IndyCar: Rainguard Water Sealers 600

Every race this weekend has been weird as hell...
 
And of course no chance at a green flag finish. Because apparently 5 laps is too long for a red flag scenario with a 2+ lap shootout.
 
This is a case where I would be good with a finish under caution.
I am at the enough is enough point.

Just thankful everyone is ok.

????? TK 2nd ????? wow, after being a couple laps down.
 
They called red last week when Penske weren't winning. This week...you know.

It almost seems like it's a prerequisite to be a halfwit to work Race Control for an auto racing series.
 


The fact that this was an entirely new tire on an entirely new surface makes me somewhat more sympathetic to the series and Firestone. This race was certainly...something...and a great example of why I'm glad TMS is the only high-banked oval on the schedule these days. Exciting in a sense but anything more than that is too IRL for me. Maybe next year with new aero and all of the tire data accumulated this weekend they can create some better degradation, separate the cars a little more, and put on a safer (and less expensive) show.
 
So every lapped car gets a Lucky Dog free lap at every yellow flag? Wow, I was very surprised to learn that. Seems rather cheesy to me.
 
FLRacingFan said:


The fact that this was an entirely new tire on an entirely new surface makes me somewhat more sympathetic to the series and Firestone. This race was certainly...something...and a great example of why I'm glad TMS is the only high-banked oval on the schedule these days. Exciting in a sense but anything more than that is too IRL for me. Maybe next year with new aero and all of the tire data accumulated this weekend they can create some better degradation, separate the cars a little more, and put on a safer (and less expensive) show.
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Yeah last night looked like the mid-2000s. Scary as hell, but equally fun to watch.
 
LewTheShoe said:
So every lapped car gets a Lucky Dog free lap at every yellow flag? Wow, I was very surprised to learn that. Seems rather cheesy to me.
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Yeah I discovered that last year. Indycar with low-key gimmicks
 
DUN24 said:
Every race this weekend has been weird as hell...
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The funny thing is that everyone's big worry was that they would have to race Charlie Kinball! Imagine how much carnage there could have been if he had not blown up!

You could see early on this was going to be one of those twilight zone deals. You need one of those every so often. I thought something really weird was going to happen, like say, Marco winning, or maybe even only having six cars finish. This race had the same feel as the inaugural Michigan 500 when you didn't know what to expect. Once a race starts to fall apart we like to say the rot has set in, and it was apparent early on the rot was in force. Aside for being concerned someone would get hurt, it was fun. It was like the old days with all the unpredictability.

Especially worth noting is how well Coyne's cars ran. Over the winter he hired a lot of Bourdais' old Newman/Hass crew, and while that's certainly helped, I think they have found something the other teams are not quite on to yet. There's no other way to explain how one of the poorest teams on the grid has hauled themselves up like this. Everyone who has been in one of those cars this year (except Guiterrez) has fought for the lead or been in contention to win. Coyne has built something special and I hope all the carnage isn't going to hurt them, but it's hard to see how it won't. There was no sponsorship on Vaultier's car, so where's the money coming from to run it?

Vaultier ran so well I would love to see in back in the car, but I'm sure Guiterrez brings a big check, which Coyne desperately needs right now. I hope I am wrong about Guiterrez, but he performed so poorly at Detroit I am afraid he's going to make that good car look mediocre. That, and I'm also afraid he's going to tear up some stuff, which Coyne doesn't need. While we're talking about Coyne's drivers, last night was the first time Ed Jones so much as put a scratch on an Indycar, and it was far from his fault. That guy is just a superstar waiting to happen.

Tony Kanaan certainly didn't make any friends last night, did he? I can understand he wanted to move up the track to get on line and take road away from Hinch, but you can't just keep coming up and keep coming up until the other guy has to move or let you run into him. You can't take the road the other guy is already on, and this was made even worse because Hinch couldn't move up into Aleshin. Speaking of which, check Aleshin's in-car video and look how big his eyes got!

Indycar is going to take a lot of heat for the mandatory pit stops, but they had no choice. It was either flag the race as finished or make the drivers get off the tires before they had a chance to blister. It was probably the right call because we didn't need another accident like Helio's, especially at a place as scary as Texas.

Scott Dixon has been really unlucky to have gotten caught up in other people's accidents this year. It's a little frightening to think how big of a points lead he would have without all of that. At worst he would have probably been second or third last night, so a whole bucket of points disappeared.

Sato? what can you say? He had plenty of room and no need to go into the grass. It was almost like he was blinded by the lighting or something and couldn't see where he was going. Before that, though, I thought he had the best car. Poor Conor Daly had the slowest car on the track and was just trying to stay out of trouble, but it found him anyway.

Overall, I quite enjoyed it, even if it was a bit weird.
 
After watching the Indy 500 and Texas 600, I've come to realize IndyCar is more exciting than NASCAR at oval tracks.

Before yesterday's BS "competition" cautions, I've been thinking I ought to watch IndyCar more often. After the BS cautions, I've decided I don't need to watch another racing series filled with BS and gimmicks.
 
PeopleAreStrange said:
After watching the Indy 500 and Texas 600, I've come to realize IndyCar is more exciting than NASCAR at oval tracks.

Before yesterday's BS "competition" cautions, I've been thinking I ought to watch IndyCar more often. After the BS cautions, I've decided I don't need to watch another racing series filled with BS and gimmicks.
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It's not usually that bad
 
PeopleAreStrange said:
After watching the Indy 500 and Texas 600, I've come to realize IndyCar is more exciting than NASCAR at oval tracks.

