I’ll just cut right to the chase and give a list of points:
- People need to learn how to brake for the pits. On several occasions people were laying on the brakes mid turn four to slow down for the pits – the first two times this happened it took out Graham Rahal and Marty Roth, who were both forced high in the ensuing traffic jam.
- People need to learn how to not make stupid crashes. Two unprovoked spins during yellow-flag conditions. One near miss – one of the Conquest cars was flying through turn four too fast during Graham’s caution, nearly slammed into a safety truck, then nearly hit the pit wall by diving too far low to avoid it.
- Tony Kanaan, Sarah Fisher, and Marco Andretti – ultimately just a bad situation. Marco shouldn’t have tried the move on a teammate at that point in the race, but TK had enough room to make it stick. Sarah Fisher was the real loser in that because TK will still have a ride next week / year / probably longer because he is a damn good driver. Sarah is a good driver, but at this point for whatever reason not good enough to obtain serious sponsor money – to see someone who is running well on a shoestring go out like that is heartbreaking. (I didn’t really care about Roth crashing because, well, he sucks.)
- Danica and Briscoe. Danica probably needs to get better at picking her battles – but I think if you put every other driver out there through that situation, at least some of them would also want to give him more than a piece of their mind. Briscoe needs to shut his damn mouth – Danica’s brakes won’t do her any good when you basically T-bone her. I’ll go ahead and join the crowds saying Sheckter should have Briscoe’s ride.
I really do wish the end had been better – it really ended up being anticlimactic, since Dixon had just enough to not let Vitor have a real shot, and Vitor had just enough to not let Marco have a real shot. I also wish the conditions had been more pass-friendly – I’m guessing the fact that this was the wettest May on record kept the track extra green since it was punishing anyone who went high.
All in all, though, the trip has been a great success and I’m sure I’ll be back out here again next year.
Tags: danica patrick, indy 500, marco andretti, scott dixon, tony kanaan