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Welcome to Saab92x.com!
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I scored some free tickets to the Indy Car Race at Sonoma yesterday. It wasn't terribly exciting.
They started off with GT/GTS stuff, which was much more interesting racing than the Indy cars. They had a good range of cars: Mustangs, Jaguars, R8s, Cadillacs, etc.:
There were at least a few interesting duels, and some good moments of faster cars negotiating past slower ones.
Then came the Indy cars, which were surprisingly uninteresting to watch, racing-wise. On the first lap (or the first lap after a full-course yellow), they were all bunched up enough that it was pretty cool, but by the time they came around the track, there were a few car lengths between everyone, with almost no passing. It was lame. We did catch one sweet skateboard-style slide along a curb, though:
In this one, you can see that they're all bunched up to begin with, and by the time they come around again at ~1:16, they're all spread out and single file. That's how it was most of the time.
We ended up leaving early to avoid traffic. Anyhow, thought you guys might like the rail slide video. 
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Scott Dixon got robbed. Will Power's crewman clearly made sure the tire he was carrying away made contact with Dixon's car as it exited the pits. It was so obvious in the replays. The commentators were shocked at the drive-thru penalty too. Total bullshit.
http://www.sbnation.com/indycar/2013/8/ … -of-season
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I don't think it's possible to "prove" intent. To me, that right rear wheelman was simply trying to clear the guy on the backup starter. To ask someone (the potential for serious injury is wicked high) to purposely put a wheel in the way in any form is soooo beyond protocol it's just preposterous. I just think the two cars ended up too close in their pitboxes. Longer pitboxes would be the solution, or space between them with a penalty of stopping "out of bounds", not an accusation of intent.
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I doubt he was told to do it, or that he decided to intentionally do it on his own, but it sure was pretty careless of him to be walking out there with the tire like that.
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If you look at the replay you can clearly see Will Power's tire changer is within their pit box as it is defined by the banners on the pit wall, not the lines on the pavement, so it doesn't matter how he carries the tire. If he were sticking the tire outside the pit box there should have been a penalty on Will Power, but he was still within the pit box so it doesn't matter how he carried it. Dixon drove into Power's pit box and hit equipment. He should (and was) penalized. Good call IMHO.
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Agreed, and if you pause it at ~0:39, you can see how far Dixon drove into the other pit box (assuming their banner marks off the extent of their pit box).
However, it still seems like it'd be worthwhile to look over and see where the other car is, seeing as you know that guy's gonna be coming out shortly.
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kornfeld wrote:
However, it still seems like it'd be worthwhile to look over and see where the other car is, seeing as you know that guy's gonna be coming out shortly.
That pit box was for the Nascar races, not the Indy Car races. But Indy Car will change that in future races by clearly marking the pit box areas.
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I just find it suspect, because in the previous pits, that tire changer held the tire IN FRONT of him when getting the used tire out of the way.
Then in this pit stop, he holds the tire out wide. If he held the tire in front of him, this incident would not have happened.
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speed808 wrote:
I just find it suspect, because in the previous pits, that tire changer held the tire IN FRONT of him when getting the used tire out of the way.
Then in this pit stop, he holds the tire out wide. If he held the tire in front of him, this incident would not have happened.
If find it suspect that Dixon's team forced Will Power to drive around the tires they had set out. 
It doesn't matter how the tire changer carries the tire within his own pit box. Look at the picture below - Dixon clearly crossed into their pit box, he has both left side tires in Power's box. (The banners mark the extents of the pit box.)
Even with INDYCAR's new "courtesy zones" (the dashed 45's in the picture) the tire changer was well within the pit box.
Bottom line, if Dixon hadn't crossed into Power's pit box this incident wouldn't have happened. But I'm biased since I think Will Power has one of the best names in motor racing ever. Dixon's just a Kiwi that can drive the wheels off an indy car.
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one could argue, if Dixon stayed within his pit box, the incident wouldn't have happened. I think the changer found space tight between his starter and Dixon's car, and they wanted to clear the space as quickly as possible, so he one armed it. I think the call is right. That's racing.
Note, I have no dogs in this fight (don't know if anyone on here does) so I feel I'm being pretty impartial. While I love racing, time constraints mean I am (barely) concentrating on 1 series (F1) and sort of IMSA/ALMS. My interest in IndyCar faded long ago when it became SpecOpenWheel and seeing how little has changed with the new car I still feel the same. I just hope USSCR doesn't become the SPECtacle Grand Am's roving Darth (Vader helmet) Prototype had become (yeah, the revision cars of the past two years are better, but).
Edit: Tonka beat me to it...
Last edited by Scargo (2013-08-30 17:00:41)
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One other thought - If Will Power's team had left the rear tire on the ground (like Dixon's team did) until after Power's left the pit Dixon would have been pretty close to clipping that too. One could argue that Team Penske was actually trying to give Dixon more room to exit, Dixon just wanted a little more.
Like Scargo I have no dogs in this fight, I just enjoy watching good racing whether it is Indycar, ALMS/Grand Am, or even NASCAR.
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speed808 wrote:
kornfeld wrote:
However, it still seems like it'd be worthwhile to look over and see where the other car is, seeing as you know that guy's gonna be coming out shortly.That pit box was for the Nascar races, not the Indy Car races. But Indy Car will change that in future races by clearly marking the pit box areas.
I was referring to the target/verizon banners, not the lines.
And as for the too-much-of-a-spec-series complaint, I agree, the racing was pretty boring in person. And I was surprised at just how big the cars are. They were gigantic compared to what I was expecting. I'm guessing that adds to the difficulty of passing...the cars just take up so much space.
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the cars got big b/c smashing into concrete oval walls sucked when the cars were the size they were in the late sixties (basically the same size as same period F1 cars. You saw the vintage F1 cars, I believe, right? Aren't they tiny? They're quite a bit bigger now (although nowhere the size of IndyCar) all for the same reasons...footbox, sidepod, airbox, and cockpit side protection, then the aero needed to smooth over all of those crush zones. This made the cars heavier, so the legal tires got bigger, which made the cars heavier, so they needed more motor....
The reality is, if they really want to slow down a race series for safety, they should start by shrinking the tire size envelope...
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