It's not so much that Dan Wheldon led all but 21 laps of the XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 Saturday Night, it's that the majority of the laps he didn't lead were spent mowing down the competition. That 20 second pit stop midway through the race was almost like Dan was throwing his own "debris yellow" to let the field catch back up. As it was, he lapped all but 4 cars!
Pardon me, Helio, but I think Dan's the one who gets to say "This is my world."
The Good
The TCGR cars looked way ahead of everyone else. It's just one race and the road courses will be closer, but please tell me we didn't wait six months to see this turn into a two-driver battle.
Aside from having Quattro caught up in Spock's mystery spin, Vision Racing looked almost as good as the Penske Racing cars. I can't believe I just said that.
Vitor was up racing with anyone without a Target on their car. He and Panther are going to contend all year if he can finish every race.
Kanaan made like twenty pit stops and still finished fifth. Impressive hustle.
I always hate to see pit stops determine a race, but...seven second pit stops ROCK! Nothing like watching a half dozen guys furiously scramble around like mad fools. Right-rear tire changers now get their time to shine.
I know the rain delay was annoying, but having an hour before the race to talk with all of the drivers and teams was actually kinda nice. Right up until they started talking about Penske and Ganassi's jets.
The Bad
Dreyer and Reinbold held together and finished, but they don't look nearly as strong during the race.
Rahal Letterman still has issues. Lots of issue. I missed not seeing more of their stylish rides.
It's only one race, but it would appear Brienne Pedigo is no Jamie Little. Maybe it's me, but it seemed like the last 50 laps were all Jack Arute. Maybe he scared Brienne and Vince when he declared "When you go hunting a rabbit, you need more than a rabbit's foot."
Helios Castroneves...paging Helio Castroneves...your season has begun...paging Mr Helio Castroneves...
The Ugly
Oh, Marco. Everyone wants to crown you champion and you finish Dead Freaking Last. At least it was enjoyable to watch you argue with your team to let you take the car back out.
Moto Marty about took out Sheckter, and possibly a few others. Going slow is one thing, but drifting all over the track is inexcusable.
Danica! nailed Franchitti's tire and his tire changer in the pits before busting her car while entering the pits late in the race. Afterwards she didn't allow post-race interviews.
The ESPN2 production team kept beating the Patrick vs. Fisher thing to death. Folks, you can't manufacture a rivalry, and you can't keep referring to them as "females". Did AJ Foyt start the race with "Females and gentlemen...?" Of course not.
Anyhow, it's good to be back with racing. Especially if your name is Floyd.
Barber Preview
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As you read this, Susan and I are headed to Barber Motorsports Park, for
our first in-person race of the season. By the way…there is still a race
this week...
7 hours ago
Dan's performance was awesome, but frankly I found it incredibly boring to watch due to the complete lack of competitiveness.
I hate to say it but if 3/4's of a 20 car field are going to be lapped every race it's going to make it pretty difficult to build the fan base up. Hopefully the lack of competition in yesterday's race will be an aberration as far as the season is concerned.
Also, I'm really glad next week's race is a street race, it looks like everyone else is weeks behind Ganassi as far as the big ovals are concerned.
I'm happy for Dan but as a fan of the IRL and someone who wants to see it grow I thought last night was a total letdown.
I agree with the above. Jack the Root is never more dangerous than during rain delays. If he starts improving it's going to be Circus City. The deal with the "who's jet is faster." WTF?
Agreed. In addition, when is Batgirl going to stop suffering brain-fade late in the race; and when is Sarah going to stop with the "practice fast, race slow" thing?
Excellent questions. Only consolation for Sarah was she wasn't the only one who found her car pigged out at race time. The Rahal boys an The Anointed One (Marco) both threw it into reverse at the green flag. Danica will be throwing her helmet at random engineers if this keeps going. I tell ya, she's going to SNAP. You can almost see the pressure on her.
There were parts of the race that I thought were great. But I'm already bored. I don't want a repeat of last season with Red Car Domination. B-O-R-I-N-G.
The part I did enjoy was Marco not getting to finish the race.
Did anyone else notice? Chip has lost some weight, hasn’t he?
Where was Dr. Punch????
MoneyCJ will pick the winner of every race this year.
I'm going to start watching from Vega$
At first I was a little disappointed with the lack of competition at the front, but then I started to think about what must have happened at TCGR in the off season for them to have such a dominant car. Before the season started, I would have bet everything I own that every drop of resource would have gone to the JPM tin-top experiment, but apparently I would have been wrong. With all the work the other teams put in, the Target guys must have put in a little bit more. I find it comforting that guys like Chip still have their heart in open wheel.