IndyCar: ABC Supply 500

The crazy Russian might snag his first win here. Power has his mirror full of Aleshin.
 
Yes!! Yes!! Will Power wins!! I knew he would win!! I was rootin' for him all the way!!

Yeah baby!!

:D
 
Today could have been the day, the cold war was finally over, but it wasn't.
Aleshin really is the discovery of the Season, he had really deserved the win but Power of course wasn't bad either.
RHR was undoubtedly the man of the race from 22nd to 1st and then from a lap back to 3rd, amazing!
This was by far the best IndyCar race I ever saw and races such as this on are the reason why NASCAR and IndyCar still run @ Pocono.
 
Jimmy W1 said:
Yes!! Yes!! Will Power wins!! I knew he would win!! I was rootin' for him all the way!!

Yeah baby!!

:D
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Actually I was rooting for Newgarden. I figured you guys would pick up on my comic relief. But I was happy for Power too. Congrats!!

It was a great race. I'm only about 8 hours from Pocono. I might try going next year. I'll put that on my bucket list. Until next race guys.............
 
What a race! Easy drive, easy park. Bought a General Admission ticket for the 100 level but didn't stay there. I like Indycar...they don't mess around with getting the race going. Prayer-anthem-engines-green all within 10 minutes. I'm not much of an Indycar guy..but knew enough to stay on top of things. Had you asked me yesterday I probably could've named 10 drivers in the field...now I could name 20. I REALLY like the digital display on top of the cars for monitoring pit stop times. That is AWESOME! The incident on pit road was RIGHT in front of me. Honestly didn't think Castroneves was gonna walk out of that car. Scary, scary stuff. The battle at the end was awesome! No love for Aleshin at the end? Thought he ran a GREAT race for a rookie. Same with Rossi before his little incident. Great to see Newgarden near the lead too. Hunter-Reay had the dominant car and looked like the most comfortable driver out there.

Probably saw @KodiakRusty89 in passing again, as I was at the exit of pit road halfway up the 200 level. Bought a 100th Indianapolis 500 running for $15. No complaints, just compliments. Awesome race. Awesome venue. Indycar might've just gained a new full-season fan!

A couple of questions and comments from my untrained Indycar eye-

1. I thought Kanaan was the fan favorite...but Hunter-Reay got all the attention. Even as Aleshin and Power were closing in on each other with 5 to go all the IMS radio network talked about was RHR to the point where I was nauseated. And the crowd absolutely LOVED the guy...like all of Jr Nation jumped the shark over to Indycar.

2. Is there ANY love for the foreigners in the field? I realize everyone close to the sport wants Good ol' American Boys winning the races but there's more to the race than RHR, Kanaan, and Power (and to a lesser extent Rossi).

3. How does Sato still have a ride? Even my very casual fan wisdom told me he was gonna wreck out...as always.

4. There's no push-to-pass on ovals, correct?

5. The drivers seem to stay higher in the turn before turning down into the apex of the corner than their NASCAR counterparts.

6. Are tires ever a factor in this series (and) are tires limited at each event?
 
This was my first Indy race. Got the tickets for nothing, as I won two Cup tickets and Pocono let me trade them in on Indy since I already had Cup tickets to both races. Keep in mind I know very little about Indy racing, although I have been to IMS for a tour once and saw the museum. Great time there and also today. Downright chilly at times and sustained 15 winds + gusts. Saw lots of people with hoodies and jackets and jeans but no threat of rain and got a sunburn for a change instead of trench foot at Pocono.

Observations are thus:

Crowd is laid back and less edgy than Cup. Also far fewer people, and polite. I never had a problem at a cup race either, but people here were just super nice. A guy stood up to my left and below us in the last 10 laps and turned around and asked if he was in our way. I never heard that sentence coming out of someone's mouth at a Pocono Cup race. He was not in our way, and if he was we could have moved two seats in any direction given the lack of patrons. The fans that were there seemed extremely competent and knowledgeable about Indy Car. I was impressed listening to conversations during and after. Many fans of many ethnicities. Merch was looked at but not purchased other than a program. Merch seems to be 20% more expensive than NASCAR stuff and there's much less of it. Program was $10 which I think is about the same although I didn't buy a NASCAR program this year.

The race experience (and to you Indy guys, I'm sorry I keep relating this to Sprint Cup, but that's what I've seen 25 or so times at Pocono) was surprising. I expected higher speeds but I was stunned at the speeds coming out of 3. Stunned. It was something else, man. Never saw anything like it. Sato hit the wall in 3 very early and we were right at the start of pit road and he came to rest right in front of us. I saw the whole thing and I thought they were going to put the curtain up to get him out. I just had my hands on the top of my head like "I can't believe this." Few minutes he pops up and walks to an ambulance? No, just an SUV they had out there to give him a lift. No big deal, walked out on his own steam. Was kinda surprised no ambulance but whatever, I mean he looked fine. I thought he was dead after that hit in that little car flying all to hell after impact. Unbelievable. I was there for the Davey Allison barrel roll years ago but saw it from a mile away (probably literally) but I never saw anything hit the wall with velocity like today. Can't say I was surprised at the noise level of the cars, it was about what I expected. Pit rules are far different from NASCAR. I have no idea what they are. They had tires sitting out in the stalls and guys over the wall waiting. Figured it was probably OK since they were all doing it. LOL.

