Years after Champ Car learned their lesson about racing over railroad tracks, you'd think IndyCar remember to listen. Sadly that was not the case yesterday. The chicane removed from the front straightaway on the Baltimore street circuit will return after cars experienced a launching effect while driving over the tracks at high speeds during the first practice.
Am I disappointed with what happened to IndyCar or is this just the kind of thing I expect to happen to the series? No and no. While it is inconvenient, it is CART at Texas 2001. The race is still going to happen and Come Monday, it'll be alright. But when will prior events make us realize that somethings are just not going to work? Most of us remember San Jose and the motocross jump that was featured and the only highlight of the circuit. Why would anything have changed? Cars running over tracks at over 100 miles per hour does not go pleasantly. If tracks are in the middle of a slow corner, like they are on this circuit around turns five and six then it is manageable. But other than that, IndyCars and railroad tracks just don't mix. IndyCar, next time somebody brings a street course proposal to the table, first question is, are there railroad tracks cutting through the circuit that the car will be running over? If the answer is yes tell them to comeback at a later date with a better design. As simple as that. It's like going green flag on an oval when it is raining. Who does that?
Once practice got back going, Will Power was fastest as he looks to clinch the championship this weekend. Simon Pagenaud was second, ahead of Dixon, Barrichello and Hinchcliffe. Bourdais was in sixth with Ryan Hunter-Reay in seventh. Other notables, Franchitti was in ninth, Castroneves in twelfth, Briscoe fourteenth, Rahal sixteenth, Andretti eighteenth and Junqueira in twenty-third.
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