Tony Kanaan celebrates kissing the bricks at Indy.
Notes taken trackside and during the ABC broadcast of the 2013 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 26, 2013
Welcome to Indianapolis where every Memorial Day the town goes into a grand mal froth over the Indy 500, with the froth intensifying as you approach Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If you've never been to Indy, it's worth a trip just for the atmosphere and spectacle. Tickets are still relatively cheap as Super Bowl-ish level events go, and places to stay are more reasonable than in the good old days, so plan a little jaunt to Indy over Memorial Day soon.
If you're just into being there for race day, you can travel on Saturday and the Memorial Day holiday and not miss a ton. The preceding paragraphs brought to you by the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. Kidding.
We have the usual ABC posse in the booth — Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear, and Eddie Cheever. Pit infantry is Jamie Little swinging her man-killing pony tail*, Rick DeBruhl, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch.
(*Note. A reader tells me Jamie was not sporting the pony tail at the race. My DVR didn't pick up the pre-race and I guess I never saw Jamie on camera. Despondency. I love the man-killer!)
Among the cool traditions of the 500 are the driver introductions. Three at a time starting with row 11, the drivers walk out from the pagoda area, up on a riser dead center on the yard of bricks, get introduced, wave, go down and line up along the yard of bricks for a group photo.
Jim Nabors fires up Back Home Again in Indiana, Mari Hulman George is good for another “Ladies and Gentlemen …. start your engines.” (FYI, I LOVE that it’s “Ladies and Gentlemen” and not “Drivers.” The distinction makes it uniquely IndyCar, in my view. But that is neither “here nor there.”)
Light ‘em up … a visibly nervous Heather Carpenter, wife of Ed and former nurse, gets interviewed. It’s tough for the spouses of drivers watching all race and alternately hoping for success and dreading the chance of a crash. Chippy Ganassi gets air for maybe the first time this season. Loves the tradition, highs and lows of racing. Chippy’s cars aren’t nearly as wired as they were last year, so the prospects for the Target Twins are a little bleak today. In fact, most Honda-powered cars have been slower than most Chevys, but you never know what the deal will be under race conditions.
Grid is rolling. pressdog® beer of the race is actually Fuzzy’s Vodka and tonic enjoyed trackside. BOOM.
Cue the HAT (running order at the top of the screen). Despondency that I didn’t get to visit the B Unit (graphics-generating unit) at Indy. I suck! Remember, if you spill your Fuzzy’s during the race you could short out your keyboard!
Trackside Online starting lineup. Trackside Online is a subscription news service that does a fantastic job of kicking it for the fans. Joe and Patrick among others kick out the tasty original material live and in person from every IndyCar race and most league-sponsored tests. You can also get all the team PR releases if you want them (it’s optional) for no extra charge! $22 a calendar year is a freakishly great value. Be like the pdog and subscribe today.
Starting lineup …
1. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy 02:37.3689 ( 228.762).
2. (26) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Chevy 02:37.6581 ( 228.342).
3. (25) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy 02:37.7139 ( 228.261)
4. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy 02:37.7907 ( 228.150)
5. (2) AJ Allmendinger, Dallara-Chevy 02:37.8264 ( 228.099)
6. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy 02:37.8342 ( 228.087)
7. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy 02:37.9614 ( 227.904)
8. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy 02:38.0596 ( 227.762)
9. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy 02:38.5411 ( 227.070)
10. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevy, 02:38.2830 (227.441)
11. (98) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 02:38.3209 (227.386)
12. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 02:38.6260 (226.949)
13. (22) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevy, 02:38.7206 (226.814)
14. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.0318 (226.370)
15. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 02:39.1543 (226.196)
16. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.1808 (226.158)
17. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.2434 (226.069)
18. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.3681 (225.892)
19. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.3768 (225.880)
20. (16) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.4268 (225.809)
21. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.5219 (225.674)
22. (60) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Chevy, 02:39.5438 (225.643)
23. (8) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.8117 (225.265)
24. (78) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 02:39.8398 (225.226)
25. (21) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.4816 (225.731)
26. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 02:39.9948 (225.007)
27. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 02:40.0503 (224.929)
28. (55) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.0907 (224.873)
29. (18) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.5823 (224.184)
30. (63) Pippa Mann, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.7109 (224.005)
31. (41) Conor Daly, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.0145 (223.582)
32. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Chevy, 02:41.1158 (223.442)
33. (81) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.3079 (223.176)
Let’s light this candle … the Indy 500 is … green green green.
