Ryan Hunter-Reay and son Ryden celebrate the W.
Notes taken during the NBC Sports Network broadcast of the Milwaukee IndyFest, Milwaukee Mile, on June 15, 2013.
Welcome to Milwaukee, home of brats and beer … and what else do you need to know? pressdog® Beer of the Race is Stella Artois.
Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Mr. David Hobbs (insert tinkle of scotch on the rocks here) are in the both. Kevin Lee, Will Buxton and Jon Beekhuis are the pit infantry.
It rained last night, so insert mentions of “green track” here.
We’ve added 25 laps to this event from last year. Cue the HAT (running order at the top of the screen). Word to the graphic-generating B Unit. I can smell the brats grilling out the back door of the semi-trailer-sized B UNIT.
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1. (25) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 170.515
2. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 170.418
3. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 170.212
4. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 170.100
5. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 169.828
6. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 169.732
7. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 169.482
8. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 169.462
9. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 169.311
10. (55) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 169.215
11. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 168.820
12. (16) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 168.470
13. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 168.412
14. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 168.141
15. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 168.023
16. (98) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 167.512
17. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 167.263
18. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 167.169
19. (4) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 165.765
20. (18) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 165.364
21. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 164.797
22. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 164.124
23. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 163.230
24. (78) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 162.886
Let’s light this candle … We’re … green green green. RHR pops out on the green flag and inhales Hinch. I’ve officially given up on IndyCar starts and restarts. Virtually all of them are Festivals of Fugly, especially when you compare them to starts in other racing series. But I think it would take an air strike to get a start waved off in IndyCar.
Lap 8 – Power stalking the leaders.
Lap 10 – Marco, RHR, Power, Hinchcliffe, TK, Viso, Saavedra. Pagenaud, Bourdais, Newgarden
A little lock stepish here. It’s easy to lose track of who’s where on a small oval like Milwaukee especially when the lapping commences. These smaller ovals are better experienced in person since you can get the overall picture much better.
Wilson slowing … Replay shows he got looooose and had to dump out of it big time to avoid the biff. Loses about five spots.
Lap 21 – Yellow yellow yellow. Simona spanks the wall. Replay. Ass around and slight contact with the wall. She’s back underway.
Lap 29 -- green green green … er .. yellow yellow yellow. Tags goes ass around on the restart. Replay. Tag starts to go around, Rahal whacks into the back of Jakes. Simona is back out with a new rear wing but five laps down.
Lap 32 -- Restart … GREEN. Two-wide restarts ... hahahahahahahaha. Sure. Ed goes outside and overtakes someone.
Lap 35 – Ed is into the top ten.
Lap 35 -- Marco, RHR, Power, Hinchcliffe, Viso, Pagenaud, TK, Saavedra, Ed, Bourdais
Lap 39 -- Ed is inhaling people. He’s up to P8 from P20. Gets monster air.
Maybe it’s because this is the first race I have watched lived (rather than DVR) for a while, but it seems to be a Festival of Commercials.
Lap 53 -- Dixon seems to be fading.
Bourdais is toast. Seems pissed as he comes in … ran out of gas? Then runs over a wheel gun that didn’t get yanked out of the way in time. Gonna be a penalty for that.
Ed is up to 7th from starting P20.
Lap 58 -- Marco still leads and is catching traffic. Bourdais gets a drive-through penalty for hitting the wheel gun. Chief Steward Beauxford T. Justice (Beaux Barfield) spaketh with fearsome authority.
Lap 62 -- RHR overtakes Marco to lead this thing.
Lap 67 -- Pit stops starting. Marco pits from P2, the fueler can’t yank the fuel PROBE out right away so Marco comes back out in P19.
Lap 70 – Sato, Helio, Wilson, Newgarden, Dario, Kimball, Viso, Jakes, RHR, Rahal
We go to a Chuck Kimball feature on how small the pit boxes are, while the race is green. Odd timing.
Lap 95 – Viso, RHR, Sato, Helio, Wilson, Ed, Hinch, Pagenaud, Saavedra, TK.
Lap 96 -- Power appears to be fading.
Lap 97 -- Marco slowing … something’s toast in his car and we’re yellow yellow yellow. Marco comes to a stop on the apron. Looking for a tow. Can’t get it out of gear so he can be towed. DAMN ELECTRONICS. In my day we had carburetors and liked it! Marco tells Jon he lost all electrical power, so his clutch wouldn’t work, so he was toast. They are trying to fix it and get him back out for some points.
Lap 107 -- GREEN.
Lap 112 .. onboard with Pagenaud who is saving fuel.
Lap 120 – Sato, Helio, RHR, Viso, Hinch, Power, Dixon, Newgarden, TK, Saavedra
Lap 127 -- Pagenaud gets squirrelly in traffic.
