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

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Somewhere deep in one of these open-wheel threads I believe I predicted Marco Andretti would be the next American to win an F1 race. I didn't think he'd do this well today, but I can't say that I'm shocked. He absolutely obliterated the field in the Infinity races at the USGP at Indy last year.

A quick F1 side note... anyone catch David Coulthard on the Monaco podium wearing a red cape? I have to assume it was part of the deal with the Superman livery on the car -- but I'm guessing Red Bull agreed to that thinking they'd never actually get on the podium.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Indy sounded pretty damn exciting (had a press pass, didn't go, beat took me elsewhere), but let's not go crazy with top 5 talk. The action after the last restart was compelling, the rest was typical Indy 500 stuff, which is great, but understand that a lot of Indy 500s play out this way.

In my memory, 1982, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1993 (ten cars finish on lead lap at a time where that was unheard of), 1995 (often forgotten because the ending was one of the biggest blunders ever, but the entirety of the race was awesome), 2002, 2005 and were better. I refuse to rate any race between 1996-99, which is when the IRL was in the throes of its shithead "lets pretend its the 50s and elevate midget drivers to the big time" era. Covered a few of those too. Blech.

Hornish's last pass was great, but what was his tire situation vis a vis Andretti? Really, I'm asking since I listened to the miss-and-hit radio broadcast? If he passed Andretti with newer tires, considering his pit fuck up and the fact that his failed attempt on lap 199 was what he thought was the final lap (as he said in the radio interview), its kind of akin to getting a baseball win after blowing a save. Maybe I'm being harsh, he still had to make the pass, but ...

But as far as a compelling story? Yeah, its a good one with the Andretti's. I admit, though, as a long-time Andretti-hater, I was laughing my ass off when he got passed at the line. And when Michael Andretti was leading? I was thinking end of days.

But it will be interesting to see where this compelling story plays out. The IRL is in trouble. A unified series would be sweet, but who knows? Marco could be F1-bound eventually, which is just fine with me as an inveterate F1 lover, but most fans don't share my sentiment.

Indy as a whole needs to get with the times. Its radio broadcast is so cornpone and so ... square. A good unintended laugh was a radio interview with Gene Simmons in the prerace. He said some "controversial" things, like the ladies love Jeff Simmons, then host Mike King kind of cut off the interview as if it was the Bill Grundy-Sex Pistols II. "We have to cut THAT off!" King said, sounding like a 50s anti-rock-n-roll alarmist.

The fact that Indy thinks Gene Simmons is edgy is funny in itself, but that's Indy. I'll never forget buying the yearbook from the first race I attended in 1988. Indy has always tried to compete with the Kentucky Derby in the celebrity department and they've never come close, but the late 80s were probably the low ebb. There was a huge spread sucking the dick of Tim Considine, who was the featured "celebrity" that year. Who was Tim Considine? One of the sons on My Three Sons, of course. This story read like Pravda, there was more Considine material in there than his IMDB profile, and its gushing tone made me laugh my ass off. It could be the most unintentionally funny thing I've ever read.

Back to radio, all day they were sending shout-outs to overseas soldiers. Not a damn thing wrong with that, especially since its Memorial Day weekend, but every shout out was someone who was acquainted with the folks in the IRL or IMS office! Good people there, I know many of them, but it just came off tacky and backwardly insular. Why not take e-mails from listeners, or better still, soldiers overseas?

The dick suckery was down, though the turn announcers giving Marco Andretti salutatory winning praise on his final lap was not good (though apparently not as bad as TV's fuck up ... cripes ... don't fucking besmirch Indy by calling it Daytona, ugh.). Davey Hamilton, mediocre driver though he was, actually put some mild bite into the radio commentary which was a welcome change from the usual propaganda.

And F1 fans, Derek Daly was not on CBS for Monaco! Rejoice! All hail Danny Sullivan!

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

You're right, it didn't happen back in the day. Cars were routinely lapped in the 90s pre-split days (when cars were faster than now) by lap 10-15!

There's always been field fillers, the difference now is that they barely have enough field fillers to go around. In the past you'd have several candidates trying to get in, which means the worst of the field fillers wouldn't make it. And some field fillers make names for themselves down the line, like Arie Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Gordon Johncock and Rick Mears intense duel during the closing laps of the 1982 Indy 500 is still one of the all-time great finishes.

I was absolutely sickened to see Michael Andretti leading during the closing laps yesterday. When Marco passed him I still wasn't thrilled, but at least Michael was no longer in the lead (and yes...I absolutely HATE Michael Andretti). When Marco blocked Sam's run going into that turn I thought "That's it. Marco's going to win." But by golly Sam pulled it off in the end. I called my dad who was absolutely thrilled that Sam won (Sam's his fave of the current drivers).

This year's finish was what the IRL needed to capitalize on the renewed interest generated by last year's Danica-mania. If IRL and Champ Car can merge before the 2007 season starts the stage will be set for open wheel racing to become relevant again to the general public.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Thank you. Only the closest Indy 500 ever.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

I went to the race. A lot of you have already pretty much covered everything from yesterday. But I wanted to add that the electricity in the crowd was just unreal as soon as everyone realized it was going to be Andrettis at 1-2 on the restart and the pole winner lurking right behind them. Damn. I think a lot of air got let out when Hornish passed Marco. Everyone was kind of emotionally spent. It felt kind of like a horse race - four hours of racing distilled into a wild last couple minutes, hoping the rookie with the big name could hold on.

Anyway, I'm glad to see this thread is full of people who appreciate open-wheel racing, not the usual SportsJournalists.com and mainstream media "Who cares about the Indy 500?! It ain't like the old days!" When you're there, it's the greatest sporting event in the world. Gotta be. And people do care. Everyone I was there with knew the field inside and out.

There is no moment in sports like seeing those cars come whipping around Turn 1 for the first time (I have a seat on the outside of Turn 1).

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

I think it's the first time I've watched F1 on CBS without throwing something at the TV.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

They were saying something on ABC about being able to change the fuel mixture in the cockpit to improve fuel mileage. If that's true, wouldn't the driver be able to do the opposite, make it a rich mixture to add speed.

What I'm getting at is, Hornish made Marco look like he was moving backwards. I understand he pulled some speed by drafting Marco, but did he also up the fuel mixture?

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Bubbler, Hornish's tires were older -- he and Michael Andretti stayed out on the last stop, which is why they had the track position.

And the F1 race was pre-empted here for some bizarre reason. Oh well, I'll just catch Hobbs, Matchett and Varsha on the replay.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Thanks for the explanation, I wasn't sure about the tires.

And, SPOILER ALERT! Stop here if you don't want to know ...













Maybe Speed will explain why Coulthard was wearing a cape on the podium, it looked like Alonso and Montoya were ready to bust out laughing.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Red Bull took a page out of the NASCAR book and had a special Superman paint scheme on the car this weekend to promote the movie.