The crown jewel of American street course racing is back once again!
First laid out for Formula One's second yearly American race, the Long Beach circuit has gained fame throughout the world for putting on enjoyable events with both F1 and CART/Champ Car, and passed the test of time that so many street courses fail.
The most crucial turn on this course is the hairpin that launches the cars onto the frontstretch. The lead-in to this turn is a sort of slippery funnel where the cars stack up when they slow to make the hard right. When they put the power down to blast down Shoreline Drive, it is very easy to generate wheelspin or understeer into the outside wall; they need a good launch, though, in order to create a passing opportunity at the most action-packed turn on the track, turn 1. Generally, if the race is decided on the track, turn 1 is the spot.
How do I think this edition of the Long Beach GP will end up?
Winner: Will Power Stop me if you've heard this story before...On the pole on a twisty track in his Penske machine. Yeah, that makes him the favorite.
Dark Horse: Ryan Hunter-Reay He's only my dark horse because he hasn't won in a couple years and his team hasn't tasted victory in a while. He's got the talent and he's got the equipment. Starting second on the grid certainly doesn't hurt Ryan's chances here, either.
Ninja Dark Horse: Alex Tagliani Tags has been amazingly strong this year considering the fact that he's with a brand new team. A few things go his way here and he could be near the front at the end.
Danica and Simona Watch! Danica will be starting back in 20th today, so she has quite a test ahead of her today; a top 10 is certainly possible for her. This track is interesting for Simona because this is a track where she's actually had past success, winning the Formula Atlantic race here in 2008; she starts 13th and could find her way to the sharp end of the field.
VERSUS has done their pre-race show, I'll be back in just a bit to bring it to you in words!
4:14, pre-race
Cars are on course, warming the tires. VERSUS giving us the grid and the in-car cameras as we get the one-to-go signal. BIIIGGGG crowd around the track today -- very cool.
Lap 1
Out of the hairpin, we are...GREEN GREEN GREEN! Power with a HUGE jump on the field. Wilson and RHR battling for second, RHR holds on. Kanaan to fourth off the start, no calamities so far.
Lap 2
Replays show Marco giving Tags a love tap in the hairpin. OOH's and AHH's from the booth; emphasis on the fact that Barnhart said not to pass there in the drivers meeting.
Lap ??
There is definitely something wrong with timing and scoring (again). No leaderboard or lap count on the side-by-side. Also no lap count on the rundown scroll at the top.
Lap 9
We've settled into a bit of a parade mode here. Dixon giving some pressure to Briscoe, though.
Lap 11
The ad for Brazilian coffee is a good one here...I could use some of that coffee right now, as the lack of excitement is not mixing well with my hangover...
Lap 12
Professor B giving us a rundown on how to save fuel in these V8 beasts. Very informative, not just as a race-watching tool, but in the real world as well.
Lap 16
The lack of passing at the moment is allowing me to appreciate just how nice that part of Long Beach really is. I need to get back there at some point.
Lap 19
Holy puttin the power down! Will Power has no drive for a second off of the hairpin and RHR to the lead!
Lap 21
Danica going with an off strategy. Makes the early pit stop for some Red
Lap 24
Simona hits the pit lane for some fresh rubber. Hunter-Reay is taking on some lapped traffic right now; though Matos and working on Danica. Franchitti hits the pit lane.
Lap 27
Justin Wilson dives for the pits from second. Pressure's on D&R for a good stop...looked decent on TV.
Lap 28
RHR in the pits...let's see where he comes out of the pit lane....looks to be way ahead of Wilson. Takuma Sato goes ass-around, and Dixon gets by Castroneves when Helio locks up. Sato's spin appears to be because of contact with Alex Lloyd.
Lap 29
Vitor leading a little train of cars for 14th place. Penske cars hit the pit lane.
Lap 30
Kanaan and Power trading spots a couple times, Helio past Tagliani, Wheldon all over Marco.
Lap 34
Mike King on the radio feed goes ALL CAPS VOICE describing Scott Dixon sliding his car around trying to chase down Briscoe.
Lap 36
VERSUS interviewing Paul Tracy, who is unfortunately in civvies, presumably as a guest of good buddy Jimmy Vasser.
Lap 39
Mario Moraes has been really moving through the field. Up to ninth at the moment from his starting spot of 15th.
Lap 46
If a spontaneous passing festival is going to break out, I think it will involve Ryan Briscoe; Dixon's all over him, Kanaan's not too far ahead. Alex Tagliani pits.
