|
By
now most of you have read all the stories, heard all the
commentary and seen the footage of the Toyota Indy 300. We’ve
seen Wheldon win the race driving away, the exciting 3-wide dash
to decide the 2nd place finisher and not only seen
countless images of the big wreck, but heard inflammatory,
premature and sometimes inaccurate statements from most
involved, including the broadcasters. Unfortunately, things that
we hear first make the most impression on us, and when they are
spoken in haste, and inaccurately, they cause us to draw the
wrong conclusions. While I could do an immediate post-race
report, it would be lost in the rush to report of all the
time-challenged offerings. What I would rather do is leave that
option to others and take the long-look, view all the footage
available using the best VCR equipment I could find and now TiVo
as well. This is time consuming, so I will post a Detailed Race
Review as soon after every event as I can gather all the
information this season. Since I can’t always attend the race,
this is my way of offering something different for those
visiting this site.
Sunday ESPN came out firing with both barrels, offering
innovative coverage on the main network in using a split-screen,
“Side By Side” format for commercials. In that way the
racing is continuously shown; while the sponsor’s message is
displayed in a second/larger window. In fact that is how we
first saw the “big crash” play out before they canned the
commercial and returned to the full-screen view. In addition,
ESPN2 presented coverage that featured images from 7 in-car
cameras, shots that also offered supporting footage of the
carnage on lap 158. You have to hand it to both the ABC family
of networks and the IndyCar series for teaming up to kick off
the season in almost
the best way possible. Why do I say almost? Because as often
happens, when the opportunity to present the excitement that is
IndyCar racing on a NextCup off-weekend rarely occurs, it seems
that the IndyCar race is a cable only event. There are very few
weekends during the season when NextCup doesn’t race, not only
should IndyCar have a race that weekend, but it should arrange
for it to be shown over-the-air as well. I surfed the ABC
offering Sunday afternoon, and found the NBA. The league has
venues on both coasts, by carefully selecting starting times,
choices could have been made that could have allowed both sports
to be over-the-air on the same day. ABC has a stake in
furthering the IndyCar message to the largest audience possible
as well as the series, they should do their part.
Alright, I’m off my soapbox and ready to take a look at the
racing, but amidst the usual and obligatory crash footage that
precedes every event televised; there were two telling snippets,
one on the struggles of Team Penske in 2004, when they were at a
horsepower disadvantage to Honda, and also a feature on Danica
Patrick by Jamie Little that danced around the subject of
Danica’s provocative glamour shots. In the MTP piece, Sam
Hornish admitted that the team had to look for other ways to
compensate for being down on power. Roughly translated, Sam said
this about the “distinct Honda horsepower advantage”
mentioned in the interview by Vince Welch. “We knew we were
always fighting an uphill battle. Not only did we have to have
the car handle a little better, but we always had to drive a
little better, we had to drive it ten-tenths all the time. I
think that’s what got us in trouble a couple of times, or at
least got me in trouble.” Sam was referring to the spins and
crashes the team was involved in last season, some of them
single-car related, something you wouldn’t expect from either
driver or the team. This echo’s what Scott Dixon and others
from TCGR have said in the past about their crash related
troubles last season, where the teams had to sacrifice downforce
and the resulting drag just to keep pace with the Honda cars.
As for the Danica feature by Jamie Little, first this reminder
from Little, “you have never run in a traffic situation like
this, what is your strategy?” “Yea, thanks for reminding
me” said Danica with a smile and chuckle, “I’m just going
to take what I did in practice sessions, they do a lot of
running together in practice sessions and I’m going to stick
to what I learned from that, it’s only been a few sessions
worth, but I think it is enough to get me through this first
race, and I think I’ll learn a ton more today.” Jamie went
on to mention “the controversy about the way Danica has been
marketed. “How do you balance your sexuality with being a
serious race car driver” she asked? Danica mentioned “two
sides of being a race car driver, and what they have to offer to
the sponsors in ways to get their message across,” but not
flinching she said “what the bottom line is that it allows me
to race cars, which is what I’m here to do today.” Danica is
petite, smart and tough; she is a serious racer, not a
“token” female driver. In Danica we have finally found a
woman with the talent and drive to win. One more thing, Jamie
Little isn’t just a pretty face either, she has a motocross
background, understands racing and works hard at her job. Jamie
had a Media Room position close to me at the PIR test, and she
was working as hard as anyone.
(The
Start) In
spite of dominating “Q” runs, Tomas Scheckter was unable to
lead the first lap, first moving to the front before Vitor Meira
drafted passed him before the cars got through turn 3.
Scheckter, on the bottom of the track; quickly moved back under
Vitor, but couldn’t hold the position, Meira led lap one…
The next time it was Tomas in front again, and would hold that
position for 13 laps. On lap two, the ROCKSTAR Dallara of
Scheckter’s teammate Tomas Enge headed for pit road with the
same gearbox troubles that hampered him in the final practice
session… By lap 8 we began to see the Team Penske cars move
towards the front, they would be in the picture the remainder of
the race, clearly far better than all the other teams with
Toyota
engines. Even though you can do some things with handling
and aero adjustments, MTP is an “approved” engine builder
for the
Toyota
engine, and
clearly they have found power that TRD can’t provide to the
other
Toyota
teams.
