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Indycar 2018 Indy 500

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  • #16
    I'm just going to ramble my way through these thoughts so expect some bouncing around and typos. After being there in person, I've had time to watch the race now and catch some videos and other comments to help me collect my thoughts.

    I'm going to start with the end... I was more than a little surprised to hear Will Power on the radio after winning, seeing his wife's reactions and comments, and seeing Will himself in Victory Lane. Talk about someone humanizing themselves. Probably one of the better Victory Lane moments I can recall. He truly appreciated winning the Indy 500. From the look on his face as he saw the bottle of milk coming his way and what looked like a look of a realization that "This is real! I get to drink the milk!".
    Then the joyous swig of milk and the dousing of milk. But not just himself. The 500 Princess got a major dousing. Will had no idea he'd done it, his wife can be heard apologizing to her and trying to tell Will what he'd done... and then he finally realized it himself and what looked like a sincere look of horror that he'd done that when he saw the milk dripping off her face. But she was a good sport and seemed to accept his apology and all was good. Just another human moment.


    So those will probably be my biggest memories of the race. I respected Will before, but seeing his reactions to winning the race has now made me a Will Power fan.

    Other memories for me, going back to the start, will be seeing that first parade lap with 11 rows of 3 of these new cars and commenting how much better these cars look. Someone once said, if you're going to have spec cars there's no reason they can't at least look great.
    I didn't think about it at the time, but thinking about it now, I'm very glad 33 cars started. Not 35. It sucked to have a couple cars bumped, and especially a series regular, but they qualify for a reason.

    The other major memory will be Rossi carving up the field. While the track announcers and video boards were focusing on Danica (who'd fallen back... of course...), I saw how many spots Rossi had picked up quickly. Watching him, he put on a thrill show for the ages. These weren't slingshot passes either. These were real, brave, "I'm gonna find a way around you" passes. And his pit crew might've had issues 2 years ago but they had none yesterday. They were outstanding.




    TK and Foyt were on top of the world for a while. That tire puncture sucked for TK's chances but of course that late wreck ruined even a chance for a decent finish. Still, I think even AJ was impressed with the day and knew the other teams had to worry about the Foyt team again. So he liked that.

    Helio's drive for 4 ended sadly and I wondered as he made that long walk thru the pits if he was saying "goodbye" or thought that could possibly be his last run. Apparently, Cindric has confirmed they will have a car for Helio next season. But saying it now, and doing it next season after sponsor issues shake out for the team is a different thing.






    There were a few moments during the closing laps where people were starting to wonder if there was going to be a surprise, heat-warming win when Stefan Wilson took the lead. I'd been monitoring their radio though so I knew they were banking on one more yellow to make that strategy work. That yellow didn't come and midnight struck with a call to pit for a splash of fuel.



    Graham Rahal's run might've been impressive, but Rossi stole the thunder from him. Rahal was just going to salvage a good finish it looked like. Rossi, looked like he might find a way to win.



    Zach Veach knows what a scorcher it was at the track Sunday:



    Ed Carpenter had a great month on the oval. 2nd place isn't anything to sneeze about on a day like yesterday. But I'm sure he wanted add to that pole position and solid start to a commanding first place finish.



    Winner Will Power rolls back into the pits after taking the checkered flags of the 102nd Indy 500.




    I think the combination of heat and new aero conspired against the race as far as being a good show. But it's hard to argue with Will Power winning. He did the double this year winning the Indy GP to kick off the month and finally got to Victory Lane at Indy.
    I watched a lot of practice this year, and there was a lot of sling shot passing at the front. It was further back where the problems arose. In some way, the heat might've done everyone a favor because the flaws with the package came to the forefront right out of the box.
    In the garage some people were saying that we'd see what we saw. Others thought you wouldn't want to lead the race taking the white flag because you'd be a sitting duck. But in fact some thought the front of the field would be swapping positions twice per lap.

    The cars were designed to make their downforce underneath with little top downforce being made. Supposedly, downforce made with the underwing created less of a wake behind and would improve close racing. The problem came in with the idea of having tiny wings with little adjustment and no add on pieces. So the teams couldn't add downforce for racing deeper in the pack. That flaw became apparent during practice. But then the heat led to a greasy track which made that problem extend to even the front five cars where it wasn't expected to be an issue. The cars simply couldn't dial in enough downforce to attack hard off the corners to use the tow created by the front car.
    Making the problem worse in year one of this aero probably helped to draw attention to the flaws sooner rather than later versus a cool temp race where it might've been 'good enough' to believe it was good. I think they will be working a little harder to fix a problem they know they have versus thinking maybe it's not broke in the first place.

    Earlier in the month Helio talked about the front wing needing some more development. I think in reality, that both wings need some more development, and they need more options for the team to both dial in on pitstops as well as just use for general setup options putting the chassis together for the race. Larger wings, maybe a choice of wings, wicker bills, etc... and not just angle adjustments.
    Some will argue this comes with too much expense, but NOT spending money can cost money too...

