Getting back up to speed

It's been a while since my last blog and a lot has happened in the world of Indycar.  The biggest change has been the fact that the races have actually become, well races and not demolition derby.  

I will keep my thoughts on NOLA short and sweet.  The series was stupid not to start the race earlier, and it was ended far to short.  They had at least 90 minutes of decent weather before the big storms arrived.  There should be no worries about starting early even if it doesn't fall into the TV broadcast window.  Just have it on tape delay.  So what if it bothers all 350,000 people that were watching?  As far as the track, it is obviously not up to standards to holding a major race of any kind.  The people in charge of NOLA seem to be all for making improvements to the infrastructure.  That and a date change to February would make it possible for this race to be somewhat of a success.  The race itself was horrible unless you enjoy watching the pace car lead the field.  I am a fan of Johnny Rutherford, but I prefer not to see him leading races a few decades after his retirement.  The only bright spot of the race was seeing Sam Schmidt and James Hinchcliffe in victory circle.

Long Beach was about all one could ask for from a street circuit.  It was a lot of green flag racing and the quickest cars stayed up front.  Yes it was follow the leader with some passing in the field, but street courses are always difficult to pass.  I would rather have what happened at Long Beach than what we had the first half of the St. Pete race.  On a personal note, I am not a big fan of street races and I wish Indycar only went to St. Pete, Long Beach, and Detroit.  I say Detroit, because I am sure it makes GM happy.  It was great to see Dixon finally win at Long Beach.  It was the only thing missing from his hall of fame resume.

Now if the racing improved at Long Beach, then it was out of this world in Alabama.  I have always been a fan of this track and it was definitely action packed this year.  The track is great for TV and for the 50,000 fans that show up on race day.  It was just icing on the cake seeing the top two finishers being young Americans.  It was great to see another American finish fifth.  Alabama proved that their is hope for American drivers in Indycar, and looking at the Mazda Road to Indy we see another good American driver in Spencer Pigot working his way up the ladder.  I fully expect good things from Josef and Graham the rest of the season.  What is most impressive with Graham is the fact that he is competing in a Honda, which is still behind the Chevy boys.  I said in an earlier post that I fully expect Honda, especially Marco and RHR to be very strong at the 500 this year.

The last couple of weeks have been fantastic.  I went from thinking, "boy this is going to be one loooong season." To, "boy this season is far to short!!"  I hope everyone has an enjoyable month of May.  I know where Brickyard Addiction will be spending a lot of time and money in the next 30 days!!  

Take care everyone, and talk to you soon.

   

  

Views on St. Pete

The first race with the new aero kits is in the books and what have we learned?  We learned that the kits produce a lot more debris, which surprises nobody.  However, what was more of a problem?  The new kits being fragile, or the fact that for the first 50 laps or so, the drivers were racing like their brains were still on vacation?  I choose the latter.  I don't care what cars they were driving, there was going to be a lot of cautions early on regardless.  The driving at times looked very amateur, but once the drivers realized that they were not in bumper cars, the action and quality got a whole lot better.  The new setups didn't create a boring race, and I think that no matter how much of an advantage Chevy or Honda has, half the field will always have that advantage.  The fact that it looks like Penske is far and away ahead of everyone else might be a concern, but at least the Captain chose this as the season to have four drivers in his stable.  At the very least we should always have a battle for the lead as we saw with Power and JPM.  I for one don't expect Penske to keep the advantage for the duration of the season.  At least not over the rest of the Chevy teams.

We have had only one race and in all honesty, I thought it would be worse than it was.  I enjoyed the race, and I look forward to see what unfolds at a natural road course when the series competes at NOLA for the first time.  I also look forward to the month of May to see what the speedway kits look like.  As dominant as Penske was at St. Pete, I have a feeling that Ganassi and possibly KV racing will have something to say a week from Sunday.  As for Honda, the fact that they don't have as many quality teams and drivers, and the fact that they seem to be off the pace of the Chevy teams, could mean it could take a few races to catch up.  I do expect them to be competitive once again at Indy.  I think they will have things figured out for the biggest race of the year, and they have two drivers in Marco and RHR that can can certainly deliver at the world's greatest 2.5 mile track. 

Early season thoughts on the aero kits

Time to start off the blogging!!  This first blog is just some early observations on the aero kits.  First off, there is no way that the current product of Indycar can compare with what CART was from about 1991-1999.  That will probably never be equaled again when we consider the current economics and popularity of the sport.  Any comparison would be a waste of time in my opinion, and just prevents the sport from moving forward.

So far I like what I see.  The cars look different as far as Chevy and Honda goes, which creates more brand recognition than just a manufacturer decal on the side of the car.  I also believe that it will create a decent amount of buzz around Motorsports to see what these cars can do.  In most years it is horrible for the first oval race to be the 500, but this year it might actually play into the series hand, because nobody will know what to expect with the super speedway aero packages.  Hopefully that will create some buzz for the biggest race on the schedule, and since 1995 any buzz is good buzz at 16th and Georgetown.

Many people are thinking that the new cars will rely on aero grip so much that it will take the quality of racing down a notch or two, and that is a real possibility.  In theory, the more aero grip is relied on, the more difficult it will be to step out of line to attempt a pass.  However, I believe that there is a trade off when you invoke more freedom into what was really a spec series.  If teams are going to do things drastically different, then it surely will affect the product.  The only question at the end of the season will be, was it worth it to open up the rule books and risk upsetting what I and many believe to be the most competitive series the last three years?  Only time will tell, and I can't wait to find out.