Racing was hot near the end. Thought there would be more contention for the win but Power walked off late Hunter-Reay was definitely the golden boy with the fans and I understand why, because there doesn't seem to be much quit in the guy. I expected a lot of green laps with no changes so I didn't have too many surprises other than the insane speed in the corners which was a great thing to see. Had a great time. Would go back? Yes I'd go see it again, not every year probably. Maybe every 2 years. I don't know if Pocono renewed the series or not. Enjoyed the whole deal.
 
Amazing race today I just wish Aleshin or Hunter Reay could have won.

Speedbowl14 said:
3. How does Sato still have a ride? Even my very casual fan wisdom told me he was gonna wreck out...as always.
.
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Both Foyt drivers need to go. I really want stability in the series but the fact that one or both the Foyt drivers finds a way to wreck in nearly every single race is ridiculous. It reminds me of a season about 6 or 7 years ago when Vasser had EJ Viso, Mario Moraes and Sato all on the same team. I think between the 3 of them the crashed something like 40 cars in 18 races.[/QUOTE]
 
Thanks for the reports guys, and glad you enjoyed the race.
 
For some reason, 2 hours of DVR didn't record. It cut off immediately after the scary af pit accident. Never saw the final 140 laps. This blows.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
What a race! Easy drive, easy park. Bought a General Admission ticket for the 100 level but didn't stay there. I like Indycar...they don't mess around with getting the race going. Prayer-anthem-engines-green all within 10 minutes. I'm not much of an Indycar guy..but knew enough to stay on top of things. Had you asked me yesterday I probably could've named 10 drivers in the field...now I could name 20. I REALLY like the digital display on top of the cars for monitoring pit stop times. That is AWESOME! The incident on pit road was RIGHT in front of me. Honestly didn't think Castroneves was gonna walk out of that car. Scary, scary stuff. The battle at the end was awesome! No love for Aleshin at the end? Thought he ran a GREAT race for a rookie. Same with Rossi before his little incident. Great to see Newgarden near the lead too. Hunter-Reay had the dominant car and looked like the most comfortable driver out there.

Probably saw @KodiakRusty89 in passing again, as I was at the exit of pit road halfway up the 200 level. Bought a 100th Indianapolis 500 running for $15. No complaints, just compliments. Awesome race. Awesome venue. Indycar might've just gained a new full-season fan!

A couple of questions and comments from my untrained Indycar eye-

1. I thought Kanaan was the fan favorite...but Hunter-Reay got all the attention. Even as Aleshin and Power were closing in on each other with 5 to go all the IMS radio network talked about was RHR to the point where I was nauseated. And the crowd absolutely LOVED the guy...like all of Jr Nation jumped the shark over to Indycar.

2. Is there ANY love for the foreigners in the field? I realize everyone close to the sport wants Good ol' American Boys winning the races but there's more to the race than RHR, Kanaan, and Power (and to a lesser extent Rossi).

3. How does Sato still have a ride? Even my very casual fan wisdom told me he was gonna wreck out...as always.

4. There's no push-to-pass on ovals, correct?

5. The drivers seem to stay higher in the turn before turning down into the apex of the corner than their NASCAR counterparts.

6. Are tires ever a factor in this series (and) are tires limited at each event?
Click to expand...
2. Internationals like Helio, TK, and Montoya are big fan favorites and then guys like Dixon and Power have solid followings as well. Obviously RHR, Newgarden, Rahal, Daly, and Rossi are generally well-liked but the internationals get love too.

3. I think part of it is a Honda thing. Japanese, obviously, and he's been with Honda since his F1 days. AJ seems to like him too but I think he could do better.

4. Correct

6. It varies from track to tack but yeah, you get a limited number of sets of tires per weekend. At the road courses and street circuits you'll get more black primary tires than you do red alternate tires (three sets per weekend). They can make a substantial difference at the road courses/street circuits and short ovals, Texas is usually very tough on tires too. Not to say they don't matter at Indy and Pocono but the gap isn't as substantial there.
 
I was hoping Aleshin would have got the win, after what happened at Fontana.



Feel bad for Hunter-Reay too, the class of the field at Indianapolis and Pocono, bad luck both times.
 
The pit road crash was reallly crazy. The guys on pit road are brave souls.
 
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