Before I start my incessant blog action tonight, allow me to write a preview for this one. Unfortunately, the track has apparently been wronged by a former girlfriend or something, because it has been weeping like a small child since heavy rains on Thursday. The weepers took a day and a half to clean up, and we've had on-track activity, but we don't know exactly what the weather is going to do tonight. Check with Will at Is It May Yet? for your latest weather needs.
The other major news going into the night is the mix of aerodynamic tweaks and a new "push-to-pass"-esque system to the cars. The aero bits are supposed to add about 300 pounds of downforce to the cars, which will give them more grip to run the high line. "The Button" will give the drivers extra horsepower depending on what fuel setting they are running: ~5 horsepower from full rich, ~20 horsepower from full lean. The Button should give a mile-per-hour or two for 12 second to the car implementing the system. Each driver gets 20 uses of the system for the whole race.
My predictions:
Winner: Scott Dixon. Do I really need to explain this one?
Dark Horse: Dan Wheldon. He has the fourth-fastest time in practice, but he'll have a tough road from the middle of the field to catch up with the top five (Penske and Ganassi). Danny should be fast, though; if the cards are played right, watch for him.
Ninja Dark Horse: Sarah Fisher. Okay, this might be the longest of long shots, but I'm going to give Sarah a bit of a chance here. This has always been one of her better tracks, with laps led and two pole positions here. I'd dearly like to see her do well, and I think many others would as well.
Lights race is getting ready to kick off, so I'm gonna fire up the live feed...
Firestone Indy Lights!
We're circling the track under yellow, getting ready to go. One of the AFS cars was having trouble getting off the grid...tough break there.
6:05, pre-race
The vid feed died off...ahh, now its back. It has been disgustingly inconsistent this weekend with the vid.
Lap ???
Okay, apparently I missed the start of the race and two cars have already been eliminated. Oi, good start for me...
Alright, I'm gonna go meeshbeer style with this one...no lap numbers, since my compy won't run T&S and the live stream at the same time.
WOAH! Giant push for Romancini or something...near contact with Cunningham. He ended up getting split down the backstretch by Bia and Harrington.
Bia makin' noise on the outside! GOOOO BIA!
Hinchcliffe and Saavedra makin' it happen side-by-side at the front.
Three wide for the lead!!! Bia, Hinch, and Saavedra! This is fantastic.
Bia to the lead! She saw an opening, dove to the inside, and divebombed Hinch and Saavedra into Turn 3. As pressdog would say, she put the wings in the delta and went...SSSSSSSUPERSONIC!
...Just like that, she lost both of those spots; Hinch to first, Saavedra to second.
Davison and Cunningham joining the battle for third with Bia. Hinch and Saavedra still running the front.
Bia made an optimistic look to the outside when Hinch and Saavedra went side-by-side. Cunningham jumped on it and grabbed third.
Near-contact between Saavedra and Cunningham. Wade took his momentum and jumped into second. Saavedra tried to get him back and nearly hit the marbles.
Wade gets the lead! He really jumped the outside line nicely on Hinch.
Hinch got totally held up by a lapped car. Wade has some good space between him and second-place now. Bia made a nice outside pass on Davison for fourth.
Okay, I became enthralled in the race for a while...AND THEN THEY THREW A STUPID F*CKING YELLOW. Hinch spun out of third, hit NOTHING, and kept going. With a race as exciting as that, if no one hits the wall or stalls, DON'T THROW THE YELLOW. Yet another race ruined by race control.
Up until the dumb f*cking Yellow from Hell, that was the best race, Lights or IndyCars, that I've seen all year. Side-by-side, three-wide, drafting, craziness...all sorts of good stuff. If the IndyCar race is even half as good as this one was, I think there will be some happy people leaving Kentucky Speedway. Back in a couple hours or so for some IndyCar speediness.
IndyCar time!