(Franchitti
blows up a Honda, bid time) Caution
on lap 13, Dario Franchitti, trailing a rooster tail of smoke
moves to the bottom of the track done for the day. There is no
question that Honda hasn’t rested because of their horsepower
dominated 2004 results. While I have no doubt that both
Toyota
and Chevy
have new-found power, they have been unable to do anything
except perhaps narrow the gap, as Honda has made some gains as
well. It might take a while, but the time will come that all
engine manufacturers in the series will progress as far as
possible within fairly restrictive rules and produce close to
equal power. Honda will probably be the first to arrive at that
point though, and it might not be long in coming. No engine
manufacturer or builder can learn the limits of an engines
potential on the track without blowing a few up, and we have
seen examples of that from all three already this season. I have
been told that one of the reasons Honda has so much power stems
from a compression ratio of better than 20-1. That kind of
compression has it’s own set of issues, the strength required
of the “bottom end” parts and pieces, and the and the head
gasket sealing, Franchitti’s blow-up and the billowing, almost
white smoke looks like “water” issue to me from the TV
screen. I saw no oil on the track and the clean-up time was
minimal. The problem appeared to come from the “right bank”
of the engine.
(Wheldon
moves to the lead) On
lap 15, during the caution flag pit stops, Dan Wheldon, who
started 11th, chose not to pit, along with AGR
teammate Bryan Herta, Alex Barron and Paul Dana as well. That
put Herta in the lead. Scheckter came into the pits first,
exited 8th. On the restart Scheckter went way below
the white line to pass the slow car of Enge as Gil de Ferran in
the booth warned “watch out for Paul Dana,” the untested
rookie. All Dana had to do was hold his line, and he did that
well. Scheckter realized his mistake and slowed to let cars back
past him and avoided a penalty from IndyCar officials. While
everyone in the booth was distracted by the Scheckter move and
it’s possible consequences, at the start of lap 21 Wheldon
passed Herta for the lead. I
also noted that Kosuke Matsuura made a high-side pass on the
restart and by the time he cleared traffic, was in 3rd
position, perhaps planting the seeds of the impending disaster
in his mind. The problem with that way of thinking is that what
worked early in the race, when the track was fresh and clean,
wouldn’t work later after 150 laps of racing. AGR often
splits pit stop strategy between the four drivers, they took a
chance by keeping Wheldon and Herta on the track, but with four
entries, you can do that. They cover all the bases and give the
other teams something to worry about and have to counter.
(The
caution period that may have saved the day for Dan Wheldon) On lap 33, after some intense and amazing side by side
racing involving Scheckter and the Penske cars, the debris
caution came out, allowing Wheldon and others to get a pit stop
in that they avoided earlier in under caution. Had the green
flag stayed out for more than 50 laps, Wheldon may have been
forced to pit under green and be in catch-up mode for the rest
of the race, or more importantly be behind “the big one”
with Herta. Clearly there was a piece off one of the cars on the
track; it turned out to be the mirror off the Castroneves car.
Again this time, several cars remained on the track, but of
course not Wheldon and all the others that stayed out the first
time, other than Dana. When Wheldon pitted, perhaps with the
need to put more fuel in the car, cost the team valuable time
and 4 positions on the restart. Helio Castroneves, minus one
mirror came out of the pits first, followed by Tony Kanaan, Sam
Hornish and Wheldon. Patrick Carpentier stayed on the track, and
in doing so led his first IndyCar event.
(Kanaan
takes the lead) On
the restart, it only took Kanaan a half-lap to move past
Carpentier, along with Helio and Sam. But on lap 40 the two
Penske cars had to contend with Wheldon again. Dan was easily
past Hornish 3-wide as the yellow flag came out again for more
debris. This time the back markers were in, including Dana for
the first time. Kanaan leads Helio and Wheldon Helio and Sam get
a good restart and Helio leads as Hornish and Wheldon get past
TK as well. It took only three laps, but on lap 51 Wheldon drove
around first Hornish and then Castroneves for the lead Wheldon
would lead until the next caution for the single-car crash of
Ryan Briscoe. During this 12 lap segment Tomas Scheckter
calmed/settled down somewhat and fell into 4th
position, perhaps in fuel conservation mode. In 2004 the Panther
team got very poor fuel mileage, often being forced to pit a lap
or two earlier than the field.
(Briscoe
hard into the wall off four and minus the left rear wheel and
tire) This wouldn’t be the only wheel and tire to become
dislodged from the car and wheel tether system Sunday, two more
cars would lose one during “the big one.” Briscoe got loose
behind Foyt IV and just lost it.
(Wheldon
has it all to do over again) This
time it was only Helio that got past him in the pits, but Dan
lost a spot to MTP again and would have to race back around him
again, but this time it only took a trip down the backstretch to
get it done. Early horsepower won out over warm tires, but it
wasn’t as easy for Scheckter in trying to pass Hornish behind
them. The race continued on in typical intense IndyCar
side-by-side fashion until Buddy Rice started to have engine
problems, and this time it appeared to be oil related rather
than the white-smoke of Franchitti.
