A double feature tonight starring the great Alex Zanardi.
First up, embedding is diabled for this video so please follow the link provided. It’s the last lap of Laguna Seca 1996. Road courses don’t always have to be parades, folks. Not even Lagua Seca.
Next up is a tribute video. This one doesn’t require a link.
I ditched my DirecTV during the week and my TiVo went with it. I thought I was going to have to watch on the Indycar.com internet feed, but today I’ve got access to another TV with VS (albiet no TiVo), so it’s off to CHI-CA-GOOOOOO!!! (Or Joliet–whatever).
Preshow
- I’m late and missed most of the first break while I “fixed” the tv. Fixing meaning getting a picture I could see. #indycar
- An interview with Danica, who finally qualified in 12th and ahead of Simona. The interview was a lot of nothing, however.
- Nice to see Ed Carpenter back, and some air time with Dan Wheldon.
- Calling my shots for the finish: P1: Power Danica at P8 (if she finishes). Sato, Fisher are DNF.
- Briscoe County’s wife is a “host of a NASCAR series” – that narrows is down to about 100 shows…
- 29 Cars Tonight. I shoulda showed up in the Buick–they’re taking everyone who shows up.
- Pizza’s out of the oven and on my plate. Suddenly I’m the dog and both cats best friend…
The Race
0 – Engine start. They got the CEO of something or other. How much do you have to pay to do that?
0 – No radio on the 2-seater as Mario drives a contest winner around. The engine is better than anything they could say anyway
0 – Parade lap. Is it too much to ask for someone to be upside before Lap 1 again?
0 – Another single-fire start. A-freaking-mazing.
Y5 – Scheckter’s on the wall, and Matos is in the field. This is a 1.5 mile, so yellow for 40 laps…
Y7 – Commercials so no running-order crawl. Maybe watching on VS instead of Indycar.com wasn’t such a good idea afterall.
Y8 – More commercials. I’m on Indycar.com for live scoring. Danica’s P18 behind Ana B. So much for waiting for ovals, huh?
Y8 – Simona is listed as last running, even behind MIlka. Simona must be driving with the parking break on.
Y11 – More commercials. Women’s running order: P17-Ana B., P18-Danica, P-23 Sarah, P25-Milka, P26-Simona
G14 – Back for another Apex Brazil single-file restart. Kanaan is P6.
G20 – Nobody’s mentioned it yet but Ed Carpenter’s in P5. Not bad for a long layoff…
G24 – If I read the leaderboard correctly, Simona’s lost contact with Duno. She must be dragging a muffler or something.
G30 – Jay Howard is last running and lapped. How is it he still has a ride?
G34 – Marco’s P1. Nooooooooooooo!!!!
G35 – Now Wheldon’s P3. Where did he come from?
G40 – Top 21 places are within 3 seconds of each other. Then Milka 7.7 seconds behind (the leader).
G42 – Sato’s dropped way down to P26. No idea what happened.
G47 – Danica got past Ana, is now P15 right behind Kanaan. Bet that’s going to be a tough pass…
G53 – Briscoe and Andretti keep trading P1. Now Marco’s going to the pits… fuel strategy or bad mileage?
G60 – Pit cycling has put Sarah at P2. Write your own joke.
G75 – Simona’s finally ahead of Milka, now P24.
Y78 – Yellow. Someone rubs the wall and it creates a yellow? Huh? (Damn, I miss TiVo)
Y80 – Another round of pits. Where are the commercials???
Y81 – Mutoh loses a tire in the pits, laps with 3-wheels. Coolness.
Y82 – Fisher leads. Don’t get bored, Sarah (Sarah Fisher once lead some laps of an IRL race, said it was “kinda boring.”)
Y85 – Tagliani gets contact. 6 more laps of yellow.
Y86 – If someone says Yellow Breeds Yellow, I’m going to throw pizza crumbs at the TV.
Y87 – Fisher still leads. May be the most laps she’s ever led.
Y87 – Sato is DNF. But that Lotus sure looks pretty…
G91 – Green. How much longer will Fisher lead? About 1/2 a lap….
G102 – Briscoe’s running away. When will Miss Tree DeBris show up to bring the field back together?
G113 – Power is P2. Shock.
G136 – Pit stops.
G138 – Power and Briscoe County are both in. I guess Helio will be on a second strategy
G146 – Carpenter stalls int he pits. He’s buried now.
G152 – Leaders: Wheldon, Power, Andretti, Briscoe, RHR, Kanaan.
G159: Bob Jenkins: “This is going to be fun as they come up on Milka…”
G162 – Milka’s listed at P19, btw.
