2010 Indy 500 Final Laps

[SportscarBruce]

Thought I'ld post this for the benefit of those who either missed the broadcast or wish to see it again. Final two laps + post-race interviews:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-qfwEspg60

[glauistean]

Isn't it amusing that Dario has not won a 500 crossing the line without a caution being involved.
What has he won now? Two Indy 495's?

[e2mtt]

That didn't show the chaos on the track, with the scoring & positions of the car. Indycar.com showed Marco Andretti finishing 6th behind Danica in 5th for about 30 mins, before they moved Marco up to 3rd & Danica back to 6th. Marco must have slowed down on the main track, while a lot of others went to the warm-up lane & kept their speed up higher.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Isn't it amusing that Dario has not won a 500 crossing the line without a caution being involved.
What has he won now? Two Indy 495's?

Its amusing? No...this one and the last were deserved. In this year's instance, they could have ran another 30 laps and no one was catching him with the speed he was showing...

[dataman1]

I understand the "no passing" under yellow rule but from what I can find out Marco never crossed the start finish line at the end of the race. It is like they declared an immediate finish (red flag & checker). Not saying they can't do that. Just trying to understand. Anyone know the answers?

[dataman1]

I understand the "no passing" under yellow rule but from what I can find out Marco never crossed the start finish line at the end of the race. It is like they declared an immediate finish (red flag & checker). Not saying they can't do that. Just trying to understand. Anyone know the answers?

Update: I checked lap stats and there seems to be a large gap of data missing on every car on the lead lap once the yellow was thrown. They all hit a time line then have several lines without records then mysteriously appear again at the start/fininish line. Even Dario has gaps in hitting timing lines and he was past the point of impact. Strange. Missing data is bad and makes questions arise. Dale Coyne argued the same points but was over ruled by Barnard.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Except for fuel.

He had enough to finish. I suspect the saving fuel exercise would have been out the window if he was being challenged in that last lap, because he had enough to get around after the win under his own power and then some. The fact is, Dario had the best car all day, and he was the guy who dominated the race. So him winning is no injustice.....and I think he had enough no matter what. I don't want to see the IRL do the G-W-C overdrive style finishes of NASCAR. They are contrived, artificial and not in the spirit of what this is about. It is a 500 mile race...and it isn't Dario's fault two guys tangled as he was taking the white flag....

[Mark in Oshawa]

Update: I checked lap stats and there seems to be a large gap of data missing on every car on the lead lap once the yellow was thrown. They all hit a time line then have several lines without records then mysteriously appear again at the start/fininish line. Even Dario has gaps in hitting timing lines and he was past the point of impact. Strange. Missing data is bad and makes questions arise. Dale Coyne argued the same points but was over ruled by Barnard.

Those hits may be spurious data from transponders that were "xtraed" out. Sometimes double hits occur. Trust me, as someone who used to do timing and scoring for a few different series, it is pretty hard to falsify, change or manipulate the results...no...not pretty hard, impossible. Let me put it this way, if you think something hinky was done, come and say it, and prove it...because the people who do the scoring for these races are as honorable and decent as any officials in sport.....and there is NOTHING in it for them to try to change things. There is a reason for the data you see.....and a logical one.

[dataman1]

Mark,

I have not tried to place blame on anyone and for sure respect the folks in T & S.

Thinking about the missing data and watching video, I realized that the missing data could be the result of the cars driving on the inside pit entry lane. If that is correct, would you agree that most tracks continue their timing lines off the track to include the warm up lanes? Take a look at the data...even the blend line at pit entry has not one car crossing it after the yellow....go back before that yellow and all the timing lines and car transponders were working.

Look, I'm a geek and love data...when it comes up missing that is a problem. That's all I intended to point out.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Mark,

I have not tried to place blame on anyone and for sure respect the folks in T & S.

Thinking about the missing data and watching video, I realized that the missing data could be the result of the cars driving on the inside pit entry lane. If that is correct, would you agree that most tracks continue their timing lines off the track to include the warm up lanes? Take a look at the data...even the blend line at pit entry has not one car crossing it after the yellow....go back before that yellow and all the timing lines and car transponders were working.

Look, I'm a geek and love data...when it comes up missing that is a problem. That's all I intended to point out.

I am sure that likely there is no loop in the warmup lane. You don't need to score people there if they are taking the lane because if they are in that lane, they are under yellow, and the timing loops all around the track don't "score" since the only official changes for position are indidicated at the start finish or at the last loop before the yellow. (I am unsure of the exact rules the IRL uses on this but I am guessing this is the situation).

What you have to understand, the only loop that REALLY counts for data is the S/F line and it extends right through the pits. They can cancel out spurious hits or false hits, and if anything hinky was going on, I know enough about how things work that it would take some sort of gun to the head to make people NOT talk about it. Once that crash happened, any of the data you saw or didn't saw really after the crash has little relevence except at the S/F line. Since I wasn't there, and haven't seen the loop reports from each loop, nor the S/F I cannot really say what happened, but you can safely assume anything you see that doesn't make sense has a rational explaination.