"Epic"? A one make series "epic"? Entertaining to some I guess but hardly "epic". I'd rather do Sebring but I won't since IMSA's a far cry from it's former self.
lol, I had the same thought. hopefully it's a great race, and a great season. I'm looking forward to it.
Upset the apple cart type of season is where I hope it ends up. We see both fresh blood both in the driver seat and in engineering in Indycar this year. I saw a report from Marshall Pruett with Bourdais today and you get the sense he feels this way too. He kinda referred back to what it was like to be young and with a good team in Newman Haas back in the day, it's a combo that drives you to be a champion. A lot of new guys there that can fit that bill especially with a car that given is new perhaps eliminates/lessens the super teams edge. In contrast you have the giants, like Penske, of whom you have to ask the question, are they still hungry this year? All 3 of their drivers are champions, and for some, after you win you get fat. Not sure if you saw Josef Newgarden's face after he got knocked out, but I think he was shell shocked. His interview afterwards seemed to confirm that too.
Lots of spin outs on that first lap. I guess these guys got used to the extra aero downforce from prior years and have to get used to mechanical grip again.
What a garbage race. So many of them don't know how to drive and way too many cautions. Then that leads to re-starts where the morons don't know how to get through turn 1 without taking out others.
It's not just him. Too many idiots overshoot turn 1 thinking they have the grip to stop and screw up many peoples day. I feel bad for the crew of the teams that put in all the work and then this to happen. At least when the other idiots randomly spinout all alone they don't have anyone to take out. IndyCar would be exciting to watch if they actually had good drivers. I like the cars this season a lot.
It's hard to blame Rossi; realistically that was his only shot to win the race. I think Wickens will blame himself for a poor restart that allowed Rossi to even be in that position. If he had restarted well, like the previous time, he would have been home free. Kudos to Bourdais for being in a position to win, and to Rahal for persevering after starting last. I liken Dale Coyne to being the Richard Childress of IndyCar racing: a very mediocre driver who's become a very competent team owner.
Spoiled rich kids playing with their toys does not make for a good drivers. I feel bad for guys like Dixon. All the talent and they can't show it. Top drivers in a mediocre.series doesn't have any appeal. Hope Scott can shine at LeMans.
Pity about the spins and contact especially at the end when Rossi took out Wickens. At least Wickens was able to give a good accounting of himself up to that point. Not being used to the reduced downforce and grip is a lame excuse. They've been testing this new configuration since (when?) October. They should all have enough of a feel for the new cars to know what the limits are. Even though the race was handed to him, good for Bourdais. Always a class act and that he won this race for the second year in a row and he lives in St. Petersburg (guessing Tierra Verde Island), he was in position to scoop the win. Sometimes, better to be lucky than good as they say. BHW
Honestly, the end of that race was highly disappointing. Indy car is Nascar now? They need to put in some kind of VSC. It's completely unfair to whoever is in the lead. A yellow only penalizes the leader. That is not fair. This was not racing. Its was go karting.
Where you been? 'Has been for over 20 years now. Karting's far more realistic racing than Earl. (I know, I know, it'ain't the IRL anymore....'don't care what it's really called now, it's still the same crap "racing" league)
It's still very disappointing. You shouldn't win a race by sitting back and letting the guy in front of you do something stupid to the leader. That move was REALLY STUPID with no chance for winning.
The frustrating part is that Rossi was good enough to overtake people on the OUTSIDE line of turn 1 MULTIPLE times. I knew there would be some dumb stuff on that corner when Rossi's nose was literally touching the back of the lead car as soon as the pace car left...
How Rossi blames Wickens for that crash is beyond me. What was Wickens to do? See that Rossi had a front wing next to his rear wheel and just let him in? Rossi lost the rear end and took Wickens out. That's that.
The television presentation... Was just awful. Way too many commercials hemmed into the broadcast. The one time near the end when they KNEW Wickens was coming in for his final pit stop. They cut away so as Bestwick put it, "So you don't miss anything". What happened? Wickens pitted during the commercial break and we missed it. So, naturally, they had to replay the pit stop ten minutes later when we already knew the outcome. Obsessed with the Wickens/Rossi incident, while replaying the incident for the fourth or fifth time, they all but missed Bourdais taking the checkered flag. Whomever was directing this train wreck and hired Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear on again needs good talking too. BHW
marbles aside, I agree with Eddie Cheever, if that gap is there and you're on the closing laps you have to go for it, it's an instinctual move
Indycar still has some work to do. This was not good. They had a really interesting story with 3 newcomers and then it all fell apart on the last 5 laps for one dumb move. There has to be a better way to race than this. Otherwise you are just Nascar -- wait 2 hours and then watch the last 5 laps.
Agreed. He had to do it. I do wish the cars had starters on board. Having to throw a yellow just because a car stalled is really obnoxious. A few cautions wouldn't have been.
I thought the race was terrible for various reasons. It felt like armature hour, from both the racing and broadcast. Regarding the last lap, I don't understand the "you have to go for it" attitude. Too often it ends up like it did yesterday with Rossi and Wickens. Most of the time a banzai move works it's because the front car saw it coming, gave enough room, and yielded the spot rather then crash. A passing car should never put the lead car in a position where they have to yield or crash. That's not what open wheel road racing is supposed to be about. Rossi was just too far back to try that. With that said, Wickens had to see Rossi attempting that move behind him. Had he given Rossi another 2 feet the whole thing could have been avoided. He shouldn't have had to, but it would have helped him finish the race at least. I guess this is the outcome of safer cars. In the old days, drivers didn't take high risk moves because the penalty for it not working was so high.
I don't understand why they don't have starters in the car. I assumed if they stalled their day would be over and had no idea they did restarts like that. Isn't it like that F1? I've never seen them restart a car in the middle of the track.
