IndyCar at Pocono

I thought it ironic that it was a fuel mileage race like many Nascar races there and the underpowered honda's won because of it.
 
Weird how the fast Andretti Chevrolets were taken out by strange circumstances.

Hinchcliffe got crazy loose in Turn 1 Lap 1 and backed it into the wall.

RHR was rear ended by Sato in the pits.

Marco had some nondescript "electrical issue" that resulted in them turning off the onboard camera and him losing 5 mph off his lap times. Also, he was in fuel conserve mode.
 
Honda couldn't have asked for better advertising; even some of the Chevy guys mentioned Honda's better fuel mileage. Coupled with Ganassi's drivers' noted skills at saving gas, they proved to be unbeatable. Sato and Coyne's drivers have shown that the Hondas have the power when needed on the road courses, so hopefully the Chevy guys can figure it out and stay competitive.

I thought the race was pretty exciting, with the top 6 cars within a second of the leader for most of the race. There's nothing wrong with winning the race through better strategy either; that's the sign of a good team being able to adjust to conditions. Pocono (the track) itself played into that for the fact that drivers were able to make a pit stop and get out before the field completed a lap. I had to rewind and watch Dixon's pit stop again just to make sure.

Something definitely seems to be going sideways on Marco's team. Replacing the fueler is a pretty obvious move, but the electrical/systems issues are more curious. As far as I've seen, his is the only car out of the entire field having those problems.
 
SuperTex14 said:
Honda couldn't have asked for better advertising; even some of the Chevy guys mentioned Honda's better fuel mileage. Coupled with Ganassi's drivers' noted skills at saving gas, they proved to be unbeatable. Sato and Coyne's drivers have shown that the Hondas have the power when needed on the road courses, so hopefully the Chevy guys can figure it out and stay competitive.

I thought the race was pretty exciting, with the top 6 cars within a second of the leader for most of the race. There's nothing wrong with winning the race through better strategy either; that's the sign of a good team being able to adjust to conditions. Pocono (the track) itself played into that for the fact that drivers were able to make a pit stop and get out before the field completed a lap. I had to rewind and watch Dixon's pit stop again just to make sure.

Something definitely seems to be going sideways on Marco's team. Replacing the fueler is a pretty obvious move, but the electrical/systems issues are more curious. As far as I've seen, his is the only car out of the entire field having those problems.
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I thought the race was pretty exciting too. Reminded me of a race at Milwaukee or Indianapolis, so pretty much what we expected. It wasn't a side-by-side pack thriller like you might have seen at Texas or (IRL era) Michigan where four cars finished .0000001 seconds within one another, but it was a pretty good strategic open-wheel oval race. You had four or five cars capable of winning and good passing and racing throughout the field.
 
All the talk about the Honda's fuel mileage reminded me of this commercial Honda ran before their first Indy 500. Still one of the best racing-related commercials ever.



Keep in mind, Rahal and his team (Mike Groff driving the second car?) showed up at Indianapolis that year as the only Hondas and couldn't qualify. Miller expected a car in the field, and Rahal had to buy year-old Penske-Illmors from Roger Penske and qualify on bump day. Growing up, my dad (and I) were huge Bobby Rahal fans. Compounded by the fact that my dad (even though we're from Milwaukee - home of Harley) is a big Japanese motorcycle fan.

So, after all their success in Formula One and motorcycle racing, we were talking all this **** about how this superior Japanese engineering would come in and just crush the field at Indianapolis, and our man Rahal would be the driver for it all. And then, he doesn't even qualify. :eviltongu
 
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