2012 IndyCar Series

[Dan Smith]

Great day of racing. Watched Monaco at home, then drove to Charlotte for the 600. Watched the Indy 500 on the huge screen on the backstretch. The collective "Ohhh" from the crowd in the stands when Sato lost it was huge - a lot of people were pulling for him as the underdog.
If he would have only waited for turn 3...

I was routing for Sato. Absolutely gutted when the crash happened! Maybe next year.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Very good race, a but pissed Hinchcliffe couldn't do more but still a strong finish

I really wondered how Danica would do this year since Hinchcliffe is essentially in the exact same spot as her....

*checks NASCAR.com results.... Danica = 30th with 5 laps down at the 600*

Nevermind... I think I answered my own question

Great day of racing. Watched Monaco at home, then drove to Charlotte for the 600. Watched the Indy 500 on the huge screen on the backstretch. The collective "Ohhh" from the crowd in the stands when Sato lost it was huge - a lot of people were pulling for him as the underdog.
If he would have only waited for turn 3...

Yeah Sato essentially doomed himself anyway. If he didn't spin, Dario had 1-2 more turns to just slingshot past him... likely on T3 or at the start/finish. If Sato was more patient and just waited for T3 he would have very likely been able to draft around him..

After all that's how Hornish beat Marco Andretti. Sato's fault. But a good effort nonetheless

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

In a strange twist of fate, 1 former CEO (likely Tony George), a former champion, 3 owners, and 2 team managers are strongly petitioning for Randy Bernard to be fired from IndyCar asap. According to Jenna Fisher, the complaints against Bernard are as follows:

Jenna Fryer ‏@JennaFryer
@tonytellez Turbo, fines, not getting their way, not liking Beaux, not liking Will Phillips, sponsorship difficulties.

(Source: http://twitter.com/tonytellez/status/207658018555432960)

The turbogate controversy is probably one of the stupidest "scandals" in IndyCar history. Honda didn't "pull a fast one" on Chevy and built it's single large turbo within regulations. Honestly, the Honda engine isn't even stronger compared to the Chevys as the Chevys have won 4 races out of 5 so far. There isn't much of a reason to complain about losing the 500 to a Honda.

If Randy Bernard gets fired, the petitioners are seeing Tony George as a possible replacement to be reinstated back into ICS (it'll be IRL all over again ) or possibly a team owner or a group of team owners to start managing the entire series and rulebook.

In my honest opinion, Randy needs to stay and I have no idea why the IndyCar world is starting to get turned upside-down. He was given a sinking ship when Tony George stepped down and when the IRL was hemorrhaging 20 million dollars per season and turned it around to suddenly foster a growth.

The change in engines, the change in chassis, the addition of more international races, the refusal to remove all ovals from the schedule (like when ChampCar did) were all decisions in the right direction. Sure the Las Vegas promotional was actually a very poor decision but it was a massively tragic mistake that everyone overlooked (including the drivers who said they were very much "looking forward to the race" during the Vegas pre race. I have that on my computer I can prove it to you if you dont believe me).

IndyCar has lost international and even national importance with this type of bickering that destroyed CART and formed the stupid ChampCar v. IRL war. I can't believe we might be going down that path again when IndyCar finally has managed to find some sort of footing in the international motorsports world. If Randy is fired and Tony George comes back, American Open Wheel racing is might as well just fold and save everyone all this trouble.

I personally know this will be a very sad way for IndyCar to end...

 

[Ivo Simons]

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

I absolutely love the fact that Indy uploads their races on youtube. Perfect way to help an audience that doesn't get the IndyCar feed

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/miller-the-most-repulsive-revolt/

^ Article by Robin Miller

Now in full detail. If Randy Bernard gets forced out of IndyCar by these owners I'm going to completely leave IndyCar as a fan period. I can't take much more of this stupid bickering again just when IndyCar might have a shot of being something other than a laughing stock for the past 5 years. The intro to the article sums it up perfectly for those who aren't aware of IndyCar's very troubled past

In my 44 years of reporting on Indy car racing, I’ve witnessed the demise of open-wheel racing on multiple occasions because of an endless road of bad decisions, poor leadership and self-serving people.

USAC had the best competition on the planet for 25 years before disintegrating and eventually losing Indy cars and the Indianapolis 500.

CART came along with good ideas and bad execution yet still managed to overcome the desire to eat its own by rising to new heights in the early to mid-90s before sinking when all its captains jumped ship.

The IRL was born out of a ransom note using Indy as hostage before losing its vision and morphing into the very entity it detested.

And now we have INDYCAR teetering on the brink of anarchy.

 

[Thilo Falkenberg]

Michael Andretti ‏@michaelandretti
Very disappointed in Robin Miller reporting things before knowing the truth! There is no lynch mob! #sensationalism

If the speed this grows continues we'll have a Simpson-like mob tomorrow

I guess we really need someone to sort out what was said what was done and what was fiction.

 

[David Jundt]

I'd want to force out the guy that had the brilliant idea to introduce Lotus to IC, the biggest misunderstanding ever, so it seems.

