Pagenaud Strategy Leads to Motegi Win; Two Straight for 500 Winner
Some quick thoughts about today’s race:
Simon Pagenaud has the oval pit stop strategy figured out.
It’s too bad the NTT Indycar Series doesn’t still race at Motegi. I had forgotten what a great track that is.
That was a great race. There were passes for the lead, pit strategy, and on track drama which had a hand in the outcome.
Even though it was a sim race, I loved seeing Robert Wickens on pole and leading a lap or two. Even on this platform he has Will Power’s number in qualifying.
Oliver Askew has at least two fewer friends in the paddock this afternoon.
Two more podium spots for Team Penske gives them I believe seven of the twelve podium places through the four races.
Scott Dixon is not a regular on sim racing, but he seems to have figured it out rather quickly. He had a great drive today. I also liked his homage to former teammate Dario Franchitti’s flying finish at Kentucky in 2007.
Kyle Busch had a decent Indycar debut with a 13th place finish after starting in the back.
Dixon may have won with a better final pit stop.
Power did a great job hanging on for third without a right front end plate. I’m not sure how that would work out in a real race.
Jack Harvey had a decent day. He qualified well and led some laps.
I will post the final standings when they are available.
I hope to have a post up tomorrow. On Monday I begin the move to Summer Headquarters and I hope to be up and running again by next Thursday. This means there will be lots of big Indycar news Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Motegi iRace Fast Facts and Spotter’s Guide
From Indycar:
Firestone 175 Fast Facts
When: 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday, April 18
Track: Twin Ring Motegi, a four-turn, egg-shaped, 1.549-mile oval in Motegi, Japan. Turn banking: 10 degrees.
Race distance: 113 laps/175 miles/281.6 km (approximately 75 minutes)
Expected pit stops: Two. Fuel window is expected to be approximately 40 laps. Cars will be allowed one “Fast Repair” during the race.
Twitter: @IndyCar, @iRacing, @motegi_english, #INDYCARChallenge, #INDYCAR
TV/Online: 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports App. Leigh Diffey is the lead announcer, alongside the network’s INDYCAR analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy, and pit reporter Marty Snider. The pre-race activities will be highlighted by Big Machine Records country music star Carly Pearce singing the national anthem and global motorsports legend Mario Andretti giving the command to start engines. The podium finishers will be interviewed on the live NBCSN broadcast. Diffey also will host a post-race virtual press conference with the podium finishers for media members (call-in details will be distributed).
Spotter guide: Click here to see a detailed spotter guide for this Saturday’s race.
Race notes:
• Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) won Round 3 of the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge on Saturday, April 11, the Chevrolet 275 at Michigan International Speedway. He beat Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin by 13.4059 seconds in a race with thrilling action eventually decided by fuel strategy.
• Sage Karam (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) won the inaugural round of the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge on Saturday, March 28, the American Red Cross Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International. Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) won Round 2 on Saturday, April 4, the Virtual Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.
• Two-time and reigning Virgin Australia Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske), from New Zealand, has the best overall record in the series in the No. 2 Shell V-Power Team Penske Dallara, finishing fourth at Watkins Glen, winning at Barber and placing second at Michigan. Veteran sim racer McLaughlin has produced this impressive record despite competing in series races during the middle of the night in Australia, where he lives.
• In an example of the virtual world mirroring the real world, Team Penske is the team to beat so far in the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. Penske is the only team to score a podium finish in each of the first three races. Will Power placed third in Round 1 at Watkins Glen, Scott McLaughlin won Round 2 at Barber with Power placing second, and Simon Pagenaud won Round 3 at Michigan, with McLaughlin second.
• Sage Karam (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) is the only driver to lead laps in all three races of this virtual series, also winning the opener at Watkins Glen in the No. 24 DRR WIX Filters Chevrolet. He also has led the most laps in all three races, pacing a dominant 116 of the 175 combined laps so far (66 percent).
• Participation continues to climb in the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. The field for the Firestone 175 will consist of 33 drivers. Round 3 at Michigan International Speedway had 31 drivers April 11, up from 29 taking the green flag April 4 at Barber Motorsports Park. The series opener March 28 at Watkins Glen had 25 drivers.
• The Firestone 175, Round 4 of 6 in the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge, is the second consecutive oval race in the virtual series, after the Chevrolet 275 at Michigan International Speedway. The first two rounds took place on natural-terrain road courses, at Watkins Glen International and Barber Motorsports Park. Future venues include the Circuit of the Americas road course on Saturday, April 25 and a non-INDYCAR “Dream” track Saturday, May 2.
