Indycar Toronto Double-Header

Haven't been online for the past few weeks just got a couple things I want to say.

1. Why exactly was Beau Barfield not in charge of race control this weekend?
2. There is 2 races this weekend so the best of Brian Barnhart has yet to be seen I bet.
3. Either stick with penalizing a guy or not. First Franchitti finished 3rd, then he gets penalized than the penalty if taken back. When you go off the air from the broadcast it is important people know the actually outcome.
4. What has happened with Simona? She did really good at St. Pete and Brazil but it seems like since then she has been a back marker. She did take a 10th place today though.
5. Bourdais and Jay Penske appear to be back where they were at the end of last season.
6. Why exactly did they chose to do a rolling start after they pushed Newgarden off the track? They had this big build up in the pre show about how epic the standing start was going to be and then just canceled it after 1 try.
7. Ganassi is back and Helio may be extending his point lead over Andretti and Hunter Reay but Helio has had 3 mediocre races in a row now. Not exactly Penske perfect.
 
wilson89 said:
1. Why exactly was Beau Barfield not in charge of race control this weekend?
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They said "personal reasons" at one point and "family reasons" at another.
wilson89 said:
3. Either stick with penalizing a guy or not. First Franchitti finished 3rd, then he gets penalized than the penalty if taken back. When you go off the air from the broadcast it is important people know the actually outcome.
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Totally agree. I know some people thought the Franchitti blocking call was bull, but reversing it without any formal appeals process is stupid. As you probably know, Wilson, Robin Miller says Chip Ganassi was the one leading the anti-Randy Bernard birgade last year and got him fired with all his bitching. I imagine Chip went bitching to the new boss and got him and Derrick Walker to reverse the decision. Same old problem that has plagued open-wheel racing for the last 20 years. No iron fist ruler like Bill France or Bernie Ecclestone. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Team owners, league officials, track owners, drivers butting heads trying to be the boss.
wilson89 said:
6. Why exactly did they chose to do a rolling start after they pushed Newgarden off the track? They had this big build up in the pre show about how epic the standing start was going to be and then just canceled it after 1 try.
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I guess under the special rules IndyCar wrote just for the standing starts, if anything happens to cause a caution while they're on the warmup lap or while they're gridding up, it's called an "aborted start" and the race begins under caution and they then go to green while rolling. I was extremely suspicious of that start. Josef Newgarden did seem to have legitimate problems because he screwed around with car trouble the rest of the race, but he stalled his car a good 100 yards before the grid, behind the safety trucks, and IndyCar immediately threw the yellow and called the "aborted start". Seemed to me that IndyCar was looking for the smallest reason to abort the start after all the drivers complained, and they got it. But now they're going to try it again tomorrow, so we'll have to see what happens. Like Andy says, I wonder if we'll see the driver's try to sabotage the race. Somebody starting in back of the grid mysteriously stalls the car right before he gets in his grid place or something. Maybe we'll see an old fashioned F1-style driver's only meeting and threats of a driver boycott.

It just absolutely baffles me that American Open-Wheel Racing continues to be plagued by all this bizarre off-track bull**** and politics when the racing is so, so good. Today (Saturday) was a really good street race. A lot of passing and close calls. And yet, the race is plagued with people talking about Franchitti's penalty and the standing start rules. Sometimes I wonder if this brand of racing will ever come out of the tailspin it's been in since 1994.
 
Ganassi went to them with telemetry from the car, it wasn't reversed on a whim.
 
Kev, well put, my cheddar-headed friend (that meant in good humor and with respect by your displaced Texan FIB) :)

Dario's penalty should never have been called in the first place, perhaps the lack by race control to call more obvious infractions in this and earlier races caused them to pull the trigger too quickly. But, they need to rule with authority and not seem to be so easily led away from their rulings. As I've noted previously, the new guy in charge comes from the owner ranks, and there my be existing relationship issues in effect. I'm looking forward to Miller's take.

