Tuesday, April 13, 2010

INDYCAR: Picking a Good Barber

So I spent last weekend listening to the Indy Lights ‘N IndyCarz via le internets, albeit a most ANNOYING Indycar.com internets stream... Both Saturday & Sunday, 'cause I was interested in the Indy Lights race as a Barometer of what the Big Boyz race would be like...

And without going into a long winded tirade ‘bout Comcast ‘N Digg-it-Tull TV Boxes... I wanted to tape the MOTO GP LOONS from Qatar in favour of the Indy Car Series as I can only choose 'Juan at a time; But Hey! 324kph (201mph) on a “Scooter,” CRIKEYS!

So call me cynical, eh? But I began to wunder if the attendance claims being made were true? Especially since it was coming from the IMS Radio Network for two days straight, as Mike “Yippy-kai-Eh!” ‘N Mark James were just a few to say; "It's Great!" And then ‘Ye Windbag Dave Despain 'N Robin Miller chimed-in on SPEED’s Wind Tunnel and The Speed Report (TSR) claiming that they’d had great attendance.

Miller noted on TSR that approximately 45-50,000 attended Barber Motorsport Park's inaugural Indy Car race, but I remained skeptical a little while longer since the Gran Am boyz were there this weekend too, until multiple sources seem to confirm that there was indeed a nice crowd on-hand with approx. 85,000 total for the 3-Day event at the Barber’s... Yuhs seez, I was skeptical since this event was taking’ place in the Heart ‘O RASSCARLAND and thought it might just be some sorta backhand swipe at the 800lb Gorilla? But it sounds like a weekend at Portland in its heydays, albeit a little lower crowd number, but same type of flavour, so I’m glad for Indy Car!

Especially since I heard Terry “Where’s the Beef?” Angus, Err Ang-Stat proclaim it was the highest ever Attendance for an Indy Car event in Birmingham, AL; Oh Never Mind! Clever, eh?

And it struck me that both the FIL 'N ICS races had the same outcome; with each having a Driver trying to jump ahead for position for overall lead penalized on their respective race starts, which potentially cost both AFS-AA’s Charlie Kimball ‘N TCGR’s Scott Dixon victory. Although “Dixie” seemed to be much hotter under the collar then Kimball...

So I won’t bother tryin’ to recap the race... As I don’t want Yuhs to think I’ve got sour grapes over HULIO’s RALLY-RALLY-RALLY-BIG Win; SHEISA!

As other then Marco Andretti’s excellante pass upon the Dancin’ FOOL... There didn’t seem to be an overabundance of passing – Persei, eh?

And was it just me as that ‘Ol Sesame Street song which ‘Juan of these DON’T look like the others came to mind... With Mike Conway running in P2 during the early stages of the event, while Will Power ended up 4th due to pitting early whilst HULIO ran a fuel strategy race... Hmm? Penske’s 1st-4th-6th, Ganassi’s Boyz 2-3 with Marco - Where’s the FREAKIN’ Yellow? Andretti in P5, with the highest NON-BIG 3 being Justin ‘BIG UNIT Wilson in P7, who got around his teammate... As Conway finished 9th, while the resta my Top 5ish; ‘TAG came home 10th, while the ‘Grahaminator, nee Graham Rahal finished 17th, Swiss Miss Simona De Silvestro was scored in P21 and Taku-san was last in P25...

Yet the Box score doesn’t reflect the latter two’s real race as Simona ran a very impressive 5th place for the majority of the race before causing the late race Yellow flag Marco was looking for 4-laps after he’d pitted from the lead, while Takuma Sato suffered from an apparent throttle linkage break.

Yet Bertrand Baguette seemed to run a pretty quiet Debutant Indy Car race by keeping his nose clean and running home in P20, nipping at DannaCarz heels... Funny, how nobody’s talking ‘bout her lately, eh? While I didn’t get to hear Robin exclaim ‘bout the Lucky Milka! As that sounded like a wild pass when ‘TK (Tony Kanaan) ‘N ??? split the Wanderin’ Milka... Sorta like a Waltzing Matilda?

Next up is this week’s outing at Long Beach, CA, where Will Power could return to the front of the Queue, eh? Although I’d enjoy seeing the elder Wilson give Team England, Err D & R its first win in a Decade; Hmm? 3-Penske’s, 2-TCGR’s & 2-AA’s in Barber’s Top 10, with only Team England ‘N FAZZT breaking up the party...

So, should I drop into Versus this weekend to hear the great pontificating of the Hippy Dippy Weatherman, eh?