhaled by everyone.
Sato is in the grass. Dead stick. Done. We stay green. I am surprised here. Sato is out of his car and walking back toward the gorgeous trees. Stay green still. Hmmm. Bob (and I) expect a full course yellow but no. In fact someone in the booth says "there we go" as in they threw the yellow, but that's bullshit, because we're still green.
Human sacrifice ... dogs and cats ... living together ... MASS HYSTERIA. We're still green. Very F1 like reticence to throw the full course. I love it. God help me, I do love it so. Iron Hand of Justice (chief steward) Beaux Barfield on the radio ... listen here. I wonder if this was a parade if we wouldn't have gone yellow right there. I bet we would have, just to get the restart.
Marco and TK are in a knife fight on the track, just BTW. Lap 55 and Marco is CLEAR. He's on a rampage in this middle stint. Up SEVEN in 14 laps. Tony is clearly having issues.
Lap 56 -- Woe woe woe. Power is P2. WTF? How did that happen? Was it NONE OF MY BUSINESS? I don't recall the announcing posse explaining how Power got to P2. Lap chart ... Power pitted on Lap 41 from P5. Got spots when Hinch and RHR had issues in the pit. Moved up spots when Pags pitted. When Helio pitted from the lead on Lap 49 he must have had a shit stop because he came out in P5, BEHIND Power AND Hinch. Then Poewer slotted into P2. BOOM. Power is rampaging, but his skill in inhaling people who pit is alot of what got him up here, per the lap chart anyway.
Lap 55 -- Briscoe pits to get rid of the crap tires. He just pitted on Lap 38 but the tires were a festival of shit so he had to come in. Too soon ... he'll have to pit again before the end. Race; screwed.
Lap 56 -- Dixon, Power, Hinch, Helio, RHR, Pags, Conway , Marco, TK, Bourdais. Bourdais is like a honey badger back there. He's a street NINJA. From P 18 to P10 in 56 laps ... IN A LOTUS .. with very few retirements. That ... is driving the shit out of it.
Lap 57 -- Welcome to the block party! OK, the Defending Party ... Dario is "defending" against RHR. Beek -- "the guy who doesn't like blocking is defending." (Earlier in the race they had a piece asking if the drivers liked the "defending" rule. Dario didn't.) Does no good though, because Dario is inhaled by RHR on Lap 57.
Replay of Wilson trying to drive his extremely loose car. Dirt tracking all over out there, then he goes ass around completely but stays on the track and gets it going again. More replays. Newgarden's front wing goes flying in traffic. WE STAY GREEN. I am seriously incredulous here at the lack of 17-lap full-course yellows.
Lap 62 -- Dixon is +1.7 on Power. I wouldn't drive one handed just yet if I were Dixon. I'm sure he's not.
Lap 64 -- Last pitting starts.
Lap 65 -- Power pits. Out in P5. Katherine Legge spins off into the sand trap. She's staled. NO YELLOW. Looks kind of dangerous to me, but we stay green.
Lap 66 -- Dixon and Hinch pit. DIXON HAS ISSUES IN THE PIT. Again, the rear wheels slow Dixon down. NBCSN cuts away from the pit stop for some reason and we kinda see that he's having an issue. Power flies by and takes the lead. Pass for lead in the pits. Learn to love it. Later we get a replay of Power sweeping by on the rack as Dixon comes out on pit road.
Helio and Rahal pit. Helio has issues. Fuel probe is stuck for a minute in his car. Now we get a full course yellow. They held the yellow until everyone had pitted (had a local yellow until then). This is the kind of "discretion" I can get behind. It's kind of like a soccer ref not calling and foul until he or she is sure the other team doesn't have an advantage. Delayed call is OK here.
When we cycle out under yellow (Lap 68). It's Power, Dixon (swearing, no doubt), Helio, Hinch, Rahal.
During this yellow they also haul in Sato's abandoned car. Beek says the lug nut on Dixon's right rear jumped out of the gun. (there is only one big lug nut on the center hub of an IndyCar). Sato says he just lost power.