Hopefully the start will be better today and the teams can use the experience from yesterday's race to be creative with their strategies and put on a good show. Too bad about Briscoe, I see that Carlos Munoz will replace him in today's race:

http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/indy/izod-indycar/munoz-to-replace-injured-briscoe/
 
KevinWI said:
That's a shame. Did he keep his hands on the wheel when the car hit the wall?
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I just watched the replay to get a closer look. He was still turning left when Wilson got into him and the wheel whipped around pretty quickly.
 
KevinWI said:
That's a shame. Did he keep his hands on the wheel when the car hit the wall?
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Not quite; like FLR wrote, Briscoe was still trying to turn when Wilson's car hit his front wheels, causing his steering wheel to jerk before he could get his hands out. Very much like TK and RHR's injuries, a result of the combination of quick steering, ultra-strong carbon fiber steering wheels, and form-fitted handgrips. Commentators mentioned that Dr. Terry Trammell and his team will be focusing on solutions to the problem.
 
Hey Kev, no spoilers in the NASCAR thread please! I have to DVR this race and watch with my better half after she gets home later. I'll stay clear of the thread until then.
 
Dario and power being interviewed by Miller. Good interview, but I wonder if they walked away and said "dick" to each other. :D
 
Okay I had to come back because I tuned in to make sure the race started on time, and caught the end of the piece about Pagenaud driving the minivan at Pike's Peak. Yesterday they showed a list of the current drivers who have done standing starts, and included Simon at PP. They didn't say it was in a freakin' minivan!

I hope Matchett blames David Hobbs for the 'clag' today.
 
Yeah, I believe they mentioned at Pocono he did it in a Odyssey. Pretty cool, it had the twin-turbo V6 Honda LeMans engine. Funny because I was at the local drag strip on Friday night and there was a guy with a 1989 Plymouth Voyager with had a turbo with the boost turned up to the moon. He made about three or four runs, and then the transmission blew up. It was still running it in front-wheel drive and that front-wheel tranny probably couldn't handle all that horsepower. He had the floor pan taken out of it for weight and when the tranny blew, it splashed smoke and red tranny fluid all over the car. Probably was a hairy ride! That guy needs Simon's Honda Odyssey.
 
Wow, they're going to keep trying standing starts until they do one. Going to get hot in those engines.
 
That was an amazing standing start. I'll say it - they should do that at every road course in this series.
 
Poor Hinchcliffe. He is really having a feast or famine year this year. Three wins (most of any driver), but also three last place finishes (most of any driver). Looks like he might get #4 today as well.
 
Well, I guess Ganassi's drought is over, boys.

Don't know how Franchitti's tire thing will sort itself out.
 
VaDirt said:
Did I just hear them say there's a question over Dario's finish now?
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Yes. You have to run at least two racing laps on both sets of tires (reds and blacks). Franchitti started the race on the red tires, but clipped his front wing on the first lap, and went into the pits. He changed into the black tires and ran the rest of the race on the blacks. So, he only ran 1 lap, not the 2 minimum on the red tries. So, another rules debate involving Franchitti.
 
The racing in IndyCar is so much better than NASCAR but the series itself sucks. Restarts are a joke. Yesterday, Dixon was 10 carlengths ahead of everyone else long before the green flag waved. Today, he jumps out ahead of everyone else when they order a double file restart (at the last second). Sometimes they go single file, sometimes double file. Lapped cars in between the leaders making it impossible to get to the front. These restart "procedures" are a total joke.

The purists, the "traditional" fans who bitch about any and every change are the main thing keeping IndyCar down.
 
Scott Dixon is now the 7th winningest driver in American open-wheel racing, behind Foyt, Mario, Michael, Big Al, Little Al and Uncle Bobby.

****, that makes me feel old. I remember when Dixon won his first CART race at Nazareth in 2001. Boy, time flies.
 
There are no precedents in this series. None. They make it up as they go along. I mean, they make NASCAR look consistent. The racing is awesome as hell most of the time but the series has NO structure or anything.
 
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