Saturday, June 15, 2013

Milwaukee 2013: First Impressions

1. A great run by Ryan Hunter-Reay. He was up front all day. Fell about eleven seconds back when Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves were running away early but never gave up. Now is second in the points and a much bigger threat in the championship.

2. Helio Castroneves is going to be tough to beat this season. He is unbelievably consistent and had a great drive from seventeenth on the grid to second.

3. Great race for Will Power after a difficult first quarter of the season. First podium of the season.

4. An impressive weekend for Andretti Autosport. Two wins, two poles, four podiums, six top fives across the Pro Mazda, Indy Lights and IndyCar races at Milwaukee IndyFest. Great day for EJ Viso who has finally shaken the wreck bug. Another good race for James Hinchcliffe. It isn't checkers or wreckers like it was the first four races. Tough day for Marco Andretti. One bad pit stop cost him a lot of time and then a electrical failure was the knife through the heart, ending any chance of a win.

5. Great run by Takuma Sato but had trouble getting trough lap traffic and it cost them.

6. Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti finished sixth and eighth respectively. If the Ganassi cars could start in the top five, they would have a much better chance at getting a win this season.

7. Justin Wilson had another top ten. Another good day for Dale Coyne Racing. No offense to Ana Beatriz but if Coyne could find a oval equivalent of Mike Conway, they would be in great shape.

8. Good for Tony Kanaan finishing tenth and giving Chevrolet six of the top ten.

9. Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Sebastián Saavedra all had good runs.

10. Ed Carpenter finished fourteenth but he had a much better first third of the race before fading late.

11. Great job for Ryan Briscoe getting fifteenth as he heads to Le Mans.

12. I was right saying Graham Rahal would finish ahead of James Jakes but neither would be in the top ten. They finished sixteenth and eighteenth respectively with Charlie Kimball sandwiched in between.

13. ABC. Were you watching? That is how you call an auto race. Good luck with Iowa and Pocono.

14. Dear God did I miss NBCSN. There excitement is so comforting. Great to hear David Hobbs and Will Buxton. Hopefully they will be able to do more IndyCar races in the future. No offense Wally Dallenbach and Marty Snider.

15. Thank you Michael Andretti for saving Milwaukee. It is a race that must be on the schedule and it's a damn shame Loudon pulled the plug on IndyCar after one year and a damn shame Phoenix isn't on the schedule.

16. Not a phenomenal crowd but a respectable crowd for IndyFest. It is slowly getting there and it's more proof you can't go to a track for one season and hope it is a full house. Keep going back to places, keep dates consistent and fan bases will grow.

17. Noticed there was no title sponsor for this event. That's not a massive deal considering how much exposure the Andretti Autosport sponsors got but it's always nice to get a sponsor to kick in some money to help with the bills.

18. I hope Milwaukee will be back. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported it was on the fence and Road America and Chicagoland are interested in returning to the schedule. IndyCar is in a place where they need a few more races. I don't see why all three couldn't coexist although it will be tricky.

19. Seemed like this makes up for any one that was moaning over the Texas race.

20. Now it's on to Iowa and what should be another terrific event.