Comments on: Random Thoughts On Sonoma

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:33:45 +0000

What I would like even more would be teams choosing either black or red before quals and running the rest of the weekend on that choice (akin to the multiple compound days of the tire wars in the 90′s.

By: Mike R.

Mike R. — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:26:25 +0000

I saw that this way: once Dario was on the blacks (thinking that they’d perform better at the end of the race than the reds and make up the difference) and Will began to gap him so badly, they decided to let Scott go after Will with the same compound, hoping for (and getting) a yellow. At that point, it was “possible” that Dixon could have passed Will, thereby cutting into the point gap growing by as much over Dario…not to mention that Scott still has a chance at the overall title himself.

By: Mike R.

Mike R. — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:22:10 +0000

It’s surprising to me how Viso seems like the switch is either on or off to me (the same way that Arie was described by his own team back in the late 80s). Moraes is like a Jekyll/Hyde incarnate in terms of his driviing. I’m hoping that Sato will perform a lot better next year, if only for the sake of my friend who’s wrenching on the car…who needs to catch a break from constant rebuilds (presuming he’s returning).

By: Steve K

Steve K — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:14:24 +0000

If Sonoma was like F1, Dixon would never have passed Dario, although it did seem Briscoe won the race for Power holding the Target cars back. How he got in front of them was something versus ignored. But he was and he clearly dogged it (unless he just sucks) enough to give Power a 9 second lead before the last pit stops. Dixon burned up the reds enough to cut the lead down to 4 seconds before the last caution. He had nothing left on them but did make for an exciting Montoya-Ambrose duel that we didn’t as versus went to commercial. I hope for next years road courses they bring back the super softs. They seemed to make the race interesting as the better drivers who didn’t abuse tires were rewarded on track. Firestone nailed this one.

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:26:51 +0000

Agree completely about the heli-cam. The race start was an awful time to use it, especially when the pit buildings were in the way as they crossed the start line.

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:16:26 +0000

My only complaints about the online coverage is that too often they choose poor camera angles (they chose a helicopter shot looking at the back of the grandstands during the start) and that there is sometimes a disconnect between what the radio team is talking about and what indycar.com has on camera.

As you said, though, they do a lot of things quite well. They catch some different things that the television networks don’t catch, follow a broader range of cars. The radio team is more race action-oriented and doesn’t dwell on human interest stories that television uses to keep casual fans interested. And as you mentioned, the video feed never sees commercial interruption.

Ultimately, I just want to see the race. I usually watch the races on television because it’s nice to see it on a larger screen, but when I not able to get out and watch with friends (and since I don’t have cable), watching online is more than fine with me.

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:54:31 +0000

Hi Billy,
Must agree in general about indycar.com – their coverage feels a little better and despite their radio adverts, they don’t cut away from the screen.

It’s a different director too, so the internet feed often catches different things and isn’t just going to stick with someone, because there is a “story” or a “journey” (or some other media invented garbage).

By: Travis R

Travis R — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:58:54 +0000

I was wondering about that myself, Leigh. The booth guys tried to explain their take on it, but I still didn’t really see the reasoning. I guess they were pinning their hopes on the reds not being able to hold up?

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:53:19 +0000

From the sound it, I guess it’s a good thing I watched the race online. If anything, it was worth it to hear Davey Hamilton gripe about how terrible the starts were. Restarts were better than average, but I still don’t understand why the pace car leaves the track so early.

It seemed to be even harder to pass at Sears Point than it was at Mid Ohio. Dang.

On the positive, nice runs by Dixon, Graham, and Wilson. Felt bad for Tagliani. FAZZT has found quite a bit of speed in qualifying, hope they find a way to put it together on race day more often.

By: Mike Silver

Mike Silver — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:48:15 +0000

Totally agree about the Versus coverage. Cutting away with 5 laps to go? Glad they made it back for the finish. Heart rate monitor- prerace fluff in the wrong place. I have thought versus has not been as good all year as they were last yeaer. Still better than Autoracing Badly Covered network, but slipping quickly.