Y170 – Alex Lloyd flies off into the infield. Yellow. Now if he’s off the course, why is it yellow?
Y173 – Pit cycling. Leaders: Dario, Power, Wheldon, RHR, Briscoe.
Y175 – Dario skips tires, which puts him P1. Ganassi says it’s his only shot to win.
Y176 – Danica’s in P6. I’ll be shocked if she ends that high.
Y178 – Penske says Power might not have enough fuel to finish. I think they’re playing with people’s heads.
G182 – Dario, Wheldon, Power, Kanaan, Dixon, Andretti, RHR
G186 – Danica is P12 and going backward.
G188 – Vitor is P10. How on earth has that happened? How many noses has he had replaced this race?
G192 – Baguette is hanging on at P11. I don’t think anyone’s mentioned his name all night.
G195 – Power is back to P4. Comes in for gas! Pussy!!!
White flag: Dario, Wheldon, Marco
Checkered: Dario, Wheldon, Marco, RHR, Kanaan, Helio, Wilson, Dixon, VITOR and Graham Rahal are top 10.
P11 to P20: Briscoe (wha happened?), Baguette, Mutoh, Danica, Sarah, Power, Moraes, Hamilton, Duno and Ed Carpenter.
Simona and Ana B. both out with mechanical probs. 
Post-race: Izod Girl is back! Good to see you again.
Dario’s interview: part of me is bored to death (as I mentioned) by this Yankees vs. Yankees battle between the Penske and Ganassi drivers, but damn, I can’t dislike Dario.
Power: I don’t get it. I’d rather run out of gas on the track at less than 5 laps, than come in and just give it away. But I sit on a La-z-boy and type on a laptop, trying to keep my dog from licking a greasy plate, and not calling race strategy…
Okay, that’s it. See you next weekend at Kentucky (and I think I’ll have the VS broadcast again). Wednesday night videos on Wednesday night. And maybe I’ll come up with something else. We’ll see.
Closest Indycar 1-2-3 Finish Ever (or so I’m told)
It’s the Almost-Live blog from Sonoma, California. A bunch of bloggers are on-site, but I’m here at the bunker on the good side of the Orange Curtain (what some Californians refer to as Orange County).
This is going to be my last Almost-Live blog from the VS coverage, as I’m pulling the blug on my DirecTV service (and not picking up cable). So the next one will be using the Indycar.com feed, which should be….uh….interesting.
Pre-Show
-Lindy Thaxton is looking good. I’m going to miss that most of all.
-Interview with Dario Franchitti. At least he’s not driving that ridiculous giant shopping cart-thing.
-The first Danica commercial is from Peak. Based on the last couple of races, this may be the most I hear from her today.
-Lindy brings up the fact that Power will be winning the Andretti Road-Course Championship today. I like Power, he’s a great driver and seems like a good guy. But little would make me happier today than if he goes out on Lap 1.
-At home with RHR in Florida. Modern race drivers all have hot wives. When did race drivers change from the blue-collar scrappers (Vokovich and Foyt) to the jet-setters?
-Jack Arute demonstrates the energy forces required to turn the steering wheel at different places on the track, and we see a video of Power on a training machine. I remember seeing this a couple years back with AJ Foyt’s driver, whose name escapes me. The guy was pretty good but he didn’t have the physical stamina for the track.
-A recap of last year’s crash where Power broke his back. The cynic in me is saying they’re trying to make him into a sentimental favorite, even though he’s the odds-on favorite anyway.
Want to make this race interesting? Make them all down a bottle of merlot before engine start.
-An ad for the movie Avatar, “the greatest love story of all time!” I just pulled the waste basket up to the chair in case my lunch comes up.
Race (G means green flag, Y means yellow flag lap)
0 – I missed the rundown and they’re not running the crawl, so I’m having trouble figuring out who’s where behind the first few.
Start – a single-file start. Wooo.
Y1 – Wheldon is upside down! Crimony. I thought he’d been looking strong over the weekend–but it appears the strength is all in his rollbar.
Y2 – Is “push-to-pass” to blame for the Wheldon wreck? I always said P2P was the devil!
G5 – Restart. Power, Helio, Dario, Tagliani, Briscoe and Dixon. I’m afraid that’ll be the end result as well…
G7 – Viso is in the pits for a spring change? That doesn’t sound good.
G8 – Time to see how far back Milka is. P21 Danica is 22.4 seconds behind the leader. P23 Viso (pit stop) is 42.8. P24 Milka is already lapped.
G11 – No changes. Eyelids getting heavy…
G14 – Danica is P19. Who’s fault is it this week?
