Indy 500 Quali

[opinionated ow]

Interesting results from Indy qualifying:
*Colton Herta locks into front 3 rows (son of Bryan who won at COTA this year in his rookie season)
*Ben Hanley & Dragonspeed (from World Endurance Championship) make it in
*Pippa Mann & Clauson-Marshall Racing (from USAC Sprints/Midgets) make it in
*Fernando Alonso & McLaren are 1 of 6 to battle for the last 3 spots
*James Hinchcliffe bins it and his T-car was not fast enough so he stands a chance of not making it for the 2nd year in a row

[rabbit]

Alonso bumped despite posting speed faster than three other drivers, including two full-timers from top teams. The new format does produce drama, but not fairness. #thefastest33

[nrc]

Would the proposed reserved spots have come into play this weekend?

[opinionated ow]

Would the proposed reserved spots have come into play this weekend?

Yep. Carlin failed with 2 of their 3 entries.

[devilmaster]

https://apnews.com/a8653967a9714ac7a9a3ba576f712fff

comedy of errors indeed.

[rabbit]

https://apnews.com/a8653967a9714ac7a9a3ba576f712fff

comedy of errors indeed.
Was just coming here to post this. What an absolute cluster.

[opinionated ow]

https://apnews.com/a8653967a9714ac7a9a3ba576f712fff

comedy of errors indeed.


Was just coming here to post this. What an absolute cluster.

Wow...still can't believe they screwed up so badly

[devilmaster]

Wow...still can't believe they screwed up so badly

The brit that took the fall was a mo nunn guy.

Hopefully let GdF run the American show. I'm thinking he can make it work.

[JLMannin]

Was it true that Alonso?s backup was in the paint shop getting the right shade of papaya orange? And that?s why it took two days to get back on track after his accident on Tuesday morning?

[devilmaster]

Was it true that Alonso?s backup was in the paint shop getting the right shade of papaya orange? And that?s why it took two days to get back on track after his accident on Tuesday morning?

yep.

https://apnews.com/a8653967a9714ac7a9a3ba576f712fff

[RTKar]

I give them credit for not buying a ride.

[SteveH]

I give them credit for not buying a ride.

May be the only thing they did right all month.

[swift]

Anyone catch the race? I'm happy for Simon; seemed like a good guy from his Walker Racing days. He's been fast all month- definitely earned this one.

What's the word on the Bourdais-Rahal (a reunion of sorts of Newman-Haas teammates) incident on lap 178?

Dangerous chop by Sebastien?
Low percentage move by Graham?
One of them racin' deals?

[gjc2]

Low percentage move by Graham?

That's what I think, however Bourdais should have given him room.

[Mary]

Believe it or not, I actually watched the race. I only paid attention because of Alonso (watched for the first time since 1995 in 2017 because he was in it). When he didn't qualify (and I did not watch any qualifying) I didn't expect to watch, but I did and can honestly say I really enjoyed it. Listen, I thought that I might start following IndyCar again after the 2017 Indy, but I just didn't have any interest. I don't think that will change. Although I had some idea who most of the drivers were, I don't know anything about most of the teams, did not recognize the liveries, don't know much about the cars, and am not really willing to sort it all out now.

Still, it was a fun race to watch with a thrilling end. I've read that IndyCar is very competitive and I can see that. Frankly it was the best race of the day although I did enjoy the Monaco GP. The 600 put me to sleep. Don't know that it was that bad, but it is too damned long for those relatively slow cars and they seemed to be having more yellows than usual while I did watch (seriously, I fell asleep).

@Swift - Rahal was being a bit optimistic with that move but Bourdais chopped. Racing deal, but a scary one.

NBC's coverage. I used love watching the Olympic Games. After watching what NBC did to the coverage over recent years, I stopped watching them. I absolutely hate their coverage; they have seriously ruined the games for me. They only concentrate on Americans (so we never even see events where Americans are not competitive) they film and chop up the coverage so we don't see anything longer than a 100 meter sprint in real time, and they way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way overdo the "up close and personal" segments. I'm cringing writing this. So, keep this in mind while reading my Indy 500 coverage review.

Leigh Diffey, Paul Tracy and Townsend Bell were fine, but Mike Tirico, Danica Patrick & Dale Earnhardt, Jr were not so great. Junior is good on TV, but I don't know that he had much to contribute to this event. He did not pretend to be an Indy expert, which I appreciated. I like him, so I'm probably not being as critical as some might be. Danica does know what she is talking about and she added some insight, but she didn't add anything that Tracy & Bell couldn't have. Also, did she really have to mention her one major series win? Tirico is meh, at least where racing is concerned. I get the feeling NBC is trying to find work for him until Al Michaels hangs up the mike so they are sending him to everything--just like Forest Gump. My biggest quibble is that ABC always got a good finish line shot. They always had the horse racing finish line shot (albeit from the opposite direction). NBC missed it, IMO. I didn't know they crossed the line of bricks until the announcer said so, and even having watched it a few other times, it is hard to see. What was the goofy camera angle they used and why did they use it? Does ABC own the good angle? Were they trying to be clever? If so, it didn't work. It just seemed off. They can fix this, and I hope they do for next year.

