Tag: ABC/ESPN

500 Qualification Recap- The Iceman Speedeth

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First, a word about Saturday. Incidents like Sebastien Bourdais had and the ensuing dread that accompanies it5 are the price we fans pay for loving racing so much. These things will will happen occasionally. I am glad they happen with much less frequency than they used to.That does not make these things any easier. That was one of the five worst crashes I have witnessed in person at the Speedway.  It was a relief to hear today that Bourdais is improving and should recover from his injuries.

Thanks to Tony George for the SAFER Barrier and the Holmatro Safety team for their outstanding work.  Two drivers’ lives have been saved by them over the last three seasons.

Now, for today. It was wonderful to see speed return to IMS.  The fastest qualifying laps and average  in 21 years gave Scott Dixon the pole for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500. It is Dixon’s third pole and second in three years.  Ed Carpenter will start second, his third front row in five years.  Alexander Rossi, the defending champion, starts third.  This is a very strong front row.

Honda dominated the Fast Nine with six entries. The Chevrolets in the final, shootout will start second, sixth ( J. R. Hildebrand), and ninth (Will Power).

Overall, not a great qualifying day for Team Penske. After Power in ninth, the next fastest qualifier was Juan Pablo Montoya, who will start eighteenth. Do not dismiss them for the race, however. They will make their presence known.

Dixon’s first lap of 232.595 was the fastest single lap since 1996, and his four lap average of 232.164 also was the best since Arie Luyendyk set the record.

Other notable efforts today-

Fernando Alonso will start fifth in his first 500. His crew had to change the engine in the 29 car after the morning practice. The crew should also get a mention for quickness as it just slightly more than an hour to make the switch.

Rookie Ed Jones will start eleventh.  He had to be thinking of his teammate Bourdais on today’s run, but handled it like a veteran.

Buddy Lazier turned his fastest laps of the week and will start thirtieth.

Notes:

James Davison will replace Bourdais in car 18. That car did not appear today and will start last. There are rules in place that cover this situation.

I saw genuine excitement and heard more cheering today from the fans than I have in a long time on a qualifying day. The high speeds really had people enthused. I hope the series finds a way to increase speed safely.

I plan to post every day through Friday this week.  It’s finally Race Week!

Qualifying Preview- A Toss-Up; Lots of Questions After a Weird Week of Practice

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I have never seen a practice week where no one driver stood out consistently. As a team, Andretti was probably the strongest overall.  Today, with the qualifying boost,  Only one Chevy, Juan Pablo Montoya, was in the top 10.

So, who will win the pole? I have no idea. The last row is easier to predict than the front row. It appears both Chevy and Honda were both holding back a bit this week.  I can’t believe the Penske cars are as slow as they were today.  I’m not sure the Coyne cars will replicate today’s speeds.  Sebastien Bourdais was fastest today  with a tow and Ryan Hunter-Reay fastest without one.  A pole for Bourdais gets him back in the points chase.It would help Hunter-Reay make up some ground from his DNFs .

Ganassi cars have been very quiet. They seemed to be very excited about getting the race started, but haven’t really been to the front much.

Schmidt_Peterson Motorsports seems to be coming together. Both James Hinchcliffe and Mikhail Aleshin had good runs today, as did Jay Harvey, who led Thursday’s practice.

This weekend will be very intriguing. Who was sandbagging? Who showed all they had? Has Honda solved the engine issue that has bitten several teams, including at least one in the Grand Prix last weekend?

We will have all the answers by Sunday evening. Next week I will have several posts, including my mostly inaccurate race predictions.

Notes:

Jim McElreath, 1962 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, died Thursday at the age of 89. McElreath was a popular driver, started 15 times in the 500, with a best finish of third in1966. He had six top 10 finishes. His last 500 was in 1980.

Spencer Pigot and Zach Veach were unhurt in crashes late this afternoon. their crews have a lot of work to do to be ready for tomorrow. Pigot may have to go to a spare tub.

Power Surge in Indy Grand Prix; Dixon and Castroneves Tired Out

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At last, we had a race that wasn’t a fuel saving race. It was a tire saving race. Will Power won after using up his first set of rubber earlier than he anticipated, then adjusted his pace to make the tires last last an entire stint. Helio Castroneves tried saving his primary set until the end of the race, but could not keep with those on reds and lost three spots at the end. Scott Dixon put on a late charge, cutting Power’s lead in half before his tires were used up. he most likely didn’t have anything for Power in any case.