Lap 136 -- Sato is working on lapping Ed who is working on not being lapped. Insert unfair screaming at Ed for “holding up the leader” here. Ah, a guy has a right to battle to not go a lap down, ‘kay? Stave him off legally for a couple laps, get a yellow, and be saved. As long as he’s not blocking, which he isn’t.
Marco back out after changing about all the electronics on the car.
Lap 147 -- Simona is out of the race. Why is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
Lap 150 – Sato, Helio, RHR, Viso, Hinch, Power, Dixon, Newgarden, Saavedra, TK
Ed got up into the gray and got inhaled. Had to woe it way down in order to stay out of the wall. Cotton needs new shorts! Getting out of the groove here is WALL time. Ed pits.
Lap 154 -- Helio closing on Sato. Gets stuck behind Bia and can’t overtake Sato at the moment. I think the lapped cars are going to be wary of how they move over for the lead-lap cars, because getting half a groove high in the wrong place gets you into the wall.
Lap 155 -- Helio pits and RHR takes up the battle with Sato.
Lap 157 -- Sato pits and RHR leads. Pitting starting to cycle here.
Lap 167 -- Diffey momentarily loses his mind and thinks Power can pit from the lead and get out in the lead. Rights himself quickly though.
Bourdais is out. Says something happened with the fuel pump and then he hit the wheel gun and it may have screwed up the steering.
Lap 174 -- Tagliani is also out. Says they had issues with some of the pedals. Sticking, being random. Gearbox overheated as well.
Lap 183 - Replay. Sato has a tank slapper (big wiggle) but catches it and maintains the lead. Cotton needs new shorts Part 2.
Circus clowns are noticeably irritable at the lack of action for them.
Lap 190 – Sato, Helio, RHR, Viso, Power, Hinch, Dixon, Newgarden, Saavedra, Pagenaud. Seven on the lead lap.
Lap 196 -- RHR dives under Helio and clear … slide job at Milwaukee. A lap later he dives under Sato and leads.
Lap 200 -- Sato pits from P3, back out in P7 a lap down.
Lap 201 -- Saavedra spanks the wall. It’s a festival of dirt tracking out there.
Lap 203 -- RHR has four seconds on Helio.
Lap 210- -- RHR, Helio, Viso, Power, Hinch, Dixon, Sato, Newgarden, Pagenaud, Wilson
Lap 211 -- Yellow yellow yellow. Bia bashes the wall. Cars in P1-6 bum rush the pits when they are open. RHR is able to pit and still lead. This yellow is a big screw job for Sat who will get his lap back but remain in P7 with old tires. HE GOT SCREWED (by the yellow).
Lap 230 -- GREEN. RHR jumps to hype space …wings back in the delta, he’s supersonic.
RHR is soon 4.3 seconds ahead of Helio. Power is catching up to Helio in P2. WILL THERE BE TEAM ORDERS?
Lap 240 – RHR, Helio, Power, Viso, Hinch, Dixon, Sato, Dario, Wilson, TK.
Lap 246 -- Holy Don’t Mind if I Do. It looks like Helio was maybe checking his text massages and Power saw an opening and dives under. They nearly touch. Roger Penske’s face creases in a slight scowl. Power backs out and contact is avoided. Later Helio said he didn’t see Power down there. Power said he wasn’t going to do anything stupid, but when he saw an opening he thought he may as well dive in there. Crisis averted, though.
White … RHR wins. The eight cars on the lead lap lock stepped it home from the yellow.
Donuts from RHR. Last year a win at Milwaukee started RHR’s rampage that included a win at Iowa. Andretti Autosport has the short ovals (both of them!) wired.
Finishing order..
WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Results Saturday of the Milwaukee IndyFest IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running
2. (17) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running
3. (3) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running
4. (5) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running
5. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running
6. (11) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running
7. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running
8. (23) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running
9. (13) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running
10. (7) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 249, Running
11. (8) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running
12. (9) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running
13. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running
14. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running
15. (18) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running
16. (24) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 247, Running
17. (21) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 246, Running
18. (12) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 245, Running
19. (19) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 242, Running
20. (1) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 176, Mechanical
21. (10) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 173, Mechanical
22. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 152, Mechanical
23. (16) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 146, Mechanica
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24. (22) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 69, Contact
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 136.848
Time of Race: 01:51:15.2962
Margin of victory: 4.8059
Cautions: 4 for 29 laps
Lead changes: 11 among 6 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Andretti 1 - 61
Hunter-Reay 62 - 66
Power 67 - 68
Sato 69 - 90
Wilson 91
Viso 92 - 99
Sato 100 - 156
Hunter-Reay 157 - 163
Viso 164 - 165
Power 166 - 167
Sato 168 - 197
Hunter-Reay 198 – 250
Point Standings: Castroneves 299, Hunter-Reay 283, Andretti 249, Sato 223, Dixon 221, Kanaan 215, Pagenaud 212, Wilson 207, Hinchcliffe 206, Franchitti 192.