Not EXACTLY three wide to the line, but pretty much standard Indy start these days. Ed maintains the lead as we all get turn 1 clean.
Lap 4 -- yellow yellow yellow. Holy Ass-Around, Batman, er Superman. JR. Hildebrand gets loose and biffs the wall. Scott Goodyear disappoints me (seriously) by NOT saying Hildebrand was “just a passenger” after the car spun.
Eddie reviews the replay with us. JR just got a little high into the corner and was toast. The corners at Indy are, like, three-quarters of a car width, so if you get the length of a pencil out of the groove you may soon get a ride in the safety crew pickup.
Lap 4 -- Back of the field including Katherine Legge, Pippa and Simona pit to top off. Chuck Kimball pits and Vince says he has an electrical issue, but he doesn’t lose a lap.
Lap 7 -- GREEN. Single-file restarts at Indy this year as last year.
Lap 9 -- TK dives from P3 around Marco and Ed to lead. Crowd gives a roar. Eddie observes that it’s almost impossible to lead a whole group and disappear into the distance and then describes why (you punch a big hole in the air that makes your car work harder than the pursers who get the benefit of your “tow.” Viewing enhanced. We noticed that at the track as well, you can lead, but you can’t separate from the rest of the cars, and it’s only a matter of time before the slingshot is engaged and P2 leap frogs you, often going into turn 1. If you’re a fan of the “lead change” stat, you’re going to love this race.
Meanwhile, up front Marco and TK are exchanging the lead like bicyclers leading a break away (who take turns leading to share the work).
Goodyear and Eddie also enhance my viewing here by telling me about how much more fuel the leader burns (leaders can go about three laps less per stint). More viewing enhancement. Onboard with Hinch who goes high and almost touches the wall. His car is dirt tracking a lot.
Ed tells his pit he likes his car’s balance.
Lap 20 -- Tony, Marco, Ed, Munoz, Viso, RHR, Helio, Power, Tag, Dario.
Punch with Hildebrand. Says he was surprised. Got a little off line but the car had been fine out there before.
Lap 23 -- Legge has gone purple (fastest lap of the race) at 224 and change. She’s marching and nine to P24. Insert me frothing trackside here.
Lap 26 -- Jamie reports that Allmendinger is hitting the limiter, which to my understanding means the car as a big of a gearing issue that may be correctable.
Lap 27 -- Festival of Obscenities -- on the scanner I hear Katherine yelling about something … she brushed the wall. DAMN. Bent toe link. They have a replacement but it’s a multi-lap deal. Time for another Fuzzy’s lemonade. Replay later showed Katherine getting too high and spanking the wall pretty hard.
Lap 29 -- TK pits. Festival of pit stops is starting. About 30 laps is a tank of fuel, and since 200 does not divide by 30 evenly, I am very happy about this. At least we’ll have a full-rich sprint at the end.
Meanwhile, Pippa stays out since she pitted on Lap 6 and is hoping hard for a yellow. She SKIES up to P2 (!) on Lap 33 as I reach for my breathing bag.
Lap 35 -- yellow yellow yellow. Saavedra walls it. Replays. Pippa behind lapped Lazier, Saavedra closes fast, dives under as Pippa moves to the same spot, contact, spinning, biff. Here are the allegations: Saavedra said Pippa chopped him and/or didn’t plan her overtake of Lazier properly. Pippa haters scream GET HER OF THE TRACK. Pippa said Lazier (who was at least a lap down at that going and P31) lost speed suddenly and she had to go to evasive maneuver Alpha Tango Romeo herself and it was one of them racing deals. Saavedra was also a lap down at the time having just pitted on P32. Pippa was P2 when it happened.
Pippa pits under yellow and comes out in P23.
Cue the restart circus music! Beauxford T. Justice (race steward Beaux Barfield) ruleth with fearsome authoritah! Rahal and Jakes (who both drive for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) FINED $10,000 on the spot for improper post-pit-stop blending. Beauxford says the two were moved back to the right spot while we endured an EIGHT lap caution. IndyCar PR said it was the first time that a monetary fine was declared from race control on the spot.
