IndyCar at Pocono

KevinWI

KevinWI

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It's been almost 24 years since Danny Sullivan in the Miller High Life car won the last IndyCar race at Pocono, but they're back this year!

The teams are tweeting out pictures from practice and qualifying, and it looks like a decent-sized crowd. They might get a big draw for the race tomorrow.

Weekend Schedule (all times ET)
Saturday
IndyCar Qualifying - 1:15pm
Indy Lights Race - 4:00pm
IndyCar Final Practice - 5:30pm

Sunday
IndyCar Driver's Meeting - 10:30am (broadcast via INDYCAR13 mobile app)
IndyCar Race - 12:00pm (broadcast on ABC)

Qualifying looks like it's about 3/4ths over and Marco is on the pole. I guess since Nazareth closed, this is the closest thing the Andretti's have to a home track, so probably will be some happy hometown fans in the stands.
 
Good article from ESPN about IndyCar returning to Pocono.

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/9448891/indycar-welcome-back-pocono

Everybody seems to be excited and thinks Pocono's design plus the new surface will be conductive to open-wheel racing. I'm sure everybody here has heard the story (legend? fact?) that the Mattoli family designed Pocono for IndyCars and that the turns are modeled after the (then) biggest IndyCar tracks at the time. Turn 1 based on the old Trenton Speedway (similar to Phoenix International Raceway, from what I understand). Turn 2 based on Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Turn 3 based on the Milwaukee Mile.

Cool picture of Sullivan's car the year he won the final open-wheel Pocono 500 (it became the second Winston Cup event at Pocono the next year):

rpm_g_danny-sullivan_mb_600.jpg


That is such a cool car.
 
Thank's for the info, KW. I am excited to see them back at Pocono. I will be watching tomorrow. That is a nice shot of Dannys car. That was one of my favorite cars. Do you remember the spin and win?
 
I was at the spin & win race, but sitting outside turn 3. That was long before the jumbotron days, so I didn't get to see it until the next week.

That car is the shiz-nit. Although it's a March, Penske made some beauties, too. Of course it makes sense that the main reason the cars look different now is because they are so much safer, but they had uniqueness then. Sigh...

I'm looking forward to this race too. Glad to see Marco on the pole, but he also had the fastest car at Milwaukee. I see that the next two spots were taken by his teammates, so I'm going out on a limb and picking TK because Triple Crown!
 
Speeds are fast! Marco's pole speed was 221.273 mph, and surprising no one, destroying the 24-year-old track record set by Emerson Fittipaldi at 211.715.

Here's your starting lineup for tomorrow:

Row 1
1 - Marco Andretti #25
2 - Ryan Hunter-Reay #1
3 - James Hinchliffe #27

Row 2
4 - Will Power #12
5 - Tony Kanaan #11
6 - Helio Castroneves #3

Row 3
7 - Scott Dixon #9
8 - Takuma Sato #14
9 - Simon Pagenaud #77

Row 4
10 - Simona De Silvestro #78
11 - Tristan Vautier #55
12 - Sebastien Bourdais #7

Row 5
13 - Charlie Kimball #83
14 - James Jakes #16
15 - Ed Carpenter #20

Row 6
16 - Josef Newgarden #67
17 - Graham Rahal #15
18 - Dario Franchitti #10

Row 7
19 - Pippa Mann #18
20 - Justin Wilson #19
21 - Sebastian Saavedra #6

Row 8
22 - EJ Viso #5
23 - Ryan Briscoe #4
24 - Alex Tagliani #98

All Andretti Autosport front row. Last time an IndyCar team swept a three-car front row in qualifying was Penske at the '88 Indy 500 when Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser, Sr. started on the front row.
 
KevinWI said:
Yeah, she's one of the oval drivers for the revolving door #18 ride. Conway would have that ride full-time if he didn't refuse to race on ovals.
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I agree. I have liked Pippa ever since I met her last year at the 500 practice. She was there looking for a ride, but she didn't get one.
 
