Josef Newgarden continued Team Penske's world domination and won the IndyCar season opener at St. Petersburg, Team Penske's ninth victory in that event. Elsewhere in the world, NASCAR fans continue to get angry for the sake of anger, Formula E had a penalty decide a race winner and a Frenchman won in Mexico. MotoGP started its campaign with not one, not two but three photo finishes under the lights in Qatar. Looking ahead, we get ready for two endurance races in Florida and the World Drivers' Championship begins its 2019 season. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Prepare For the Nightmare with an Umbrella
With the IndyCar season getting underway from St. Petersburg it means the start of the new television deal in the United States and it is an exciting period. For half a decade people have been waiting for this day when NBC Sports took over full control of the IndyCar package, Indianapolis 500 and all.
It is an unknown territory for IndyCar. For over five decades the Indianapolis 500 has been on ABC. It became an institution. Everyone knew where the race was going to be shown. It is a little scary. What if people do not get the message and Memorial Day weekend passes without noticing the change and the race is forgotten? NBC has done a big push on the race. The race has been featured in greensheets and on-air promos for NHL games, Premier League games and other sporting events on the NBC family of networks. The race is getting its due but this will not be the first iconic event NBC has taken on this year and that debut did not go as planned.
The 24 Hours of Daytona joined the NBC Sports family this year and things started off well. NBC took the broadcast to another level with increased coverage of all classes in the race, increased commentator participation and it was an all-hands-on-deck effort with the IndyCar and NASCAR crews coming together.
It was a pretty good race through Saturday and into Sunday...
And then the rains came...
And the red flags...
And the waiting...
And all the excitement was gone before sunrise.
NBC's first 24 Hours of Daytona happened to be the one with arguably the worst weather in the event's history and any broadcast is going to suffer when there is three-plus hours of red flag coverage and another two or three hours of yellow flag coverage. It was out of the network's hands and it will have to wait until 2020 to have a full 24-hour race.
What is to say that will not happen this May for the Indianapolis 500?
This is preparing for the worst as a form of self-preservation. You cannot be disappointment if you expect it all to go wrong. We all want this year's race to be the Indianapolis 500 broadcast that returns to an elite level. We want it to be a broadcast that lives up to the race on track. This is the dream coming true. All the pieces are there for it to be spectacular but that doesn't mean everything will go in the network's and the race's favor.
It is going to be a massive missed opportunity if it rains significantly and the Indianapolis 500 is delayed deep into Sunday afternoon or pushed to Monday and you only get one shot at your first time.
We have been fortunate for the last decade. The Indianapolis 500 has been going through a drought since 2007. Every race this decade has gone off without a hitch and with one year to go in the 2010s, we are looking at something that has never happened in the history of the race: A decade that did not have a race hampered by rain.
The first decade and the 1940s are not really comparable because both had years when the race was not held because of World Wars. Even in that case, the 1915 race was pushed from May 29th to Monday May 31st because of flooded grounds and roads around the track and the 1940 race was slowed significantly with the final quarter of the race under caution due to rain.
The 1926 race was the first to be shortened because of rain with Frank Lockhart declared the winner after 160 laps and 400 miles. A brief shower occurred during the 1928 race. The 1931 race was delayed two hours because of rain and there were a few yellow flag period because of precipitation but all 500 miles were completed. Johnnie Parsons won the 1950 races when it was called after 138 laps due to rain.
The race stayed in pretty good shape until 1967 when only 18 laps were completed on May 30th before the race was finished the following day. That was the start of a pretty wet period into the 1970s. The 1970 race was delayed 25 minutes, not bad compared to what was to come. Rain forced the race to take three days to complete in 1974 and even after the race was not able to complete all 500 miles. The 1975 and 1976 races were rain-shortened at 174 and 102 laps respectively.
It was clear until 1986 when the race was pushed back a week due to rain. The 1991 race was delayed 55 minutes due to rain. The 1995 race delayed five minutes but 1997 would be another race that did not want to happen. The Sunday was completely washed out and only 15 laps were completed on Monday. Arie Luyendyk won his second Indianapolis 500 on a Tuesday. The following year was delayed 35 minutes due to rain.
The millennium started with a three-hour delay and a green flag coming after 2:00 p.m. There were two rain delays during the race in 2001 but all 500 miles were completed. The start in 2004 was delayed two hours before another hour and 47 minute delay after 28 laps were completed. The race reached lap 174 when the rain started, six laps were run under caution and with tornados in the area the race was called. The 2007 race started on time but one red flag occurred at lap 113. The race was restarted but at lap 163 the rains returned and three laps later the race was called.
We have been in the clear ever since but every IndyCar fan knows the perils of precipitation and in all of our guts we always feel like we are due for a delay. With every race of the 2010s having started and finished without a drop of rain pushing the start back or bring out a yellow or red flag it is feeling more and more likely to happen.
And we are masochists. We don't just think it is going to be a shower that delays the race an hour or a storm that props up after 179 laps of racing. We are expecting 1973. We are expecting Sunday to be a wash, Monday to be worse and Tuesday not to be much better but good enough for the race to get started with mostly empty grandstands and while millions have returned to work with throbbing hangovers after four days of binge drinking.
We fear the race happening while no one has a chance to watch and being completely forgotten.
Of course, this could be the decade the race survives high and dry but we cannot think that way because it has not happened before. We are realists. It is bound to rain on race day one of these years and while IndyCar has been on the rise and positivity flows through the series it still feels like the series that will have its biggest day washed out.
I don't want this to happen. No one wants this to happen. We have to prepare for it though.
It is the nightmare that will keep you up until the Indianapolis 500 but if you have an umbrella you can at least get through it while staying dry.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Josef Newgarden but did you know...
Zachary Claman and Rinus VeeKay split the Indy Lights races from St. Petersburg. Parker Thompson swept the Indy Pro 2000 races and Braden Eves swept the U.S. F2000 races.
Kyle Busch swept the NASCAR races from Phoenix and now has 199 victories across the three national touring divisions.
Andrea Dovizioso won the Qatar Grand Prix by 0.023 seconds over Marc Márquez. Lorenzo Baldassarri won the Moto2 race. Kaito Toba won the Moto3 race.
Edoardo Mortara won the Hong Kong ePrix after Sam Bird was handed a five-second penalty for running into the back of André Lotterer. It is Mortara's first Formula E victory.
Ian James and Jade Buford split the GT4 America races from St. Petersburg.
Eli Tomac won the Supercross race from Daytona.
Sébastien Ogier won Rally Mexico, his second victory of the season.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Formula One season starts with the Australian Grand Prix.
Supercars joins Formula One in Melbourne.
There will be two races from Sebring, the FIA World Endurance Championship 1000 Miles of Sebring and IMSA's 12 Hours of Sebring.
World Superbike will be in Buriram.
NASCAR heads to Fontana.
Supercross returns to Indianapolis.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
