Monday, July 26, 2010

Über-Wrapup: The Last Sunday in July



To be honest, this past Sunday, the final day of rest of this seventh month of 2010, was hardly a day of rest for those of us who like to watch motorized things move quickly. Above, you see the three tracks on this half of the globe that saw major action this past season: Laguna Seca, Edmonton City Centre Airport, and The Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This, of course, is usually an IndyCar blog, so the inclusion of the Edmonton race is vital. I'm going to write up MotoGP because, frankly, I think it's one of the greatest shows on a racetrack, they come to Indianapolis in a month, and this was their other trip to the States. I'm going to write up the Brickyard 400 because it was at the Speedway, and because I was there.

Wrapup: MotoGP United States Grand Prix

Here's the order in which I rank the top of my list of great American auto racing tracks: 1) Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2) Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. To watch cars climb up and fall down the sudden hills of earthquake-tumbled north-central California is absolutely mesmerizing. The thought of guys on two-wheeled, 200-m.p.h. rocketships navigating these hills seems absolutely insane.

What makes MotoGP races interesting, especially in this 2010 season, is that the riders behind the leader will generally keep up until something drastic happens. Several times, someone has pulled off an exciting late pass or someone at the top of the field will crack under the pressure and fall from their bike. In past 2010 rounds, the beneficiary of others' mistakes has generally been young Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo.

At this year's U.S. Grand Prix, he drove a fantastic race and forced yet another mistake from the rider in front. This time around, it was Dani Pedrosa -- who I will never forgive for essentially forcing former champ Nicky Hayden from his ride at Honda -- who fell into a low-side accident in turn 5, just before the run up the hill to the Corkscrew. Lorenzo drove off for the rest of the race and, as he is wont to do, celebrated in unique fashion. In other races, he's taken a flag bearing his personal logo and planted it in the sandtrap; since it was the U.S. Grand Prix, Lorenzo put on a moon landing outfit and did a slow astronaut walk to his flag planting.

For the home team, Nicky Hayden, Ben Spies, and Colin Edwards finished 5th, 6th, and 7th, respectively. Nicky's brother Roger Lee Hayden came eleventh in his first race replacing Randy de Puniet, who broke a leg in a nasty wreck last week.

MotoGP takes a quick trip to Brno in the Czech Republic before returning to the States and racing around the Indianapolis road course. You know I'll be there.

Wrapup: Brickyard 400

One of the beautiful things about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is that, even when the place is about three-fifths full, it still draws one of the biggest crowds of NASCAR's season. I've heard many excuses from people as to why the crowds of 250-300,000 no longer make an appearance at the Brickyard, but I have two reasons that I can name off the top of my head: 1) Like F1, a ridiculous tire controversy had a very negative effect on fan perception, and 2) When the choice is given to pay $85 to sit in the first 10 rows in the heat and barely see anything or sit in the AC and watch on TV for free, it's no contest. The same problem is starting to take hold at the Indianapolis 500 as well, so it's high time Jeff Belskus and Co. start to have a look at the dynamics of supply and demand when it comes to bad seats at The Speedway.

Anyway, as far as the race itself was concerned, it has become fairly clear that Chip Ganassi and his crew have the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on lockdown. Dario Franchitti's car in The 500 was absolutely perfect, and Juan Montoya's car was damn near perfect for most of the 400. Then, when Montoya's car went completely wrong after a new set of tires was put on, Ganassi's other driver, Jamie McMurray was there to pick up the pieces. If the Chipster were to start a bike team and show up at the MotoGP race, he'd probably win that too; he's starting to achieve Penske-like status at the top of The Speedway's great owners.

Also of note, for the first time since NASCAR changed over to their new car design, the racing was pretty darn good. A lot of IndyCar fans will look at the Brickyard and say, "Psh...those cars can't pass each other; they go around in a single-file line". Well, I went to both races this year, and I might go so far as to say the NASCAR race provided more passing than IndyCar has in the last two years. The reason is that the management took the stupid, ugly wing, which made the cars very aero-dependent, off the back of the car and replaced it with a giant, flat piece of metal that gives the cars the aerodynamics of a brick. The new spoiler provides a massive hole in the air and, if you can catch the slipstream, it's game-on.

Finally -- and take note, IndyCar -- these heavy, un-aerodynamic cars have to have their throttle feathered through the turns, meaning the driver that gets the power down better off the corner WILL pass the car in front. Case in point: Check out this here poorly-focused photo of Kevin Harvick passing Jamie McMurray for the lead before the halfway point of the straightaway after getting the power down sooner off of Turn 4. Robin Miller can be a dolt sometimes, but he has a penchant for being correct about a lot of things; when he says the IndyCars need to be more powerful and less stuck, things like this are the reasons he is absolutely right.