While the leader, whether it was Power or Castroneves, jumped into large leads, the action behind them was furious. Graham Rahal moved up from starting twentieth to a sixth place finish. Improving fourteen spots without the benefit of a caution is a tremendous drive. Spencer Pigot seemed to pass everyone in the field except the leaders. His ninth place finish was a season high. He had the same type of run going at St. Pete until his brakes exploded. Alexander Rossi passed several cars at the start. He had great runs early in a stint, but faded at the end of each pit rotation.

It was another bad day for Sebastien Bourdais. The St. Pete winner suffered engine failure on the third lap. Bourdais has completed just three total laps in the last two races. He has gone from leading the points to seventh. Charlie Kimball appeared to suffer a similar fate a few laps later.

Marco Andretti”s tough season continues. After a drive through penalty for unavoidable contact with Tony Kanaan on lap one, he spent the race a lap down to the leader.  The good news for the  Andretti team is all four cars were running at the finish, including a third for Ryan Hunter-Reay. Rossi finished eight and Takuma Sato twelfth.

Overall, I thought it was one of  the better races so far this year in this year of not really great racing overall.  There was lots of passing and strategy to hold my interest.  Not sure we should panic yet, but we are getting close to 2008 levels of dull racing.

This race has only had two winners in its four years and has been won from the pole the last three years.

Notes:

The attendance looked to be around 35-40, 000, probably about what this event can draw consistently.  Last year the weather held the crowd down a lot. Unless it’s the 500, it is impossible to make the Speedway look full.

One improvement I’d like to see during qualifying for the Grand Prix:

During Round 1 Group 1 the top of the pylon showed time remaining in the session. for all groups after that, it showed the top speed of the leader. I would prefer to see time remaining for all groups, especially the Firestone Fast 6. The session leader’s speed can be shown at the end of the session. Time remaining wasn’t even displayed on the video boards.

The Points:

I think we are in for a great points battle this year. Pagenaud leads Dixon by just ten, and Scott has not won a race yet. Power won his first of the season Saturday. He rarely wins just one. Power is fifth, just 46 points behind. With all the points available for the next two weeks, the standings should look quite different on May 29.  I still think Power can win the title, but his teammate Josef Newgarden could be a dark horse.

There’s Another Race this Month:

Now begins my favorite fortnight of the year, the lead-up to the Indianapolis 500.I’m fortunate that i can go to the track each practice day. I love the daily ebb and flow of cars that are great one day and awful the next. Qualifying weekend si still exciting, even though I find this new format dreadful on many levels. I understand much of it is dictated by economics, but surely there  has to be a better way to do this.

This Honda’s time to shine. Last year they had the superior speedway package and I expect them to again. I know Ganassi drivers can’t wait for practice to begin. We shall see.

I am planning two more posts this week, one on an Indycar newbie’s 2-seaqter ride, and I hope one on a former winner from the 30″s. Before you ask, it was not a race I saw. I will also have a qualifying preview Friday evening and a wrap up next Monday.  Have a great week. i hope to see you at the track.

Preview- Grand Prix of Indianapolis Will Penske Dominate Again?

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At last, the Speedway opens for the month of May. Practice for the Indianapolis Grand Prix begins today, when Indycar takes the track at 9:15 this morning.  The race is tomorrow on ABC, beginning at 3:30 pm ET.

The first three editions of the this race have seen Simon Pagenaud win twice, including last year. Will Power won the second year. Pagenaud comes into the event as the points leader, just as he did last year. The difference is he has only won once this year. In 2016, this was third consecutive win.  The points battle is tighter this season so far.

There have been four winners in four races this year, the last two races won by Penske drivers. We may not have a fifth different winner after this race, nor a different team winning.  Pagenaud has excelled on this track , and I expect him to do so again. If he falters, look for Power to get his first trip to Victory Circle this weekend.

This will be another Chevy at the front show, though Honda is  eagerly awaiting the start of 500 practice next Monday. Honda will be happy with a top five on Saturday.

As far as this weekend’s attendance, I have no idea. The last two years have seen the crowd shrink from year one, which was between 55 and 60 thousand. In 2015, rain was predicted for the race, but the race was dry. The weather in 2016 was even colder than the 1992 500.  It will be interesting to see if the improved weather this year draws more fans. In any case, there is Indycar racing at IMS this weekend, and then the best two weeks of the year begin.