With less than 20 to go, the IHJ (Beau Barfield) will move the lapped cars back in the pack to allow the contenders to have a "straight fight" as Derek Daly would say. Derek would also be screaming "IT'S A STREET FIGHT. A ONE ON ONE BATTLE!" and then would throw in some "HOLD ONTO YOUR HOLLYHOCKS." I miss the Double D working the mic. Purists may raise their eyebrows here. I didn't knwo this was a new rule. Not saying it isn't, just was unaware.
17 on the lead lap. Newgarden is P17.
Lap 74 -- restart. Pretty much the race right here ... GREEN.
Power holds off Dixon. No circus moment. Nobody ends up on their lids. Circus Clowns are PISSED. Came all this way for nothing. At least it's GORGEOUS.
Lap 75 -- Dixon, Power, Helio, Hinch, Rahal, Pagenaud, Marco, Conway, Barichello, RHR. Bourdais must have done some off-roading or got massively inhaled on the restart because on Lap 75 because he went from P9 to P12.
Lap 76 -- Report of Rubens claiming Conway is throwing a block party for him. Beer spew. An F1 veteran complaining about blocking. You don't see that every day.
Replays of the two-wide restart (opposed by drivers last year!) but no craziness. Power should win barring air strike.
Lap 83 -- Power is up by a second. JR inhaled again for P12. He went from P11 to P15 in the closing laps. Maybe had issue. (Checking) News release said he was hip checked by Briscoe and lost two spots. Officials reviewed and said .. NOT GUILTY to Briscoe. One of them racing deals.
Lap 84 -- Rahal trying to overtake Helio. Helio is swerving a little bit. Blocking or Defending ... The Honorable Judge Jan Beekhuis reviews the video evidence and declares Helio ... NOT GUILTY of blocking. That's merely "defending."
OK, my take on "defending" versus blocking. The leading car gets to pick his or her line. Pick a line, any line. You can pick a "defensive line" that forces cars to go the long way around you, etc. But often the defensive line is not the fast line. PLUS you aren't allowed to move in response to the car behind, so you can't suddenly swerve to the defensive line mid-corner or make two moves. Defend inside (OK) then jump outside to block (not OK).
Lap 85 -- Barrichello overtakes Marco. Marco did not finish strong either. Went from P7 to P11 in the last nine laps.
White ... Power comes from P9 to win. BAM. Dario overtakes Marco for P10 on the last lap. Dario drove from P18 to P10.
IZOD IndyCar Series
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
BIRMINGHAM, Ala - Results Sunday of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.3 mile Barber Motorsports Park, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any)
1. (9) Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
2. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
3. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
4. (8) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
5. (10) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
6. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
7. (4) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
8. (14) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
9. (17) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Lotus, 90, Running
10. (18) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
11. (13) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
12. (11) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
13. (26) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Lotus, 90, Running
14. (12) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
15. (5) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
16. (20) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
17. (15) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
18. (7) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running
19. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 89, Running
20. (21) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Lotus, 89, Running
21. (6) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running
22. (23) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 88, Running
23. (24) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Lotus, 85, Running
24. (16) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 52, Mechanical
25. (22) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 45, Mechanical
26. (25) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Lotus, 0, Mechanical
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 102.081
Time of Race: 02:01:40.1127
Margin of victory: 3.3709 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 10 laps
Lead changes: 9
Lap Leaders:
Castroneves 1 - 24
Hinchcliffe 25
Rahal 26
Dixon 27 - 47
Castroneves 48 -49
Dixon 50 - 65
Castroneves 66 -67
Power 68 - 73
Dixon 74
Power 75 - 90
Point Standings: Castroneves 86, Dixon 84, Power 77, Hinchcliffe 60, Pagenaud 58, Hunter-Reay 53, Rahal 50, Briscoe 46, Conway 38, Barrichello 37.
Race results and lap chart courtesy of INdyCar PR.
Cindric says "Scott Rembke taught me that" on how he got Will to the front. "Firestone brought the prefect tire" to create passing etc. he says. Amen to that.
Power -- Can't believe it. Never thought he could win on this track from P9.
Dixon -- Had it except for one bad stop (last one). No chance to overtake Dixon on the start.
