Indy Car's Return to Road America

[BoogerMac]

This race did not disappoint. I was very impressed by the side-by-side racing throughout the grid and the last six laps were very exciting. They're lucky nothing happened at the pit exit / end of the straightway with guys going straight to the racing line out of the pits. I thought Kanaan was going to crush JPM when Kanaan was doing 190mph down the front stretch...great driving on his part!

Did anyone else enjoy it? Not enjoy it?

 

[the_sigman]

This race did not disappoint. I was very impressed by the side-by-side racing throughout the grid and the last six laps were very exciting. They're lucky nothing happened at the pit exit / end of the straightway with guys going straight to the racing line out of the pits. I thought Kanaan was going to crush JPM when Kanaan was doing 190mph down the front stretch...great driving on his part!

Did anyone else enjoy it? Not enjoy it?

The middle part was a bit boring. But otherwise, fantastic racing and a great drive by Power and Kanaan! So gutted for Dixon though. so unlucky.

 

[kedy89]

Got home to watch the last 15 laps or so, enjoyed it a lot. Kanaan's late charge was impressive. Any word yet on what was going on with Pagenaud? Switched back to football right after the chequered flag, not quite up to date with things yet.
Happy they brought Road America back in the calendar, imo it's a fantastic track.

 

[johnnymat]

An outstanding race with lots of passing throughout the whole field. Robin Miller said on Racer Magazine's Facebook page that there were 134 passes from the front of the field through 12th. place. These were not pit stop passes. The lone yellow made for some really intense racing at the end. It was too bad to see Conor crash with a suspension failure; that was at really high speed.

 

[TheGrunt]

An outstanding race with lots of passing throughout the whole field.

This. Especially the last few laps after the yellow were true nail biters.

And it was wonderful to see so much crowd on the track, almost like on CART hay days. Only thing that was noticeable in the crowds was that most of the spectators seemed to be older gentlemen, very few younger ones in the audience. And that is not a good thing for the sport.

But definitely a great show and I hope that IndyCar understands to keep these venues on the calendar which a) offer terrific racing b) bring the fans in. And seek more of them.

 

[fortyfivekev]

Really enjoyed the part of the race from the yellow to the chequered flag, the part before that wasn't as exciting though. Hope the crowd continues to come and wasn't just there for the first race back. Race fans at the track will always be a bit older as it is expensive especially if you have to travel far.

Some of the cars seemed to have gone with higher downforce so looked slow on the straights which seemed to account for a few of the normally fast runners.

They should sort out a longer blend line at pit exit as it seemed dangerous to see people fanning out across the track with guys coming up at full speed behind.

 

[johnnymat]

This. Especially the last few laps after the yellow were true nail biters.

And it was wonderful to see so much crowd on the track, almost like on CART hay days. Only thing that was noticeable in the crowds was that most of the spectators seemed to be older gentlemen, very few younger ones in the audience. And that is not a good thing for the sport.

But definitely a great show and I hope that IndyCar understands to keep these venues on the calendar which a) offer terrific racing b) bring the fans in. And seek more of them.

Unfortunately, you're right about the crowds as far as the average age appears to be. In order for the series to prosper and grow, they need to appeal to a younger audience.
Having said that, the track owner said this was the biggest crowd they ever had at the track; this is any event or any era ever.
The other good thing is the fact they will be racing at Watkins Glen, which is another iconic track.