HVM should be freed too, I can't watch Simona crawling around with such a joke of an engine.

Blackflagged in Indy for god's sake.

I can't believe the gap between Chevy and Honda is as big as it is down to Lotus.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

I'd want to force out the guy that had the brilliant idea to introduce Lotus to IC, the biggest misunderstanding ever, so it seems.
HVM should be freed too, I can't watch Simona crawling around with such a joke of an engine.

That'd be more understandable but this is more of the Chevys complaining that Honda got to change the size of their single turbo (which is in the rules that they can do that). This is also Barnes (Panther racing manager) and Tony George wanting to get IndyCar back to the IRL days. Which is an absolute travesty.

IndyCar cannot go back to the way they were doing things during the split. If that happens you might as well just make the Indy 500 a nascar race and put IndyCar into the ground

 

[Eric Parker]

Having Tony George in charge would ruin the sport. His cocaine decisions are what led to the split in the first place. There is a reason the Hulman family removed him from the head of the IMS. Really what needs to happen here is the chevy teams need to appeal to the manufacturer, not insist on the head of the sport being fired. Besides the first 4 races were won by chevy's and the top 9 in qualifying for the 500 were predominately that engine. Boo-hoo, some one did their home work and beat you. Jackasses.

 

[Guy Moulton]

Hinchcliff got unlucky and a piece of the track tore up and launched him into a barrier and out of the race. There was this sealer crap that was supposed to seal up these 2" deep x 6" wide gouges in the road that started to peel up in chunks and strips when the Indycars' downforce sucked it up. There was a lengthy red flag period while the track marshals rigged up a temporary solution.

The restart was chaotic and then a small rain shower came and turned the track into a skating rink for a few laps. Made for an interesting ending to the race though.

Indycar has been doing OK and has been steadily clawing back an audience- but this was one of the few ABC races this year AND THE DAMN TRACK FELL APART. These poor guys can't win for losing. You could tell in an interview that Rubens was not at all impressed with this track saying that it was rough. IMHO this track (historic or no) is an abomination and I don't know WTF Indycar was thinking allowing it on the calendar. I hope they never go back unless the city of Detroit decides to repave the damn road.

 

[Eric Parker]

The track was falling apart just like the rest of Detroit. They should run on permanent road courses and not these boring city circuits anyway.

 

[Scott Webber]

i watched the race, it was like watching the F1 bahrain race, very long and boring

im suprised by the crashes they on the restart.... the drivers looked frustrated and eager to ahead.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Anyone who watched this race picked the wrong indycar race to watch lol. This was definitely the most borin race by far.

Belle Isle is essentially the Valencia of Indycar. Texas this weekend however should be a good one

 

[Jesse Doornbusch]

The 2012 Firestone 550K will be the twenty-second running of the Firestone 550 and the seventh round of the 2012 IZOD Indycar Series. It will take place on Saturday, June 9, 2012. The race will contest over 228 laps at the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

Facts: Firestone 550K
228 laps, 550 Kilometres, 342 Miles and great racing!

Results:
1. Justin Wilson 228 laps 01:59:02.0131
2. Graham Rahal
3. Ryan Briscoe
4. James Hinchcliffe
5. JR Hildebrand
6. Simon Pagenaud
7. Helio Castroneves
8. Will Power
9. Alex Tagliani
10. James Jakes
11. Tony Kanaan
12. Ed Carpenter
13. Josef Newgarden
14. Dario Franchitti
15. Katherine Legge
16. Mike Conway
17. Marco Andretti
18. Scott Dixon DNF
19. EJ Viso DNF
20. Oriol Servia DNF
21. Ryan Hunter-Reay DNF
22. Takuma Sato DNF
23. Charlie Kimball DNF
24. Rubens Barrichello DNS
25. Simona de Silverstro DNS

 

[Thilo Falkenberg]

On the first provisional schedule this was planned two 114 lap races for full points... What made them change it back to one 550km race?

 

[Eric Estes]

The twin races didn't work out as well as expected last year, that is probably why they went back to a single race.

 

[William Levesque]

The track is great, plenty of place to overtake, you just got to have balls

 

[Jesse Doornbusch]

from wikipedia.com:

Twin races
For 2011, a special Twin race format was adopted, a throwback to the USAC-style twin races of the 1970s and early 1980s. The race would consist of two 275-km (114 laps) races, with each race declaring a separate winner, and each race awarding half points towards the season championship. The starting lineup for the first race was determined during standard time trials. After the completion of the first race, a "halftime" was observed, and the starting lineup for the second race was determined by a random draw.
A mild controversy resulted from the halftime draw for the second race's lineup. It differed from previous "twin" races where the finishing positions for the first race determined the lineup, or the finishing positions were inverted. It was considered unfair by some, and it was magnified when points contenders Will Power and Dario Franchitti drew 3rd and 28th starting positions, respectively. For 2012, the twin-race format was scrapped.

 

[Thilo Falkenberg]

nice race so far No packs and the slipstream is creating huge drags. Now it gets dark so it now gets some flair. Shame for Rubinho and Simona though.