Texas- Firestone 550 Race Thread

[Nikki Katz]

This was a good race, though a little low on crowd numbers. I hope they return next year, the schedule's looking thin already!

[heliocastroneves#3]

Why don't you go watch the IR...oh wait never mind, you can't anymore.

I was an IRL fan before the merge, and I can say that IndyCar is way better than the IRL was... Give him a chance, he probably has to get used to those kind of oval races. However, I cannot really understand it because the race we had yesterday at Texas, reminds me very much from the IndyCar races at Kentucky Speedway. Maybe they always went full throttle there, but they went 3-wide often and they never produced pack racing. It's so sad that we lost venues like Kentucky and Chicagoland but that's not the fault of Randy, no.. That's the fault of those great promoters....

[FormerFF]

The attendance there has been declining the last few years, I'm not sure why, as the racing has been, and continues to be, quite good. Nice for Wilson and Coyne, gutted for Graham, but I think he did what he had to do, the car just slid wide that one turn. Looked like Justin was faster and if Graham had backed off at all, Justin would have been by in a flash.

[Marbles]

What an absolute treat to watch. I miss my pack racing... NOT! Drivers with an opposite lock full of uncertainty is a lot more fun to watch than throttle pedals carpet taped to the floor. Tough for Rahal but it was hard rooting for one over the other with this bunch at the front. Rahal truly impressed with his run to the front and Hinchcliffe duelling with the Penkse boys has got me whole new respect for him. But Wilson and Coyne outshone them all. Great stuff!

Is Kendall in and Dallenbach out?

[DBell]

What an absolute treat to watch. I miss my pack racing... NOT! Drivers with an opposite lock full of uncertainty is a lot more fun to watch than throttle pedals carpet taped to the floor. Tough for Rahal but it was hard rooting for one over the other with this bunch at the front. Rahal truly impressed with his run to the front and Hinchcliffe duelling with the Penkse boys has got me whole new respect for him. But Wilson and Coyne outshone them all. Great stuff!

Is Kendall in and Dallenbach out?

Good post. I agree, I thought it was a good race and I admit I was wrong in that I didn't think this type of race was possible at a place like Texas for IndyCar. Hope this is the end of pack racing.

I think TK was just in for this race. Pretty sure Wally still does Nascar races for TNT and I think they had the Pocono race.

[anthonyvop]

So apparently you can cheat with the aero, get caught and all you get is a slap on the wrist if you are a popular win.

IndyCar announced penalties stemming from post-race technical inspection of the June 9 Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The No. 18 car Dale Coyne Racing car driven by Justin Wilson was fined $7,500 and docked five entrant points for not complying with the sidepod top deck aerodynamic element of Rule 14.6.4.13.

Two teams penalized for post-Texas race technical infractions


F.Y.I.

I looked for rule 14.6.4.13. and it isn't in the 2012 IndyCar rule book. Was it an update I missed?

[jackmart]

^^That is crap!! You can cheat, keep the points, the win and the money? I think it should be given to Graham.

[DBell]

^^That is crap!! You can cheat, keep the points, the win and the money? I think it should be given to Graham.

I think if you read the Speed article, you won't feel so outraged.

INDYCAR: Series Doles Out Fine For Texas Winner Wilson, Dings Carpenter

From Speed:

In a bulletin outlining the specific aero components allowed for Texas, INDYCAR banned the use of top deck "in-fills," which were legal at the Indy 500, but were taken off the list of options for Texas as part of a package intended to reduce pack racing.

The bolt-on items, which mount between the exhaust outlets and rear wheels, close the gap between the sidepod and the large ramps which channel air around the rear tires. The pieces reduce a few pounds of drag, but did not make enough of a difference for Wilson to win the race because of their inclusion on the No. 18 Dallara DW12-Honda.

A clearer picture of the in-fill piece, right, shown here on Charlie Kimball's car at Indy. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

It's also possible a bit of communication between the team and the series led to their use in the 228-lap race.

This writer captured the photo above of the in-fills on Wilson's car before the first practice session at Texas on Friday, and it's believed the car went through technical inspection three times before the race with the units installed.

Ed's transgression was a bigger one for me. The wicker bill can make a huge differnece and his was taller than the 1/8th inch allowed

[SoCalPVguy]

Please somebody tell me why the #18 car was not disqualified for using unapproved aero parts that enhanced performance ? Did TGBB come back when I wasn't paying attention ?

was it because it passed tech inspection and the circus clowns didn't catch it after 3 tries ???

[Mark in Oshawa]

Tech inspection missed it.....I would say that in that case, they cant have clean hands dqing him. Also, note that all those fans who went to the race saw Justin Wilson win. The other guys (NASCAR) have always allowed people to keep their wins even when the car fails tech. Now one can argue about the value of this, but over a little panel in this case, I think a penalty but not taking away the win is valid.