G16 – Holy cow! Passing!!! Tagliani’s going backward.
G24 – More passing. This is threatening my nap. Helio’s losing it.
G24 – DeSilvestro knocks Matos off the track. My hero!
G25 – Power, Franchitti, Dixon, Wilson, Helio, Kanaan(!), Rahal(!!), DeSilvstro, Moraes and Meira!!! are top 10.
G28 – Simona spins! NOOOOooooo! Why can’t it be Power?
G38 – Power, Briscoe County, Dario, Dixon and Helio, before we break for an ambulance chaser (at least on my TV). You’re getting sleepy, sleeeeeepy…
G49 – Open an eye — No changes. Zzzzzzzzz
G59 – No changes. And I thought the last race was boring. Yeesh.
G -14 – They’re so bent on saving money, maybe they should just having qualifying and just skip the race. It doesn’t seem to make much diff.
G -7 – Dixon gets a call from Ganassi: “You know what to do.” Hopefully something is going to happen.
G -3 No changes. A race only Brian Barnhart could love.
G -2 Sato slams Danica, but Dani stays out. Since Danica’s P16, it doesn’t matter much what happens.
Whte flag: No changes. A local yellow for Dracone who’s stalled. Jon B. tells us a local yellow means “no passing.” The whole course is local yellow.
Checkered: Power, Dixon, Franchitti, Briscoe County, Helio are Top 5. *Tom Slick cheer* yay
So that’s it. Not the worst open-wheel I’ve ever seen—it’s tied with Mid-Ohio two weeks ago. But ugh. I like Penske and I like Ganassi and I like their drivers, but dominance is uninteresting. There’s a line from the movie The Great Race, delivered by The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis): there’s little advantage to winning if one wins too easily.
See you next week for Chicagoland. Wednesday Night Video on (hopefully) Wednesday night…
Hasta.
Oops. Sorry I’m late. Hopefully this will make it up. 1961 Indy 500 home movie
An off week so nothing but just a few random comments.
1. Saw Danica on the news. She’s like Michael Jordan when he decided to play baseball. I lived in a city with two major league baseball teams to fill the news, but they’d still report what MJ did with the Barons that day. Before and after, it was if minor league baseball didn’t exist at all. And certainly no other team existed; not even the farm teams for the local majors.
Anyway, Danica ended the day 27th. The one good thing about Indycar is that even on her worst day, she’s not going finish 27th.
I’m staring a mid-week posting of whatever automotive/racing related video I find that amuses me. I was going to start with an old Indycar race, but this one forced its way in. I have to change an engine in my car around the end of summer, and I fear it’ll end up like this.
Welcome from my house where I’m sitting in my computer chair, chips & salsa by my side, waiting for [b]Fishing with Roland Martin[/b] to land whatever he’s got so we can start Indycar Mid-Ohio.
This Almost-Live Blog is being simulcast on Twitter. User is: AlmostLiveBlog
Qualifying order, according to Indycar.com is: 1: Power, 2: Franchitti, 3: Sato(!), 4: RHR, 5: Dixon, 6: Helio, 7: Briscoe, 8: Viso, 9: Marco, 10: Simona, 11: Justin Wilson, 12: Mutoh, 13: Wheldon, 14: Tagliani, 15: Baguette, 16: Moraes, 17: Adam Carroll, 18: Hidebrand, 19: Matos, 20: Kanaan, 21: Lloyd, 22: Danica, 23: Francesco Dracone, 24: Vitor, 25: Graham Rahal, 26: Jay Howard, 27: you know who.
Pre-show notes: Will Power will win the Andretti road-course championship trophy just by showing up.
0 – Robby Flloyd just calls Scott Dixon “Mr. Man” – doesn’t get punched out for it.
0 – Jack Arute and Will Power. Power has mathematically clinched the Road Course championship. No speculation on when he’ll mathematically clinch the oval.
0 – If you don’t look at the screen, just listen: Graham Rahal’s voice is very like Bobby’s.
0 – Indycar tries to CYA on Helio’s blocking penalty in Edmonton. Maybe they should paint a divider line on the course.
0 – Robbie Buhl and John Beekhus try to explain the passing/blocking rules. Next up: Jack Arute demonstrates quantum mechanics and quarks.
0 – Green! – Kanaan mows the lawn. I suppose the start of the race is as good as any to do that.
4 – Danica is -12.65 seconds @ P23. Then Kanaan, Draconi @ 15.9, Howard @ 16.36 seconds. Then Milka -23.66 seconds.
6 – Commercials. Will Milka be parked when we rejoin?
