Thoughts About the "500"
1. Anyone else think this race goes up there as one of the all-time best? I know we've said this now three and easily four years in a row. Are we being too quick to judgement? Today it feels like everything that happens is automatically thrown on top as the greatest ever and whatever history an event has and however long it is is ignored. Just off the top of my head, 1991, 1960 and 1982 were all great duals. 1992 was a sloppy race saved by still the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history. 1993 arguably is at the top considering the depth of the field, the amount of lead changes and how close it was at the end, despite not being a photo-finish. I know there are plenty of worthy candidates for best "500s" that I am forgetting but for the sake of time I think time will let things play out and in 5-10 years we will have a better idea where this rates.
2. I was really surprised with the fuel mileage Chevrolet was getting but to be more specific, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon and Will Power who all were able to do 3-5 more laps over a stint. It nearly played into Montoya's favor before speeding on the pit lane. It seemed Honda had the advantage the first two years of this engine formula, maybe the lost the edge by going to the twin-turbo and somewhere in development it lost that step to the Chevrolets? Of course, maybe I am selling Montoya, Dixon and Power short on being great drivers who can make fuel when they need to. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the rest of the oval season.
3. The call to red-flag the race was spot on. There was a hole in the SAFER barrier. It's a safety concern that had to be tended to. Instead of letting the cars ride around and in this case just ride to the checkered flag, take the time to fix it so the cars can race. I would still like to see IndyCar put a rule in for late red flags on ovals. Here is how I would word it:
At the discretion of the officials, a red flag may be used between 5 and 15 laps to go of an oval race only once to clean up the debris of an accident.
Bell's accident fell into that time frame and it worked out. I use the "discretion of the officials" line and I know some of you don't like that vagueness but here is what I am thinking of. Let's say with 12 to go, some has a Danny Sullivan moment, spins, hits nothing and keeps going and the caution is thrown. There is no need to red flag it there. No debris, no car and driver to tend to, the race could go green in three laps. Now let's say on that restart we have a James Hinchcliffe/Ed Carpenter accident, that's where the red flag could be used. Had it been used for the prior caution, it would have been a waste and the field couldn't be stopped, potentially leading to the field running the final eight laps behind the pace car.
It has to be limited to one red flag though because we can't have stoppage after stoppage drag out the end of the race. And I think the time frame is fair. A accident with 16 to go is out of the time frame and you could easily get that race going before 10 to go. A accident with 3 to go however, I fell is too late to throw a red flag. Didn't NASCAR have a rule not too long ago of how late a red flag could be thrown? If an accident happens with 3 to go, the have any shot of a green flag finish you'd have to red flag it immediately, even if it was for car lazily spinning to the infield and having no damage. My feeling is if you aren't leading after 197 laps, you had plenty of opportunity to get the lead and if you aren't leading at that point, it just wasn't meant to be your day.
4. Think about where Ryan Hunter-Reay was May 26, 2007, the day prior to the 91st Indianapolis 500. Unemployed. He wasn't at Indianapolis, he wasn't preparing for Portland in two weeks. He hadn't raced for 1 year, 8 months and 3 days. He was an afterthought. His career was over at the age of 26 and he was going to fall into the bin of talented Atlantics drivers from the late-1990s, early-2000s that were full of talent but never got great opportunities in open-wheel race such as Jon Fogerty, Alex Gurney, Ryan Dalziel, Michael Valiante, Joey Hand, Luis Díaz and Rocky Moran, Jr.
Look at all that he has accomplished in seven years. Now think of JR Hildebrand, Bryan Clauson, Luca Filippi, Wade Cunningham and Alex Lloyd. All talented, young drivers who haven't had enough opportunities to show what they can do. Before you start pegging drivers as washed up or never going to be able to succeed, remember what Hunter-Reay has done. The business of motorsports can sometimes be a bitch and drivers never get the opportunity but it only takes one break to turn a career around.