• Four new drivers will join the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge in the Firestone 175: two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (INDYCAR Provisional), three-time Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Helio Castroneves (INDYCAR Provisional), 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) and Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing.).
• Fourteen Indy car races have been conducted at Twin Ring Motegi from 1998-2011. Adrian Fernandez won the first, on March 28, 1998, while Scott Dixon won the most recent, on Sept. 18, 2011. Danica Patrick made history at the circuit April 20, 2008, becoming the only female driver to win an INDYCAR race.
• Ten drivers in the field for the Firestone 175 on Saturday also competed in the last INDYCAR event at Twin Ring Motegi on Sept. 18, 2011: Scott Dixon (winner), Will Power
Castroneves, Sato, Kyle Busch Join Motegi Field
Helio Castroneves, Takuma Sato, and Kyle Busch join the field for Indycar’s iRace at Twin Ring Motegi this Saturday. The 33 car field also will have Indycar rookie Rinus VeeKay in car 21. Ed Carpenter will be in car 50 as Ed Carpenter Racing enters three cars.
The entry list:
Missing from this week’s field MMMMMJ
James Dai
James Davidson and Dale Earhardt, Jr. will not participate this week.
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Radio Days- Listening to the 1960 Indianapolis 500
Photo: (left) Rodger Ward leads Jim Rathmann late in the 1960 Indianapolis 500; (right) Rathmann took the lead for good on lap 197 and won by 13 seconds.
Editor’s note: I learned Sunday afternoon of the death of Pat Kennedy, who has authored several trivia books about the Indianapolis 500. I have all of them and use them constantly for quick reference. My condolences to his family. For more about Pat, please read George Phillips’s post on Oilpressure from yesterday at https://oilpressure.com/2020/04/13/a-major-loss-to-the-indycar-community/
The interminable days of quarantine afforded me the time to listen to a complete radio broadcast of one of my favorite 500s, the 1960 race. I listened to the race at home that year. It was a great race. This story is more about the broadcast than the race. Several things stood out to me about the radio call in 1960. It was quite a contrast to today’s radio broadcast. I’m not saying one was better than the other, but the evolution of the radio network is very clear.
1960 was the eighth year of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. It was still growing. Lead announcer Sid Collins welcomed a new station from Minneapolis to the network, for example. I had listened to the broadcast of the 1953 race, the first year of the network. The earlier broadcast had some rough spots, many of which had been smoothed out by 1960. There were still a few glitches in communication between the broadcast booth and pit reporters.
As the speeds of the cars increased, the coverage had to change. Today the radio call is rapid fire coverage of non stop track action. In 1960, the broadcast coverage of the race was rather leisurely. They knew they had a three and a half hour race to cover and that there would be many lulls in the action. Pit stops only happened every 40-50 laps. Not every one came in at one time.
The pace of the race allowed for time to talk to celebrities and guests. Stopping in to chat with Collins and his color commentator Freddie Agabashian this day were Indiana governor Harold Handley, Guy Lombardo, David Crosby, and former winners Johnnie Parsons and Bill Holland. Parsons spoke first, the Holland followed. Holland referred to the 1950 race by joking, “Ten years later and I’m still following Parsons.”
The five reporters stationed around the track- one in each turn and one in the middle of the backstretch gave somewhat laconic reports and descriptions of the action. “Eddie Russo spun and hit the wall. Back to you, Sid.” The team employed the same relay system in use today in which one corner reporter calls for the person at the next station to continue the action. The two pit reporters had a lot of ground to cover during stops. Sometimes it sounded as if Collins had a better view of the pit action than the pit reporters did.
The broadcast as presented on Indycar Radio cut most of the commercials. They left a couple Stark & Wetzel spots in. I always enjoyed the whistle in those commercials. While the ads ran you could still hear the cars on track in the background. I always loved that.
Speaking of commercialization, I didn’t hear a lot of brands mentioned except for Firestone tires and Champion spark plugs. Not every thing during the race had a sponsor. It was refreshing. The car names were mentioned when the starting lineup was presented, but after that the announced interval standings included just the car number and driver’s name.
One difference from the 1953 broadcast I noticed was how Collins referred to the drivers. In 1953 he called them “lads.” In 1960 they were “boys.” I guess they had grown up in seven years. The safety crews and mechanics, however, were “men.”
