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

I missed the lap with several of the winners yesterday due to the significantly-worse-than-normal traffic getting in, but that was something I *really* wanted to see. A couple of years back, they took Wilbur Shaw's Maserati -- which is probably my favorite car to have run at the place -- out for a lap in a similar exhibition. The Marmon also went around on the parade lap, which was very cool to see that get fired up and running.

 

Anyone who has not been to the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and International Sweepstakes at least once has to get there. There is nothing else like it in sports.
Yesterday, the Wasp was purring like a kitten. And Parnelli Jones driving it was a bonus.
The traditional ceremonies mixed with the centennial celebration were really amazing. I've covered more than a third of the 500s and that was the best pre-race of all. The only thing that was missing was a tape of Jim Phillippe's pre-Taps oration about Memorial Day, of soldiers and drivers lost in bringing us "the world's most spectacular spectator sport." As somebody I know said after Jim Nabors sang as the balloons went up and the Wasp went by, "Well, we can all go home now."
And yes, one does not speak during "Back Home in Indiana."
The race? An incomprehensible finish. The 500 always delivers. This one ranks with 1960, 1982 and 2006 in the pantheon of the all-time great post-WW2 races.
Oh, and up in the press center, most of us didn't know who won either. Everyone was watching Hildebrand skidding along when Wheldon, who had passed Dixon almost unnoticed on the 199th lap, went by. It was bedlam. Then it went up on scoring and timing and it was bedlam squared.

 

There's a difference, though, between the Indianapolis 500 itself and the Indy Racing League.

The Indy 500 definitely faltered from 1996-2001 when it was an IRL-only party, Chip Ganassi cars excepted in 2000-01. I covered and/or attended the early years in that stretch and it was a FAR cry from the years that preceded it.

The Indy 500 started to regain its mojo in 2002 when the CART teams came back.

And Indy has always been a great event steeped in tradition. Even the split couldn't fuck that up. You could/can have a good time at Indy without knowing squat about the drivers.

The Indy Racing League? I'm not sure it gained anything like mojo until the mid-2000s. And I know diehard IRL fans hate to hear it, but its still not at all like CART was in the 1990s.

When the new chassis/engine combos come in, that will change, I think. That will interest the fans who like the technical side of open-wheel racing and don't pray to this idiotic notion that American open-wheel racing has to have some sort of antecedent in the soily dirty tracks of the Midwest.

That experiment failed miserably for the IRL.

 

Any chance this year's Indy snags the SI cover?

There should be some great "cover worthy" photos.

 

I have a feeling it will be their expose on Ohio State, which is said to have prompted Tressel's resignation. Lars Anderson was at the 500, though.

 

Good point. I was trying to think what other big story was going on. Didn't even think about the SI/Ohio State story. (Even though I was just about to ask on the Tressel thread if the SI story was out yet.)

 

YF and others, if you want seats for next year, order them now at imstix.com. Seat renewals are due by June 13, and then tickets are doled out based on when orders were received. The race wasn't a sellout, but it's getting pretty darn close, and I saw a ton of walkups.

For your first go-round look for seats in Tower Terrace, or any infield seat along the pits. That way, you can see the pit action, and more importantly for a first-timer, be right there when they start the engines. It's an awesome sound that will make your bones rattle.

 

To me, what really set off alarms for these guys was Jeff Gordon spurning open-wheel racing for NASCAR and then going south and winning. Here was a guy who had been a star on Thursday Night Thunder and was tailor-made for an Indy seat. The traditional path was guys who grew up driving jalopies in the South would end up in NASCAR, and the USAC spridget drivers would end up driving open-wheeled cars, but the problem was CART teams kept hiring no-talent foreigners like that Hiro guy and there weren't any spots for them, and the fan base started to disappear when Foyt/Unser/Mears/Fittipaldi/Johncock/Rutherford/Andretti all retired in about a 3-year span in the early 1990s (the need/desire to reel in escalating costs and speeds was also a strong consideration).

So, the IRL was created to create spots for them, and it netted Tony Stewart for a couple of years, Sarah Fisher, Donnie Beechler, Billy Boat and that was about it. Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Dave Blaney and a TON of other guys who were steeped in USAC/front-engined open-wheel racing all went south, and it became Arie Luyendyk, Scott Goodyear, Buddy Lazier and a bunch of people nobody had ever heard of.

A couple of things have happened in the meantime. There has been a greater emphasis on karting in the U.S. -- ex-Indy starter Mark Dismore has done a TON for karting in Central Indiana and has a huge kart facility right off I-70 in New Castle -- and what it is doing is an entry-level path that is similar to what is done in Brazil and Europe. Hildebrand and Kimball have come through those circles, and we will see a much larger group of American road racers. The IRL has figured this out and created a ladder from karts to the Mazda series to Indy Lights, and it's starting to pay off for them. Indy Lights gives drivers a chance to get at least a minimum of name recognition in formula cars and build a base. They haven't totally given up on the USAC stuff -- Bryan Clauson, the Lights polesitter at Indy -- is a spridget veteran -- but they've figured out that the optimal path to driving rear-engined formula cars with aero grip is to be driving rear-engined cars with aero grip on both road and oval courses, not to be driving front-engined cars with mechanical grip on dirt ovals.