9 – P24 Kanaan is -18.7 seconds, P25 is Draconi – -27.68 seconds, then Howard -28, then Milka: -43 seconds!
10 – Kanaan pits. Nothing else to do…
12 – Commercials. Power, Franchitti, Sato, Dixon and RHR. Someone should radio that parade lap is over.
15 – Pit interview with Kanaan’s strategist on why he came in early. Held up by traffic. That “traffic” would be Danica.
23 – Something happened! Hildebrand screws up, drops 2 positions. Too bad it’s in the back of the pack.
24 – Wilson and Viso are zonked. We’re yellow. That means pits and a reshuffling.
26 – Helio and RHR together as they come out of the pits. Will Helio get dinged for blocking again?
27 – Commercial for Indycar includes Mike King saying, “Danica Patrick in the lead, making history!” Video is so old it’s in B&W
29 – Restart. Tagliani and Kanaan lead because of off-pit strategy. And yellow! Sato’s out. You knew it was going to happen. Just when.
30 – Nice tracking video from Dixon’s car as Sato whipes out. Never realized they had fast remote control of the in-car cams.
33 – Green again. Tagliani, Kanaan, Franchitti, Power and Helio.
35 – Yellow. Jay Howard spins out.
43 – Halfway. This may be the least interesting race I’ve ever seen.
45 – Kanaan pits, so everyone moves up. Tags, Franchitti, Power, Helio and Briscoe. Guess which will be out of here shortly…
47 – Only one car not on lead lap. I wonder who it could be….
50 – Commercials as the parade continues. This is when I think you need to hire someone to heave debris across the track.
57 – Tagliani pits. Franchitti is P1.
61 – Dario, Power are in, out. P1 Franchitti, Power, Helio, Tagliani, Briscoe and Simona.
64 – Yelllow. Dracone into the bunker.
67 – Restart green–and Milka Duno has spun. But no full-course Yellow. Just the local Milka Duno yellow.
67 – Dixon gets past Simona. Gotta get the Penske-Ganassi group back into the Top 5 where they belong.
68 – Dracone spins again, another full course yellow. This parade will never end.
-12 Drifting off to sleep… think I heard someone almost pass someone else. Guess not. zzzzzz
-8 RHR passes for 10th. Not bad considering he had a bent suspension.
-5 Side-by-side commercials is not flattering. The cars look like they’re doing about 40mph.
-3 Dario, Power, Helio, Tagliani, Dixon, Briscoe, Matos, Simona, Marco and RHR.
-1 White flag. No changes.
Checkered. Same as above.
That’s it, I’m out of here. I’m struggling to think of a worse race I’ve seen, including NASCAR and F1, and right now I’m not coming up with anything. That was 2 1/2 hours of my life wasted.
See you in 2 weeks at Sonoma. Maybe.
Bruno Junquera is in there somewhere.
Source: Autoblog
I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile but keep getting sidetracked. This is an off week so may as well put it all in a bucket with eggs on top.
I’m late on this, but I’ve had time to digest things. At first I was irritated by the whole aero-package thing. It’ll make the cars look different sounded to me like it’s all style over substance. Like a Mr. Potato-Head where you stick-on different things and get various looks, but fundamentally it’s still a potato.
But I liked the idea that Robin Miller floated, that it might bring in sponsors and corporate competitors in the form of automakers who would relish having a distinctive looking, unique car. To my mind, that means two things:
1) the aero package might change the performance. If a smaller team like Fisher or KV makes a good partnership, they might suddenly find themselves competitive.
2) if you really manage to lure big-time partnerships, they’re going to want results. That means the Penske-Ganassi dominance is going to have to end.
It’s two sides of the same coin, but it’s the same coin. The Penske-Ganassi dominance has to end. It’s killing the sport. Right now, everyone knows that if you’re not running on those two teams, you’re fighting for table scraps. Have you seen some of the interviews with hot drivers from other series (NASCAR is a good example) and they’re asked if they’d want to run the 500 if given an opportunity? Usually (if it’s a successful driver) they say sure—given the right opportunity with a competitive team.
There are 2-1/2 competitive teams right now, and even Andretti is running two good cars on any given week.
The bad part about all of this is that doesn’t kick in until 2012, which means there’s another entire season of Penske and Ganassi swapping podium positions. With each passing week I have a waning enthusiasm for it. I’m already hard pressed to be interested in this one.
I don’t want to end on that sour note, so I’ll reiterate that the point of this is optimistic. If the aero package really does affect performance, and if it lures more participants who will want to compete and win, it’ll be better for Indycar as a whole.
It just can’t come soon enough.