So I totally understand the call, as in
obviously priority number one is Pit Crew safety, and the fact that I cannot
see - means I couldn't see the supposed waywardness of the Penske tyre changer
who Scott Dixon called out for making a DICK move by purposely walking into his
car... Yet it seems pretty interesting how two drivers were going Banana's in
the Booth, with a third saying it was dirty pool - while Penske Team President
Tim Cindric seemed pretty nonchalant about the whole affair and flatly said; I
have NO idea if it was on purpose, you'll have to ask him....
And I'm happy that Will Power finally got the
monkey off his back over his victory drought, but I was rootin' instead for
Justin 'B-I-G UNIT Wilson to get around his ex-Champ Car competitor which
seemingly would have been justice for Race Control taking away a probable
victory from Dixon; yet haven't the Penske boyz been victims of crew mistakes
before?
And although the Penske crew member in
question seemingly was carrying his tyre perhaps awkwardly, nevertheless I just can't believe that he or anybody on
Pitlane would purposely walk into a speeding car!
Yet perhaps part of the issue was the
multitude 'O painted pit box lines? Since apparently the difference between the
'RASSCAR boxes and the IndyCar boxes were confusing to thee casual fan...
Meanwhile, earlier in the day at the mighty
Spa-Francorchamps, Pastor 'Wyldthing Maldonado seemingly got away with another bad,
bad move, as I personally feel that Maldonado should have been slapped with a
10-grid spot penalty for Monza for simply turning into the pits upon an
unsuspecting Paul di resta, instead of simply being given a Drive-thru penalty,
since as the announcers said, Maldonado's
race, and more importantly Di Resta's races were already ruined.
But back to Sonoma, which certainly was
anything but boring, as in NO Snorhoma today, right? The race simply left me
with a bad taste in my mouth, since if 'HULIO (Castroneves) goes on to win the
championship this year, I'll not be impressed at all, since to date his single
win came with a car penalized Post-race for a technical infraction and Dixon
was possibly victimized of massively cutting into Hulio's points lead, and thus
I now find myself firmly rooting for Dixon to overcome this dark cloud of
controversy and win his third championship; as after all, whatever happened to
the driver with more race wins being crowned champ?
While I take exception to 'Crash Gladys's
comment towards being sick 'N tired of race fans simply believing everything
that the announcers say... Hey, if you're visually impaired and the sunshine in
California is so bright that you cannot S-E-E the cars clearly upon your
television screen, then you're kinda between a rock and a hard place, eh? Yet
shame upon the reporters who are just doing their jobs by shoving microphones
into the faces of angry racecar drivers immediately after an incident and then
needling them incessantly about did he do I-T on purpose?
So I'm not sure what the answer is, as I totally
believe that as Statmann Carutherz pointed out, the first and only priority
should be the safety and well being of the humans on Pitlane trying to dance
about hurtlin' metal & carbon fibre 650bhp missiles and the rules ARE the
rules, i.e.; any vehicular contact with either equipment, tyres or crew members
is an automatic penalty!
As another valid point Statmann brought up is
the unintended consequences of said hit tyre gaining momentum and potentially
hitting the offending driver or unsuspecting crewmen on Pitlane, as let's recall what happened when Mark Webber's
Red Bull was released prematurely without its wheel securely attached in
Germany - as fortunately the FOM Cameraman survived being struck by the errant tyre, albeit with
broken bones and a nasty concussion... While the team was quickly fined $30,000
Euros for the releasing of an unsafe racecar!
So while I still think that Maldonado should get
a penalty for his erratic ontrack driving, I have to say that I find myself
agreeing with Beaux Barfield's ultimate call upon Dixon, with perhaps the only
thing being questioned is whether there should be some sort of perceived tyre
removal procedures on Pitlane? Although I think instead IndyCar should mandate
the overhead air hoses instead of chucking about Air guns if we're gonna get
into safety procedures on Pitlane...