It seemed to be a “you’re pissing me off” fine kind of like when a judge WHACKS an attorney $500 for contempt of court, without having his or her ass hauled out of the courtroom. Interesting …. Bobby Rahal says he’ll appeal/contest the fine since he alleges Pippa and Simona did the same thing and weren’t similarly smacked. Story here.
Meanwhile, Jamie is with Brad Keselowski who is at Indy with his father and watching from the Penske pit stand. Keselowski said “it’s hard to be here as a race car driver and not want to race” so, sure, he’d love to race here. Ashley Freiberg told me the very same thing yesterday. She said she was in Turn 1 watching practice and had an urge to hurl herself onto a passing car, pull the driver out and start driving it.
Cue the circus music! Ed Carpenter goes through the grass while warming his tires in P1. Shades of Roberto Guerrero who gets a mention by the booth guys who won the pole in 1992 and then spun himself out of the race during the parade laps of that race. HUGE brain lock. Luckily Ed goes through the grass and back onto the track with no damage. A tiny police car pulls up next to Ed and 19 clowns lean out the windows to make sure he’s not texting and driving.
Marco radio about nobody wanting to lead (due to the gas consumption). “This is supposed to be a race.” I hear ya, Marco, it’s a bit disconcerting.
Lap 42 --- Finally GREEN.
Lap 45 -- Simona gets a drive through penalty for driving over an air hose in the pits.
Lap 46 -- Blizzard of Obscenities II. Pippa spanks the wall hard enough to trash her car. She made it back to the pit but is done for the day.
Eddie says P4 to P7 is a safe place to be, in front and behind is a festival of overtaking.
Sato throws a semi chop in a subtle way that only Sato can (or so it appeared on TV). Eddie says it’s an F1 move. Sato is the master of those.
Lap 55 -- the lead swapping continues up front. Dario is P18 with understeer.
Lap 56 -- Replay of Pippa getting into the gray and spanking it. She got out behind Rahal who was high as well and got into the DREADED DIRTY AIR.
Jerry with Pippa who is about to talk about what happened but instead we’re yellow yellow yellow. Lap 50 -- Ed, Marco, RHR, Helio, TK, Sato, EJ, Munoz, Tag, Power.
Sato does a spin-o-rama but doesn’t hit anything. He’s gesturing wildly to the safety guys to start him back up. Replays. Just went around on his own. EVERYBODY pits except JoeNew and Katherine.
Lap 61 -- GREEN. RHR inhales Marco who was the leader. Eddie notes correctly that the leader on a restart is screwed hard. No way to stay P1 unless you are willing to throw a major block party.
Lap 64 -- Ed dives from P3 to P1. Pretty much the scene at the front all day. Festival of lead changes continues.
Lap 66 -- Helio quietly up to P6. Goodyear says car is “nervous” for the fourth time, so DRINK, ye BASTARDS.
Lap 75 -- Power, TK, RHR, Ed, Marco, Viso, Allmendinger, Helio, Munoz, Tagliani.
Lap 76 -- Lots of lead changes but now Ed is getting inhaled by many.
Goodyear says “nervousness” again … DRINK.
Ed says the front of his car is “taking off” that means heading for the fence, which is “oversteer.” All of that is bad.
Lap 89 -- Pit stops happening. Everyone will pit in the next couple of laps.
Connor Daly pitted on Lap 91 and had some issues. His team said he lost the rear brakes (which you need coming into the pits) AND the car caught on fire twice. He’ll lose two laps before it’s all over.
Lap 98 -- Allmendinger leads. Crowd kind of digs it. Leads for 11 laps with TK behind him. Insert fuel saving mode here.
Lap 100 -- Allmendinger, TK, RHR, Viso, Marco, Helio, Power, Ed, Tag, Servia.
Lap 112 -- Allmendinger has to pit because his seatbelt came lose. WTF? Must have hit the quick release clasp thing by accident. You cannot drive an IndyCar with a loose seatbelt. That’s suicidal. And you for sure can’t re-hook it yourself at 220 mph, so AJ pits. They top him off and fix the belt. Off sequence now.
Lap 120 -- Vince says Hinch can’t get close to a car in front without his car getting all squirrelly on him.
Lap 125 -- Dario says his car is crap. (I am paraphrasing.) Katherine’s pit tells her she just put up the fastest lap of the race thus far (unconfirmed, but that’s’ what they said).
Pit stops started at Lap 121.
