quote:

And before someone goes off half-cocked, the John McCain in question was the CEO of NTT Data, not a certain infamous senator...

Thanks. I forgot there were two of them. I meant the NTT Data one of course.

RACER.COM is where I get a lot of my racing news from, and they're one of the only places that will do IndyCar Race Recaps and surprisingly, Scott Dixon didn't fumble his clutch on his last pitstop. Dixon, being Dixon, had stretched his fuel mileage to such an extreme his engine ran out of fuel and coughed before the gas tank started flowing again.

Who knew that Dixon's primary strength would cost him his 4th win in a row?

Two part post:

1) Too small an article to post, but Doctors have started the process to bring Alex Zanardi out of coma. It's been a few days, but no update.

2) The IndyCar/Red Bull Advanced Technology's Aeroscreen paid for itself PLUS interest this weekend in Iowa.



Otherwise, two more very good races from IndyCar and better than anything Formula 1 has given us. I believe we have a two week break before they're back at it at Mid-Ohio and then the Indy 500 on 8/23.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
2) The IndyCar/Red Bull Advanced Technology's Aeroscreen paid for itself PLUS interest this weekend in Iowa.

It certainly did! Fugly for sure but I'll get used to it.

Well, spots 10-33 are set. None of the Penske cars made it into the Top 9 and Alonso will start in 26th.

Today looks to be Dixon vs. Andretti Autosport as Dixon's last run was the first car averaging 232 mph before slowing up. It's not often Dixon's the underdog, but in this case, I'm hoping he pulls off another win.

I will just about guarantee you that Marco can't hold the lead/won't finish well and will blame someone or something for his demise. it's the family history to blame others.

Just checking. Did they remove NBCSN from the Dish Networks lineup? Can’t seem to locate it.

Looks like they may have changed the name

This was on NBC local.

And Marco Andretti pulled it off! Beat Scott Dixon by 0.01 mph! Front row is Andretti/Dixon/Sato. The only Chevy in the Fast Nine was Rinus Veekay for Ed Carpenter Racing and made 4th. Marco was the only impressive Andretti Autosport and not even part of the main team.

He'll probably fold next week, but this is still a hell of an achievement.

Marco does something every five years or so and gets to keep his seat and a good salary. Doesn't hurt that his father owns the team.
The sad thing is that I think he has the basic skills but seems to lack motivation.
Somehow I doubt he will still be there past half distance but who knows.
The 500 is often a crap shoot and has a number of one hit wonders among it's past winners.

My old neighbor's grandson is racing - Ferrucci. He was in 7th but just missed a pit stop and had to go another lap.
That dropped him to 20th, but he's managed to get back to 11th as of lap 70.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
My old neighbor's grandson is racing - Ferrucci. He was in 7th but just missed a pit stop and had to go another lap.
That dropped him to 20th, but he's managed to get back to 11th as of lap 70.

Finished 4th...I was rooting for him!!!

That was shaping up to be a shootout at the end, we the fans got robbed. I thought Rossi's penalty was unfair, Sato was straddling both pit exit lanes as Rossi came out, they both share some guilt. As both survived minimal contact, no harm, no foul. A Dixon/Rossi fight out the window, we wuz robbed again.

A Dixon win would have been deserved but Ganassi is talking with Bubba Wallace to take the ousted Kyle Larsen's seat in NASCAR, eff Chip.

I thought originally that they weren't going to have enough laps left to get everyone around to run a shootout, but it turns out that Spencer Pigot destroyed the Pit Lane Attenuator to such a degree that it was going to take an hour to repair. If there was 20 to go, they might have done it, but with only 3-4, they decided to let it end on Yellow.

And I swear on one weekend a year, Sato is worth his weight in gold. Not only has he tamed his recklessness, this guy is a BEAST on ovals! Two Indy 500 wins in three years! Most people are lucky enough to just win one, but Rahal Letterman Lanigan showed up with the goods that Andretti Autosport couldn't manage. Speaking of which, Graham Rahal also proved he's not there just because he's Bobby's son. After falling back early with car issues, he ended the race in 3rd place and had the pace to pass Dixon through the traffic if Pigot hadn't almost killed himself.