However, there are still critics out there -- some who are bitter that their "side" lost the war (our friends at crapwagon.com can provide you some good myopic humor), some who have so much invested in telling everyone who would listen that the IRL sucks because it sucked back in 1999, so even with unification, it still sucks because Tony George's vision beat out Dan Gurney's vision, and it will always suck until the Speedway is sold and the IRL ceases to exist.

I'm looking forward to the new cars next year because it'll bring back some of the diversity that made the Indy we all grew up with there and add new interest, but Indy has been "coming back" since the early 2000s. I consider 1996-2000 the "dead period," but when Penske and Ganassi returned, and brought AGR/Rahal and the rest of the top CART teams (besides Newman-Haas) with them, the race really had its panache again. Post-unification, a lot of the old wounds should have been healed, but they haven't, but this year's race was as intriguing as it's been in a long time ... and I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of the season.

 

Hiro Matsushita was the heir to the Panasonic electronics fortune. It's not like the IRL has stopped that, though, as E.J. Viso's wild ride or any of a series of dust-ups with Milka Duno has proven. There will always be teams so close to the edge that they need someone with guaranteed $ to be in the seat, and in these economic conditions, even more than usual. Hell, it seemed like that's like a third of the F1 grid.

 

I may be in the minority, but I'm pretty happy w/ my Tower Terrace seats. I've been to 30+ 500's, sat all over the place & actually like the Tower Terrace.

As has been mentioned, there isn't a seat in the place that allows a view of more than 50% of the track. TT gives a nice view of the entire front stretch, you get a great feel for the pits (for what ever reason, this really entertains the Mrs.), and there's a good view of the replay screens. Best of all, there's great access to good bathrooms, the open air concert area for pre-race chillin' & a huge, well shaded tunnel / concourse when the heat gets a to be a bit much (continuing the "happy spouse" theme).

As with any event, I think the "trick" to a successful Indy 500 trip is just tapping the knowledge of folks who've done it a lot. We usually stay in Muncie the night before, although we've come in from South Bend (NOT an advisable distance), as well. In either case, we get into town by around 7-7:30 on race morning. We navigate surface streets(from downtown), avoiding the major inbound routes (particularly off of 465). We head to our favorite little breakfast spot / greasy spoon (on Main St. Speedway) for a leisurely breakfast. Leave the car parked in the lot next door (for $20), nice, easy walk to the track.

After the race, it's an easy walk to the lot & (again) avoid the main arteries & work our way down to Washington St. & back downtown. THAT'S the night we actually stay in Indy & the prices are very reasonable. I can't remember ever taking longer than 90 minutes from checkered flag, to showered & sitting in a downtown bar.

 

Good advice, Layman. Lafayette, Columbus, Bloomington and Kokomo also could be viable options if you want a cheaper room, though I believe they jack up their rates a bit, too.

Ever since my favorite back road (Cold Springs Road) has become well-nigh inaccessible south of 38th the past couple years, my preferred strategy is coming to the track's north, taking 38th to Lafayette (there will be some backup there), then cutting off Lafayette to 34th Street, and cutting into the neighborhood to the north of the track. It was a quick walk from there to my seats, particularly because I'm right off Georgetown Road both in parking and seating. I wouldn't park anywhere for $5 -- you're too far away. When you see signs starting at $10, you're at a good distance. Plus, the beauty of parking at someone's house is that they let you use their bathroom, with a flush toilet (that is very important after a day of drinking).

Also, if you're new to the Indy 500, I would recommend you come in not just for the race, but for Carb Day on Friday. You can park close by, there's a good crowd but not too crowded, and you can walk freely about and check out the whole scene, including the museum and an Indy Lights race.

This was a pretty funny take on the race from a couple of first-timers, circa 2000:

http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/07/20/

http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/07/21/

 

crimsonace has nailed it. 1996-2000 was interesting (and the field was full even though Bump Day turned into Fill Day), and the winners were worthy, including Lazier, who won the 500 driving with a broken back. But Ganassi's return in 2000, when Montoya led 167 laps in a dominating cruise, exposed the IRL teams as technically woeful, unable to get the most out of their cars. It was interesting to see new faces, but it can be looked up much like the "junk formula" days of the 1930s, when the riding mechanics were brought back. The 500 has had its ups and downs over the years, and is on the way back.

Now, if someone can get Wheldon a ride for the rest of the season ...