8:02, pre-race
Wham, bam, thank ya ma'am! Crowd filing in, weather filing...across the sky? Jenkins says we're in hurry-up mode 'cause the weather is (Jack Arute voice) ON THE WAY!
8:04, pre-race
Scott Dixon, most uninteresting man in the world, talks up how important it is for the team to work together to get the best results and...z..z..z..
8:06, pre-race
Briscoe says pretty much all of the same crap that Dixon just said. Seriously, I would love it if they interviewed the guys in the back who are all WILDLY INTERESTING! Let's ask Mario Moraes his opinion of E.J. Viso, and vice-versa! Let's parade some Ontarians out to slap Helio in the face! Let's have Danica re-enact a godaddy commercial!
8:09, pre-race
Robbie and Jon going over the various changes on the cars. Some seriously enhanced viewing here as Robbie nails down the aero while Jon goes over the "Overtake Button"
8:15, pre-race
Will Power, well-dressed man, talks with Lindy about the various options being put on his car for tonight (the aero pieces are optional). He says he needs all the downforce he can get 'cause of his low starting spot. Nice recap of his race last week with audio from his crew folk.
8:18, pre-race
Couple of real legends on camera just now: Sir Jackie Stewart and Roger Penske. They weren't talking to each other, but they're in the same shot, which means they're somehow...something...somewhere?
8:20, pre-race
PR smoke-up-your-ass time! Terry Angstadt, one of the smarter employees of the League, speaking up the double-speak and making the good happen, at least in theory. The man works miracles with the sometimes-awful product he has to sell.
8:26, pre-race
IndyCar Transformers! Bet there's a GREAT market for those in toy stores....and by "great" I mean non-existant.
8:27, pre-race
"Drivers, Start Your Engines!" Every row hot...except row 4. no look at the cars who may not have started, but everyone looks to have moved out. Rarin' and ready to go!
8:30, pre-race
Kevin Lee: Pit Strategist. Keepin' it real for the tan man Arute.
Lap 1
Nous somme....VERT VERT VERT! Jump start...AGAIN and nous somme...JAUNE JAUNE JAUNE!
Lap 2
Second start...slightly better. Green flies this time and Dixon rolls off to the lead. Dario stalking him around 3&4. Close stuff between Helio and Danica across the line!
Lap 4
Moraes is movin' through the field nicely. sure to run someone over soon, though...
Lap 6
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...the field has spread out and is single-file. *sigh*
Lap 10
The red cars have shot away and Robbie tells us that...they haven't used their Buttons yet. Oi. Close racing for 9th between Kanaan and Wilson.
Lap ???
I was told this was going to be a side-by-side break. Goddamn TV screwing it all up for their customers AGAIN.
Lap 18
Televised pass for third! Just as we came off the break, too. Dixon still running miles away. Mario Moraes absolutely KILLS Dario on the front stretch.
Lap 22
Danica going the wrong way fast. Carpenter and Kanaan both past her easily.
Lap 25
Briscoe blaring the "Jaws" music for Dixon. Pass for the lead perhaps forthcoming...maybe.
Lap 28
Marco and Danica making some side-by-side happen....until Marco washes up a bit and has to back off. There are definitely some differences in the racing with the aero tweaks.
Lap 33
Ed Carpenter and Mario Moraes have been doing some racing...FOR FOURTH?! Good on ya, both of you!
Lap 38
Scheckter to the pits. A disconnection of the rear anti-roll bar...that's a GIANT fix. There must really be something wrong there.
Lap 42
Good, fantastic airtime for the BRIGHT YELLOW car of Eddie Carpenter.
Okay, it's dinner time here (really late, I know). I'm gonna watch from the table and come back for the ending. Ciao!
Lap 132
Okay, so interesting things happened....namely ED CARPENTER IS IN SECOND?! Holy nuts, he had a massively good restart. He's chasing Will Power in a massive orgy of yellow side-by-side racing.
Lap 138
It appears that...an IndyCar race has broken out! And Vision Racing is battling for the lead! Oh my god, this is AWESOME!
