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

second is the first loser. you either bring home the trophy or the steering wheel.

 

Danica isn't going to blow your doors off, but one reason why she's a midpack driver is the top of the field has been pretty solid ... and she's a much better oval driver than a road racer. She came in pretty heralded, but Danicamania began at Indy in 2005 largely because of fuel strategy -- one that happened because she happened to get tangled up with someone early in the race. She is still a solid driver, but suffered the misfortune of going to AGR right when its horsepower advantage was suddenly nullified, driving for Rahal when he was the only owner still using the Panoz chassis after it had ceased to be competitive ...

That said, two different Andretti drivers have won races this year -- RHR and Conway. One was a road course and one was a rain-shortened race won on strategy, but Andretti has been capable of fielding competitive cars.

Her loss will be a blow, but I really believe IndyCar will be fine without her. Five years ago, the series was all Danica all the time (much like watching golf when Tiger was in contention). Now, she seems to be -- at least in terms of TV coverage in-between the commercials -- another driver in a pretty deep field. Guys like Castroneves, Kanaan, Dixon and Franchitti may not be household names, but they're significantly better-known than they were a few years ago (and outside of a handful of guys -- Earnhardt, Gordon, Stewart, Johnson and maybe Martin -- they're not household names either). Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti would've been asked to carry the series 10 years ago because of their names. Now, they mix in with the crowd and can be who they are -- drivers who have the capability to threaten for wins every now and then, especially on the right course, but aren't always going to be in the mix.

The thing is, IndyCar NEEDS a driver to go south and not wash out. NASCAR is still the measuring stick, for good or ill, and public perception is that it's the only major league in racing, and for someone to defect IndyCar and have success would help the profile of open-wheel racing. Tony Stewart is too far removed from his IRL champion days to be able to even be part of that conversation right now.

 

I'm not sure which would be worse for Indy Car -- if another driver doesn't set the world on fire in NASCAR, or if a driver left, and did set the world on fire. The latter would only encourage more drivers to leave, assuming the money is there for them in NASCAR.

 

The mania started when she arrived, not during the race. By Race Day, we had a plan for an extra story for 1A if she won it, and almost had to implement it.

She proved to me she was a driver by saving her qualifying run when the car wiggled in Turn 1 of the first lap. Most others would have been in the fence, but Patrick ran the three fastest qualifying laps of anyone that month in laps 2, 3 and 4. But I don't know that she's gotten markedly better in open wheel (which may be because the cars are relatively easy to drive when detuned and in race trim). I do know she's improved in Nationwide.

You have more confidence in AA to give her a winnable car than do I.

 

Well said crimson, but I'll add a couple of things.
1. The fuel mileage in the Indy 500 was set up when Danica spun and crashed on a restart with about 40 laps to go, taking out both Panther cars. Danica's front nosecone had to be replaced, thus putting her on the alternate fuel strategy.
2. The AP still seems to think IndyCar is all-Danica, all the time. From what I can tell, AP doesn't have anyone following IndyCar regularly like Mike Harris used to or like they do with Jenna Fryer following NASCAR. It looks like AP depends on its writers in the next race's area to cover the weekend. A majority of the AP previews stories I've seen this year have been about Danica. At least that's been my impression. Last week AP ran a story about Danica laughing at reporters for having nothing better to do than speculate about her future.
Here are two AP IndyCar stories prior to last week's race:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/article/IndyCars-back-in-New-England-1878731.php
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/article/Patrick-No-update-on-future-1886151.php

 

True. Castroneves' future with Penske is a far more interesting topic.

 

Man, I miss Mike Harris. He was an awesome writer. AP post-Harris couldn't care less about IndyCar racing.

 

Especially now that Danica is leaving and Helio can't stop crashing.

 

Grew tired of Danica long ago.

 

F1 was back on Sunday! Even I forgot until I saw the race on my DVR!

Can't decide if DRS ruined Spa by making passes on the Kemmel straight too easy or if it made it more fun to watch because of multiple passes. I lean towards the former, but I still enjoyed the latter.

Of course, leave it to Lewis Hamilton to be the one driver to mess one of those passes up. Wasn't necessarily his fault, but his percentage of "not necessarily his fault" accidents is considerably higher than other drivers who are considered part of F1's elite.

 

As if restarting in the rain on an oval wasn't enough, IndyCar now has safety vehicles playing chicken with drivers coming to the green flag. Brilliant! :