202 replies to this topic

[Mike in STL]

Pretty low down there,  as a kid I thought it was pretty cool race but now not so much.

I'm the same way I guess. It's kind of funny that for open wheel fans who don't care for Nascar, their pinnacle race is "go fast, turn left".

[RShack]

Where does the Indy 500 rank as far as must see TV for you these days? 

 

I used to akin it to the triple crown races. I wouldn't watch horse racing all year, but watch the derby, Preakness, Belmont if it mattered. My dad and I used to always watch the Indy 500, even if we didn't watch the other indy car races. 

 

I really haven't seen much of the last few Indy 500s. 

 

The Indy 500's rep dropped rapidly due to the IRL-CART split in 1996.  

 

Before that, CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) was the body that ran the Indy car schedule and its races.  It was an org owned and operated by the team owners.   It had been started in 1979 by Dan Gurney and others (including Roger Penske), due to the inept operation of USAC (US Auto Club) which had been the sanctioning body for decades. Under CART, the level of competition was great but expensive, not unlike F1 but with lots of American drivers.  It attracted F1 champions like Emerson Fittipaldi and Nigel Mansell.

 

The IRL was formed by Tony George, who is part of the family that owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  He promised cheaper racing with more American talent, but the overall quality of both cars and drivers was terrible.  CART had the talent and expertise, but the IRL had the Indy 500 where CART-spec cars were suddenly banned.  CART teams could compete for just 8 of the 33 spots on the Indy 500 grid, but only if they ran IRL cars.  The other 25 spots were reserved for IRL teams, even if they were way slower than the 9th-fastest CART guy.

 

Beginning in 1996, the IRL split American open-wheel racing into 2 competing camps, with both camps suffering badly.  Without the Indy 500, CART went broke in 2007.  Meanwhile, the Hulman family (owners of the IMS) got tired of subsidizing the IRL's big financial losses and demoted Tony George, taking all power away from him.  Now operating under the banner IndyCar (one word), American open-wheel racing is united again, and the quality has been rising to where it is once again respectable.  

 

The main controversy these days is about all teams using the same basic car, designed and built by the Italian company Dallara.  There are only 2 engine suppliers, Chevy and Honda, and each has its own aero package.  The IndyCar org kinda tweaks the rules in an ad hoc way to prevent too much difference in performance between the two.  More engine suppliers could join the fray if they wanted, but so far it's just those two.

 

Bottom line:  Tony George's power-grab IRL split with CART was a disaster for American open-wheel racing.  The split lasted from 1996 to 2008, and caused interest in American open-wheel racing to reach an all-time low.   It is only recently starting to look like it's mostly recovered from it.  In recent years, Indy 500 attendance has once again neared half-a-million tickets.

[RShack]

I'm the same way I guess. It's kind of funny that for open wheel fans who don't care for Nascar, their pinnacle race is "go fast, turn left".

 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not an oval.  It's like a road course with 4 straights and 4 turns... it's just that all the turns are left turns  

 

It's hard to grok how big that place is unless you're there to see it.  Each long straight is nearly a mile long.  Each short straight is about a quarter-mile long.  The place is huge.

 

Seriously, each turn is quite different and each turn changes during the 500 mile race.  Some drivers say it's kinda like driving Spa (famous home of the Belgian Grand Prix).  Of course, both the constant high speeds and driving within inches of the wall changes things.

 

IMO, it's a strange mixture of ovals, road courses, and LeMans endurance racing.  

 

It's famous for good reasons.

[Pedro Cerrano]

500 experts. Who do we like Sunday for gambling purposes?

[RShack]

F1 Monaco:

"It's like trying to race bicycles in your kitchen" - Felipe Massa

The cars this year are 8" wider... so all the drivers were bouncing off the Aarmco barriers today in practice.


Except for new turns created in 1972 (to go around the then-new municipal swimming pool), the track is unchanged since 1929 (!!)




A tour of the circuit...




How the corners got their names:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozt6GD-PclA


Qualifying is super important here...

Qualifying:
Satuday 8a on NBCSN
Replay Saturday night 1a on NBCSN

Race:
Sunday 8a on NBC (not NBCSN)
Replay Sunday night at 10p on NBCSN (not NBC)


The 1965 race if the oldest one we have video of...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKb9FixAFjw

1965 is the year World Champion, all-time great Jimmy Clark (Scot), missed the race so he could race at Indy, much like Alonzo is doing this year. Clark won, which was the first year that a rear-engined car won the Indy 500, but in the preceding years the modified-for-Indy F1-designed rear-engined cars would have won if not for late-race problems. By 1965 only 6 of Indy's 33 cars were still front engined.

[RShack]

500 experts. Who do we like Sunday for gambling purposes?

 

Impossible to say...