Lap 130 -- Marco, RHR, Viso, TK, Helio, Ed, Munoz, Sevia, Dixon. Munoz gets a lot of well deserved shout outs for poise as a rookie and being patient in the race.
Lap 132 -- HOLY DIRT TRACK. Hinch goes all sprint car coming out of a corner and puts his car sideways, even loses his grip on the steering wheel, then the car comes back to him and he grabs it. Dude. That was either epically bad ass or really lucky. Maybe a combination.
Lap 134 -- Jamie says Marco is “frustrated,” which is code for “pissed,” that he has to save fuel with teammate Viso out in front.
Lap 144 -- Helio dives from P3 under Marco and RHR and is CLEAR just going into turn 1. I watched it at the track and thought “large attachments.”
If “fuel strategy” is your drinking word for this race, I hope they have the race on in the emergency room you are surely going to.
Jamie’s voice has gotten more air time than 75% of the field today. She’s on the pits of all the lead pack people, it seems.
Eddie does the pit window math and says we can look forward to a full-on sprint to the end. This part of the race is kind of middle-stint road racy with people saving fuel, being calm.
Passing at the front, but again it seems like taking turns leading to spread out the fuel use burden.
Lap 150 -- Marco, RHR, Helio, Munoz, Ed, TK, Viso, Oriol, Dixon, Rahal.
Lap 152 -- Pitting starts. Viso stalls it in the pits. Hinch cycles his 410-sprint car to the lead of the race for a lap. Dixon also leads for a lap on the pit cycle. Dario puts the cherry on top of his day with a crap pit stop.
Lap 167 -- I notice that Buddy Lazier is out of the race. Actually has been for a while. Why is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Katherine is still out there, -7 laps from the toe link, putting up decent speeds but just gaining spots by attrition at this point.
Lap 169 -- Tag brushed the wall. Lap 170 Bell dirt tracks into the wall but continues. No yellow.
Lap 175 -- Marco, TK, RHR, Munoz, Helio, Pagenaud, Ed, Servia, Bourdais, Wilson.
Lap 178 -- Munoz makes a large attachments move into P2. WTF? Bourdais is sliding down pit lane with his car trashed. He’s pounding the steering wheel. Replays … he gets way loose on his own coming into the pit lane, locks up brakes to get down to pit speed, biffs the inside pit wall, slides conveniently right into his pit stall. He’s done. No yellow. Thank you for keeping your yellow in your pocket here. This will be an epic finish if we go green all the way to the end.
Right here I am hoping hard for no yellows so we have that big sprint to the finish. I also say best wishes to Beauxford T. Justice, because given how often the leader gets inhaled, drivers will be testing that defend/block rule A LOT in the last five laps of this race if we stay green.
Lap 191 -- TK leads. Crowd roars. Wife Cam (Lauren Kanaan) is activated. She looks as if she’s going to have a stroke.
Lap 194 -- Blizzard of Obscenities III. Rahal walls it with six to go. First thought (assuming Rahal is alright) … get that cleaned up soon so we can finish green. Goodyear eases my angst by hitting us with a “just a passenger” mention. DRINK, ye BASTARDS.
Everyone has pitted back on lap 184 so we’re all good to go on fuel. The good news is if we can get through the restart, we’ll have an epic trophy dash of the apocalypse.
Lap 196 -- Going green next time by! This is essentially the green-white-checkered finish for IndyCar since races can finish under yellow. If someone biffs it here, we’ll finish under yellow no doubt.
Restart lineup -- RHR (who is hating life), TK, Munoz, Marco, Wilson (where did he come from?), Helio, Allmendinger (great recovery from belt issue), Pagenaud, Dario, Kimball, Ed, Servia, Briscoe, Sato, Dixon.
Before the restart Katherine on her radio apologizes for the wall biff and says “thank you all very much.” IMS is so huge that listening on the scanner is dicey, so I missed a lot of stuff. I was listening to Pippa, Katherine, Bia and Ed. Bia sounded like she was in an echo chamber most of the time. Didn’t get much off the scanner to share, frankly.
Lap 197 -- GREEN. Into 1 about five wide, into two and … Dario biffs it. Dario into turn 2 wall from P9. Yellow yellow yellow. Tony Kanaan leads and will win this race barring earthquake AND air strike.
