All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

It is if you're an Andretti behind the wheel. If you had told me Alonso and RHR would blow up but an Andretti Autosport Honda would still win, I'd have thought it was finally Marco.

Had a great day today on the Turn 2 mounds at my first Indy 500 as a fan. We didn't see the Dixon crash directly but one of his tires ended up in front of us, and that gets your attention now because the tethers usually do a helluva job. The replays shook up everybody, of course, and I wish my 11-year-old hadn't seen that in her first race.

Crowd was roaring for Helio in those closing laps. Didn't think Sato had it in him, figured he'd put a wheel wrong somewhere and even if it was just a hair, Castroneves would have pounced. But give him credit, he was perfect. But too bad for IndyCar, getting another four-time Indy winner would have been a nice boost. Sato won't move the needle much over here. And IndyCar doesn't race at Motegi any more.

The overhead shots showed a few more empty patches in the grandstands than I would have expected. But IMS folks said all along that this year's sales were ahead of 2010-15, realizing that last year was an anomaly, and I'll agree that this crowd was definitely better.

 

I had thought more of Jenna until this month. There was that outrageous Alonso column, and this is a cheap tweet that should be below the AP's national motorsports writer. But I get it, Twitter's just a comedy contest to some scribes. Har-de-har.