Bourdais -- Looks like he's just been pulled from the lake. Says he's really super happy (it's the equivalent of a pensive Helio, but it's as super happy as Bourdais gets). Gives props to the team. Bourdais inhaled three cars (JR, RHR, Marco) in nine laps to go from P12 to finishing P9. IN A LOTUS. Started P17. Bourdais can drive that shit, OK? You don't win four straight Champ Car World Series titles by being some kind of ya-ya.
That's it from Barber, an extraordinarily eventful race compared to the last two Festivals of Snore. I'd say this is about as good as it gets both in twisty driving and twisty coverage, so if you don't like this, you're just not hip to the product. At minimum, NBC Sports Network removed the "broadcast sucked!" excuse based for low TV ratings on how the hard-cores lit up my twitter feed with praise and adoration of the broadcast.
The key question is, will America buy it? No passing on the track at the front (for the lead for sure) so I wonder if that's a deal-breaker with many fans. We shall see.
Tune in April 15, 3:30 p.m. Eastern for Long Beach on NBC Sports Network.
Helio's real name: Helio Castro Neves.
Posted by: Ryan | April 01, 2012 at 09:46 PM
I was really surprised that they didn't throw the yellow both for Sato and the piece from Newgarden. Very unusual.
Posted by: Kayla (kiki85) | April 01, 2012 at 10:25 PM
Looks like the Medical Centre handed out free massive testosterone shots before the race & a third of the field showed up for them.
Loved it. Just loved it. Thanks NBC/Jenkins/Versus or whoever you are now.
That was a huge breath of fresh air on all fronts....
One shot though, Tags could have pulled off in any number of places where he would have been safely off the track. Instead he stops IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK. Thanks for the full course yellow you bozo. Randy/Beaux .... a 20 position grid penalty at the next race for mon ami SVP.
Posted by: S0CSeven | April 01, 2012 at 10:31 PM
Outstanding and hilarious as always Pdog. This was one of the best twistie races in a LONG time.
Posted by: Mike | April 01, 2012 at 10:47 PM
Watching today's race, I thought of two audio clip additions to the recaps: Whoever it was that kept saying "HE'S BLOCKING ME!!" (I think Wally) had me cracking up each time; A Bob Varsha "Mr. Director" comment, as I had a few moments where I was shouting like a TV producer at some of the broadcast decisions.
Oh, and outside passes, over-unders, passing in turns where no one thought passing was possible....mass hysteria, indeed! Not sure how well this will translate to Long Beach, but I can't wait!
Posted by: H.B. Donnelly | April 01, 2012 at 11:19 PM
In My Opinion... America won't care that the passing wasn't for the lead. They'll care about all that darned ACTION.
If this is the future of Indycar, I somehow got even more optimistic!
Posted by: Flatintoone | April 01, 2012 at 11:38 PM
I didn't realize they'd gone back to the fuel KNOB either, Dog. Maybe they'll get rid of it when they put back push-to-pass later in the year.
I liked the big difference between reds and blacks a lot--but I've never saw it affect the set-up of the car so that it drove so much differently (re: Hinch and RHR complaints.) Not sure if that's good or not.
I feel like the racing is going to get better and better. With these good drivers and new cars, I don't think it's asking too much that twisties could actually be competitive and exciting--even for the lead.
Bourdais, Rubens and Pagenaud are welcome additions. Barfield did a good job, Hinch's crew sorta screwed him, Power's leap is sorta weak, is Simona running poorly because of the engine? NBCSports did a great job and Barber does look beautiful. Good job, Dog. (not one clown stamp!!!)
Posted by: redcar | April 02, 2012 at 06:43 AM
Great notes, great sense of humor, and always one of the best Fan Views of the sport. The clowns are putting out resumes this morning.
REALLY encouraged by the great show at Barber.
Broadcast: Gets an "A," especially when graded on the curve (NBCSN crushed ABC's coverage; lots of strategy, car tech, and pit report gems, plus great job capturing much of the overtaking - and explaining it. Note to ABC: Racing happens ALL THROUGH THE ORDER, not just P1-3 like NASCAR). Also, Wally and The Beek seem genuinely excited, interested, and you get the feeling they're truly enjoying themselves; ABCs crew comes across like they're maybe calling a game of chess...
Race: Gets an A, hands down one of the 'raciest' road races since CART/Champ Car heyday. Overtaking was GORGEOUS. Strategy was GORGEOUS. I'm told that Lake Lady actually blushed when Bourdais made his final pass, such was the animal magnetism of the RACING.
