Rain delayed the Brickyard 400. Rain popped up out of nowhere on the final lap of the Super GT race and sent the top two in GT500 sliding off course. Rain forced teams to scurry in the final moments of the European Le Mans Series race from the Red Bull Ring where a post-race penalty cost a class victory for one team. I guess pesky rainstorms were the theme of the weekend and Kasey Kahne won the longest race of them all and he didn't win the four-hour endurance race. It didn't rain in Russia but there were plenty of hair-raising moments in the DTM. IMSA had a GT-only weekend at Lime Rock Park. The truck race took all night at Eldora. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Time To Say Goodbye
Letting go is the hard part of any goodbye and it appears one goodbye is definite when the IndyCar season ends in seven weeks but it could be two goodbyes and neither will be particularly easy.
We all know Hélio Castroneves' future reportedly is tied to the Acura DPi program in IMSA, which Team Penske will lead. Tony Kanaan's time at Chip Ganassi Racing might also be up. Both have been in IndyCar for two decades. It is going to be hard to see either of these two drivers leave the IndyCar grid but they were bound to leave at some point. It may be time to say goodbye.
Castroneves and Kanaan weren't going to be on the IndyCar grid forever and their pending departures might come at the right time for the series. While both drivers are fan favorites, somebody was always going to have to step up and take the torch from these two drivers. Instead of delaying the passing of the torch, it might be best to do it now.
Castroneves and Kanaan have both won their fair share of races and Castroneves has found himself in championship contention heading into the final race the last five years but it is time for the next wave. IndyCar can't tie itself to two drivers in their early 40s despite how much we love them. If the series wants to create more long-term fans, it wouldn't be the best if Castroneves and Kanaan were the two drivers the series promoted the most.
If you want to make long-term fans you need to tie them to drivers who are going to be there for the long-term and there are a handful of good choices and not all of them are young kids with a tad to prove. Castroneves and Kanaan might be leaving but Scott Dixon and Will Power are both champions and at the age where each has at least five years left and maybe more. Last year's champion Simon Pagenaud is in his early 30s. James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti are 30. Graham Rahal has been in the series for a decade and he isn't even 30 years old yet.
Then there are Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Conor Daly and Max Chilton, all of which are in their mid-20s and there are even younger and just as bright stars after those four. Ed Jones is 22 years old and Spencer Pigot is 23 years old, going on 24. In fact, have you taken a close, hard look at Spencer Pigot? That is a good-looking face IndyCar should want to promote.
I understand the desperate feeling of wanting to cling to the two faces that were consistently there during an unstable time for IndyCar but I do not hold that same sense of urgency that both have to stay on the grid otherwise IndyCar will be in trouble. I It will be a hit but I don't think the series will crater if both drivers are not full-time in 2018. It will take some time adjusting to having neither around but the grid is full personalities people can connect with and it is a little insulting to suggest that none of them would be able to pick up where Castroneves and Kanaan left off.
If you are concerned about the Brazilian duo being irreplaceable on the IndyCar grid, look at all the change IndyCar went through in the years prior to both making their starts in 1998, split aside of course. Rick Mears, Gordon Johncock and Tom Sneva all made their final starts in 1992. A.J. Foyt retired the following year and Mario Andretti and Al Unser retired the year after that. Emerson Fittipaldi had been forced to retired in 1996. Did anyone really think in 1998 Castroneves and Kanaan would not only be the last drivers standing from that season but they would combine for almost four dozen victories, four Indianapolis 500 victories, one championship and be beloved by Midwesterners?
One thing IndyCar should avoid doing is crown a face of the series. Don't tell people whom to love; let them decide for themselves. We have only seen more bad than good when the face is decided and not earned. Ten years ago, we and IndyCar hoped Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal would take them to the promised land however the results didn't match the hype and the last thing IndyCar needs is to find itself tied to a driver struggling to break into the top ten of the championship.
If fans need a driver to throw their support behind they will figure it out and most have the same selection process. People love winners and winners will become the face of the series. If it is Dixon, Power, Newgarden and Rahal winning races people will follow them. If Pigot breaks out and is a champion within the next four years and has two Indianapolis 500 victories then people will flock to him. A series determining a face or two to promote only muddles it if those faces end up not winning. The focus should be to promote the winners. After all, people just want to know which bandwagon to jump on.
There will be a year or two of feeling lost but someone always steps up and becomes the face of the series and they are as beloved as the ones that preceded them.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Kasey Kahne but did you know...
The #911 Porsche of Patrick Pilet and Dirk Werner won the IMSA race from Lime Rock Park. The #73 Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey won in GTD.
The #32 United Autosports Ligier-Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque, Will Owen and Hugo de Sadeleer won the ELMS race from the Red Bull Ring. The #11 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan of Giorgio Mondini and Davide Uboldi won in LMP3 after the #2 United Autosports Ligier-Nissan of John Falb and Sean Rayhall were handed a 25-second penalty after the race due a full course caution infringement. The #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Matt Griffin, Duncan Cameron and Aaron Scott won in GTE.
René Rast and Maro Engel split the DTM races from Moscow. It was Engel's first career victory in his 52nd DTM start. His previous best finish in the series was sixth.
William Byron won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Indianapolis. Matt Crafton won the Truck race from Eldora.
The #1 Lexus Team SARD Lexus LC 500 of Heikki Kovalainen and Kohei Hirate won the Super GT race from Sportsland SUGO. The #11 Gainer Mercedes AMG GT3 of Björn Wirdheim and Katsuyuki Hiranaka won in GT300.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar will be at Mid-Ohio. The Road to Indy series and Pirelli World Challenge will join them.
Formula One has one more trip to Hungary before its summer break.
Blancpain Endurance Series runs the 24 Hours of Spa.
Formula E concludes its season with a doubleheader in Montreal.
NASCAR will be at Pocono.
Supercars head to Queensland Raceway.
Rally Finland is the ninth round of the 2017 World Rally Championship season.
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