News and Notes:

Sebastian Saavedra was confirmed as driver for the second Juncos car. He will drive car 17, sponsored by AFS.

Several teams have revealed their liveries for the 500 the last few days. This will be one of the best looking fields in recent memory.  Several cars have a retro look with hints of cars from the past. I’m excited to see the entire field together.

Back with a race recap Sunday and a preview of what I hope to bring you during practice week.

 

 

 

Honoring A Legend- The A. J. Foyt Exhibition at the IMS Museum

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First, a bit of news: Spencer Pigot has been confirmed as a driver for Juncos Racing in the Indianapolis 500. he will drive car no. 11, with sponsorship from Oceanfront Recovery, an organization involved in helping people overcome issues with opioids. This will be Pigot’s second 500. he drove last year for Rahal letterman Lanigan. Sebastian Saavedra has been announced as the driver of the second Juncos car.  These two cars and the entry from Lazier Racing brings the car count to 33.  I don’t believe this to be fully firm at this point.

 

The Speedway legends I grew up with are all in or nearing their 80’s.  They race during what I consider the Golden Age of Indycar racing.  Foyt,  Andretti, Jones, the Unser brothers, and Gurney would race almost anything on almost any kind of track- pavement, dirt, oval, road course. When the checkered flag waved, it was highly likely that A. J. Foyt was the first to see it.

Full disclosure- I was a crazy Foyt fan back then. Yes, I appreciated the skills and talents of the other drivers, but Foyt was my man. Thanks to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, I had a chance to see his entire career on display.

Virtually every car he drove, including the four he drove to his 500 wins, is on display.  One car I didn’t see was the car he and Dan Gurney drove to victory in LeMans in 1967.  I  was really looking forward to seeing that one. It did not take away from my enjoyment of the exhibit, however. Several of the cars I had completely forgotten about, like the Scarab MK IV from 1964. A. J. won 3 races in 1964 driving for Lance Reventlow.

One poignant entry was the 1981 Coyote, the last coyote chassis Foyt produced.

The cars and their histories are displayed clearly. It would take a while to read every word. I have all summer. The display is at the Museum until October. Even more intriguing than the the cars was all the memorabilia and photos. People apparently donated things from their private collections for the show. Make sure to walk to the display room in the back.  The most fascinating item to me was a set of micro-miniatures cars, replicas of many Foyt’s Indy 500 cars, labeled by year. The photo collection the walls, including a couple of murals take you back in history.

I plan to return to see the exhibit in more depth later this year.  I will close with some photos, including a mural of A. J. on dirt.foytexhibit 025

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This is the car Foyt drove to the first of his 67 wins in Indycar. The Scarab is the blue car in the background.
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The car A. J. Foyt drove at Indianapolis his rookie year, 1958
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Midget racer from the early 1960’s.

The Greatest 33 Non-Winners: Final Grid

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What a fun project this turned out to be! It was fascinating seeing how much those who submitted grids both agreed and disagreed. Some drivers got just one mention, while others appeared on every ballot.  There was near unanimous placement for some drivers, and some drivers were near the front on some grids and near the back on others. The driver nearly everyone agreed should be on the pole is Michael Andretti (pictured above, from 1992).

I  noticed the rankings were along age lines. Older fans close to my age seemed to have near identical grids,  and younger fans as a group submitted similar lineups.  Many drivers from long ago in general fared better on the lists from the older group. I was surprised how well the current drivers stacked up against the racers of the past. Another interesting detail is that all 50 driver finalists had at least one mention. I didn’t expect that.

To rank the drivers, I assigned points to the drivers corresponding to their spot on each person’s grid. A driver on pole got 1 point, the last driver got 33. If a driver was listed on pole on five grids, his total was 5. The lowest total won the pole. If a driver did not appear on someone’s grid, he/she was given 34 points. To my shock, there were only two ties. I resolved placement by averaged each driver’s highest and lowest rank of all the grades, with the lowest average getting the higher spot. One of the ties was for 32nd and 33rd. It was just like qualifying for the 1963 500.