    I'm not sure what the crowd numbers were, or were supposed to be, but we sure got in WAY more traffic than I have in the past couple of years using my formerly low traffic way to my parking spot. I'm not sure if we were running a little later or whether it was just more traffic. We also got in more traffic leaving.
    The traffic forced us into being late into the track where we then ran into another backlog with a mass of humanity stalling out. Normally, we beat all of that but the race traffic killed us.

    The line into the track was nothing, but people moving (people not moving I should say) once inside the main grandstand area was a mess. I'm sure some of the people never made it to their seats for the start. Many were being way too polite trying to get thru the line. You just have to move, and not wait for a flow that doesn't come. It was made worse by everyone with their little wheeled coolers (but that is another rant). We ended up cutting across the flow and just went to the closest stairs to the Paddock Penthouse a long way from my section and went across from upstairs. I was hoping the remodel didn't block one side from the other... and it didn't. There were still some delays up there, but nothing like below.


    Upstairs could've been fixed, or at least improved, with the yellow shirts moving some people along and stopping people from standing in the aisle.

    I don't want to complain too much, because once we sat down in our shaded seats, our life had to be a lot better than people on the open aluminum. It was hot, but shaded.

    Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

    ------

    "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

    -John Wooden
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    • #17
      Probably went without saying... which might explain why I didn't think about it...
      2018 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year:

      Robert Wickens

      Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

      ------

      "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

      -John Wooden

      Comment

      • #18
        Not sure if TV caught Kyle Kaiser's bad pit entry on his first stop. He hit the left front tire changer when he came in at an angle. Notice the angle of the car, the wall, and the positioning of the left front crewman.
        Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

        ------

        "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

        -John Wooden

        Comment

        • #19
          Unhappy that Ed was the bridesmaid again, but happy for Will and always glad when Helio doesn't win...
          BillS

          A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
          Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...
          • 1 like

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          • #20
            This is a link to some of the Rossi thrill show in the corner. I think he passed 5 cars around the outside. At one point it sounds like the spotter doesn't know what to say as Rossi squeezes into a space about 1/4" wider than his car between the wall and the inside car. ...at 200+ MPH...

            https://mobile.twitter.com/indy44/st...255232/video/1
            Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

            ------

            "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

            -John Wooden
            • 1 like

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            • #21
              Originally posted by BillS View Post
              Unhappy that Ed was the bridesmaid again, but happy for Will and always glad when Helio doesn't win...
              Lol what’s wrong with Hélio? Him going for 4 is always a good storyline and this sport pretty much needs any storyline that doesn’t involve a fatality.

              Helio has done a lot for the 500. He was the first guy to become a big name after the split, which was desperately needed after those years when they were running a bunch of jokers and trying to pass that off as the real Indy 500.
              • 1 like

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              • #22
                Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post

                Lol what’s wrong with Hélio? Him going for 4 is always a good storyline and this sport pretty much needs any storyline that doesn’t involve a fatality.

                Helio has done a lot for the 500. He was the first guy to become a big name after the split, which was desperately needed after those years when they were running a bunch of jokers and trying to pass that off as the real Indy 500.
                I'm not sure about BillS but the last of the few Helio haters I know think he's 'fake'. Which most have came over to his side as they have come to realize that is not the case. He is who he is.

                Side tracking... I remember at the Indy Super Bowl where Penske, Helio, and Will came in and Helio wanted Will to set in and play drums with the band that was playing in the Hall of Fame room at the Convention Center. The band had no idea who any of them were though, or the likelihood something like that might've gotten them some free publicity... maybe even a viral video. I need to remind them about those guys now that Will is an Indy 500 champ! LOL.

                But I digress...

                You know... I conceded the Indy 500 ROY Award to Wickens but I totally forgot about Leist. Wickens has developed such a cache as a rookie this season that him having a decent race just made him my first thought all along.
                But truthfully, Leist should have been in the conversation. His qualifying was very good. He was solid all month. He drove his way into the top 10 at one point before checking up for another car and then losing spots and eventually settling for 13th. Wickens got 9th which by virtue of being top 10 seems much better, but it's only 4 spots up on Leist.
                Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                ------

                "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                -John Wooden
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                • #23
                  I think a perfect storm for Indycar and the 500 might be Helio winning his 4th for next season when NBC takes over broadcasting the Indy 500. Not only will the race likely be better promoted on television in the lead up, but also the coverage should be much, much better.
                  NBCSN already does much better with coverage of Indycar in general so there's no reason to think they will slide backwards once they have the entire series to cover with their team. NBC has brought the coverage of the Kentucky Derby as an event to another level. You have to think they will do the same for Indy.
                  Having all the races under one network with the cross promotion that can breed all season long is another bonus. Plus a good portion of races on network TV available OTA and on basic cable without even a sports tier is good too. And the network promoting all of the races both on the mothership of NBC and on their cable networks.

                  Also, Indycar has a real, race condition, Indy test of the aero so they should be able to tweak it by next season to improve the product for the show.


                  And then to have a 4 time winner out of the gate which hasn't happened in 27 years now, and such a popular driver, would be the cherry on top of a media storm.
                  Last edited by Bball; 05-29-2018, 06:10 PM.
                  Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                  ------

                  "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                  -John Wooden
                  • 1 like

                  Comment

                  • #24
                    https://racer.com/2018/05/29/john-an...-has-returned/

                    John Andretti, who last November completed chemotherapy for colon cancer, has acknowledged that his cancer has returned and spread to other areas of his body.

