Comments on: Random Thoughts On Toronto

By: SkipinSC

SkipinSC — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:22:55 +0000

The incidents with Moraes made me think very much of the Robert Duvall line in “Days of Thunder:” “Son, I want you to go up and hit the pace car, ’cause God knows, you’ve hit everything else out there!”

Maybe Mario needs a trip to the bench alongside Milka.

What has astounded me about this year is the overwhelming number of “unforced errors,” be it brain fade, overdriving one’s ability or whatever. Yes, these happen, but I can’t recall a season when so many of the frontrunners have been so affected.

By: ATB73

ATB73 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:50:30 +0000

What has been overlooked are the horrendous cautions, not crashes. The first stint was interrupted when the first crasher ran well into the runoff area. A local yellow would have been sufficient to clear that car out. The result was a resart that led to a crash and caution. Then a whole string of crash / cautions ensued thus dissrupting the flow of the race. The problem was when Briscoe got punted, there was no caution. Track workers were running out onto the track to retrieve his front wing with cars still at speed. Perhaps the yellow never flew because They were running out of airtime on ABC and they wanted to complete the full distance.

I won’t even begin to tackle the issue of Mario ” MORON” Moraes. At least Milk Dud gets called in to the pits when the field approaches her from the rear. It is safer for her to lose the lap while she is pitted.

By: Brian McKay

Brian McKay — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:49:23 +0000

I had hoped that the next-gen IndyCars would have onboard starter motors. But with the newly-announced low target weight, I’m not hoping any longer.

But I would like to see only local cautions when, for instance HCN goes so far from the racing line. Let the competitors compete and entertain viewers elsewhere on track while far from the racing line Helio quickly exits his car, a crane and sling hoist the car, then three guys quickly drag the stacked tires a few feet.

By: Brian McKay

Brian McKay — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:42:08 +0000

all good points! Why, oh why, oh why isn’t Moraes BOOTED?! Does he pay KVRT for his crash damage? He’s been irking racers and fans since first turn of first lap of first race this season.

Mr. Penske intends to field three IndyCars next season.

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:56:59 +0000

Yeah, but when you’ve already hit everyone else…….

By: Tom G.

Tom G. — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:52:42 +0000

Agreed. Taku was blameless in that incident. I just found it ironic that it was his KV teammate that took him out.

By: Edward

Edward — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:56:40 +0000

I tend to agree. It was an exciting race, but it was also very ugly at times.

What I saw were drivers making overambititious banzai moves, trying to shut the door after being passed and making what I feel are silly mistakes. The quality of driving in this race was for the most part, deplorable.

Congratulations to Will Power for his fourth win of the season. If he can be even average on the ovals, he might have the field covered for the overall title as well as the road/street course title.

I feel really bad for Justin Wilson. I feel he had this race covered untli he spun.

At what point does Kevin Kalkhoven decide enough is enough? 20 crashes this season by KVRT?! Unacceptable.

Brian, the race actually was like an oval race. Start, stop, start, stop. The only difference is that in this race, there were actually reasons for the caution flags. Mostly idiotic driving by more than a few drivers-16 of the 25 or 26 cars had damage at the end of the race.

I can only imagine the number of drivers/teams wanting to talk to Brian Barnhart after this race.

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:54:01 +0000

In all fairness Tom, Sato was completely faultless in his incident with Moraes – Sato may have been on the outside, but Mario completely swiped clean across the track and wiped out Taku

By: Tom G.

Tom G. — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:41:42 +0000

Spot on as usual George. It was a truly ugly race, but oddly enough, I found it entertaining despite ABC’s pathetic coverage. Like all entertaining events it had a nice mix of the predictable
- KV wrecking
- Power showing himself to be the best Penske driver
- Milka getting lapped within minutes of the start
- Schekter taking someone out with a ridiculous bonzai move
- Moraes causing angst and frustration among the field
- Inexplicable brain fades by Castroneves &/or Briscoe

as well as the unpredictable
- Wilson making an unforced error?
- Dixon making Castroneves/Brisoe like mistakes
- Rahal charging through the field
- Danica P6????
- Three American’s in the Top 6? Four in the Top 8?

The predictable makes a fan feel like an expert for being able to anticipate events. The unpredictable makes for excitement.

Regarding KV, Kevin Kalkhoven must be thinking “It was cheaper to prop up ChampCar than run these three clowns”

These unforced errors, and brain fades are the reason Penske hasn’t won a Championship since Hornish left and the mergification happened. The only question at this point, when he goes to 2 cars next year does he drop Briscoe or Castroneves?

By: redd

redd — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:34:53 +0000

Mario Moraes drove like he was audtioning for the fendered series. Is it really that difficult to install a freaking starter in these cars? Felt bad for Wilson as well as Hinch in the Junior Varsity game.

I thought ABC/ESPN did much better this week, and had the feeling if maybe they did the whole series their work would improve. And they did show a lot of Toronto Indycar adverts during the British Open coverage. But I’m looking forward to watching the next one on Versus.