The front row- Michael Andretti, Rex Mays, and Ted Horn, is strong. These drivers were in the top 10 on everyone’s grid. Andretti led 431 laps, the most by any non-winning driver. he started on the front row three times and had 5 top 5 finishes.  Rex Mays, in the middle of the front row is the only other driver to lead more than 200 laps and not win. Mays was on the pole four times. Ted Horn, on the outside of the front row, finished in the top five 9 times in 10 starts.

So here they are, the Greatest 33 Non-Winners of the Indianapolis 500:

Row 1

Michael Andretti

Rex Mays

Ted Horn

Row 2

Harry Hartz

Marco Andretti

Lloyd Ruby

Row 3

Gary Bettenhausen

Ralph Hepburn

Roberto Guerrero

Row 4

Scott Goodyear

Carlos Munoz

Robby Gordon

Row 5

Eddie Sachs

Tony Stewart

Jack McGrath

Row 6

Wally Dallenbach

Tomas Sheckter

Will Power

Row 7

Danica Patrick

Tony Bettenhausen

Joe Leonard

Row 8

Jimmy Snyder

Ed Carpenter

Danny Ongais

Row 9

Pancho Carter

Mel Kenyon

Kevin Cogan

Row 10

Vitor Meira

Russ Snowberger

Paul Russo

Row 11

Tom Alley

Johnny Thomson

George Snider

it’s kind of fitting that Snider is last on the grid. his trademark was jumping into a car on Bump Day and getting into the field starting near the back. Thanks to everyone who submitted a grid. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and reasoning as to how yo put your grids together.

I will be back tomorrow with some 500 news and a report on my visit to the A. J. Foyt exhibit at the Speedway Museum. The cars were great to see, but the memorabilia was even more amazing to me. Thursday I will have my Indianapolis Grand Prix preview with my normally inaccurate winner’s prediction.

 

 

 

 

 

Alonso Hits the Speedway; My Greatest 33 Non-Winners

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Any doubt that people were excited that Fernando Alonso will be in this year’s Indianapolis 500 were obliterated yesterday. More than 2 million views on social media and a rather large crowd in person erased any questions of how big this is.

I arrived at the track around 9:30. The Museum lot was close to full. The viewing mounds likewise had a lot of people already there, many of whom appeared to be settled in for the entire day.  A cheer when up when the #29 first came by, but Marco Andretti was actually in the car then on a shake down run.

Alonso began his rookie test runs a few minutes later. He was tentative at first, lifting in turn 2 and staying well above the line. As the session went on, you could see him gaining confidence. Eventually his line got closer to the white line, and he stopped lifting. His top speed was reported at 222.548, although this morning his official top speed was reported as a high 221. He looked very comfortable in the car. The next test is how will Alonso do with other cars on the track?

Fans on the mounds constantly checked the live streams and were amazed at the number of viewers watching.

It was great day at the Speedway, as always. We may be at the dawn of a new era in crossover drivers.  Having a current F1 driver and former world champion drive in the 500 is  a huge step for the race.  We must remember that Stefan Wilson sacrificed a lot to make this happen. I hope Indycar follows through with their guarantees to him.  They owe him a lot more than they promised.

My 33 Greatest Non-Winners

Thanks to all of you who sent in your grids. I’ve enjoyed reading how you put them together. Before I present the final grid, here is mine.  I used a combination of statistics and how I feel about certain drivers, many of whom I have watched race. No, I did not see Ralph Mulford race. The first two rows were easy to fill. After that, things got tricky, especially toward the end. Why is Driver A 22nd and Driver B 23rd? I could argue that their positions could be reversed. I tended to give preference to drivers from the past over current drivers. My thinking is that current drivers stats will change, and some of them could still win.

So here is how I would line them up:

Row 1

Michael Andretti

Rex Mays

Ted Horn

Row 2

Harry Hartz

Jack McGrath

Marco Andretti

Row 3

Eddie Sachs

Will Power

Tomas Sheckter

Row 4

Wally Dallenbach

Lloyd Ruby

Gary Bettenhausen

Row 5

Joe Leonard

Danny Ongais

Robby Gordon

Row 6

Roberto Guerrero

Ralph Hepburn

Carlos Munoz

Row 7

Ed Carpenter

Scott Goodyear

Danica Patrick

Row 8

Steve Krisiloff

Teo Fabi

Russ Snowberger

Row 9

Paul Russo

Tony Stewart

Tony Bettenhausen

Row 10

Jimmy Snyder

Kevin Cogan

Raul Boesel

Row 11

Duke Nalon

Dan Gurney

Vitor Meira

 

 

Phoenix Recap, Good, Bad, Really Ugly

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The second edition of the Desert Diamond West Phoenix Grand Prix was not an improvement over last year’s single file parade. Once the race settled in, it very much resembled last year’s event.  The evening got off to an inauspicious start when Mikhail Aleshin spun just after the green flag. He slid up the track and pinned points leader Sebastien Bourdais to the wall. Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, and Max Chilton also were victims.  Ryan Hunter-Reay had  minor damage and was able to continue for the time being.

