in order to have a memorable moment.
Having watched the re-air* of the race on ESPN2, it was a fairly typical race for Danica. At best, she had a 5th place car. She badly botched the last restart (around lap 150 of a very clean event), though she did well on the previous restart. And she remains too timid in traffic. As she admitted, luck (for the most part) got her the win. Furthermore, due to the odd circumstances of the weekend, it was only an 18-car field. Next weekend, 27 (IIRC) in Kansas.
Still, it is unfair to apply even a mental asterisk to this. Anyone who has watched the sport knows that fuel mileage wins are a part of it. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of the sport is that the best car does not always win. Whatever the circumstances, they all count as wins. So, while DanicaMania grew tiresome (ugh, we'll be treated to a bunch of it come May), and I think she's basically a competent mid-packer, she won a race. For that, I congratulate her.
*Yeah, I'm sure they would have re-aired it if Dixon had won. /snark ESPN kept hawking this like this was teh. greatest. thing. evar. Even a mention on the Sports Reporters. So much for my theory that the ICS would slow down its Danica marketing. Nice call, huh?
Showing posts with label IndyCar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IndyCar. Show all posts
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
So, it ends
In awkward, shotgun wedding style, this weekend officially ends the 12-yr. Indycar civil war. Champ Car will run its final race (with the DP01) in Long Beach, while the IRL runs in Motegi, Japan, Honda's track.
As a result, both fields will be small and full of fillers who have no business on a race course. Ultimately, though, it provides one FINAL chance to "choose sides" in this mess. The haters have one last moment in the sun. From this point on, the decision is this: Do you leave the sport (perfectly reasonable), or do you stick it out and see what happens? "Us vs. Them" will no longer matter.
Thank goodness. This mess will finally end.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before it does, some final thoughts. First, a great history of the split by Trackforum and OffCamber contributor ChrisB. Indeed, it is vital to recall that the seeds for this mess were not sewn merely in the '90's. In reality, it was Le Mans 1955, the deadly accident that came the closest to killing worldwide motorsports, that started a chain of events that led to 1996. Following that race, AAA (Yes, THAT AAA) pulled out as a sanctioning body. That, in turn, led to USAC's formation (with heavy IMS influence) as the new Championship sanctioning body. USAC's (with help from IMS) incompetence led to the formation of CART in '79. Ever since, we essentially had a battle, in several iterations, between the car owners and IMS, eventually "won" by IMS.
It was rather pointless and, in the end, I ended up disliking everyone but the drivers. The formation of the IRL came at the same time that NASCAR began it's rise. Needless to say, American motorsports is now solely identified as NASCAR.
Even worse, the reasons for the IRL's formation- ovalcentricity, lower costs, grassroots racers, etc. strike me as total frauds. Soon, as this article indicates, expect more road/street courses in the unified IndyCar series, thus invalidating the ovalcentricity and making it almost impossible for dirt trackers to make it. Such a path is fine by me. Shame we had to waste 12 yrs. to get right back where we started.
CART, though, had it's issues too. As a racing series, it was great.
How could you not enjoy those cars, the action, and the drivers? Yes, many oval-only fans did not enjoy it, and I respect that. But CART still had solid attendance at most of it's events, oval, road or otherwise.
Unfortunately, CART as an organization SUCKED. Sure, when all was going well, it was easy to look competent. Post-split, the flaws became manifest. Having a bunch of greedy, narcissistic owners with diverging agendas try to run an organization is, well, a cluster****. CART's decisions from 96 and beyond were phenomenally horrible and led to it's demise.
TGeorge is certainly not the man I would have chosen to be put in charge, but the clarity of structure is oddly refreshing. Because, in the end, you need a strong executive to run anything, sports included. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL are technically run by the owners, but the appointed commissioners have the real power. No one is challenging Roger Goodell anytime soon. Tony, the ball is now in your court.
There are many memories from the split era:
Zanardi at Cleveland (my home race), and of course, "The Pass" at Laguna Seca.
Greg Moore (RIP) beating him at Rio.
Alex surviving Lausitz '01.
Michigan '00: Andretti v. Montoya
CART guys dominating Indy in 2000-01
Indy '02: Debacles 'R Us
Attending my home race 4 times
PT v. Dario
And more...
In the end, though, it all seemed overshadowed by the dark cloud of the split. It is tremendously unfair to the racers involved, but the last 12 yrs. are defined by one thing: negativity. Bickering, dwindling attendance, awful TV ratings, and organizational incompetence are what will likely be remembered.
That is over now. As Andrew Sullivan might say "Goodbye To All That."
