Good suggestion regarding delaying use of the push-to-pass for the first few laps. It's worth talking about.
It’s a shame Nazareth is in the condition it’s in today, that was a great track for IndyCars. Watkins Glen, Richmond, Loudon...if you want a NE presence there are better options for INDYCAR than Pocono. Just not Dover
Why the 'ell not? The paritied marbles in a bowl would be a great show....errrr....I mean...race. Mucho exciting action, guar-own-teed! However on a serious note, even as dilapidated as Pocono is, a 500 mile race on a three distinct turn big tri-oval is a plus to this race fan. 'Weather messed this weekend up for certain.
Good thought about disabling PTP for the first few laps. Perhaps on restarts, as well. (But then, there's always been this bugaboo between F1 and Indycar not wanting to look like they're copying each other.) Did you catch that they had to evacuate the (metal) stands, at Pocono, because it attracts lightning? (Commentators were saying a spectator was hit by lightning, a while ago.)
Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date I watched the in-car footage Sato shared. Moments before the crash he turns his wheel left. RHR was definitely squeezing Rossi upwards towards Sato (a point of Sato's that I agree with) but I still put blame with Sato on this one. When he's holding a straight line he's actually moving his wheel a bit to the right (which is common on ovals) so the movement to the left is pretty damning IMO.
I also think Texas has potential disaster written all over it. Kenny Brack, among a few others is lucky to have survived the wrecks they endured.
I like the idea of a second 500 mile superspeedway race for IndyCar (hell, I'd like to see a triple crown again). but Michigan, Fontana, Homestead, and all the NASCAR mile and a half ovals except Texas haven't worked so....
Pocono is a good track in need of some work. Miller is a so so reporter in need of a lot of work. The weather is simply a variable no one can control. Indy Car needs to make an investment into the long term value of Pocono. Same for a Milwaukee return. Doubtful on this happening, but it certainly would be a closer business model to a CART type series. Balance of ovals/road/street courses is needed. Maybe add Michigan to bring back a form of triple crown.
So last year when I said the catch fencing at Pocomo has to be replaced with something safer or just give up with open wheel cars at this track, I was blasted. Anyone disagree with me again this year?
You got blasted because you told the truth. That is not acceptable in today's society. Remember....It isn't the truth until the entire collective group of Indy Car fans agrees. That could be well into the next century! Besides...It wasn't Panzer approved! As for you and me....it needed to be done 20 years ago. Only problem is the revenue generated from the series doesn't exceed the cost of the upgrades needed. That is where ICS needs to take a long term approach.
I hope they don't give up on Pocono. It is an amazing place. I did my first driver school at Pocono in 1983, with Bertil Roos as instructor. At that time the walls appeared to be 1/2" boiler plate. The place is huge, unusual in its layout, and really perfect for IndyCars. It is one of those old time "palaces of speed". And it's inclusion in the IndyCar Championship is part of the mystique of why I see these drivers as unique in terms of skill and courage to pretty much any other field of motorsport. Speedways are dangerous, and perhaps the Turn 2 Safer Barrier could be raised to deal with some of the concern. But the biggest thing seems to be that every year someone gets to Turn 2 on lap 1 and thinks its the only chance to move forward, in mile 2 of a 500 mile race! And there seems to be a larger range of speed disparity reaching T2 than at other speedways because of the long approach (good point raised earlier about the P2P and whether they can use it for starts). I'm rooting for Robbie Wickens and hope to hell he gets back to racing someday, but I was sorry to see him suggest they shouldn't go back after yesterday's incident. I think Dixon, Rossi, Pagenaud, and Power all noted their sense that it is a satisfying place to race an IndyCar. The series needs more than just the Indy 500 super speedway race to maintain its mad diversity, which its participants and fans love. If I had to choose NE based tracks, Pocono and Watkins Glenn would be the two I'd want on the schedule. Those and the Boston street race....
