That was a good race. It was good to see that pass happen without the artificial push to pass either.

Now on to the big one. Hope the present rules will enable the cars to stay close enough to have some real passing there too.

Qualifying for the last row should be interesting. I doubt anyone would have predicted the participants a week ago.
The weather makes it look like it could be postponed until tomorrow so the top spots will be determined from the Saturday runs.

McLaren and Alonso may well miss the show. From what I've read, they showed up thinking they'd be competitive based on name only, they were not close to prepared. Not out yet but as Alonso said, unlikely they'll find the speed they need over night.

McLaren promptly fired the Indy Team boss. That’s embarrassing.

That's what happens when you go cheap trying to get in the Indy 500. I'm pretty sure Alonso is relieved that he didn't qualify so he doesn't have to drive 500 miles in a car that can't win.

Something tells me they should have read the Indy GP to help get a better feel for the car. At least they probably wouldn't have wasted hours of practice time looking for an electrical fault.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DanH,

McLaren did so many things wrong. Alonso had tagged the wall and they didn't have a backup car ready. As I understand, it needed a paint job and they'd been told a week before to get that done, didn't do it.

And yeah, I'd also bet Alonso is relieved. Not for having to drive 500 miles in an inferior car but rather for however many he could drive and keep it and himself in one piece. Five hundred miles were never going to happen.

I cringed when Sato went to 3rd place, waiting for him to cause a wreck and take out the pack. Congrats to the Captain on 18 Indy 500 Victories!

Last 20 laps were terrific. Passing, something I miss with F1.

I was thinking that Sato was keeping his distance waiting for the first two to wreck and he could drive on to a win.

Without the wreck, Rossi and the Honda guys would have been racing for the win. Newgarden didn't have the speed at the end and Simon didn't have the fuel.
Good race at the end.
Sato did a good job with what he had at the end to come from nowhere.
Lots of errors and problems on pit lane.
Much better race than F-1. Even though Pagenaud led most laps it wasn't a done deal until the last lap.

Yellows bunched the field toward the end, setting up a great shootout and one of the all-time great Indy's. I don't think you could shoehorn any more fans in the stands, wow. Not normally a "big one" kind of race, thankfully no one was hurt except for the pit crew member, not life threatening.

Thanks, IndyCar, what a race.

Detroit had two good races this weekend, one each day.
The second was full of action and some great passes. Also a few that didn't come off so great.
The NBC technical department on the other hand had a few glitches and cut to a commercial on one of the key moments of the race.
In any case, it's nice to not know the winner before the race even starts.

IndyCar continues showing the other series how to do it. Let me add I'm on record as being really annoyed by Leigh Diffey but he seems perfect for IndyCar. I can't pin down why I've had a change of heart but Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy have to get some credit. They play off each other well and I've been particularly impressed with Tracy. He's right on top of the technical aspects of the moment, Bell the racecraft. Diffey defers to them as needed, goes all "Diffey" when the action calls for it.

NBCSN has a winner with their IndyCar coverage, this fan says "Thanks"!

Looks like Chilton's not going to run anymore ovals.
Truth is he's not doing all that well on the road & street courses either. O'Ward is driving a Carlin car too with less funding and no previous Indycar experience and less funding and showing him up.
I've never been a real big Daly fan but I'd kind of like to see him do well in the car just to rub it in a little.

The NBC Gold Pass was a lifesaver this weekend with the weather screwing up Race 1. And while it's been a few years, I am so glad they are using this layout of the track like in the late '90s instead of the IRL days of when they cut the straight between Turn 2 and 3 in half and wiggled it back into the track. Every race I saw with that layout was always a parade.

As far as Chilton, he's got something like 2 or 3 brothers that are out racing in various series and all of them are riding on Daddy's Gallagher money to get rides. To be fair, would you want to drive a Carlin IndyCar on an oval where they went 1 for 4 trying to qualify for Indy including Fernando Alonso? I'm glad he got out before he got hurt and, unlike Mike Conway, gave the team more than a couple of hours to find a new driver halfway through the weekend.

I'm going to file this under irrelevant...

Not only does Sato crash out other drivers, now he runs over his own pit crew! I am sorry but he is dangerous. I think he doesn't think and just does which causes him to take out people. It's one thing to drive hard and be in control which he is not (in control) Sorry but it is just my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by urbanwarrior238:
Not only does Sato crash out other drivers, now he runs over his own pit crew! I am sorry but he is dangerous. I think he doesn't think and just does which causes him to take out people. It's one thing to drive hard and be in control which he is not (in control) Sorry but it is just my opinion.

Brain fade for sure, thankfully no serious injuries. And really too bad. Pole for Sato, looking dominant early, #5 in the points and having a great year. Last night will surely take an edge off him, maybe making him more of a wild card.

Still, another strong showing from IndyCar on a scary track. One of those places that I'm uncomfortable watching these cars race. Almost too fast.

Back in the day CART and the IRL both raced there, the spec series IRL had them wheel to wheel all race, too fast for CART when it became known the drivers were getting dizzy and nearly passing out. One race there had to be cancelled the day before because of that danger.

Believe me I am no expert in this area but todays (Road America) race discussion on the contract expiring/possible free agent Rossi becoming available got me to thinking.

Rossi currently drives for Andretti Motorsports. The talk was, apparently a little teaser talk from Andretti?, that they may not have the money or sponsorship to keep Rossi next year. Really? This sounds like a no brainer business decision to me. You get rid of Marco Andretti! He has only scored in the top 10 for the season twice in 16 years.

Compared to Rossi, Indy 500 winner, Pole after pole, 1st place after first place, Indy runner up, I could go on and on.

Sad or maybe not, a non-performing driver has a ride just because daddy foots the bill..and gets nothing in return.

Just my 2-cents. Good race today and yes, again, Sato crashes into another driver. I-yi-yi when will it stop with him.

Agreed, Rossi is where it is at, but I like it when Hinchcliffe does well.

quote:

Originally posted by urbanwarrior238:
Sad or maybe not, a non-performing driver has a ride just because daddy foots the bill..and gets nothing in return.

Hopefully it will never get as bad as NASCAR in this regard.

Nothing better than Road America! Been there many times, great track. Good race for 2nd - 5th. Rossi, checked out! And, yes, was waiting for Sato to collide with anyone near him.

On Marco, got to feed and support him anyway so you might as well get data from the car.

It started raining moments after the race finished. Very good racing behind the runaway winner, could have been even more fun.