Before yesterday's BS "competition" cautions, I've been thinking I ought to watch IndyCar more often. After the BS cautions, I've decided I don't need to watch another racing series filled with BS and gimmicks.
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What @DUN24 said. Usually there are about 2 or 3 cautions. Indy and Texas were anomalies. Now when IndyCar looks goofy, they look really goofy. Like restarting on an oval in the rain on slicks kind of goofy. But usually it's not bad.
 
Those guys were flying. I was on the edge of my seat. While exciting it also looked dangerous and the attrition proved that. I missed a part of the race and didn't know why they had mandatory pit stops for tires - reading through this thread it sounded like there was some tire issues. And how did Kanaan get two laps back, I assume they adopted a NASCAR rule (I haven't followed rule changes in Indycar).
 
Zerkfitting said:
And how did Kanaan get two laps back, I assume they adopted a NASCAR rule (I haven't followed rule changes in Indycar).
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Not a Nascar rule. At every caution, lapped cars get a wave-around *plus* they get to pit for service if desired. So every lapped car gets a Lucky Dog lap at every yellow flag. It's a crazy rule. Don't mention it to Brian France.
 
QUOTE="PeopleAreStrange, post: 1161665, member: 6152"]
Before yesterday's BS "competition" cautions, I've been thinking I ought to watch IndyCar more often. [/QUOTE]

What would your solution have been? The tires were blistering after about 31-32 laps and Helio had a big wreck when one popped. They had to make a safety related decision on the fly and their options were either risk another big, and potentially worse accident, or limit the amount of laps they could put on the tires. I don't need to explain why they were not willing to risk another accident and if they had stopped the race people would have been livid. Texas fans have been loyal enough that the series owed them a good race, and a complete one.

The competition yellows, no matter how distasteful, were probably the only reasonable solution they had. If you have another way they could have finished the race safely, I'de love to hear it.

Something else to consider is Indycar had to protect Firestone. If they had a bunch of people getting hurt on Firestone tires it would be bad for the brand, and I could easily see them leaving the series over something like that. It's not like other tire companies are fighting to get in.

After the BS cautions, I've decided I don't need to watch another racing series filled with BS and gimmicks.
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Name a series that doesn't have gimmicks.

I agree that push to pass and mandatory option tires are hokey tricks that need to go, but outside of those, you'de be hard pressed to find anything in Indycar that could be considered a gimmick. If the supposed "gimmicks" bother you so much, you'de better turn off F1 too because it doesn't get any more phony that DRS. And while we are at it, better scub your plans to go to an IMSA race because there's nothing real about BOP. Finally, do we really need to compare any of this to Nascar's P.T. Barnum and Baily antics?
 
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I think Indycar erred on the side of caution. Helio was also involved in the pit wreck and that could have resulted in a misalignment that resulted in the tire failure. I do think that went into their decision to have the cautions..and then other rules came into effect, the "lucky dogs" I get pretty sick of adolescent adults complaining about gimmicks..quit watching if you can accept the reality of the event.
 
StandOnIt said:
I think Indycar erred on the side of caution.
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As many bad accidents as we have seen on ovals, it's hard to believe people could find fault in Indycar being cautious when faced with a bad tire situation. We already had a righteous pack race going, which was dangerous enough. If they allowed popping tires into the equation it could have gotten really ugly. As it turned out, the yellows were a minor annoyance when compared to getting someone killed.

I do think that went into their decision to have the cautions..and then other rules came into effect, the "lucky dogs"
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I don't believe there were any "lucky dogs." cars just made up laps under caution the same way they have for decades. I don't believe any lapped cars were wave around the leader, which is what a "lucky dog" is. The pace car picked up the leader and everyone behind closed up. Standard procedure.

They made a call that kept everyone safe. I'm ok with that. I don't watch racing to see people get hurt.

I get pretty sick of adolescent adults complaining about gimmicks..quit watching if you can accept the reality of the event.
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The reality is these people would have been harping even louder if Indycar did nothing and someone got hurt. Motor racing is dangerous enough, but there's no point is being stupid about it and asking for trouble. You did not hear one single driver or team owner complaining about the yellows. People inside the sport, those in the cars facing the dangers, and the team owners who foot the bill for the carnage, all agreed there was no other choice. I figure they have more invested, more to lose, and know more than those who just watched it on TV and are looking for something to complain about.

Certainly Firestone got it wrong, but history is chocked full of events marred by tire problems. As the sole supplier, Firestone could have made a rock hard tire that wouldn't even blister in a fire. All they really have to do is make a safe tire and if it's slow at least they don't suffer an embarrassment like they could have had Saturday night. Instead they are constantly trying to make the fastest, safest tire they can. The new surface simply caught them out. Happens more often than people care to remember.[/QUOTE]
 
I don't agree Firestone got it all wrong..certain teams did..not everyone was having tire problems. Indycar decided to take responsibility to save certain teams from themselves..and others
 
StandOnIt said:
I don't agree Firestone got it all wrong..certain teams did..not everyone was having tire problems. Indycar decided to take responsibility to save certain teams from themselves..and others
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Good observation. I probably got that part wrong. Certainly other teams were having no problems, but you only need one to have a big accident. The way the evening was shaping up, it was a bizarre race and Indycar needed to reel it back in.

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