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Indycar 2023

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Jimmy Higgins

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So, we are two races in. The first race was apparently held in homage to NASCAR as the drivers drove like they had no bloody clue how to drive and not get into wrecks. Pato O'Ward came close to winning, but suffering a one in a million engine backfire which dropped the horsepower for just enough to be overtaken and finish second.

Yesterday we saw what makes Indycar so awesome in Texas, even if the event wasn't well attended. The racing was phenomenal. A pair of yellow flags helped provide stops for fresh tires in the last 60 or so laps, which lead to a high intensity, but generally clean racing. Sadly Palou checked up a moment, which led to Grosjean being put in a bad spot, and he wrecked, making the race end in yellow, but thankfully the intensity of the last 60 laps was quite something to behold.
 
I'm hoping to watch yesterday's race later today.

Did you happen to catch the F1 race yesterday? Three red flags. A couple penalties. Drivers were pissed.
 
Watched the highlights for the F1 race. A red flag with two laps remaining?! Restarts in F1 are more chaotic than NASCAR, due to the tightness of the courses, not the lack of brains in the drivers' heads. Putting one with 2 laps left?! I can't believe they did a from stop restart with two laps remaining. That is stupid crazy.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Watched the highlights for the F1 race. A red flag with two laps remaining?! Restarts in F1 are more chaotic than NASCAR, due to the tightness of the courses, not the lack of brains in the drivers' heads. Putting one with 2 laps left?! I can't believe they did a from stop restart with two laps remaining. That is stupid crazy.
Click to expand...
Yup, that was another thing the drivers were pissed off about.

The marshalls had to actually contact the F1 bigwigs in Geneva on how to handle this.
 
Despite not having a win this season, Grosjean is having an awesome year. Quite the race on Sunday. Penske got so lucky with Robb's engine expiring, and helped lead to a First and Third finish. Again, some spots of really tight racing, but in general, while sometimes even getting close enough to be driving in the other cockpit, almost no contact. Again showing the class of Indycar relative to the shit show that is NASCAR. Yes, the opening race was a brain-less crash fest, but the series recovered. On to Indy now!
 
Man, Bobby Rahal is shrewd. Has his driver take out a competitors car just to get his son into the race. ;)

Rahal Lettermen Etc... have been struggling all year, and unlike Foyt's team, they did NOT manage a reprieve at Indy. The last day pitted three RL cars against one Dale Coyne car... and the Coyne car made the field and Rahal was eliminated by the grace of physics as Jack Harvey managed a miracle (or not scrubbing speed) in his last second qualification attempt.

Fast forward a day, and the cars are driving around, and Stefan Wilson checks up in front of Kath Legge (only Rahal car that didn't need to try again on Sunday) who didn't check up as much and they crashed pretty hard. Wilson is out with a fracture of a vertebrae which is awful... but I was wondering if Graham Rahal would get the nod to replace him... and he did. So this is kind of good news, good news... Rahal gets in 500 and he isn't driving one his teams crappy cars. Granted, it'll need to be fixed a lot from the accident and they only have one more day for testing, but he should do better in that car than his own car. Be something if he won it in.

This Indy 500 is looking to be as sweet as the last several. Palou and Veekay are front rowing it again and Ferucci has a shot at putting AJ Foyt back in the winners circle. But we know, winning the Indy 500 is as much talent as it is tech and luck. The dumbest things have derailed wins before, from driver mistakes, pit mistakes, single moments of bad timing. I'm pulling for Veekay, but there are probably 10 or 15 drivers that'd be awesome to win.
 
I haven't been paying much attention to the qualification drama but I have heard they're getting over 230 MPH at Indy. That's friggin' fast.
 
Will Power was very close to 230 mph cruising speed. Power was looking a little weak, but then snuck into the top 12, and now fastest overall in practice on Monday. Can never rule out a Penske. Really love how competitive Indycar is these days. Even Foyt's and Carpenter's teams are competitive at Indy this year.
 
Indy goes red after awful crash, but so far no injuries. Kirkwood's rear wheel flew over the fence but not into crowd. Palou taken out in pit. But still in race for win. What a race.
 
Been some really stupid mistakes in the race that put personnel in danger.

BTW, that tire caved in the hood of a car in the parking lot behind the stands. So lucky no one was hit by it.
 
