If you watched the Iowa 100 online today then you learned at least one thing about the new Iowa Speedway: Beware of Turn Four.
From the start of the race several drivers had incidents of either going too wide or getting too dicey with others in the final turn on the sub-mile track that left all those fans in the front straightaway with a lovely view of sliding or slamming vehicles. As Pressdog would say, it was a "festival of carbon fiber". Let's see how many ICS drivers lift or dive low in that turn tomorrow.
The race itself was a two-man battle between Alex Lloyd and Wade Cunningham. Wade did a fine job of blocking defending by going low in the turns and high elsewhere to use up all available lines, until with 12 laps to go he gave Alex room to go low and that was that.
Hideki Mutoh put together another solid effort, finishing third. For a guy who had never driven an oval, he's learning rather expeditiously. Mutoh battled the last half of the race with Sean Guthrie, who got high in (surprise!) turn four and crashed hard into the pit wall. Guthrie got out under his own power but was later reported to have a broken foot.
Meanwhile, a sincere "crap your pants" moment occurred when Jonathan Klein got caught up in (take a guess) turn four and slid down the track. At nearly 90 degrees. In traffic. All I could think of was "Alex Zanardi" before Andrew Prendeville incredibly dove down to the grass to avoid t-boning Klein. Missed him by thatmuch, thankfully.
Congratulations, Alex. That's six wins and two places in eight races. Sheesh! I hope you're getting excited about driving for Marty Roth in Chicago later this season.
The Times They Are a-Changin’
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This past Sunday was a dreaded day, by many. Others, like me, never give it
much thought. It was the day of the time change from Daylight Saving Time
(DST)...
2 days ago
Nice sum Jeff.
Jonathan was quite unhappy after the incident, but it looked to me that he started it all by rear-ending Stephen Simpson. Maybe the former lifted, I never saw a replay, but it looked like a self-inflicted wound. And Andrew used all of his "Bertil Roos School" driving instructor tricks to avoid Klein on the grass...Allstate "Good Hands" Award goes to Mr. Prendeville.
Got to make a point to watch this one on the replay. It was a terrific match!
Thanks, Allan. I saw the replays a few times (online in a 3"x3" window) and I think Simpson just lost it while Klein was behind him. It's possible Klein ran up on him, but Simpson looked high in the turn when he got into trouble.
Race replay is TUESDAY this week, not Thursday, so don't let it sneak past you or fail to set TIVO correctly.
It was a doo-zey, and as I said on the IndyProRacer.com site, was the better race of the weekend's pair
Minor correction: It's Tuesday allright, but it's July 3rd (not this current week) the date of the Iowa 100 replay on TV