Rules/"IHJ": The direction seems to be Let The Drivers Drive, 'Cuz Pretty Sure They're All GrownUps. And it WORKS! The multitude of road/street races on the sched may lend itself to this working better than it could have other years. Ovals will be a test for the new Race Control and new rules.
Fuel Knob: Right idea to bring it back, could help reduce the # of "fuel strategy" races (fuel strategy = "slow down and don't pass" = Zzzzzzz).
DW12: It turns! It brakes! It takes a lickin and keeps on tickin! Sending Dallara an Edible Bouquet.
Lotus: As a Mario Andretti F1 fan from my young days ('78!), I SO want Lotus to be the Cool Kid again. But it's agony watching the REALLY talented teams and drivers (Bourdais, Servia, DeSilvestro, Tags, Legge) who committed to Lotus Before Lotus Is Cool struggling, crapping out, haulin a$$ to change punk engines 10min before the show, 5-6mph slower on straights. Enough with the excuses, Lotus. As Sean Connery said in The Rock, "You'll 'try?' 'You'll TRY!?' Losers 'try'; winners go home and (...ahem...let's say, "date") the Prom Queen."
Bourdais: Absolutely CLASSIC drives, both St. Pete and Barber. Could probably get a Smart Car into the Top 10 through late-breaking, reading his opponents lines, and massaging the throttle juuuuust under the rev limitor. Do NOT play poker with this man; he'll figure out your "tell" in 0.2 seconds, and use it to crush you...
"Defending Your Position": Again, this rule will get slippery on ovals, but the current direction of letting drivers DRIVE makes for a great show.
Posted by: MattB | April 02, 2012 at 07:48 AM
Best comment of the race coverage?
"I'm standing next to the Dallara guys, and they're pissed because they aren't selling any spare parts"(Paraphrasing) - Robin Miller
Indycar = Great Drivers + Exciting Cars + Action
If America doesn't like that, screw it, I'm moving to Canada.
Posted by: Tom G. | April 02, 2012 at 08:20 AM
Indycar = Great Drivers + Exciting Cars + Action
If America doesn't like that, screw it, I'm moving to Canada.
There aren't enough Americans in cars, to make America give a rats ass about Indy Cars. Doesn't make any difference how "great" the drivers are or aren't or how exciting or dull the racing is. The drivers are the show. And with so few Americans, its just an impossible sell to the public...which the TV numbers point out race after race after race.
IndyCar36 doesn't follow a race car around or a car owner or a race track around. It follows the driver. That's what sells and puts asses in front of TV sets. Maybe slowly, the braintrust in the ICS will understand that.
Posted by: Simon Dick | April 02, 2012 at 08:35 AM
The racing was definitely improved. That said there wasn't much passing in the top 3 and for the lead, all the lead changes came from pit road stuff. So it's hard for me to classify it as a "great" race with that. The fact I was watching 3 races at the same time (SuperBikes at Imola, NASCAR at Martinsille, Indycar) may have some impact on that. The leaders checked out in a big way.
But, the racing was improved and we saw some real passing from a lot of drivers in the field (Bourdais, for instance). The two big differences seemed to be tires (soft and wore down) and the enclosed wheels. With the enclosed wheels drivers can go in side by side and not be as likely to crash like in years past.
The question is when will we see good racing in Indycar and when will we not? Is it that the new car preforms well on road courses but not street courses? In the past St. Pete was a better race and this year they swapped with Barber. With Edmonton being an airport track and Mid Ohio being a better track than Barber, those two races seem to have a shot at producing good racing.
Posted by: Dylan | April 02, 2012 at 09:24 AM
I miss Derek Daly too. "Grandma's in the whiskey!"