Mimosas at Monaco
This season might been a Mercedes blood bath but at least they are going to let Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton go at. They hate each other. If the remaining thirteen rounds of the Formula One season are these two trading haymakers like a fifteen round title fight between heavyweights, I am game for it. Daniel Ricciardo has been smooth and he will break through to get one victory and it might be more than his teammate, four-time World Drivers' champion Sebastian Vettel. My theory is Vettel is driving too hard and not taking care of the equipment while Ricciardo's three previous season have been driving cars that needed to be conserve to make the finish. Vettel has become use to putting the foot down and running purple sector after purple sector but the new car can't handle that style of driving. Vettel hasn't lost his talent. He was third at Malaysia, went from 15th to 4th at Spain, he just needs to take a deep breath and remember to finish first one must first finish.
Shout out to Jules Bianchi and Marussia on their first points in Formula One with a ninth place finish and shout out to Marcus Ericsson and Caterham on just missing out on the points in eleventh.
Charlotte's Night Cap
Jimmie Johnson is in the Chase, everyone can breathe easy. I really enjoyed this race. It wasn't slowed up with endless cautions. It felt like a proper race and Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick had a great three-way battle at the end. Only thirteen cars finished on the lead lap and after 600 miles, half the field shouldn't be on the lead lap. I hated to see Kurt Busch's night end with an engine failure. He wasn't in contention to win but he was on the tail end of the lead lap most of the night and it appeared it was going to be close whether or not he would complete the 1,100 miles.
2015 Day Dreaming
Imagine if the 33 drivers who entered this year's Indianapolis 500 were back next year along with Sam Hornish, Jr., Buddy Rice, Conor Daly, Bryan Clauson (who supposedly will be back in 2015 with Jonathan Byrd's Racing), Luca Filippi, Simona de Silvestro, Katherine Legge, Bertrand Baguette, Alex Lloyd and A.J. Allmendinger also attempting the double? A man can dream right?
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Hunter-Reay, Rosberg and Johnson but did you know...
Gabby Chaves won the Freedom 100.
Aaron Telitz, Garret Grist and Tracy Hines all won at the Night Before the 500.
The #7 Bentley of Steven Kane, Guy Smith and Andy Meyrick won the Blancpain Endurance Series race at Silverstone.
Yvan Muller and José María López split the WTCC weekend at the Salzburgring.
Tom Sykes swept the World Superbike weekend at Donington Park.
Coming up this weekend:
IndyCar's doubleheader from Belle Isle.
NASCAR at Dover.
DTM in Hungary.
MotoGP at Mugello.
Super GT at Autopolis.
Le Mans Test Day
I want to end this week Musings with a personal anecdote. I never really believed in having one driver to root for. I think that is the worst way to get new fans. I think everyone should learn to love motorsports for what it is and not have the only reasoning they are following be one driver because once that driver retires or loses a ride what is keeping their interest? Drivers come and go, the product will be around forever. However, Ryan Hunter-Reay helped me out one night not too long ago.
If you've followed this blog closely since it's inception on April 5, 2012, you may be able to recall that I have talked about my grandfather and how we would watch races together until he died from cancer. I was 17 and felt I had no one to turn to. My whole family was distraught and bring up my grandfather created a flood of tears. I knew none of my friends at school could really understand what I was feeling. I was was looking for any type of comfort and support I could get. One depressed night I took a shot and emailed Ryan Hunter-Reay. Knowing the story of his mother passing not to long before my grandfather, I told him everything that had happened, how I was feeling and the regrets of not sacrificing everything I had to be by his side for every one of waning moments. I never expected him to respond, I never expected him to even read it.
He got back to me five days later. He told me what I was going through was natural. He had the same feelings of regret and second guessing of not being by her side. He told me to focus on the good times I had with my grandfather and to keep my head.
Those words really helped me through what was the darkest point of my life. I have never gotten the opportunity to thank Hunter-Reay in person for responding to the email of a 17 year old who felt suffocated by the death of his grandfather and failing to be by his side. He took a brief moment to support someone he never met and still has yet to meet. Maybe one day our paths will cross and I will get the chance to thank him in person. I don't root for drivers but it's hard for me not to feel a little happier each time Hunter-Reay succeeds.