As a result, both fields will be small and full of fillers who have no business on a race course. Ultimately, though, it provides one FINAL chance to "choose sides" in this mess. The haters have one last moment in the sun. From this point on, the decision is this: Do you leave the sport (perfectly reasonable), or do you stick it out and see what happens? "Us vs. Them" will no longer matter.
Thank goodness. This mess will finally end.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before it does, some final thoughts. First, a great history of the split by Trackforum and OffCamber contributor ChrisB. Indeed, it is vital to recall that the seeds for this mess were not sewn merely in the '90's. In reality, it was Le Mans 1955, the deadly accident that came the closest to killing worldwide motorsports, that started a chain of events that led to 1996. Following that race, AAA (Yes, THAT AAA) pulled out as a sanctioning body. That, in turn, led to USAC's formation (with heavy IMS influence) as the new Championship sanctioning body. USAC's (with help from IMS) incompetence led to the formation of CART in '79. Ever since, we essentially had a battle, in several iterations, between the car owners and IMS, eventually "won" by IMS.
It was rather pointless and, in the end, I ended up disliking everyone but the drivers. The formation of the IRL came at the same time that NASCAR began it's rise. Needless to say, American motorsports is now solely identified as NASCAR.
Even worse, the reasons for the IRL's formation- ovalcentricity, lower costs, grassroots racers, etc. strike me as total frauds. Soon, as this article indicates, expect more road/street courses in the unified IndyCar series, thus invalidating the ovalcentricity and making it almost impossible for dirt trackers to make it. Such a path is fine by me. Shame we had to waste 12 yrs. to get right back where we started.
CART, though, had it's issues too. As a racing series, it was great.
How could you not enjoy those cars, the action, and the drivers? Yes, many oval-only fans did not enjoy it, and I respect that. But CART still had solid attendance at most of it's events, oval, road or otherwise.
Unfortunately, CART as an organization SUCKED. Sure, when all was going well, it was easy to look competent. Post-split, the flaws became manifest. Having a bunch of greedy, narcissistic owners with diverging agendas try to run an organization is, well, a cluster****. CART's decisions from 96 and beyond were phenomenally horrible and led to it's demise.
TGeorge is certainly not the man I would have chosen to be put in charge, but the clarity of structure is oddly refreshing. Because, in the end, you need a strong executive to run anything, sports included. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL are technically run by the owners, but the appointed commissioners have the real power. No one is challenging Roger Goodell anytime soon. Tony, the ball is now in your court.
There are many memories from the split era:
Zanardi at Cleveland (my home race), and of course, "The Pass" at Laguna Seca.
Greg Moore (RIP) beating him at Rio.
Alex surviving Lausitz '01.
Michigan '00: Andretti v. Montoya
CART guys dominating Indy in 2000-01
Indy '02: Debacles 'R Us
Attending my home race 4 times
PT v. Dario
And more...
In the end, though, it all seemed overshadowed by the dark cloud of the split. It is tremendously unfair to the racers involved, but the last 12 yrs. are defined by one thing: negativity. Bickering, dwindling attendance, awful TV ratings, and organizational incompetence are what will likely be remembered.
That is over now. As Andrew Sullivan might say "Goodbye To All That."
Saturday, April 12, 2008
St. Petersburg, Graham Rahal, and being a fan
In all likelihood, Sunday, April 6, 2008 will go down as a remarkably inconsequential day in American sports. After all, it was simply the day before the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship game, with a few professional regular season games mixed in.
In the world of motorsports, viewers were treated to a somewhat lackluster NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Texas, with Carl Edwards emerging as the winner. Meanwhile, a little-noticed IndyCar race in St. Petersburg might have been the most compelling event of the weekend.
In the years since the great open-wheel divide between CART/Champ Car and the Indy Racing League, the sport has collapsed. Bickering between the two sides and their shrinking fanbases, ownership incompetence, and pitifully low car counts were the norm. In February, the two sides merged under the IRL’s IndyCar banner, with an additional nine cars and drivers from Champ Car now in IndyCar. Which brings us to the streets of St. Petersburg.
The street course in St. Pete is not the longest in the world. Indeed, it is remarkably short, about 1.8 miles for one lap. Sunday proved, however, that size does not always matter.
As the race was about to begin, the heavens opened up, deluging the course. Inexplicably, race steward Brian Barnhart made the curious decision to run the first nine laps under caution, depriving the fans of real action. For a sport lacking in fans, this decision borders on the criminal. Thankfully, this was not the defining image of the day.