Posted by: Roger T | April 02, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Thanks for weighing in, Mr. Dick, but I think you're categorically wrong on that front. There's a little team in my neck of the woods that is insanely popular, among people of ALL walks of life and ALL economic backgrounds:
http://predators.nhl.com/club/roster.htm
That's 27 players. 8 of them are Americans. Nearly 10 of them are not just foreign, but foreign with names that I probably couldn't spell given 15 chances each. I work in a decidedly blue collar workplace, and I have yet, even once, to hear someone complain about all of the foreigners with goofy names on the team, though I do hear a lot of conversations about how great last night’s game was. In fact, if you go to games, you’ll even see that people go so far as to buy sweaters for players whose names consist of 16 consonants and one vowel (people get around it in conversation by giving those guys cute nicknames). So, with that being the case, I’m supposed to believe that nobody in the US will ever buy a shirt that says “Dixon” or “Barrichello” or “Franchitti” or “Power” or “Castroneves” or “de Silvestro” or “Pagenaud”?
The problem is not "foreigners" or "foreign ride buyers" (both of which we have less of now than at any time in the last 10 or so years, anyway, and prospects look to be getting even better with some of the young Americans in Star Mazda and USF2000 right now). The problem is that there are some 320+ million people out there who have yet to sample the product. It’s not like we’re getting 300 million people tuning in and then changing the channel at the first mention of something called “Viso”, we have a huge number of people who simply just don’t know that IndyCar racing exists. If you were to ask ESPN’s Sports Guy Bill Simmons (or any American who watches at least 2-3 stick and ball sports year round) “who are the guys winning in IndyCar right now?”, I’d lay you odds that the response you get wouldn’t be “a bunch of foreign guys I don’t like”, it’d be “what’s IndyCar? You mean 'NASCAR', right?”
If we see an uptick in numbers (i.e. people actually tuning in and taking a look for the first time) and then the numbers going back down to the 0.5-0.8 range (i.e. people tuning back out), then I might start to buy your argument. But, until then, I'd like to see more proof of that point that you keep trying to make, rather than something that sounds like your personal opinion substituted in for the will of the American public at large.
Posted by: The Speedgeek | April 02, 2012 at 07:01 PM
Oh, and good notes, 'Dog. Glad folks seemed to enjoy the race on TV as much as I enjoyed it in person. There was a distinct lack of pork products on the premesis, but I'll give Barber a pass on that one.
[See what I did there? Yep. I'm quite the wordsmith.]
Posted by: The Speedgeek | April 02, 2012 at 07:04 PM
A little pot is soon hot. @.@
Posted by: supra shoes for sale | April 03, 2012 at 01:06 AM
DRINK,ye CRAZY DESPOT BASTARDS. Easily in contention for line of the year!!!!
Posted by: Eric Karashinski | April 03, 2012 at 02:04 AM
P-Dog Good work here. I am tuning in less this year, really don't get it when it comes to twisties. I did watch Indy 36 - TK. I noticed it said fiance Lauren. Surely this is Lauren Bohlander ? How have I not heard this? Wow. Good work Tony. P-Dog needs to get the scoop on this deal.
Posted by: John S | April 03, 2012 at 07:48 AM
Oh sure, John S., Tony and Lauren have been an item for a couple years.
Posted by: pressdog | April 03, 2012 at 07:59 AM
I went through every line of these notes twice and could not find a single "festival of carbon fiber" (or fibre) Were the clowns at a birthday party? I know I watched the right race because the trees and grass were gorgeous, but two wide starts and no crashes??!! Marco: "Excuse me Ryan, I feel the need to pass you". Brisco: No problem and do you have any grey poupon?"
This could add years to Clint Eastwood's career: "I'm going to be all over you punk, like gorgeous on Barber!"
Posted by: Ron Ford | April 03, 2012 at 09:41 AM
Another fine recap, P-Dog. I second Eric Karashinski's nomination of "DRINK, ye DESPOT BASTARDS!" for line of the year. And Speedgeek, thank you for your commentary -- always insightful, sharp, respectful and delivered with a bang and a sense of humor. Please update your blog more often.
A fine race. I'm eternally optimistic when it comes to Indycar, usually for no apparent reason. Hopefully there are reasons now.
Posted by: Jack | April 03, 2012 at 11:55 AM
I reckon they noticed at St. Pete's that those rear bumpers make minor rear-end collisions mostly harmless, and so given a road course with ample run-off areas, overtaking suddenly becomes much less scary than in previous years.
Between this added robustness and the change in balance throwing some drivers off, I say we should bring this innovation to F1 as well!
Posted by: Michel S. | April 04, 2012 at 10:31 PM