Lap 142
Well, it looks like we've fallen into lock-step....SIDE BY SIDE AWESOME LOCKSTEP! Carpenter is doing a great job hanging with the Penske machine. Danica hangin' around the top five battle too. This is fantastic!
Lap 151
50 to go! James at 16th and Georgetown reports rain on the way. Ed lost some momentum and is back in the clutches of Castroneves...and Bob Jenkins just used the same analogy as me...DAMNIT!
Lap 154
Leaders have spread back out a bit. Will Power's boys are in the pits! ED......TO THE LEEEEAAAAD!
Lap 158
The Brazilian flag is being waved furiously behind Ed...except Kanaan just lost a bunch of ground...and Helio's dropped a bit too.
Lap 162
Replay shows Will Power nearly rolling into Sarah Fisher's pit box...OOPS! It's fantastic listening to the booth guys wax poetic about how great the racing is tonight.
Lap 168
Rahal lost the nose of his car a bit...nearly killed Briscoe and several others in the process. The racing...is GREAT tonight.
Lap 171
Vision pit stops forthcoming...and Ed is REALLY moving away from the dueling Penskes. Can you imagine that a Vision pit stop could decide the outcome of this race? How ludicrous is that?!
Lap 175
Carpenter and Dixon...TO THE PITS! The big stop of the night....a GREAT stop for the vision crew. Kanaan coming in too.
Lap 177
Kanaan in and out. Carpenter back out and going strong...Penskes still to stop and they're on the way in NOW! Tense time about to happen...this is AWESOME!
Lap 180
Carpenter out in first! Kanaan second! You know what teams neither of those guys belong to? EXACTLY
Lap 183
Carpenter still up. Something to point out: there is NO FUEL STRATEGY involved in the end of this race. No fuel mapping, no nothing. Wings back, SUPERSONIC!!! (thanks, pressdog)
Lap 186
Kanaan really pressing! Carpenter holds on and Briscoe tries on Tony...AND FAILS!
Lap 191
10 to go! Kanaan has a lot of "the Button" left, Briscoe and Ed have 7 presses. Massive fights for all top spots
Lap 193
Carpenter and Briscoe....RACING! This is sheer insanity....I can't believe this at all right now.
Lap 196
Helio nearly loses everything. It's just Carpenter and Briscoe....AMAAAZING!
Lap 200
White flag! OMG OMG OMG OMG! MIKE KING ALL CAPS VOICE!!!
Checkered Flag!
SIDE BY SIIIIIIDE! Briscoe gets the run off of Turn 4 and holds on for the win! Holy smokes that was fantastic!
History will show that Penske won yet another race. But it was truly so much different from that. .0162 seconds the official margin of victory, Ryan Briscoe over...ED CARPENTER! Unbelievable stuff from a Vision team that has gone through enough crap during their existence to completely deserve this result. Tony George, in his new role as JUST a team owner deserved this as well. Good feeling all around for the Vision guys.
Result: Briscoe, Carpenter, Kanaan, Castroneves, Rahal (!), Franchitti, Dixon, Patrick, Power, Andretti, Wheldon, Fisher, Mutoh, Huter-Reay, Viso, Matos, Conway, Moraes, Doornbos, Duno, Wilson, Scheckter, Lazier.
Interviews all around. Briscoe happy to have those points in a tight championship race. Ed, obviously still pumping the adrenaline, very happy to have a great result and be able to battle it up with a Penske car. Ed also very happy with the improvements made to the cars, as it has obviously paid off.
As the adrenaline in Ed's system chills out, as will mine. My predictions were awful as ever. Dixon was up for a while, but fell back. Wheldon finished out of the top ten. Fisher was right behind him.
Fantastic race, to be sure. Unfortunately for some fans, we go to a road course next, but the good feelings from this week will certainly remain. Mid-Ohio is next a week from tomorrow. I'll be watching, and I'm sure you will too. Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment