Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Montreal, Turkey, IRL to RACE Daytona?!?)

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

That was so much fun. Marco is very likeable, which doesn't hurt. I can't get over that the Andrettis finished 2-3, father-son! And yet they still can't win it...wow.

You know, Penske is amazing also with that fuel situation. There were a lot of great storylines, and that finish just great. Just great. I'm still excited about it.

Marco did the "right" thing and didn't block Hornish. As he said, he might have wrecked both of them if he did that.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Mannnnnnnnnnn ... my wife wants me to get us tickets to an IRL race now.

Damn.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

The rook got beat by a seasoned pro ("I see him, he's in my right mirror, he's ... oh, shit!"). All credit to Sam and his Penske team.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

OK, so there have been 90 Indy 500s. Where does that rank? I have no clue, but it has to be in the top five, right?

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Well, yeah .. among Indy 500s, that's top five anyway.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

For that matter, was that Michael's best finish ever (in time behind winner)?

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

In '99, Robby Gordon was trying to stretch his fuel mileage a ridiculous amount and out of gas on the last lap in '99 and had to dive into the pits while leading, handing the win to Brack. The strategy almost worked, too -- one yellow, or if a sudden torrential rainstorm hadn't hit, Robby would've been an Indy champion.

Only 3 times has the lead changed on Lap 199 -- when Emmo and Unser Jr. touched in Turn 3 in '89 and Unser ended up in the wall, '99 when Gordon had to pit, and 1915 when Ralph DePalma's car blew up. This year was the *only* last-lap pass for the lead in Indy 500 history.

My top five (since '84, when I began following the race)
*-This year ... that pass Hornish made at the finish was unbelievable -- and Andretti made a really, really good move in Turn 3 to chop Hornish the lap before, which I thought was going to win the race.
*-Last year. The electricity when the Danica-Wheldon battle began in the closing laps was amazing. 20-some lead changes, Patrick's emergence and Michael Andretti's first win (as a car owner) made for some great storylines and a really good race.
*-1991. Not necessarily a great race, but Michael Andretti passed Mears on the outside in Turn 1 to take the lead, and Mears went right around Michael *exactly the same way* -- on the outside in Turn 1 -- to take the lead back for good and win.
*-1989. The Unser Jr.-Fittipaldi finish was pretty good, although it would've been nice if the race had gone the distance instead of ending in Turn 3.
*-2002. Speaking of races that ended in Turn 3, the controversy between whether or not Castroneves or Tracy won marred what had been a pretty good race.

Pre-1984, a couple of good ones I've heard about:
*-1960: The great Jim Rathmann-Rodger Ward duel, in which they swapped the lead 20-some times in the last half of the race.
*-1961: A.J. Foyt and Eddie Sachs nearly duplicated the Rathmann-Ward shootout from the year before.
*-1967: A.J. Foyt has to weave through a wreck right in front of him in Turn 4 on the final lap to win.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

What does IMS have against the Andretti family? Geez, I'm not sure I've ever felt worse for a 19-year athlete.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Marco made a helluva move in Turn 3 the lap before to chop Hornish and block him off. Had Sam pushed it, one of them would've been in the wall. I thought it would force Hornish to get out of the gas enough to clinch the win for Andretti. It almost did.

Hornish made his move so quickly -- and was going so much faster -- the only option Andretti had was to put him in the wall or try to take as much of the racetrack away as possible. He tried Option 2 -- race him clean and block as much as possible. I'd say he'll have his day someday, but he is an Andretti.

That was an unbelievable race. I've never heard a roar out of the media center like when Hornish pulled that move at the finish today. I've followed the IRL for years (and as the product has improved, my interest in NASCAR has summarily waned), and finishes like that have been the norm at a lot of the other races -- Hornish alone has won 7 races decided by less than a tenth of a second and lost two. But none of them have come at Indy.

That was the greatest finish to an Indy 500 ever. Hornish's pass is a move we'll be seeing for years. That was certainly the most fun I've ever had at the race.

I'll admit that I was one of those people that thought Marco Andretti needed to spend another year in Atlantics or the Pro Series before going to the IndyCars, but I was obviously wrong.

--
Other things from today:
I brought earbuds and listened to the radio broadcast instead of the TV in the media center, but it didn't seem like the All-Danica, all-the-time broadcast ABC put on last year. That said, she had a helluva race to get in the Top 5.
For the first 120 laps, I thought Wheldon was going to make this race a snoozer. Hornish pulled an old Rick Mears move -- hang out until it was time to go, get in position and go.
That fuel nozzle problem might've been the best thing that happened to Hornish. It put him in position to allow him to come in and top off at about Lap 160 under the last yellow. Michael Andretti also came in then -- knowing he could probably get to the finish on fuel mileage. If it weren't for Giaffone's yellow in the late stages, Michael would've won the race and Hornish would've been second, because everyone else would've had to pit. When the yellow came out, Michael (who didn't have enough power to hang onto the lead) was a sitting duck. Hornish was able to maintain his track position and get ahead of Kanaan & Franchitti (who had to pit) and then jump to the front.
Roger Penske was the guy who screwed up in the pits -- the crew chief (which is Penske on Hornish's car) gives the "go" command in the pits on the Penske team, instead of the front right tire changer (like on most teams). Roger told Hornish to go a little too quickly. Sam after the race "I was pretty upset about that, but then I remembered I'd hit the wall the last two years, so I figured I should just shut up."

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Somebody needs to start an Indy Car message board called 'Sons of Sam Hornish.'

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

;D