Replays. Munoz has a set on him (based on his driving, anyway), I gotta give him that, as evidenced by the way he followed TK around RHR.
IMS crowd is frothing for the wildly popular Tony Kanaan. Lauren cam activated. No replay of the crash though. Dario’s onboard camera? Anyone? Buehler. I didn’t see a replay anyway. Must have been NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.
Update: I am an asshole (that's not an update, actually)! ABC did show the in-car video replay of the crash late in the broadcast. It was our business, and I apologize for the above snark.
Kanaan gets a two-lap yellow victory drive, then another one, and is now out in victory circle. Big sugar from his wife, Lauren. Milk. Swigs. Pours on head. Vince is in there. Tony gives a big shout out to the fans. Viewing enhanced. Says “I finally made it” and “I get to put my ugly face on that trophy.”
When I checked the finishing order, I saw that Bia drove from a P25 start to a P15 finish. Checked the lap chart and it was combination of a steady, patient climb and some pit strategy. I couldn’t hear her much on my scanner so it was a surprise to me. So shout out to Bia.
Trackside Online Finishing Order …
1. (12) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
2. (2) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
3. (7) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
4. (3) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
5. (14) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
6. (8) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
7. (5) AJ Allmendinger, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
8. (21) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
9. (19) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
10. (1) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
11. (13) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
12. (23) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
13. (18) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
14. (16) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
15. (29) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
16. (28) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
17. (24) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
18. (4) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
19. (6) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 200, Running
20. (20) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
21. (9) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 199, Running
22. (31) Conor Daly, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
23. (17) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 197, Contact
24. (11) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 196, Running
25. (26) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 193, Contact
26. (33) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Honda, 193, Running
27. (22) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Chevy, 192, Running
28. (25) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 191, Running
29. (15) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 178, Contact
30. (30) Pippa Mann, Dallara-Honda, 46, Contact
31. (32) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Chevy, 44, Mechanical
32. (27) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 34, Contact
33. (10) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevy, 3, Contact
Time of Race: 02:40:03.4181
Avg Speed: 187.433
Margin of Victory: Under Caution
Lead Changes: 68
Caution Laps: 21
Fastest Lap: 226.940 mph ( 39.6580 sec) on lap 185 by 19 - Justin Wilson
Fastest Leader Lap: 223.651 mph ( 40.2413 sec) on lap 184 by 26 - Carlos Munoz
Points leaders: Marco 168, Sato 157, Helio 152, RHR 138, Hinch 128, Wilson 125, TK 124.
Lap chart and finishing order courtesy of IndyCar/IMS PR.
The 2013 Indy 500 set a lot of records, including 68 lead changes, 14 different leaders, average speed 187.433 and 26 cars still running at the end (19 on the lead lap).
Props to Kanaan, a wildly popular champion based on the huge roar for him Sunday, who won Indy in his 12th try.
That’s it from IMS. For my observations from the track on the Saturday before the race, go here. For my observations post-race, video highlights of the race and a transcript of Tony Kanaan’s news conference post-race, go here.
Final thoughts on the Indy 500 coming very soon. Next race is a doubleheader at Belle Isle. Race 1 is Saturday, June 1 at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. Race 2 is Sunday, June 2 at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. All times Eastern. First doubleheader of the season for IndyCar. Should be interesting.
Peace out from Indianapolis (and Des Moines).
Thanks Bill. It's always nice to get filled in on some of the missing pieces. Turn one is always exciting and this year it was uber-exciting! The race just keeps getting better. I've gone to Indy for 50 years now and have seen over 25 races (and tons of time trials). This year's competition was as good as I've ever seen. Tony! Triple Crown!
Posted by: ramblinman | May 28, 2013 at 11:17 AM
Jenna fryer reports a overnight ratings of 3.8 only so it is what it is regardless. Even throwing in AJ as a possible boost to ratings didn't work, course why should it since he is a druggy who lost his nascar ride and has nothing else to do. Have to say dont care for TK but glad to see it wasn't an Andretti win. Carpenter of course would have been the best case scenario to win but not to be. Looks like Penske is losing it as a dominate Indycar team. I feel bad for Dario as he is clearly lost but most expect him to retire after this yr--too bad if true?
Also Pressdog close your eyes as you may not like this comment about your pressdog gals. For all the Danica naysayers, facts are all the other females in Indycar might as well stay home as none are close to being competitive in this or any other 500--says it all doesnt it? Had to say it--oh well.
