Well, i have just recovered consciousness after watching the Mid-Ohio race on my DVR last night. This photo was taken just before a mass blackout on the levels of that new ABC show whose name I can't recall.
Lurking not-too-far in the distance ahead of J-Willy and The Most Uninteresting Man In The World is Milka "The Pick" Duno. Milka, being a full SEVEN seconds off the pace at a track where passing can be damn near impossible, gave Scotty the opportunity he needed to take the lead and never look back. As J-Will was trying to figure out what he should do to get around "The Pick", Scotty jammed his car down the inside line and forced Wilson onto the outside line, which is apparently paved with industrial-strength lubricant. Done, aaaaaand done.
I took two things out of this little event:
1) I'll start with the criticism here: Why is there only killer grippy sealed pavement on the very inside of just about every turn on this track? If you're gonna seal or pave in a corner, do it 100%. When Dixie passed J-Will, it was completely obvious that J-Will had absolutely zero grip on the outside and lost the position for that very reason. If J-Will had been able to get the power down, he might've held on for the inside line in the next turn and made that battle a lot more interesting.
2) Milka "The Pick" is good for the league for one reason: she takes a race that could've been exceedingly boring and threw a wrench in it. She provides a neat obstacle on the road courses so the drivers don't fall asleep and so VERSUS can force awkward answers out of Danica regarding Milka's lack of understanding of blue flags. She's a monstrous danger on the 220-m.p.h. ovals, but she provides some measure of fun on the roadies.
The Mid-Ohio race also showed us why the top teams are the top teams. Grahamburglar Rahal, who made a bid for the underdogs by running fifth for a very long time, flew off the track a couple of times; first by dirt-tracking off the exit of Turn 1 and doing a magnifico job of hanging on, then by just spinning himself out of contention later on. Second, at Dale Coyne racing -- who appear to be getting real chippy after realizing that they can, in fact, win a race -- the fuel people made their calculations just a bit wrong and J-Will ran out of fuel on his way into the pits, putting him way back in 15th by the time the car was fueled and re-fired.
The big boys ended up taking the top three in a mostly-flawless race.
On one final note, while fourth place wasn't given too much attention by the broadcasters, history will show that Ryan Hunter-Reay finished in that spot on a track that he has been good friends with in the past. More importantly, it was revealed that his boss, A.J. Foyt (IndyCar's real winningest driver), put Death over his knee and gave It a good spanking once again: A.J. was on his way from Texas to Ohio when an engine flamed out on his plane. The VERSUS guys, not-quite-Kings of Comedy (Dukes or Earls, maybe) said that A.J. probably calmed everyone down and flew the plane out of trouble himself -- and that it was good he didn't drive it into a lake as he did his bulldozer. A.J. "The Cat" Foyt, man of nine lives, has to be running out of free passes by this point, but it's good to have him stick around; the world needs A.J.
If you were excited by the parade that was Mid-Ohio, then boy-oh-boy do I have a treat for you: Sonoma in two weeks! Sonoma is a good race to attend in person because you're surrounded by fantastic vinyards and you can sauce yourself into happiness on a picnic blanket while the cars single-file by you. If you're not lucky enough to be in the tectonically-convulsed beauty of northern California, then you'll need to fire up the coffee pot for sure.
RESULTS: HONDA INDY 200 from IndyCar.com
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