I watched this race sitting in my living room as we got really hammered by thunder, lightning and gigantic downpours. The roads flooded terribly and I live right on the Hudson facing NYC. So I knew what was coming in Pocono. Having run there for 20 years and getting rained out many times at this time of year my reaction was ****ing Pocono Again! This crap just happens a lot there. You can't control the weather folks. One year we all had to retreat to the garages in the pits and stand cheek to jowl to avoid the rain and suddenly we were surrounded by 3 ft of water. But yeah it was always in need of work. I remember one spring going over the tunnel turn at about 135 and I quite unexpectedly got airborne. That would have been nice to know about in advance. I snapped one of the mount tabs on my transmission. I don't think it generates enough revenue to support a track staying in good condition. They never cleaned the track for us whereas Watkin's Glen was just the opposite once Nascar bought it. That 1st lap wreck was horrific. Drivers and the track are to blame for how bad it looked. I'm glad no one was serious hurt. I thought someone was going to be decapitated by all that flying debris. But as long as they're going this fast and it is GD fast bad things will happen in new ways and people will get hurt or worse. That's just a fact. You see 1st lap idiocy in F1 too.
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In case you didn't see it, Takuma Sato tweeted out helmet camera footage showing that he did not turn into Rossi. Really interesting footage for multiple reasons. Seems to show out he was right. Basically the argument is RHR pushed Rossi into Sato. Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date
Footage from Rossi's car using the seams in the pavement as reference clearly indicates that he moved right and Sato was there on a blinder. Rossi was being swallowed up from the drop of the green flag. What we haven't seen, at least I haven't, is footage from Ryan's car. BHW
Sato (and RHR) had huge runs and had to go somewhere. 3 wide into the tunnel turn probably doesn't end well. That said, if you watch the replays in slow motion, Sato made contact with Rossi before RHR was moving up. So IMO it's still Sato's fault primarily. Start around 4:45 and watch on quarter speed. RHR's camera is in there. Graham Rahal's view is probably the most telling.
At the end of the day, it has to be called a racing incident. The thing at Pocono about the cars getting into the catch fencing on such a regular basis should be what the conversation is about. Yes, they've got SAFER barriers but perhaps adding some height to the walls would keep the cars from getting into the catch fences. Remembering back to Le Mans in the mid-80s when drivers began boycotting the event due to the fact that the ACO only had a two tier armco guard rail along the Mulsanne and in the run down to Indianapolis (much of which was attached to rotting wood pylons). Some name drivers stated that they would not go back to Le Mans unless or until a third tier of armco barrier was added and the ACO complied due to the amount of cars which were easily clearing the barriers (notably Jo Gartner in 1986 and the Aston Martin NIMROD of John Sheldon which took the life of a marshal in 1984) and ending up in the trees. Perhaps what is needed is for the Indy Car drivers to announce they won't go back to Pocono unless or until the retaining wall issues are resolved. BHW
I like the Pocono layout but agree that the track needs to be modernized before Indycar will go back. But I believe that they should also be racing at Watkins Glen anyway. I also agree with the concept of shutting out Push to Pass for at least the first two laps of any race, including after restarts, following the lead of F1 with DRS.
I don't think they use push to pass on ovals. IIRC they are down 100-200hp on ovals to help keep speeds down. They will have engine mapping modes they can use however but I don't know if they'll have the same effect on horsepower that push to pass will.
Haaaruuumph. The chart at http://epaddock.indycar.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=k8xdi-l5zaU%3d&portalid=0#%5B%7B%22num%22%3A3125%2C%22gen%22%3A0%7D%2C%7B%22name%22%3A%22XYZ%22%7D%2C34%2C684%2C0%5D (14.18.14.1) shows no PTP limits for ovals, only road courses :shrug: ....but no Pocono either if that's not considered an oval.....
Top 4 points leaders a bit scattered among P1-11 for this evening's race: Driver / Points / Quali Rank Newgarden / 535 / Pole Rossi / 500 / 11 Pagenaud / 495 / 4 Dixon / 483 / 8 Newgarden looked very strong in Qualification, car very well setup.