Posted by: vern | May 28, 2013 at 12:17 PM
What a great race. It has been a while since I had such an array of drivers to cheer for; TK, Ed, Helio, Marco, Hinch, Newgarden. I would have been happy to see anyone in that group win, but TK had them covered, he had the best car and he hung around the top 5 all race long, and the story about the “Good luck charm” is an instant classic. I was also cheering for Buddy Lazier, Kat, & Simona; I knew they wouldn’t win but wanted them to do well.
But, I just HAVE to comment on the ABC coverage. I’m tempted to say the booth just mailed it in, but I’m not sure that’s what happened. It seemed to me that even though they were right there at the track, the only things that they knew were happening was what they saw on the monitor in front of them, or what a producer was telling them in their ear ( which seemed to be nothing). They could not convey the flow or the drama of the race that was happening right before their eyes. They could have done the same job from a studio in Connecticut.
The coverage was better than some of their past performances but it was still crap
Posted by: Chris Lukens | May 28, 2013 at 12:49 PM
Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever are the worst
Posted by: Indy | May 28, 2013 at 02:30 PM
Hate to say it, if there wasn't that last caution Munoz the rookie would have inhaled TK on the last lap and won. Munoz drove a hell of a race for a rookie, and only 21 at that!
Very happy for TK! Great driver, great guy with a great sense of humor RE; his ugly face/nose on the Borg-Warner comment.
Posted by: GeorgeK | May 28, 2013 at 02:51 PM
GeorgeK, in the post-race interview, TK said that he would've taught the rookie a thing or two in the last two lap showdown. I doubt that he'd of gotten by Tony. Blocking? OF COURSE!
Vern, get real dude. Were you even at the race?
Posted by: ramblinman | May 28, 2013 at 05:11 PM
"Vern, get real dude. Were you even at the race?"
Not sure what points you are confused by but I saw the race and the results is all that counts in the end so my comments stand on their own merits via the finishing order other then to say great run by the rookie Munoz. Facts are it doesn't matter who is racing great on what laps as the finish is all that counts other then the prestige of winning the Pole of course and Carpenter did that.
I will admit the race was pretty good in the fact there were lots of lead changes and it came down to the final laps. However, as we are seeing in the press, NO one likes a finish and win under caution. Course we can say the same about wins from a rain delay or fuel mileage race as well as most fans feel cheated out of a real racing win. However--IF--the race had restarted or had the Nascar GWC which some are suggesting as well, it would've made for a better & more credible finish even if it had the same winner--just saying?
Bottom line is its Indycar and its best most popular yrs are long over despite new cars, new engines and drivers like AJ thrown in the mix to draw more interest that apparently didn't work as no one cares or not enough anyway? Add to the fact if AJ had won it would make Indycar look pretty weak and easy--now wouldn't it? Iam surprised the "powers at be" in Indycar cant see that, course these one-offs or PT drivers from another series like AJ arent really expected to win anyway, just there to attract more mainstream attention which apparently didnt work anyway? Keep trying Iam sure?
Bottom line--It is what it is, as Ive said--it was a pretty good race but you cant make the GP like something they have little or no interest in. If Indycar and their fans are happy then its all good, and as Ive said before, long as the sponsors tolerate the low ratings--enjoy.
Posted by: vern | May 28, 2013 at 07:48 PM
ABC Sports was terrible.
Posted by: Brian McKay in Florida | May 28, 2013 at 09:23 PM
I hear ya Ramblinmanb, I also heard TK's comments. The dangerous thing about rookies is they sometimes don't know better, when to back off that is. Regardless we were deprived of a potentially great fight to the finish.
Still glad TK won regardless of the circumstances.
Posted by: GeorgeK | May 29, 2013 at 07:11 AM
A feel good finish.
However I also feel for RHR who, along with Kanaan and Munoz KNEW he was dead meat on the final restart.
I also feel for Munoz who would have won after the next restart despite Kanaan's bravado.
Is drafting the way champions will be decided from now on?
PT however, did the Canadian colour commentary and NEVER referred to himself as a past Indy 500 winner (which he IS). And NEVER referred to Helio as only a 2 time winner (which he IS). A CLASS guy and great commentary. Too bad you couldn't see it.
Posted by: S0CSeven | May 29, 2013 at 08:45 AM