I did appreciate that they didn't compare this to NASCAR to explain stuff. That drove me nuts when NBC did F1. The F1 broadcasts were like F1 for Dummies; I guess they've done enough IndyCar events that they felt it wasn't necessary? I've never watched their IndyCar broadcasts; and the 2017 500 on ABC had Cheever and Goodyear, who were vomit-inducing for an old CART fan.

Will I watch the Indy 500 again? Probably, I really enjoyed it and, this year vs 2017 made me realize that I did miss it and, that once upon a time it was something I looked forward to watching and, the only time I sneered was when I saw Tony George, LOL.

[Hard Driver]

Graham was a little too optimistic with that move, Bourdais "giving him room" would put Bourdais up in the gray and into the wall. Not side by side in the corners at that point. He didn't have it on the strait from the draft and tried to shove it in there down in the corner.

Not a fan of some of the middle where nobody wants to lead, but generally a good race. Could have stuck to the normal announcers. The extra guys in the pit box booth with Danica, Earnhardt and whatever that guy was didn't add anything.


Pagenaud earned it, led most of the day, and was the car to beat. He deserves the win.

[Lux Interior]

Here's how I view American Open Wheel now: You can be mad about something that happened 24 years ago, or just forget about it and watch racing. The racing has been good lately and Indycar has a talented field of drivers. By the way, if you get the extra sports channels, Blancpain GT is very good. It's on CBS sports.

[opinionated ow]

A few thoughts now I've watched the (illegal) youtube replay. Thanks to some random bloke called Jim who put it up:
*The way they presented the opening and the festivities was great. Wouldn't have minded seeing a little bit more of the stuff on track like the marching bands and the like though.
*Junior is actually a really good broadcaster and I think he was good to be the guy to ask the questions of stuff he didn't understand. Any time you have an event of that magnitude likely to be exposing new eyes to the sport you need that. They didn't dumb it down too much and you could also see in Junior's eyes who much in awe of the place and the race he was.
*Never liked Danica as a racer but with some proper training I actually think they could turn her into a decent analyst/specials presenter. I don't think she's quick enough on her feet to be a commentator though.
*I don't mind Rutledge Wood but I don't think it was worth having him there over Robin Miller. Maybe if there had been lengthy yellows/reds with nothing to talk about you could have used him more to interview fans like I've seen him do in NASCAR races
*The race was good. It was more like old school Indy than the crap the 0.1RL put on right up until the current wing set. These wings make the cars sketchy to drive and as we saw at the end of the race if your car is going off it's possible to defend but a committed, thinking driver can make a move-high or low.
*Got to feel sorry for Herta. 1 great win this year and nothing but trouble since-most of it not his doing.
*Rahal really should have backed out of that move on French Fry. It was a low percentage chance early in the race, at the end it was never going to happen-Bourdais was never going to let someone through that easily.
*Pagenaud has been on fire lately. I hope for his sake May rolls into June etc.

[devilmaster]

Also, there was a car in front of bourdais, not sure if it was for position or a backmarker...

but for a race that was all about staying in line if you want a tow and save fuel, he was probably also looking forward and not expecting a pass that was, to be honest, a little late. Passing nowadays - You get alongside before the corner and force the guy high to let off.

[SteveH]

https://apnews.com/a8653967a9714ac7a9a3ba576f712fff

comedy of errors indeed.

https://twitter.com/offtrack_fr/status/1654614204043735041?s=57&t=oFXcsN2wTfApq6UdUB40Qg

[devilmaster]

https://twitter.com/offtrack_fr/status/1654614204043735041?s=57&t=oFXcsN2wTfApq6UdUB40Qg

Hmmm. wow. well. ummm. what can I say here....

at least it wasn't a 767 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider) over manitoba!

[TravelGal]

https://twitter.com/offtrack_fr/status/1654614204043735041?s=57&t=oFXcsN2wTfApq6UdUB40Qg


Hmmm. wow. well. ummm. what can I say here....

at least it wasn't a 767 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider) over manitoba!

Mon dieu! That's really pathetic though.

[opinionated ow]

:rolleyes: that whole programme was actually a fiasco. Remember the wrong orange colour part?

[pfc_m_drake]

Well, it hapens to the bes of us.


The primary cause of this discrepancy was that one piece of ground software supplied by Lockheed Martin produced results in a United States customary unit, contrary to its Software Interface Specification (SIS), while a second system, supplied by NASA, expected those results to be in SI units, in accordance with the SIS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

That said, if I had purchased a car setup from Andretti for $2 million I wold hae stipulated that we got an engineering consultant on loan from Andretti (at leat for qualifying) to make sure we put that $2 million setup on our car CORRECTLY (avoiding exactly that kind of confusion).