Comments on: Random Thoughts On Mid-Ohio

By: Br!an McKay in Florida

Br!an McKay in Florida — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:30:58 +0000

I have always been a fan of natural-terrain road courses and (yes) street races. However, I’ll go along with any of you who recommend that too-narrow or poorly-designed tracks be reconfigured and/or replaced by ovals, or tracks such as Cleveland’s wide-open airport, which allow side-by-side racing (passing).
Antiquated venues such as Mid-Ohio, which are so far from FIA-specification and NEED many improvements before they fracture or kill more racers, course workers, or spectators.
George, that “late spin by Graham Rahal” was not an unforced error such as Hinch’s; Danica rammed Rahal.
And Tagliani didn’t swing wide but jerked rightward in a right turn when he saw Hinch in his right mirror.

By: Br!an McKay in Florida

Br!an McKay in Florida — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:17:32 +0000

I would have LOVED to watch American LeMans, SCCA World Challenge, and IndyCar racing in one weekend in a pretty setting rather than watch two of the three on a TV. Some year I’ll go up to Mid-Ohio.

By: redcar

redcar — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:39:41 +0000

I’ve heard Mid-Ohio (and Barber) are great venues–in person. Which is important. And I hope Mid-Ohio and Barber are on the schedule for years to come also. But it’s not quite as entertaining on the tube. Why should Indycar just accept that instead of lobbying/investing to modify/widen the narrow tracks (in addition to a better car) to make the racing even better for the audience that drives ratings, sponsors and–if not growth–at least stability.

By: @JoHoWo

@JoHoWo — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:15:41 +0000

All I have to offer is the fact that there are huge crowds every year because it is an absolute blast of a weekend. There are races and practices all day long for three days straight, a campground next to the track that turns into a giant party at night, and fantastic amenities and customer service provided by the fine folks of Mid-Ohio. What doesn’t translate to tv are the excellent sight lines and all of the action in the middle of the pack. I can’t see Indycar or Mid-Ohio ever wanting to not host this race, I believe it will be around for a very long time to come.

By: dylanpt24

dylanpt24 — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:06:11 +0000

What a waste of time… it failed what I call the “Fontana test” which is where I compare a race to the NASCAR parade at Fontana. It was worse than that, and considering how poorly received Fontana’s Cup race is, that’s bad. Actually, this race made Pocono look good. At least Brad won that.

By: Steve K

Steve K — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:42:23 +0000

I was at the race and loved it. Though it probably helped that The GF and I made a wager on the #9 car. It was thrilling to see him Vettel the field.

I wouldn’t mind if IndyCar alternated Cleveland and Mid-Ohio every other year. Dixie just wants the odds in Amish country.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:41:21 +0000

Hey! What are you doing using logic and reasoning?

Seriously, passes may be few and far between at Mid-Ohio, but as a spectator who’s seen it, I’d miss it from the schedule. Even Mrs. Rick was impressed watching CART cars transition from the back straight to turn 4 back in the day…

By: The Lapper

The Lapper — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:25:40 +0000

Since it has been brought up, I like Barber a lot and I found the racing there pretty good. I think the only excitement yesterday was Dixon passing Franchitti on that last restart.

By: redcar

redcar — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:07:29 +0000

entertainment being the key word.

By: The Speedgeek

The Speedgeek — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:58:24 +0000

Two things:
1) The “pit run” yesterday rivaled the original BBC version of The Office for straight up cringe-inducing, non-intentional laughs (although I guess The Office was intentionally, non-intentionally funny, so never mind). “Um, who’s around here? Anybody? Oh, hey, Charlie Kimball’s dad! Hey! Wanna kill 30 seconds of airtime for me?” That’s gotta be tweaked a little to be a little more coordinated, not just a half-assed attempt at imitating something that Speed’s F1 team does so well.

2) People (rightly, I guess) are going to complain ad nauseum about how this race is terrible and should be eliminated from the schedule. To those folks, I ask “how do you get passing in an auto race?” Think about it for a second. The #1 thing that you need to have passing on any track, anywhere, is a faster car behind a slower car. Yesterday, we generally had the fastest car (Dixon) out front, the second fastest car (Dario, for most of the day) in second, and so on. When that happens, passes are going to be rare. Short of a random draw or a field inversion at Barber and Mid-Ohio, we’re never going to have Talladega-esque action at those tracks. For some folks, that’s unacceptable. For others (me, for one), that’s OK a couple of times per year, so long as it serves a greater purpose (in Mid-Ohio’s case, a nod to longstanding road course tradition and as a hat tip to the local Honda presence). That’s a debate that’ll never get solved, I think. Back to passing. In the instance that a faster car is actually behind a slower car, and this is true for just about any track as well, oval or twisty, that faster car has to be more than 0.5% faster than the car in front, otherwise you’ll have a crash-‘em up fest like we had in Toronto. The (slightly) faster car that’s behind can only get the pass about 1/3rd of the way done, and then you wind up with a car in the wall. Bottom line: we gotta have cars that perform differently from one another. Cars with different engines and aerodynamic packages is the only way this is going to happen. I hate to sound like a Cubs fan (um, which I still sort of am), but “wait until next year”. Then let’s revisit, shall we?