I'd like to see TK win just to have someone going into the finale with a shot at the Triple Crown.
 
The command has been given!

I loved the pre-race interviews.

ESPN Guy: Mario got on the pole here in 1987, did he give you any advice?
Marco: That was the year I was born, man.

RHR also said that the wind really effects the cars here. Flat, open area, no grandstands most of the way around. IndyCars weight only 1400 pounds, about half of a Cup car, so the wind really plays with the cars here.
 
Just showed this on ESPN. Mark Donohue in victory lane at the first Pocono 500. Was also the first win as a team owner for some guy from Michigan named Roger Penske:

1971-MARK-DONAHUE-AND-ROGER-PENSKE.JPG
 
Jeff Gordon is there!

In an alternate world somewhere, he's an IndyCar driver. Came up as an open-wheel/sprint guy before Ford lured him to drive stock cars in Busch, as many here will know.
 
I thought there would be more passing. Cars are petty strung out. Let's see if adjustments with the first round of pit stops makes it a more competitive race.
 
Marco has been strong all weekend can he bring home the victory?
 
Nitro Dude said:
I missed it...what are you referring too?
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She was doing the pit report for Tristian Vautier during the last round of green flag pit stops. He came into the pits fast and locked up the front brakes and spun it around and the car was in the stall backwards (kind of like Michael Waltrip yesterday). But, Jamie Little was live on TV and said "He's coming into his stall.... team is counting him down... (long pause) Oh, he must of missed the stall. They're telling him to go around. Back to you guys." It's like she wasn't watching the actual pit stop. She didn't know he spun around. Marty Reid had to correct her. Then, they got the jack out and wheeled him back around into the stall the right way, so they didn't tell him to go around at all. I don't know who she was watching or what radio she was listening to, but it was weird.
 
KevinWI said:
She was doing the pit report for Tristian Vautier during the last round of green flag pit stops. He came into the pits fast and locked up the front brakes and spun it around and the car was in the stall backwards (kind of like Michael Waltrip yesterday). But, Jamie Little was live on TV and said "He's coming into his stall.... team is counting him down... (long pause) Oh, he must of missed the stall. They're telling him to go around. Back to you guys." It's like she wasn't watching the actual pit stop. She didn't know he spun around. Marty Reid had to correct her. Then, they got the jack out and wheeled him back around into the stall the right way, so they didn't tell him to go around at all. I don't know who she was watching or what radio she was listening to, but it was weird.
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Thank's, I must have been in the kitchen.lol
 
What the hell was that? The Kamikaze Kid takes out another one, I guess.
 
TK seems to be in a good position to pick up the bonus.
 
I'm surprised ABC actually promoted the dual Toronto races that are on NBCSN next weekend.
 
More electrical issues for Marco? Is somebody sabotaging the alternators for the #25 car?
 
Weird how slow TV can be. I watched Dixon pass Kimball on the online timing scoring map on the website and then looked up and saw it happen on TV 7 seconds later.
 
KevinWI said:
She was doing the pit report for Tristian Vautier during the last round of green flag pit stops. He came into the pits fast and locked up the front brakes and spun it around and the car was in the stall backwards (kind of like Michael Waltrip yesterday). But, Jamie Little was live on TV and said "He's coming into his stall.... team is counting him down... (long pause) Oh, he must of missed the stall. They're telling him to go around. Back to you guys." It's like she wasn't watching the actual pit stop. She didn't know he spun around. Marty Reid had to correct her. Then, they got the jack out and wheeled him back around into the stall the right way, so they didn't tell him to go around at all. I don't know who she was watching or what radio she was listening to, but it was weird.
Click to expand...
What was she wearing?
 
Overall good performance by Target Gnassi Racing. Looking back, who knows how many victories they have gotten if Zanardi & Montoya would've been able to run at Pocono, that is if the track had never been removed from the CART schedule...
 
Maybe its cause I'm not a big indy fan but that was about as exciting as a cup race there
 
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