The smoke and spinning cars gave me a Vegas flashback for a second. Fortunately, everyone was okay. The cleanup took 20 laps, really long, especially on a short track. A red flag was probably appropriate. Some people mentioned tv windows as a reason they kept yellow, but the extensive length of the post race tells me a red flag would not have been a problem.

I thought the start should have been waved off. No one was lined up and Helio Castroneves got a huge jump, as he usually does. That may have prevented the incident.

Pit stops determined the final result of the race. Castroneves, Will Power, and J R Hildebrand had just come in for their routine stop when Takuma Sato hit the wall.  Simon Pagenaud was scheduled to pit the next lap. This gave Pagenaud the lead and put virtually the entire field a lap behind. He cruised to the win from there. The only drama left was whether Hildebrand could catch Power for second.

Indycar made a huge mistake keeping the same package as last year for Phoenix. It didn’t work at all last year. Why did they think it would this year with the aero kits frozen?  I hope next year’s new car style will help improve this race. It needs to be on the schedule. From the looks of the crowd, it appeared to show no improvement from last year.

I really like Will Power’s suggestion of lower downforce and the speedway wings on the cars for this track.  I hope someone is listening to him.

If they use the same package for Gateway, I am concerned we will get basically the same race we saw last night.   RANT OVER

Positives from last night:

Pagenaud won for the first time on an oval and took the points lead from Bourdais. He had the lead heading to Indianapolis last year as well. The next race, The Grand Prix of Indianapolis, he practically owns. He has won two of the three GPs with two different teams.

J. R. Hildebrand made a nice recovery from a broken hand to finish third.  It was his second top three finish in Indycar.

A J Foyt Racing made some positive  steps forward last night. Carlos Munoz finished tenth. Conor Daly was in position for a good result until gearbox issues dropped him to fourteenth, 70 laps down.

Some Not So Pleasant Items:

Joe Leonard, former AMA motorcycle champion and two time Indycar champion, died last Thursday, at 84.

Phoenix Preview- More Chevy Strength, Power Looks for Turn Around. Last Call for Greatest 33 Non Winner Grids

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Indycar returns to one of the classic tracks, Phoenix International Raceway, this weekend. Last year’s return to Phoenix race was a joyous event to old diehard fans like me.  It was a thrill to finally get an opportunity to attend a race there in person.

The race itself was not great. The leader struggled to get past the last place car.  Ryan Hunter-Reay was able to pass a lot of cars on restarts, but up front it was a matter of wait until something happens to the leader. I hope Indycar figured out a solution to this issue during the test at Phoenix earlier this year.

Two things I think we’ll see are a change in the championship lead, and Will Power finally having a successful outing.  Power has been in position to win two of the first three races and would have won both of those going away, but an engine issue at St. Pete and a cut tire at Barber dashed his victory hopes.

This is another high downforce track, which favors Chevy. I think Power will win this season and start his march toward the season title. Look for Scott Dixon to take the points lead from Sebastien Bourdais as well.  I don’t think Bourdais is going to fade away, though. He had a better than expected run at Barber, and if he can get another top eight result, he will be in the mix for a while. He should be strong at the Indy GP, and has improved in the 500.

My pick to win is Power this week, with the other Penske cars populating the top six.

The Greatest 33 Now-Winners: Last Call for Grids

Please submit your grids by Tuesday.  I will be traveling Monday and Tuesday and will start tallying results after I get back to Indy. Thanks to all who have submitted grids so far. The top five have been remarkably consistent. After that, i’s a free for all.

It’s Almost May!

May begins Monday, and I’m planning a very busy month of posting here. I have some exciting story ideas including a feature on a former 500 winner from the 30’s.  I would love to hear any ideas you might have for a story.  I’ll do my best to get it done. I hope to see some of you Wednesday at Fernando Alonso’s test at IMS.