Lap 47
Takuma Sato is all over Graham Rahal for 21st. Scratch that...Rahal around Tagliani, Sato now fighting Tags. Bertrand Baguette appears to have a suspension issue of some sort.
Lap 52
Don't look now, but Justin Wilson has really caught up to Ryan Hunter-Reay. Might we have a real, live battle for the lead?
Lap 53
Calamity! RHR gets through the lapped traffic, but Wilson loses a front wing trying to match him. Not much comment from Robbie Buhl...
Lap 55
Instead of an interesting battle, we get lapped traffic causing problems. Wilson's crew had trouble getting the wing off and everyone at DRR is having words with IndyCar officials.
Lap 56
RHR hits the pit lane; good clean stop there.
Lap 57
Kanaan in the pits, RHR nearly collected Graham Rahal as Graham was exiting the pits.
Lap 59
Dixon hits the pits, and RHR gets the lead back. Will Power a good way behind him.
Lap 61
Calamity! We are YELLOW for the first time today. Mario Romancini made an opportunistic move into turn 1 and Rahal was not expecting it. Rahal not happy, Sarah Fisher probably even less enthusiastic than Graham.
Lap 65
Big winner from all of this yellow flag business: Justin Wilson. Ended up third after all was said and done and now he's right behind the leaders...getting ready for green.
Lap 66
We are...GREEN! RHR blasts down the main straight, Power following some lapped traffic, nearly hits Sato in Turn 1. Wilson definitely wants a piece of Will here.
Lap 67
Wilson wants second and...HAS IT in turn 1! Tagliani parks his car with some sort of mechanical issue.
Lap 68
If I were inclined to do so right now, I would take a drink every time Jack Arute talks up the Overtake Button. Replay shows Mike Conway making the pass on Dario for 10th; good on ya, Mike!
Lap 72
Graham Rahal, unhappily in the pit box, not too thrilled with the way Romancini took him out of the race. Still no official word on whether or not this is his final race for a while.
Lap 75
Bob Jenkins: "It doesn't get much better than watching racing on the weekends and hockey on the weeknights." I raise my glass to that statement, Mr. Jenkins.
Lap 78
The in-car shots on RHR's play like a scene from "I Am Legend"...he is ALL ALONE
Lap 81
Five laps to run, RHR just needs to keep it off the wall for a while. Battle for 6th betwee Helio and Moraes. Helio going crazy trying to make the pass.
Lap 83
Okay...time to make the obligatory mention that we have an American driver from a team not named Penske or Ganassi looking for the win. USA USA USA!!!
Lap 84
Two to go! Our man Ryan cruisin' away with it.
Lap 85
White flag flies for RHR! Beccy Gordon, Ryan's fiancée they engaged exactly one year ago, gets some air.
Checkered Flag
Ryan Hunter-Reay put Andretti Autosport back in victory lane! Wilson, Power, Dixon, Kanaan, Moraes, Castroneves, Briscoe, Wheldon, Conway round out the top ten. Future Mrs. Hyphen gives the post-race interviews, though not as eloquently as Ashley Judd would have, of course. Crowd is diggin' Ryan's slow victory lap. Justin Wilson runs out of fuel on the cool-down lap...now THAT'S fuel calculating right there.
Hunter-Reay lovin' the car, dedicating the race to his recently passed mother. He was completely baffled when Will Power slowed down to give him the lead, but never could let up because of the pressure from Wilson and Power before the second pit stops.
Justin Wilson not happy about Lloyd cuttin his nose off and gives some completely undeserved harsh words (even though he wasn't alongside Lloyd at all and tried a sort of divebomb move to get by).
Will Power says the car got stuck in first coming off the hairpin at that one point and it never happened again. Very strange moment there. Will says all the stuff that fans love about getting points and stuff like that.
Well, let's look at how I did on predicting here:
My winner pick was doing great until his transmission decided to stop functioning for half a second, but third place ain't bad. My dark horse pick was actually correct for once with Hunter-Reay putting on a great drive. Tags was doing decently enough, floating around in 7th or 8th until "something broke". The ladies were pretty much entirely a non-factor in this one, barely cracking the top 20.
The bad news: the race is over. The good news: we go OVAL RACING in two weeks. The 1.5-miler in Kansas City hosts what we'll hope is as ridiculous a race as tracks like that tend to host. Until then, cheers!
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