Review: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Well, now that I've finished hyperventilating over yet another exciting street race and compared notes with my coworker Mike, it's time to share some thoughts on the race between the (temporary, thunderstorm-caused) lakes that was St. Pete.

First off -- and this is special, because it's not something I say a lot -- all credit to Brian Barnhart for getting something right TWO races in a row. In spite of all of his shortcomings, he does a good job dealing with rainstorms.

I think back to Indianapolis in 2007, which was honestly one of the most unpleasant experiences I've ever had. Not long after the halfway point, there was an absolutely awful storm that turned the track into a swimming pool. Some of the older fans who had seen this situation play out in the past decided it wasn't worth it to stick around and went home. Barnhart, on the other hand, decided to wait it out; he was rewarded by some fortuitous sunshine and the fact that the pavement that was put down in '05 dries like no road I've ever seen. Seeing the cars come back out of the garage and hearing Dave Calabro make the call to restart the engines was just as exciting as the start of the race. About 60 more laps were run before it clouded over again and the skies opened around 7PM, leaving the remaining fans drenched, but fairly satisfied.

Two weeks ago in Sao Paulo, Barnhart saw a massive storm hit the track, tried to keep the race going, but decided to throw the red when it became unreasonable and make the track safe again. In St. Pete, though it may not have been the popular decision, he again made the right decision to send everyone home for the day on Sunday when the weather and track condition became unreasonable with little end in sight.

Instead of a festival of rain-induced spinning (like we occasionally have in Formula 1) we had a pretty exciting race on a drying track that emphasized car control and rewarded some of the best twisty drivers in the series...which brings me to my predictions.

What can you say about Will Power's ability on street courses? I feel as though there aren't any suitable superlatives to apply to the man -- he simply wins these races. The final, IRL-sanctioned Champ Car race from Long Beach in 2008 was won by Will, last year's race on the Edmonton airport circuit was flat dominated by Will, and he's taken the first two street races of 2010. It stands to reason that he'll be the runaway favorite for Long Beach, Toronto, Edmonton, and perhaps some of the natural-terrain races. At one point in the St. Pete race, it seemed like Justin Wilson might reel Power in, but Will suddenly found his accelerator pedal and shot off into the distance -- game, set, match.

My Dark Horse (simply because of where he started the race; nothing to do with a lack of ability or team strength) may have had the fastest car on the racetrack. When Dario Franchitti had his car pointed in the right direction and with all four tires pumped up, he was, true to his Italian ancestry, a Forza Azzuri. The blue Cottonelle/Target car, after stopping to replace a flat tire in the second half of the race, shot from tenth to fifth within about twelve laps. If the Grand Prix of St. Pete were 110 laps or 115 laps, who's to say where Dario might have ended up.

Ninja Dark Horse Graham Rahal did not disappoint either, especially given the fact that his temporary team, Sarah Fisher Racing, is lucky to even be in the series at this point. Sarah has a fighting spirit, and she loves driving a race car, but she also wants that team to succeed; Sarah Fisher can only turn a wheel to the right when holding a slide on a dirt oval, so she rightfully decided to throw the most talented person who didn't have a ride behind the wheel. If Sarah had driven, she would've been lucky to be the last car running; with Graham at the wheel, they picked up a well-deserved and much-needed top ten. Who knows what this team will be able to do in Alabama, but it will only be beneficial for Sarah and her small, scrappy, barely-meeting-budget team.

Danica Patrick...the girl always finds ways to surprise me. However, I may have to retire the Danica Watch because the only way she's gotten ahead of Simona de Silvestro these first two races was when Simona's car broke (either internally or from...er...outside influences). Even Marty Reid, noted lover of all things Danica (figuratively, of course), acknowledged the talent that is Simona and even showed signs of thinking the Swiss Miss might be *hushed whisper* better than Danica. The next few races shall tell the truth of the matter.

Thankfully, the IZOD IndyCar Series will skip Easter/Final Four weekend, because I will be far too distracted by Butler University's awesomeness to devote time to racing. IndyCar returns to the track the following weekend for its inaugural event at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama. See you then, folks!