Poor Alonso had clutch problems so 21st was the best he could do, and he can't Arrow McLaren too much since Oliver Askew was in the Top 10 until he crashed and Pato O'Ward finished 6th.

All in all great race, but even with the aeroscreen, I saw WAY too many sidepods pop off of cars in wrecks this year. That's something that really needs fixed on the oval aerokit.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:

All in all great race, but even with the aeroscreen, I saw WAY too many sidepods pop off of cars in wrecks this year. That's something that really needs fixed on the oval aerokit

Pigot's car, note damage to the aero screen. Might have saved multiple lives already this season.

Paul Tracy mentioned that as well. Pigot could have received a serious head injury if the tires in the attenuator smacked him in the head. I know it's something that's been needed for a while now, but I'm glad they took some extra time to get it right. This is something Formula 1 needs when they change the formula in a few years.

And Spencer Pigot was released from the hospital last night, but if I was him I'd need to be on suicide watch because he's going to feel 125% of the crash when he wakes up.

Pretty good race but I think Sato would have gone unchallenged at the end if the crash hadn't happened.
He paced himself well and the car was really hooked up at the end. Dixon tried to make a run at him but seemed to struggle to keep up when he needed the extra. They mentioned that fuel was marginal for them so maybe that played a roll and he had some left for the last lap or two. We'll never know.
Restarting wasn't really an option since they don't have the extra green, white, checker like NASCAR does.
Sato was in the middle in the Rossi pit incident but that was because he had Askew on his outside and slightly ahead. He had no room to go right but Rossi probably didn't see that from his position and thought he'd give a little. Kind of silly to race someone once they are ahead in the pits since they are all on the limiter going the same speed and he couldn't get past anyway. The penalty did appear a bit harsh under the circumstances and ruined his race.
The pods and rear deck bodywork did come off a few in crashes but the severity of the hits made that inevitable. Both Askew and Pigot's hits were the type you wouldn't have walked away from a decade or two ago and likely not survived.
Too bad the Chevy's seemed to be second class this year as it held back a number of otherwise strong runners.
I would like to see them end the HP bump in qualifying as it seems pointless. That started when the IRL was competing with CART so the speeds looked higher but now seems like a really silly idea. Maybe they should do like F-1 and make you run the car like you qualify. Since they are spec cars a little more drag would help the passing some too. Almost all the real passing was on the start or restarts. Dixon actually let Sato by earlier when they were drafting each other to get better mileage and couldn't get back by when it counted later.

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Kind of silly to race someone once they are ahead in the pits since they are all on the limiter going the same speed and he couldn't get past anyway. The penalty did appear a bit harsh under the circumstances and ruined his race.

It's one of those things where you pit crew can sabotage your race. It sucks, but it happens. And putting him back at the end of the line is far better than making him do a drive through penalty like at any other track.

This year, I really liked they gave them full road course boost this year for qualifying. I liked seeing what they could do with full boosts at the end of this current formula. I'd normally agree with the qualifying suggestion, but this is Indy. Indy is its own special thing and one of those it going full speed/flat out in qualifying. If it hadn't been for Covid, we'd probably have more than 33 cars which would require bumping. A 700hp car is more of a beast to handle than a 550hp car. I can't wait for 2022 (assuming the world gets fixed next year) when the 2.4L V6 formula comes out and we get cars pushing almost 1000hp at full boost.

Got to watch rest of race last night.

Question for the serious Indy fans/nerds. What is the difference in 5th/6th gear ratios/speeds they are using on a track like Indy? It seems tinnnnnnny, almost negligible but realize it must give them just ever so slightly better pull out of turns or they wouldn't be using.

5th gear is the mail acceleration gear while 6th is used more as an overdrive gear to save fuel mileage.