As the race got closer to the finish, the broadcasters paid more attention to it. A great three way battle for the lead began around lap 145 between Rodger Ward, Jim Rathmann, and Johnny Thompson. Thompson would drop out of the race about 30 laps later, setting the stage for Ward and Rathmann to conduct their classic duel. Collins and Agabashian were excited that this race might be the closest in history. In 1960 the closest finish to date was Wilbur Shaw beating Ralph Hepburn by 2.16 seconds in 1937. The record would stay in tact a while longer.
A couple of interviews with drivers who dropped out of the race made me sad since I knew what the future held. Eddie Sachs- it was great to hear his voice again- proclaimed that he would definitely win next year. He was almost right. Tony Bettenhausen, the great driver with an awful record at IMS said he would be back for his 15th race in 1961. He was killed in a practice accident the day before Pole Day while testing Paul Russo’s car.
I recommend you go to Indycar radio and find an old race broadcast to listen to. I plan to listen to another one in the mid 1960s or early 1970s. I will not listen to the 1964 race. I still have nightmares about that one.
Sir Stirling Moss- F1’s Uncrowned Champion
It was a life full of irony. Stirling Moss could have won the F1 World Championship seven consecutive years. Circumstances got in the way. He had to compete against Fangio. His sense of sportsmanship cost him a title. Miscommunication with the pits cost him another. Today is a sad day with his passing. On the other hand, for a driver of that dangerous racing era to live to 90 years is amazing. Moss was one of my first racing heroes. Like Dan Gurney, he excelled in several forms of motorsport. Moss survived broken legs, an accident that put him in a coma for a month, and a fall down an elevator shaft at his home a few years ago. Only A. J. Foyt has survived more perils.
Moss had the unfortunate luck of driving at the same time as Juan Manuel Fangio, the five time world champion. Yet, one could argue that Moss was the most consistent driver over a seven year period. He finished second in the Formula 1 standings four straight years from 1955 through 1958. From 1959 through 1961 he finished third. Still today Moss is considered the greatest driver to never win the World Championship.
1955 may have been Moss’s best year. He won his first F1 race at the British Grand Prix at Aintree in a Mercedes. He also won the Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia, two grueling road races. His prowess in endurance racing was unparalleled at the time. He had already earned a runner-up spot at Le Mans and won the 1954 Sebring 12 Hour race, the first non American to do so.
Moss will always be remembered for his sense of sportsmanship. In 1958 Moss lost the F1 title, by a point after convincing the stewards to reverse a penalty against Mike Hawthorne in the Portugese Grand Prix. The points restored to Hawthorn turned out to be enough to give Hawthorn the crown.
I find it difficult to say goodbye to one of my early racing heroes, but there are still many legends left. We still have Mario Andretti, A. J. Foyt, the Unsers, and Johnny Rutherford with us. Moss and Bill Vukovich were my first two heroes who were driving after I was born.
I will close with one of my favorite photos of Moss at the wheel.
An Homage to Past Races at Michigan
Some random thoughts on today’s iRace
Today’s iRace at Michigan International Speedway had many elements of the actual Indycar races that were staged there through 2007. The first lap accident was reminiscent of the start of the U. S. 500 in 1996. The eight lead swaps between Sage Karam and Will Power made it looks as if the cars had the Handford Device added to them. In the end, the race came down to fuel strategy.
Of the nine podium spots in the three races so far, five of them have gone to series non-regulars who have never started a real Indycar race.
This was Will Power’s worst finish in the three races. He would be having a championship type start to his season if these races counted.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s third place was a bit of a shock. he had never raced an Indycar in sim racing before.
Simon Pagenaud’s win from his 22nd starting spot was the mirror image of his win in the Indianapolis 500 last May. He was in full attack mode then. Today he played the waiting game.
Another realistic element today was the Team Penske 1-2 finish. Power gave the team three of the top four spots. Penske cars have won two of the three races to date. Sim imitates life.
The site of next week’s race is yet to be determined.
The box score:
Spotter’s Guide for Michigan iRace
Race is 2:30 pm ET tomorrow on NBCSN
New Names on Michigan iRace Entry List
Four drivers make their first appearance in the Indycar iRacing Challenge Series at Saturday’s race at Michigan International Speedway. Series regulars Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti, part timer James Davison, and former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. join the 31 car field for the third race in the six race series. The race will be on NBCSN at 2:30 pm ET tomorrow.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 