Monday, June 29, 2015

IndyCar plays Roulette at Fontana



Yeah I know, it's very easy for me to sit here and "Monday Morning Quarterback!" Especially like Tony Kanaan said: I wish you were out here in the cockpit at 210-215mph! As it makes you wonder if you want to keep doing this!

Entertainingly, I thought I'd blown I-T! As Randal, thy No Fenders  Moniker King was kind enough to take me TV shopping Saturday, as I've been Sans Telie' the past six weeks now, and Randal finished programming said new television just prior to their being 50-laps left at Fontana.

Having checked thy TV Guide prior, I knew there was a slimmed down 3hr replay Sunday night at 9PM Pacific which I eagerly awaited. Although Y'all DON'T mess round with Walker Texas Ranger! As the Paid Program cut into the post race interviews at midnight after only having heard from Rahal and runner-up 'TK "Follow-your-Schnoz!" Kanaan before good 'Ol Chuck Conner; Err Norris began prattlin' on about his super duper home gym workout device; Hooah!

Alas,  when surfing around Sunday afternoon, I thought FOX had just given it away as I madly scrambled to turn off the TV since I don't have NO mute button no more! As the female voice cooed, Will Power; SHEISA!

So I dually sat down at 9PM and watched; Err listened to the  whole darn thingy' and was pleasantly surprised to discover with 9-laps remaining that Will Power didn't win the race. Although Power was understandably PISSED OFF! (for which absolutely NO reason entitles him to shove a Safety Marshall! As talk 'bout Post-race Fines, as he needs to be given the Clint Dempsey treatment! As that's simply a huge No-No! even if he tweeted & personally apologized...) over the insane Pack racing that had occurred, which Y'all know is bad if the reigning series champion brings Las Vegas into the conversation!


And I'll admit that I was rootin' for Ryan Briscoe to win, because  I think the affable Aussie deserves a Full-time ride with a decent team and whilst I'm happy that Graham Rahal got the proverbial "Monkey Off his Back!" Scoring his second career IndyCar victory and the first in 125-starts since winning his debutant B-I-G' CARZ race 'Wayback at St Pete in 2008.

Yet while I find it NO fault of Graham's as he was told to go, I totally agree with Professor B's assessment, as JB' (Jon Beekhuis) said pointedly, what's there to discuss? It's a pretty clear case of a Pitlane Safety violation and I don't see how it's NOT a Penalty! To which I thought Derrick Walker's in-booth explanation was extremely lame!

As really? How isn't this a Drive-thru penalty a la driving over a air-hose or worse yet, striking a crew member. While DON'T even get me started on Indy Car's version of the Green-White chequer, when going to another Red flag scenario with less than 10-laps remaining at Fontana.

Really enjoyed hearing PT's voice again,  along with "Professor" Steve Matchett with the lone exception being how I  really do NOT enjoy his screaming WHOA! As it comes across as cheesy artificially induced drama, which is totally unnecessary!

As I found the most interesting part of the whole broadcast being Paul Tracy's shrewd assessment of Honda's performance, saying he thought that actually, Hondres' engine was probably stronger, ergo more powerful than Chevy's! For which Matchett quickly chimed in while concurring with Tracy that when you take off the extra drag the Bowtie's can run on the Road and Street Courses with the Speedway Aerokits, Honda's definitely not as deficient which they proved all day long with the majority of their team drivers running at the point.

Having attended the 2013 Indy 500 race where the record was set for most overtakes with 68 vs. this year's 37, I can say that I totally enjoyed this year's race far more - as thy engaging Slingshot mentality doesn't really seem to conjure up true Racecraft.

Hence, was it exciting to see; Uhm? listen to the record for lead changes being broken at Fontana with 80? As it certainly made me think of past Michigan 500-milers, especially the Hanford era races that Leigh Diffey asked 'PT about while noting how El Zorro! The legendous' Alex Zanardi absolutely deplored them.

as yeah, Pack racing is exciting for the fans, although I found it fairly nerve wracking from the comfort of my "Lazyboy" recliner! And surely Y'all DON'T want to see another driver lose his life simply in the name of pumping up television ratings, right? As why does the three Indy 500 crashes and now this make me think indeed of Las Vegas when Dan Wehldon stupidly lost his life...