And one more thing: even though you can't see the turns so well, the south end of the Tower Terrace is a pretty neat place to watch a race. You get a great view of the start and finish and you can run to Section 37 to watch the victory celebration, you can watch pit stops (which is a bunch of coreographed chaos in NASCAR), and you can watch drivers set up their passes. I have my good ol' B-Stand seats for the 2011 500, but I might move to the Terrace for 2012.

Wrapup: Honda Edmonton Indy

Refer back to my photo of the WTF orangutan from Sunday for my reaction to this one.

I figured, when the IndyCar race was getting ready to start on the radio as I drove home from the Speedway, that it would be normal Edmonton fare, with Will Power grabbing P1 by the scruff of the neck (hold that metaphor in your mind for a bit...) and running off with things. For the first three-quarters of the race, that prediction was absolutely correct. Power lapped the field up to 11th place before a late string of yellow flags saved other drivers from the #12 car.

Then, for reasons I don't entirely understand, Team Penske decided to throw the low-grip black tires on Power's car and set up what was the most controversial moment in recent IndyCar memory.

Some simple tire physics for you: a harder-compound tire has less grip. Power was obviously struggling with the tires compared to teammate Helio Castroneves and his red tires, and Helio caught and passed him relatively quickly. Then a caution came out when Alex Lloyd's car broke and came to a stop in one of the tight "infield" turns on the Edmonton circuit. On the restart, everyone and their mothers knew what was coming: Power needed a good start to get past Helio quickly on his inferior tires, but Helio was going to defend that position come hell or high water.

All of that is exactly what happened, except that Helio didn't swerve across the road or anything; he simply drove down the inside of the front stretch so Will could not. Will would have had the position if he'd been able to get the power down because he had a line that allowed better acceleration out of the corner; instead, he spun his wheels a bit, allowing Helio to escape and Scott Dixon to slide into second. When it initially happened, it looked for all the world like an exciting bit of three-lap-to-go racing. But, as we all know, exciting racing isn't what the Great Iron Hand of Justice is all about...

Seriously, what kind of egomaniacal, ignorant fool does it take to make a rule that says you're not allowed to cleanly defend your position on the inside line if you're in the lead of a race with three laps to go and the best driver in the field on your tail?! Likewise, what sort of moron would create such a rule, then never actually enforce it until the only exciting thing to ever happen at an Edmonton race actually happens?! Really, drivers are prohibited, by rule, from driving down the inside of the track to prevent other cars from diving in to make a pass? Has Brian Barnhart ever actually watched an IndyCar oval race? Everyone drives down the inside of the straightaways because the cars are so stuck to the ground that they can! The preferred line at Texas is to go halfway down the backstretch, then glue your car to the solid white line on the inside to prevent the driver behind from passing! At Indianapolis, if you have a fast car behind you, you drive down the inside of the straightaway to prevent them from getting by! One of the most exciting finishes in the history of The 500 was in 1989, where Al Unser, Jr, tried his damndest to put Emerson Fittipaldi into the grass so that Emmo wouldn't pass him!

Here's a neat definition of "blocking": slicing in front of someone who is trying to make a pass in such a way that it could cause an accident. If you'd like to see this sometime, watch an F1 race and you'll see it about 9,000 times. What Helio did was simply prevent -- in a completely safe fashion -- Will from gaining the inside line. When Will cut to the outside, Helio stayed where he was and dared Will to try what would have been an absolutely thrilling pass.

Therefore, with all the fire and brimstone that I can muster from the deep, dark, most rotten depths of my soul, I blow my Yellow Shirt Whistle at Brian Barnhart, the single worst chief steward/commissioner in the history of professional sports. I wish nothing but the swiftest and most painful of firings upon this clueless mound of worthlessness. We've sat through 15 years of his officiating, micro-managing, and awful decisions, and he's finally dropped the final straw onto the camel's back. Get him out of here...NOW!

Oh, by the way, Scott Dixon was gifted the win when the IRL stopped scoring Castroneves. Simona de Silvestro was the star of the show, with a great qualifying effort and some good racing keeping her in the top ten most of the day; she got punted by E.J. Viso to knock her out of the race.

IndyCar is in Mid-Ohio in two weeks. MotoGP takes over The Speedway in four weeks. NASCAR can leave these pages once again now that their annual trip to Indianapolis is over. It's getting to be driver, team, and schedule silly season, so I'll try to keep you updated. Until next time, cheers!

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