When the green flag did come out, fans were treated to a very compelling, with overtaking opportunities aplenty and interesting fuel strategies utilized throughout. Most surprising was the speed, and ultimate success, of the Champ Car contingent. Enrique Bernoldi, Justin Wilson, Ernesto Viso (perhaps the race’s true revelation), and Graham Rahal all led and passed numerous competitors in the process. Given that this was just their second race (Rahal’s first) in the IndyCar equipment, stunning doesn’t do this accomplishment justice.
I suppose that a surprise of this nature is what keeps fans of any sport coming back for more. It is those moments that are unplanned, that go against the norm that refreshes a sport. If so, Graham Rahal’s win, in which he had to hold off (and pull away from) ICS veteran Helio Castroneves, did more to refresh my interest in the sport than anything that has happened in years.
Yes, the Champ Car vs. IndyCar angle added some drama to the weekend, but the simple truth is this: It was a wonderful, if imperfect, open-wheel race. Outside of Indianapolis (and even this felt like a chore), watching any open-wheel race for AT LEAST the past 5-6 years began to feel like a job, something I felt compelled to do for no apparent enjoyment. Afterwards, it struck me that I never felt the need, after the lousy start of the event, to change the channel. Why would I? I was enjoying it too much.
Sadly, the race drew an awful 0.4 rating, next to nothing. It is a reminder of how much the sport was hurt since 1996. Indeed, it might be argued that it is officially too late to make anything out of the sport. Part of me wants to leave the sport now, on a positive note. If I was rational about it, I’d do just that.
But being a fan is never fully a “rational” experience. I hope to never reach the point where all emotion is stripped from my viewing of a sporting event. It is this excitement that I felt on April 6 that led me to one conclusion: I was just a fan again. The politics didn’t matter, the past became something to learn from, not obsess over, and the real focus was on man (and woman) and machine. I’m pretty sure that’s the way it is supposed to be.
In the world of motorsports, viewers were treated to a somewhat lackluster NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Texas, with Carl Edwards emerging as the winner. Meanwhile, a little-noticed IndyCar race in St. Petersburg might have been the most compelling event of the weekend.
In the years since the great open-wheel divide between CART/Champ Car and the Indy Racing League, the sport has collapsed. Bickering between the two sides and their shrinking fanbases, ownership incompetence, and pitifully low car counts were the norm. In February, the two sides merged under the IRL’s IndyCar banner, with an additional nine cars and drivers from Champ Car now in IndyCar. Which brings us to the streets of St. Petersburg.
The street course in St. Pete is not the longest in the world. Indeed, it is remarkably short, about 1.8 miles for one lap. Sunday proved, however, that size does not always matter.
As the race was about to begin, the heavens opened up, deluging the course. Inexplicably, race steward Brian Barnhart made the curious decision to run the first nine laps under caution, depriving the fans of real action. For a sport lacking in fans, this decision borders on the criminal. Thankfully, this was not the defining image of the day.
When the green flag did come out, fans were treated to a very compelling, with overtaking opportunities aplenty and interesting fuel strategies utilized throughout. Most surprising was the speed, and ultimate success, of the Champ Car contingent. Enrique Bernoldi, Justin Wilson, Ernesto Viso (perhaps the race’s true revelation), and Graham Rahal all led and passed numerous competitors in the process. Given that this was just their second race (Rahal’s first) in the IndyCar equipment, stunning doesn’t do this accomplishment justice.
I suppose that a surprise of this nature is what keeps fans of any sport coming back for more. It is those moments that are unplanned, that go against the norm that refreshes a sport. If so, Graham Rahal’s win, in which he had to hold off (and pull away from) ICS veteran Helio Castroneves, did more to refresh my interest in the sport than anything that has happened in years.
Yes, the Champ Car vs. IndyCar angle added some drama to the weekend, but the simple truth is this: It was a wonderful, if imperfect, open-wheel race. Outside of Indianapolis (and even this felt like a chore), watching any open-wheel race for AT LEAST the past 5-6 years began to feel like a job, something I felt compelled to do for no apparent enjoyment. Afterwards, it struck me that I never felt the need, after the lousy start of the event, to change the channel. Why would I? I was enjoying it too much.
Sadly, the race drew an awful 0.4 rating, next to nothing. It is a reminder of how much the sport was hurt since 1996. Indeed, it might be argued that it is officially too late to make anything out of the sport. Part of me wants to leave the sport now, on a positive note. If I was rational about it, I’d do just that.
But being a fan is never fully a “rational” experience. I hope to never reach the point where all emotion is stripped from my viewing of a sporting event. It is this excitement that I felt on April 6 that led me to one conclusion: I was just a fan again. The politics didn’t matter, the past became something to learn from, not obsess over, and the real focus was on man (and woman) and machine. I’m pretty sure that’s the way it is supposed to be.
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