Seems like every year I go back to square one, looking for someone to root for. It used to be Andretti's drivers. But not now, not since he left his bloody fingerprints on the knife in Randy Bernard's back. I rooted for Simona de Silvestro last year. She's in Europe now, in Sauber's training program. I like Ganassi so maybe Dixon. But Sarah Fisher has a nice story and Josef Newgarden is my underdog for this year. And damned if he didn't come out of the pits with the lead in Long Beach today. Only for Ryan Hunter-Reay to take him out almost immediately. I felt bad for Fisher. Pretty good race, all in all.
Yes it was refreshing to see fighting all the way through the field. It'd be nice to see them run COTA wouldn't it?
Hunter-Reay deserves a big time penalty for that impatient bonehead move that took out about a quarter of the field. Of course he denies doing anything wrong as usual. I would like to root for him as an American driver but his normal tendency to not accept blame and point fingers at others turns me off. Kind of reminds me of a few years ago when he failed to qualify at Indy and blamed his crew. I'm surprised he has a ride.
What Hunter Reay needs is foot up his ass every time he does something fucked up like that. And from the looks of it Michael Andretti will volunteer to deliver.
I'm rooting for Haas cars, somehow there success could translate into a decent F-1 team for Haas. Indy gains back some respect, the series could be used as a starter for F-1 and the 500 goes back on the Calender as the only Oval track race in F-1. :huhI haven't paid attention, Does Haas have a regular Indy series driver?
Not sure who I'll pull for but I already have my tickets and parking passes for the Barber Motorsports Park race weekend! I actually enjoy the Saturday 'supporting' races more than the main event.
Two different Haas', improbable as that might seem with such an uncommon name. Carl Haas was half of Newman/Haas racing, which left IndyCar in 2011. Gene Haas isn't a relative, from what I can tell. Gene Haas co-owns Stewart-Haas in NASCAR, and now a F1 team. No IndyCar.
he does need a big grid penalty for that. i was a little more sympathetic when i watched the view from his car, but his optimism for pulling that off was entirely unwarranted. i've always wondered if drivers would be slightly less stupid if their team had to pay for damage associated with such unbridled optimism.
in-car footage from barber motorsports. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fj92JmlStFs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I wish they'd been able to stay on track more often. They had to call a full course yellow every time someone slid off. Lovely course, though
Seems there was a race at Indianapolis yesterday and nobody ( almost nobody) cared. It's crazy how far interest in open wheel racing in America has dropped. After the chaos at the start, I thought it was a pretty boring race. Not a whole lot of passing. The track could use a couple heavy braking zones to encourage a little more action. Hope the 500 is good.
i think turnout was better than expected. we were at practice, qualifications & the race and i would say the event was successful enough. a sports car support race would have added to the weekend, but the 'road to indy' mazda series was there (usf2000, pro mazda & indy lights) and they put on a good show as well. there are two heavy braking zones, going into turn 1 & turn 7. i think they will tweak the curbs a little bit next year to open up some more passing. it was definitely a strategic race, since no one was entirely sure how tires & fuel would pan out. we sat in the turn 7-10 complex, which had some decent action. <iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/94894316" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/94894316">gp of indy 2014</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user24426118">chris smith</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> pics here: https://sixfifty.smugmug.com/Competitions/2014-gp-of-indy
I watched it. It was quite interesting at times. Jack Hawksworth is a rookie, from England, and he had a good race. A guy to keep an eye on. It's weird using the road course at Indy. The main stand was empty. But the corner stands had lots of people. It's convenient for Indy, who want to generate more money from the facility. And for IndyCar, which does no traveling in the month of May. So it's logical, if a bit strange.
Watching qualifying right now for the 500. Those drivers are shaking when they come out of the car. And they're exhausted after just four laps. They're flat all the way around and they don't trust the machine. So far, each of them has had a wiggle somewhere in their four laps. Dario Franchitti is commentating and he says he's glad he's not driving.
I could never appreciate it until I was there. It looks easy on TV sometimes, but it is still a 90 degree turn and they are holding the throttle flat at 240 mph and just turning the wheel! It takes huge brass ones! The most impressive run was a few years ago when Billy Boat got into a car on bump day that he had never driven and went out to qualify.....:eek1 And did it!?! I was pretty impressed with Kurt Busch too!