                    Andretti, 55, revealed the news via Twitter, saying, “Following my six-month scans last week, we received the news that the cancer has returned and spread to other areas. We are in the process of evaluating our options of treatment. Although this is a difficult time for us, your continued prayers and support are very important to us.”
                    Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                    ------

                    "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                    -John Wooden

                    Comment

                    • #25
                      Originally posted by Bball View Post

                      And then to have a 4 time winner out of the gate which hasn't happened in 41 years now, and such a popular driver, would be the cherry on top of a media storm.
                      That, or Marco breaking the Andretti Driving curse for the 50th anniversary of Mario getting his 500.

                      Although I'm PRETTY sure I'm not 41 years old, and I was alive for two of the three members of the 4 Time Club getting their fourth win.
                      "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                      "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                      Comment

                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post

                        That, or Marco breaking the Andretti Driving curse for the 50th anniversary of Mario getting his 500.

                        Although I'm PRETTY sure I'm not 41 years old, and I was alive for two of the three members of the 4 Time Club getting their fourth win.
                        That was supposed to be a 3... 31 years ago.... But in reality it should be 27 years ago I believe... DOH! I was not giving the Rocket credit for 91 and thinking only of 87 and Sr as the last. For some reason I was thinking Al's got his 4th after Rick got his.
                        Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                        ------

                        "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                        -John Wooden
                        • 1 like

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                        • #27
                          Marco winning on the 50th anniversary would be a lucky Nascar type storybook storyline. Except Nascar would work covertly to see that it actually happened
                          Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                          ------

                          "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                          -John Wooden
                          • 1 like

                          Comment

                          • #28
                            Every year I watch that 2006 500 finish. Still the most thrilling finish I’ve ever seen, just wish Marco would have won it. Would love to see Marco win it, it’s just never come together for him after 06.

                            Imagine if Hornish stayed in Indycar? He would probably be tied with Hélio and Dario with 3.
                            • 1 like

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                            • #29
                              Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post

                              Lol what’s wrong with Hélio? Him going for 4 is always a good storyline and this sport pretty much needs any storyline that doesn’t involve a fatality.

                              Helio has done a lot for the 500. He was the first guy to become a big name after the split, which was desperately needed after those years when they were running a bunch of jokers and trying to pass that off as the real Indy 500.
                              He has one strike against him driving for Penske, but he isn't the only one so there is more

                              I loathe the whole "climbing the fence" thing.

                              He's the focus for my antipathy toward "big-time" drivers and fondness for small teams or individuals - who don't have a chance most times, but I can dream.

                              My father and I always had a good-natured rivalry over AJ (his guy) vs. Big Al (my guy). I don't want to see Helio in their club.

                              Ultimately, I just don't like him. It's not on the level my father hates Andrettis, though.
                              BillS

                              A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                              Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...
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                              • #30
                                I too have hope for NBC, but the problem they have to deal with just like ABC is that the sport has virtually no fans outside of the Indy 500. Even most of the Indy locals who love the 500 barely care about the sport the rest of the year. NBC has done great with the Derby, but horse racing has a lot of fans outside of the Derby. It’s big in massive East coast markets like NY and Baltimore, which obviously helps the Derby ratings.

                                NBC has been brilliant at hyping up the unique ambiance of the Derby atmosphere. They focus on celebrities, parties, neat alcoholic beverages that you can make at home, and fashion. Add some beautiful horses and the Churchill Downs steeples to that, and thata a helluva lot to draw big interest. The Derby is a true EVENT nowadays. It’s been turned into a fashion and party icon.

                                The 500 doesn’t quite have so many eye candy angles - it’s T-shirts instead of Derby hats, and domestic canned beer instead of Mint Julips. NBC will have to get a bit more creative to give it the abstract ambiance that is about more than just the event itself.

                                Not to start a split debate, but obviously the TV ratings problems are traced directly to that. Millions of people stopped caring about the sport, and they didn’t raise their kids to be fans either. The prestige of the event was destroyed by a paranoid power grab which tried to pass off joke outlaw racers as being the real Indy 500.

                                To Joe Schmo in Little Rock or Spokane, it just doesn’t feel like true RACING anymore. Watch the thrilling 1989 dual between Fittipaldi and Unser before Al hit the wall, or the Andretti high pass on Mears in 91, or the Unser-Goodyear dual in 92.....the drivers used to get out in the open and actually RACE. It felt like there was no limit to the speeds or the passes.

                                For years, it just hasn’t felt like the drivers can truly RACE...at least not compared to the old days. The cream rises to the top, but there’s just always that feel that the drivers are held back by their cars. You don’t get that true out in the open racing anymore with thrilling machines. The 12-17 500’s were unquestionably thrilling, but a lot of it was just spec car sling shot passing and drafting. It’s a lot of driving and passing, but Not that true RACING feel.
                                Last edited by Sollozzo; 05-31-2018, 03:26 PM.

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