Comments on: Random Thoughts On Mid-Ohio

By: Brian in Panama City

Brian in Panama City — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:40:21 +0000

I wish the powers-that-be, not just the fans, would realize that Milka doesn’t belong there and exclude her. I met her when she drove sports cars, and know that she’s a lovely, bright, educated woman. But she doesn’t belong in this field.

By: Rick Hunt

Rick Hunt — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:56:28 +0000

Re: pit crews. I was in the pits at Mid-Ohio all weekend and I commented to my friend about the average age/athleticism of the crews. In general, the crews of the top teams were younger/fitter than the teams that are lower in the pecking order.

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:37:29 +0000

@ James O

In 1996, F1 introduced the 107% rule; whereby cars that qualified slower than 107% of the pole time did not race. It worked a treat – teams that were in danger either upped their game supremely or just disappeared.
It’s great that there were 23 cars at Mid-Ohio, but if the person in 23rd is seven seconds per lap slower, they might as well not be there.

On second thoughts, do you think Robbie asked Milka to slow up so that Milka’s car would get airtime and possibly more dollars??

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:30:56 +0000

Apart from Milka; I think there was definitely a sense of disappointment coming from the booth when Conway punted Danica though – a thoroughly stupid move!!

I don’t want to come down on the guy unnecessarily, but he really is making the same mistakes he was making when he was in GP2 – very, very fast; when he decided to keep it on the road…

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:28:19 +0000

Amen to that!!
It is very true though that the IRL is facing what is essentially a very “F1 problem” – there is far too much downforce on the cars when compared to the speeds that they do carry through road/street courses.

They have far too little horsepower, matched up with far too much downforce within regulations that weigh against innovation and design.

By: Tom M.

Tom M. — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:32:40 +0000

I hadn’t noticed the tire changer for foyt…but watching it again…you’re absolutely right. He looked fat and indeed was still working when all the other tire changers were done. Great observation!

By: James O.

James O. — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:55:03 +0000

My random thoughts on Mid-Ohio:

1. I still don’t understand why Helio’s off-roading created a full-course yellow that seemingly took a half hour. Did he drag a half ton of gravel back on the track with him? I don’t remember the yellow lasting that long for Kanaan, nor even Danica–and they had to tow her out.

2. First JW pulled away like an antelope being chased by a heard of rhinos, then Dixon did the same in the second half. I think we should consider stop sticks–the ones the police have.

3. I don’t think it’s fair to blame “road courses” for this being a dull race. We’ve been treated to some oval snoozers too. Dixon’s domination comes from having the best car by far, in addition to some luck. On an oval, he could have done the same thing.

4. I guess I’m the only one who’s watching (at least some of the time) to Indycar’s internet feed. No commercials. But it was hilarious (in a train-wreck way) when their main helicopter-mounted camera had to leave to go back to base for fuel. We were treated to a long, sweeping landscape, the view from the undercarriage of the chopper, as we left the track. This went on for quite awhile until we lost the image altogether, and got blue-screen for another long stretch, until someone had the presence of mind to change the feed to pick up Briscoe’s on-board camera. (They eventually switched back when the helicopter returned.)

5. Nice to see Vitor again. Any man who’s lit on fire, doused, and then drives back out to race again, is a cut above.

6. I want to throw my beer at the tv (I had VS on, too) when I hear about Dixon matching Hornish’s Historic record. Considering how much the IMS embraces and revels in it’s history, it drives me bananas that the IRL wants to forget anything that happened before 1996. The IRL/Cart war is over. You won. Embrace your history.

7. Lastly: a proposal for a rule change. If your five-lap average is more than 5mph slower than the 5-lap avg of the leader, you get black-flagged. If your pit crew can’t wring the speed out of your car, you get parked. There should be no moving chicanes, no matter how good you fill out a firesuit.

By: Cousin Dave

Cousin Dave — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:49:42 +0000

One thing I’ve noticed: Firestone has done a superb job with the road course red tires. They seem to have no trouble lasting for a full stint. Now they need to a bit less superb a job, because the durability of the red tires has taken the tire strategy element out of it. Right now, everyone’s tire “strategy” consists solely of running as few laps on the black tires as possible. The reds need to be more towards the classic gumball tires — they should start to fade after about 10 laps, and there’s no way anyone should be able to go 35+ laps on them.

By: redd

redd — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:50:53 +0000

Re: commercials. I’ve wondered why no commercials at all from Honda, Coke, Orbitz, the armed services (nat’l guard, marines) or Verizon. They all are sponsors of the IRL to some extent. Even Firestone seems to have cut back on commercials.

By the way, watching a good road race today. Unfortunately, it’s Nascar.

By: The Speedgeek

The Speedgeek — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:48:53 +0000

Redd,
There have been photo finishes on road courses in the past (GrandAm at Montreal last year and Senna/Mansell at Jerez in the 1985 Spanish GP are the two that come to mind), but I don’t think that road racing is really all about that. For me, road racing is about watching a driver tame a mechanical beast (/end Jack Arute voice) up hill and down dale, around a huge variety of corners, some blind, some off- or on-camber, all different from each other, braking, shifting, managing tire wear and fuel consumption, all while battling with 20+ other drivers who are attempting to do the same. The spectacle is in the actual driving, not so much in the wheel to wheel competition, though when that actually happens on a road course, the excitement factor is multiplied by about 10.

I think that a lot of the blame for the lack of excitement in the current IndyCars on road courses comes down to a lack of power versus the amount of downforce the cars carry. The first time I saw a top-level open wheel car in person on a road course was CART at Mid-Ohio in 1999. I watched from the berm outside of turn 1 (in the infield), and it was crazy to watch the cars come through near the limit of adhesion, ride the curb at the exit of the corner, and then squat and put down 900+ horsepower toward the Keyhole. Similarly, watching from the esses at the end of the backstraight, it was obvious that Juan Montoya was on a different plane from everybody else on cold tires. Everyone else would cruise around at half speed through there for 1-2 laps after a stop or at the beginning of a session, but Juan was always at top speed on the straight, right out of the pits, and working the wheel and the throttle through the esses, trying to find the absolute limit.

That whole thing I just wrote makes me sound like one of those “1996 is when I died inside!” ex-CART fans who can not let go of the past. I’m not. The current cars are OK, but I think that if The League can re-install a sense of speed and skill required to drive the next generation of cars, the spectacle of watching the drivers DRIVE the road courses could do a world of good. Who knows, though? Maybe people are too preoccupied with watching DVDs or preparing for their fantasy football drafts to notice IndyCars nowadays. It’s been a long time since a lot of people had the patience to watch two hours of racing that featured little passing…