2015 Indy Car

Traditionally, Indy Cars ran without starters. Traditionally, Indy Cars ran on ovals until the formation of CART. Traditionally Indy Car drivers could actual drive without spinning out like a top. Traditionally the cars were Sprint Cars. Today......tradition is all most gone.

 

Well...when you run on a road/street course where you have to turn in more than one direction, and it rains from time to time, a starter is a ____ ____.

 

f***ing requirement ?

 

I was going with good idea...but I think we are on the same page.. lol

 

I have not seen anyone here mention how brittle these cars are. If we could get rid of those wings in front of the front wheels then that in itself would reduce cautions by 50%.

 

I completely agree. It appears that most of these guys are NOT good enough to drive this type of race cars period!!
During the broadcast the mention several times that such and such drivers were good because the raced in Europe, as if Europe is the only place where it rains. We just have to admit, most of the current Indy drivers are not that good, or not good enough for these cars.
I want to see the fastest guy to win the race, not the lucky one that was out of sync because some clowns keep spinning. You will never see a Marusia winning a race after 38 yellow flags. That does not happen. If Indy wants 20 different winners in 20 different races, then we might as well pick the names out of a hat, and call it good.

 

I hate to do so, but I'm inclined to agree with the two previous posters. For all the great drivers and access to them that Indycar offers, the rain races are to some degree shams. NOLA, which I attended, was a joke, and your comments about Detroit are enlightening. One problem is almost undoubtedly a wide variance in driving talent, but another is the lack of competition for/with the tire supplier. Are there any intermediate tires? The rain tires seem OK - at best - but there is no incentive for the supplier to make them better, and the rain greatly magnifies the talent gap.
I do have a new idea about the incessant yellows: if you cause more than one yellow in a single race then you are fined or docked 5 driver points. If you cause 2 or more yellows in 2 consecutive races, then you get a one race suspension.
Any other thoughts?

 

Makes sense. Between not passing enough and too many caution laps, the races can drag on. Seems like the "bad" drivers would either have to get better or find a new day job under the scrutiny of team owners who want wins.

 

welcome to the era of pay drivers, where mediocre (or worse) talent with a budget trumps excellence without a budget, even in "professional" series.

 

+1 What made Indy Car racing is now all but gone.

 

Always been that way in pro racing - he who has the sponsors race

 

Not really. Sports Cars yes, Indy Car no. Many a team was low budget during the 60's thru the early 80's. Jerry Karl, Al Loquasto, John Mahler, Larry Cannon, etc were not high dollar people. They raced because they wanted too. Same for Smokey Yunick. Many ran on their own money and the sponsors they had may have simply been equipment or services provided.

 

Indy and F1 had a long run from the early 70's until probably mid 2000's where talent trumped all, and sponsors were tied to teams and wanted the best driver possible. now that era has ended and we're back to where we were in the 60's and before where it was a rich man's sport.

the bad news is, it is devolving into not being a professional sport...which means, like "professional" sports cars, the business model will shift away from being a spectator sport. i.e. TV contracts and ticket sales will continue to plummet.

 

And with it the end for many formula's. The funny part is.......it doesn't need to be that way.

 

The occasional (I'm being kind here) Indycar pay driver seems to cause much of the mayhem, yet talents like Buddy Rice, Mike Conway, Justin Wilson, etc have no rides or rides in lesser series. But In guess the dollar is king, right?

 

In this world....cash is king. Indy Car....no different.

 

Lets do some night racing.

Live practice now, back to the oval. TK Fastest in the 215s. Quals Friday at 4:10 pm EST, Race Saturday night. Texas.

INDYCAR Race Control - Live Timing & Scoring

 

Normally, reduction in downforce...

This track has high banking.
One year they slowed the cars down, to run the race...high G forces on the drivers..

 

I guess with Le Mans this weekend, everyone forgot about IndyCar

But that Toronto race was amazing. Caught the last 20 laps which were action packed. fun stuff. Congrats to CFH Racing on a 1-2 and also to Newgarden and Luca Filippi. I like Filippi - really well spoken guy and fast.

 

missed it....fell asleep on the couch. woke up with the dog sprawled out across my legs

IndyCar puts the entire race on YouTube about a week afterwards so I'll catch it then. I heard it was a great race. super happy for Josef, Ed, Sarah and their team.

 

Race today was ENTERTAINMENT. Could easily have been dominated with yellows, but not this time. Great racing throughout the race all the way back through mid-field.
Now, if they can put this show on consistently, rather than only half the time...... I would like to see them succeed.

 

You heard it was a great race???

You mean after seeing how the Twitterverse exploded with what a great race it was, through the entire race, you realize you missed a GREAT race.

 

Oh I can assure you I did not!
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Some more.
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For those who have not seen this incident happened yesterday and it put our entire grandstand into a silence.

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6poqSS3tVi4[/ame]