 

Penske cars win more than anybody else does.  They were not among the fastest in qualifying, but qualifying (grid placement) doesn't mean much for the Indy 500.  There's 5 Penske cars this year.  Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya is among them, and he's pissed off because Penske didn't re-up him for the full IndyCar schedule... so, while I wouldn't bet on him (or anybody), I wouldn't bet against him either.

 

I'm hoping Alonzo wins, just for the hell of it... he could well do it too... but betting on him (or anybody) is something else for a 500 mile race at Indy...

[BSLChrisStoner]

Sports on Earth: 5 Things to Know for the Indy 500

[BSLChrisStoner]

Sports on Earth: Sato Earns Indy 500 Redemption

[DuffMan]

Idiot

 

http://deadspin.com/...t-in-1795634687

[glenn__davis]

Wow, have we really not had a single auto racing post since 2017?

 

Anyway, Kyle Larson fired for using the n-word during some sort of electronic racing series.  Idiot.

[Mike in STL]

Wow, have we really not had a single auto racing post since 2017?

 

Anyway, Kyle Larson fired for using the n-word during some sort of electronic racing series.  Idiot.

Idiot aside, I feel like iRacing is going to pop off because of this quarantine. Caught myself watching a little bit of the iRacing on FS1. The simulators are so real except for the heat and smell I suppose.

 

It used to be you had to get into go kart racing as a young pup. Race dirt tracks as a teenager to even think about making it in Nascar or auto racing. But the simulations are so good now that William Byron made it to Nascar because he dominated racing simulations. Those skills translated right to the real thing. Never raced go karts or anything prior. 

 

I've also seen where Lewis Hamilton's brother, who has some kind of disability, got good at racing on a simulator, they put him in a car, and a team signed him to race in a series a level or two below F1 I think. (Doesn't hurt that he is Lewis Hamilton's brother). 

 

Tony Stewart vouches for them too. Seen where he got on an F1 sim on the track he was gong to drive on. Called for rain, so he practiced in the rain on the sim. Allowed him to make mistakes without destroying a multi million dollar car, or himself. So when he got out there on track in a new machine, he felt way more prepared. 

 

That's something that you don't get from playing Madden, or The Show. 

 

If I ever have disposable income one day, a couple thousand dollar racing simulator would be one of the things near the top of my wish list. Then want to go to one of those Richard Petty Driving Schools one day. 

[DuffMan]

https://www.cyclingn...truck-accident/

 

Unbelievable.  Alex Zanardi who was an F1 driver that lost both his legs in a crash 20 ish years ago had become a parathlete

and even won medals.  He lost control of his bike in a race crashing and hitting a truck.  Seems to be doing okay, but talk about scary stuff!

[DuffMan]

This happened in yesterdays F-1 Race.  Grosjean actually drives for the American Team.   Quite the horrific crash (they say he hit the wall at something like 30 G's) that remarkably he walked away from.  He's going to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow with only minor burns to his hands and ankles.

 

 

 

[Mike in STL]

This happened in yesterdays F-1 Race. Grosjean actually drives for the American Team. Quite the horrific crash (they say he hit the wall at something like 30 G's) that remarkably he walked away from. He's going to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow with only minor burns to his hands and ankles.

That is wild. Car cut in half. He crawls out from the flames. Amazing he’s alive. A testament to the safety of those cars.

[glenn__davis]

Yeah, we actually tuned into that race minutes after the crash.  As others said, amazing that he walked away from that.

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: Dale Earnhardt's death at the Daytona 500: The legacy of The Intimidator

https://www.espn.com...acy-intimidator

[DuffMan]

Wow, the Italian GP today was crazy!

[DuffMan]

So I used to kind of want Verstappen to win a title, if only to mix it up.  Hamilton is great but I just wanted to see a new winner.  Don't really feel that way, not really a fan of Max, his personality and comments have me rooting for Lewis.

[Mike in STL]

So I used to kind of want Verstappen to win a title, if only to mix it up. Hamilton is great but I just wanted to see a new winner. Don't really feel that way, not really a fan of Max, his personality and comments have me rooting for Lewis.

One of the things that really doesn’t have me getting into this style of racing is the lack of parity. Not a fan of PTP buttons either. There’s also zero Americans in the series to pull for. Okay, I guess it’s a few things.

[DuffMan]

One of the things that really doesn’t have me getting into this style of racing is the lack of parity. Not a fan of PTP buttons either. There’s also zero Americans in the series to pull for. Okay, I guess it’s a few things.

Yes the parity is a big part of it, having said that the fight it the top driver and constructors is the closest battle in years.  After that there is a good battle in the midpack group, and then there are the bottom feeders.  It's kind of like EPL

 

No American drivers, but Haas is an American team.  They stink right now, but they kind of punted on this season in an effort to get a head start on next year's car when a bunch of rule changes go into place.