It was such a good race until it got all NASCAR. I think a spotter for Andretti or Carpenter goofed and fucked up what could have been a reasonable end. What sucked the most was there was space available. O'Ward's crash was him being too aggressive after last years finish. Poor Veekay for a couple reasons. And poorer Palou who had the best car and probably the best driver. Finished fourth still. Indy is so like that! Palou mentioned "next year", so I'm uncertain if that was a reflex or if he is racing with Arrow McClaren next year (bye Rosenquist?) with an option for F1 in a year or too... or if Ganassi showed him a truck full of cash.

But oi... the ending. So anti-climatic. Sucked they tried to force a 1.25 lap finish, but it would have sucked to have let it end with the crash at the back. Newgarden winning helped with the sour, but it was a sour finish with no way to make it sweet.

And finally, when will they stop having Dale Jr who clearly has no fucking clue about open wheel racing? Can't they get Jimmie Johnson who at least tried it? And Danica Patrick, there is a reason she isn't calling races. She just seems so oblivious to the sport she was in for a while. Maybe she needs more experience, but Tirico, Patrick, Dale Jr. just are so bad at this.

Curious about Robb's comment on Rahal. Is he actually accusing Rahal of being a reckless racer?
 
Detroit's new course today. NXT raced there yesterday, so it can be done, but it'll be interesting. Like Nashville, it has some ridiculous -5% allowable error rate turns. You'll want to be in first all day, which Palou can possibly do.
 
And Palou did do. Power put up a good fight. Grosjean crashes out... again. Tricky course but moat managed to survive it. Illot won the silliest driving moment when he overshot the first turn on the start, when in the back, and mounted Ķirkqood's car. Kirkwood went all the way to the back, but managed to claw back to 6th.

Pass of the day went to Rossi going from 5th to 2nd when Power forced it and caused all sorts of trouble. That wouldn't hold though and Power would finish second. Rosenquist, who again finds himself fighting for a ride, got on his first podium in nearly a season. Palou just proves how technically skilled he is as a driver. I think they knew you wanted to be up front, so nothing but the pole here and that increases your chances to win a lot. Road America then on to Mid-Ohio.
 
That was a helluva a fun race to watch. Lots of rubbing and balls to the wall driving.

BTW, I've made my wife a fan. She was rooting for Newgarden because he won the Indy two weeks ago.
 
They paved Road America, and there was little grip all weekend long. Spinapolloza. About 1/5 of the way in, the drivers seemed to have a better feel (or maybe were a bit more strung out). The drivers would end up using all the road and then some of the grass.

Colton Herta was set back by bad team planning, finishing the race in fifth instead of maybe should have been first or second. Palou was running up near the top most of the way and he was able to take advantage of Herta's lack of fuel to take the lead and win his second in a row. Grosjean just went from bad to worse in the race. His being a victim of others is giving way to being a victim of himself. Mid-Ohio is next!
 
There's always something that happens to screw Colton's performance, and most of the time it's not his fault. I really wanted to see him at least get a podium.
 
Last year, 10 days out, it looks like a deluge of rain was possible. I planned ahead, got rain gear, and as it got closer, that moved out of the forecast and it ended up dry and pretty warm.

This year, slight chance of rain, upper 70s 10 days out, swapping to warmer and wetter. A shower sometime on Friday, Sat 2PM onward, it looks like there will be rain, half inch now. Sunday, 0.63 inches now. Looking deeper in to the forecasting, the timing of the rain on Saturday isn't set yet, and depends on a couple of masses bonking into each other.

Don't mind the rain at all. But the cars do (or more specifically, the tires do). There isn't much to do at Mid-Ohio if the cars are off the track. So hoping any notable rain holds off post 6 PM on Saturday. They note a possibility for severe weather on Saturday. This is making me ponder my parking location, which is behind a particular tree for shade most of the day. Bring some games, and have the chargers! I might go out and buy a $250 canopy. That should hold make the rain miss if I spend $250 or more, right? ;)
 
Weather seems popcorny for Friday/Saturday (it'll likely rain early Friday morning) with more energy for storms in the afternoon. Sunday, sounds like a front will push through. I'm wondering if the race is going to get rescheduled for earlier. There is a near two hour gap between the Porsche appetizer (that makes arriving at 7 AM more bearable) and the Indycar warmup. It'd suck not to get the warmup, but they could skip that, go straight to the NXT race at 9:00 or 9:30, then get the Indy race going by 11:30 or Noon.

I think that'll ultimately be decided very early Sunday or very late Saturday. We are getting to the track before it opens Sunday regardless. Have a couple Switches, Yahtzee/Farkle waiting in the car just in case. Looking forward to stop anticipating this and start experiencing it.
 
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