IndyCar GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma

[KevinWI]

Just to chime in on the whole pit crew thing and add my two cents, I think everybody on the planet knows that Power's tire changer was trying to be a pain in the ass to Dixon. He may have been asking for it, but at the end of the day, Dixon still struck a pit crew member with a car and I think just for safety issues, you have penalize the driver in that situation.

 

[Zerkfitting]

Just to chime in on the whole pit crew thing and add my two cents, I think everybody on the planet knows that Power's tire changer was trying to be a pain in the ass to Dixon. He may have been asking for it, but at the end of the day, Dixon still struck a pit crew member with a car and I think just for safety issues, you have penalize the driver in that situation.

Yep, he hit the tire changer and I can understand the ruling but it is my opinion that Power's team should also be penalized for contributing to the incident.

 

[BSDShoes]

Just to chime in on the whole pit crew thing and add my two cents, I think everybody on the planet knows that Power's tire changer was trying to be a pain in the ass to Dixon. He may have been asking for it, but at the end of the day, Dixon still struck a pit crew member with a car and I think just for safety issues, you have penalize the driver in that situation.

Correction, he struck the tire that the crew member was carrying, if that tire wasn't there none of this would've happened.

This sits right up there with the FIA taking Senna's win away from the 89 Suzuka race because he had a push start (and drove through the cut line to re-enter the race), not because of the incident with Prost "taking him out for the WDC".

 

[KevinWI]

Correction, he struck the tire that the crew member was carrying, if that tire wasn't there none of this would've happened.

And that 20 pound tire went flying and hit two crew members. If that isn't a safety issue, I don't know what it is. You make it sound like Dixon just hit a socket wrench that Penske had laying out and nothing happened.

This sits right up there with the FIA taking Senna's win away from the 89 Suzuka race because he had a push start (and drove through the cut line to re-enter the race), not because of the incident with Prost "taking him out for the WDC".

Oh please, this isn't as bad as that. This isn't even the worse steward decision in IndyCar. Besides, Miles is Ganassi's guy. Ganassi had a beef with Bernard, he supposedly likes the new guy.

 

[hawg dawg]

jeez...penske created tha safety issue intentionally.....not dixon.

 

[SuperTex14]

I agree with others who believe both teams should've been penalized, if at all. Safety in the pits has to be the top priority, but an equal amount of that responsibility lies with the people who work there, just like any other hazardous workplace. How could Penske's tire changer not be aware that Dixon was intent on getting out of his pits ahead of Power? He endangered the other people in/next to the pits by his negligence, and it's fortunate that there were no serious injuries as a result. Frankly, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. It's proof of the skill of drivers at the top levels that they have the control necessary to hit their marks so precisely after slowing down from trying to drive at the upper limits of performance. For some reason it seems especially dangerous in NASCAR, maybe because the cars are so much bigger and seem to pit together more often? Those guys have to have their heads on a swivel!