Last night's Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway didn't feature a photo finish, didn't feature a last lap pass, it didn't even feature a surprise winner, which has been the norm in 2013 for IndyCar. But with all that said, last night was a really good race.
As I quickly mentioned last night in the First Impressions for the Texas race, it was an exciting race despite Helio Castroneves leading the final 132 laps and winning by 4.6919 seconds over Ryan Hunter-Reay. It's hard to explain but I'll try. Last night was a showcase of skill driving a race car in changing conditions which, in my opinion, is not appreciated today as it was twenty to twenty-five years ago. Five cars finished on the lead lap and that doesn't seem to be favorable to some but it clearly showed who were the best drivers last night, opposed to twenty cars finishing on the lead lap where someone going off pit strategy could jump fifteen positions at the drop of a hat. We could clearly see Graham Rahal struggled last night, we saw Justin Wilson faded after charging to the front early and we watched Dario Franchitti fade early and rally back to finish sixth. It didn't come down to late pit stops with some staying out, some taking fuel only and some getting the works. IT WAS A RACE! You had to do your all to be the best over all 550 km and those who didn't put a foot wrong all night finished up front while those who had even a minor slip up were not in contention at the end.
Part of the problem today with almost all forms of motorsport is the emphasis being only placed on the final few laps by the media. Last night was the mirror image. You had to watch most of last night's race to enjoy it. You couldn't just turn it on with five to go and appreciate the performance by Castroneves. He dominated but with that domination came the slight thought of could he hold on? Could Castroneves maintain the lead with the tires wearing down? The answer was yes but Ryan Hunter-Reay made it interesting. He was taking close to second off the interval a lap. A second here, seven-tenths there, another half second. He was reeling Castroneves in but time ran out and Castroneves won race he clearly deserved.
Think about what made the 1987 Indianapolis 500 so exciting. Was it sixty-eight lead changes? No. Was it a record number of drivers finishing on the lead lap? No. It was the unexpected. Mario Andretti had it in the bag. He dominated. It was all but over.... and then he brushed the wall and just like that it was a whole new ball game. It became a duel between Roberto Guerrero, the young Colombian who was coming off his first career win at Phoenix, the race leading into Indianapolis, and Al Unser. The veteran, a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, who was a last minute substitute for the injured Danny Ongais, driving a race car turned show car back into a race car. Imagine the people who turned the race off with 50 laps to go because of the dominant performance being put on by Andretti. Now imagine when the found out Al Unser won his fourth Indianapolis 500. Sure, the backstory and the stage and the players added to the excitement but it was exciting regardless.
As much as racing is compared to other sports, it is an unfair comparison on most accounts. You can't just turn a race off when someone has a large lead. This isn't football or basketball where a team could be up twenty-eight after the third quarter and you are moving on to other programming. An enormous lead in racing can vanish in the matter of moments and at any point in a race. It's different from other sports and it will always be different. Last night wasn't on the edge of your seat action but the door was always open for something to bite Castroneves when least expected. Fortunately for him and Roger Penske everything turned out alright.
The same way every baseball game can't end in a walk-off home run and every basketball game can't end in a half court buzzer beater, every race can't end in photo finish, last lap pass. Let's just hope those who don't usually turn on IndyCar or any form of racing understand.
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