(Honda
loses another
engine) It
doesn’t happen often, but Honda looks to have had two engine
failures in one race. After the resulting caution flag pit
stops, this time Wheldon beat the two Penske cars out of the
pits, but no one else did. Clearly MTP, who have always been
fast on and off pit road, is beating the heck out of everyone
else this season. If they had the same amount of horsepower as
the Honda teams they would stink up the season.
(The
run to ‘the big one’) OBTW,
this is my take on Tony George and the “boring” comment.
When you have the assets and resources and opportunities he has,
and usually can command the best seat ands view of a race he
wants, the view from pit road, whether he is calling the shots
or not, isn’t very exciting. While some ex-racers would watch
from nowhere else, I have always hated it, and buy a ticket to
the race if I have to, credentials or not. Back to the “run to
the big one,” Wheldon began to demonstrate his ability to
drive off from the field as the drivers settled into what was to
be the longest green flag segment of the race that would result
in the first green flag pit stops of the season. When this
happens, the talking heads in the booth, long on memories from
the CART win-on-pit road racing from their past, start talking
of “fuel conservation” While at times, just as in NASCAR,
this can be an issue, I have found that with the exception of
the “fuelish” Chevy’s of 2004 the Toyota’s and Honda’s
appear evenly matched in this department, no matter how fast
they ran. Countless times last season they would talk of Kanaan
leading and using up fuel, only to have the MTP cars and others
pit before him. In spite of having all that power, Honda must
have a very efficient engine, because they are on a par with the
best of the
Toyota
’s on the
fuel issue. Those guys in the booth better do their homework and
review their telecasts.
(The
big one) The
teams started pitting on lap 148, (Wheldon, in spite of leading
all the laps in this segment, pitted after
‘I rest my case’ the MTP cars), and in the process,
something very hot must have fallen off one of the cars. That
started a grass fire just outside the pit entrance road, which
also happened to be part of the road course the IndyCars used in
testing. That fire caused the caution that bunched the field and
in NASCAR plate race fashion, resulted in the big crash. As
often happens, these drivers settle in for the long haul until
after there is a caution period that gives them the fuel and
tires needed for a charge to the finish. Usually that is where
all the trouble starts as well. Also usually it involves a poor
choice by one of the drivers, and this case it was Kosuke
Matsuura, here is my take on the crash and each driver’s
situation as already posted on the O/IRR Home Page.
The
cars of Scheckter, Herta and Patrick sustained heavy damage in
the big wreck on lap 158! The Fernandez Racing cars of Sharp and
Matsuura ended up connected in the infield, along with that of
Patrick and Herta. The Car of Scott Dixon ended up in the wall,
and the D&R Dallara Honda of Roger Yasukawa, who was having
a great race also remained on the track, heavily damaged. Patrick’s
car sustained the most damage though (could be a toss-up with
the Herta car); as she first made contact with the car of Ed
Carpenter and then slammed hard into the SAFER barrier. Contrary
to the opinion of Patrick's car owner Bobby Rahal, Carpenter
wasn't "parked," but was slowing after hitting the
spinning car of Kosuke Matsuura, whose poorly executed 3-wide
excursion into the dirt, dust and rubber residue above the
high-line at HMS caused the whole mess. Kosuke probably though he could duplicate his high-line pass on one of
the early restarts. At the green he was in 8th
position, directly behind Scheckter. Matsuura, trailing a
rooster tail of dust, spun across the front of both Scheckter
and Carpenter, who was below Tomas and even with him. Carpenter
was first to make contact with Matsuura, clipping him with his
right front wing and tire. That contact turned the Matsuura
Panoz back to the right and drifting up towards Scheckter.
Thomas had his hands full of "wiggles" at the time and
was going to be unable to save the car anyway when Matsuura's
right front tire made contact with his left rear, causing
Scheckter to contact the SAFER with the right rear corner of the
Dallara. The Panther Chevy was simultaneously drilled by the
oncoming car of Scott Sharp. Meanwhile, the contact with
Matsuura had damaged the right front corner of the Carpenter
car, unable to steer any longer, Carpenter slowed. Patrick could
be heard getting off the throttle as she aimed low and to the
left. She simply ran out of room and took the right side
suspension of her Panoz. The car went up-track and slammed into
the SAFER, right sidepod first. Danica exited the car dazed and
disoriented, but otherwise appeared uninjured. She was
transported to a Kendal, FL hospital and later released. Bryan
Herta and others were also involved in the crash, Herta, who had
lost time and track position moments earlier when he stalled the
car during a yellow flag pit stop, checked up for the crash and
lost control. His car was heavily damaged as well. Once the
crash scene was cleared the race went green to the finish and we
all know the result.
Vitor
Meira somehow managed to avoid the crash and finish the race in
third and part of the 3-wide last lap race for 2nd
position. In spite of the crash, it was a great race and no one
was injured. I have been critical of IndyCar and the “ABC
family” in the past on broadcast choices and policy, this
production was almost flawless. I’ll them with my comments, we
all should.
|