Starting and finishing order and lap chart couresty of IndyCar PR.
That’s it from Milwaukee. Thoughts on the whole deal very soon. In general, not a bad race, not a great race. As I said earlier, it’s difficult to televise a flat oval like Milwaukee because there is action literally everywhere on the track as the race matures. Lots of drivers complaining about lapped traffic being discourteous and not ramming themselves into the wall in order to let them play through. This is pretty standard anger after a short track.
Next race is Iowa, 2:30 p.m. June 23 on ABC. I’ll be in the house on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Mrs pdog and I are ticket purchasers for this one and I leave the credential home and go into regular fan-in-the-stands mode on Sunday. If you’re coming over, here’s my guide to Greater Des Moines.
Please note: I am having issues with the spam filter on the site. If you post a comment and it disappears, it just got sucked into the spam folder. I have to manually restore the comment, which I will. I check the filter periodically so it may take me a while realize a comment is stuck in there. Apologize for the goofiness. The site host says the are "working on it."
Pdog, if you hear of any drivers appearing in teh Des Moines area, could you post those here (since you are an insider)? Looking forward to the race this weekend!!
Posted by: kt | June 17, 2013 at 09:37 AM
Good work here, P'Dog.
Let's STOP with babies at the race track. NOTHING good comes from babies at a race track. Please.
Did Marco gain any points by coming back? We should get this analysis everytime someone comes back out.
Indy Cars are ugly and Jamie Little is not.
Posted by: John S | June 17, 2013 at 10:36 AM
Loved the bit about Diffey momentarily losing his mind.
John S, I believe Marco moved from 22nd to 20th be returning to the race, thanks to mechanical woes for Bourdais and Vautier. This would give him 10 points vs. 8, or 12 points vs. 10 if counting his bonus points for pole and leading laps.
Posted by: billytheskink | June 17, 2013 at 10:43 AM
Absolutely terrific race. Absolutely terrific broadcast.
I rate it a 8+.
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Posted by: Chris Lukens | June 17, 2013 at 11:20 AM
Would have loved to see Buxton explode with joy if Taku had been able to stay up front in the last stint. The cross-pollination with the F1 crew was a nice touch. Can hardly believe Hobbo never attended a Milwaukee IndyCar between 93 and this weekend though? Maybe I misunderstood...surely there wasn't always an F1 race commentary scheduling conflict.
Posted by: ThatGuy | June 17, 2013 at 12:28 PM
I was at the race and absolutely loved the total experience. The festival like activities inside the track provided many things to see and do (and eat) for adults and children alike. The infield was absolutely packed before the race and many fans remained there after the race started.
Driver after driver stated how much they like racing here. (with the possible exception of Simona who looked pretty discouraged walking back to her trailer) Now,after eating too many cream puffs, it is on to corn country and pork chops on a stick.
Posted by: Ron Ford | June 17, 2013 at 12:33 PM
Pork chops on a stick!?!?! I may have to rethink my retirement destination. Damn the winter weather, pork chops on a stick ahead!
Posted by: GeorgeK | June 17, 2013 at 02:12 PM
Just a quick note to "thatguy": David Hobbs has a Honda dealership in Milwaukee and lives here I believe. He has been one of the race sponsors since Andretti began promoting it. It would be hard for me to believe also that this was his first race experience at the mile. As an announcer, yes, probably.
Posted by: Ron Ford | June 17, 2013 at 03:35 PM
I was there, as I usually am at Milwaukee. I haven't watched the broadcast yet. The experience was great, as always, but for the race itself, I think you nailed it, P-Dog. Not bad, not great. The first and last 30 laps were very lock-steppy, which put a bit of damper on the ending, but the middle 190 were pretty good, although I was at the opposite side of the track from all the spinning and walling action, as I usually am, and with no monitor, so I was a bit confused at times as to what was actually going on.
One thing I thought seemed different than in past years, but could have been my imagination, was how quick the field spread out. Within two laps of a restart, the leaders were half the track ahead of the backmarkers, and lapping them within five. I'm surprised there were still seven cars on the lead lap at the end.
Crowd looked pretty nice from what I could see. Not packed, certainly, but seemed noticeably larger than last year, with a bit more of a buzz than recent years.
I'm wondering if 250 laps is too many for a short track like Milwaukee? If the race comes back, I'd be intrigued if they explored some kind of Sat/Sun doubleheader like in Detroit. Of course, I know nothing of the logistics of such an undertaking, so I may be completely typing out of my butt.
Posted by: Jack | June 17, 2013 at 04:48 PM