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

I suspect he will be walking that prediction back.

 

That's the crux of the whole issue with bumping then. Having more cars than starting spots makes for drama, as we saw Saturday. In the 1960s and 1970s, when you could fashion a car out of tube steel and shaped sheet metal, that wasn't a huge expense -- and there'd be 60 or 70 cars in Gasoline Alley. Now a one-off effort for the month of May is probably $1 million (?) for a Dallara carbon fiber chassis, a Chevrolet or Honda engine program, spare parts and a full crew, so it hurts much worse in the wallet now when you miss the show.

No one expected James Hinchcliffe to be one of the those two, but those are the rules. If Shaun White misses the big air finals at the Olympics or the Yankees miss the playoffs, should there be a do-over because they're more well known than those who beat them? I get the whole idea of "gotta have stars to build an audience." But I'd rather have credibility, to be honest. NASCAR sold out for the show. It's a gimmick with automobiles going fast, not a race.

But there will be a 500-mile race with 33 entrants and the first one to complete the distance drinks milk and gets his or her face on the Borg-Warner, just like every year since 1911, not counting two world wars. To quote Jimmy Dugan, "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

 

That post-qualifying deals keep happening says a lot about the state of racing in general. This has been happening for decades at Daytona.

 

In fairness, the car qualifies, technically, not the driver.

 

That said, this story has reached the point where INDYCAR seems to get more mileage from him NOT starting than him starting. The integrity thing.

 

Did CART get more mileage out of Al Unser Jr., in his prime, and Penske missing the race? I don’t remember.

 

Hinch is a Toronto area guy, his commercials are on TV here all the time. His news out of Indy was reduced to a few paragraphs at the back of the sports section of yesterday's Toronto Sun which was far more concerned with the Stanley Cup playoffs, Blue Jays and Johnny Manziel signing with the Tiger-Cats

 

Carpenter smoking the field yesterday certainly helped ease the sting in Indianapolis.

 

The woes continue for Sam Schmidt and Co.

Robert Wickens is done for the day 30 minutes into today's practice. Car started out with four wheels, but only has three now. The right front suspension is sort of folded under after he popped the Turn 2 wall.

 

Tough weekend for the Canuckistanis. Where is Paul Tracy when you need him?

 

My guess is Howard is paid very well to give up his seat. Hinch only being in the race in the form of Honda commercials won't go over well. My first thought was of the Dan/Dave Reebok disaster for the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Kind of amazing that Indy finally has bumping again, and it turns out to bite the series with its most popular full-time driver potentially missing the big race.