Houston Grand Prix

[FormerFF]

Other than for the last lap of Sunday's race, I thought both races were very entertaining. I just hope that the concussion that Dario suffered isn't significant.

Hopefully the fans that were injured are OK.

[jarrambide]

What a disappointing weekend.

I know the Texans played there last Sunday (and I really know, I was there), but that should be no excuse for that huge bump on Friday. They had only 4 days after the Texans' game, but they had months to try and figure out any changes that place was going to need.

The chicane with tires looked amateurish, having to change the schedule of the whole weekend, looked more amateurish.

Cars jumping all over the place, cars losing parts without crashing or touching anything at all, looked very amateurish.

The fact that Saturday's race started and ended under yellow was anticlimactic, the rest of the race was entertaining, some good fights, but starting one race under yellow and technically finishing both under yellow, not great PR.

The cancellation of Sunday's qualifying also very amateurish, it wasn't raining hard, it wasn't a thunderstorm, it was light rain, but the bumpy parking lot made running with any rain dangerous, again, not great PR for the series. The fact that half of Sunday's race was raced under yellow flag was also bad PR.

That accident was scary, very scary, I am more than happy that Helio pretty much came out of it with back pain and a swollen ankle. The problem was that 13 fans suffered injuries, 11 of them only had minor injuries, 2 had to go to the hospital. I know that cars flying is something that can happen at any course, it has happened in real courses, the 500 and Katherine Legge accident at Road America come to mind. The media here is blaming the bumpy track and the fact they had only 4 days to build it, they are exaggerating the fans' injuries, not great PR for next year.

[zako85]

Houston races were better than expected, specially after that awful Baltimore weekend. I enjoyed both Houston races, that is, everything besides that last crash. First of all, this is not a street course in the usual sense. Much of the track runs on parking spaces. The track is very wide, which reduced the possibility of cluster crashes like in Baltimore. Certainly, there were still plenty of yellows because when someone loses a car, it has nowhere to go but into a wall or tires (or fence). I wouldn't blame the Sato-Franchitti on Houston's layout though. This type of crash could have happened anywhere with a long turn and a fence. It could have happened on an oval easily. I think Franchitti may have dodged a deadly bullet. His crash was scary. Can you imagine the damage if his car hit the fence head first? But this is a known risk that all drivers accept.

What really surprised me is the difficulties faced during the standing starts. Out of four attempted standing starts, only the last one was clean. What's going on? Is the first gear too long for a standing start or the drivers just don't have enough practice?

[bugeyedgomer]

Franchitti injured in late crash in Houston - updates with ankle surgery. #IndyCar http://t.co/MHD7v8D7iq

Crash video
http://m.click2houston.com/news/local-2 ... index.html

Update: Dario Franchitti has undergone surgery on his broken right ankle.

And back pain, which usually means the league will wait a few days to announce the broken back

[anfield5]

Just saw Dario's accident, all I can say is thank god he is not too badly injured. Broken ankle and two broken vert in his back. He has had surgery on his ankle, but thankfully none is needed on his spine, and the other drivers involved are both ok.

[Civic]

Will two weeks be enough time for Dario to be ready to drive in Fontana? If Briscoe isn't doing Petit Le Mans he seems to be the logical choice as Dario's replacement as he did the Indy 500 with Ganassi this year. Tagliani seems like another alternative.

[garyshell]

Which ankle did he break and didn't Dario switch to left foot braking a year or so ago? If it was his right foot or he did switch to left foot braking there is no way he'll be ready by Fontana.

Gary

[anfield5]

Even id Dario could drive with a broken ankle, there is no way his back could stand the strain of racing around an oval, it would be stupid of him to try, afterall he is not in the championship mix. It would be good for Dixon to have him racing for Scott's title, but there are more important considerations for Dario. Briscoe or Tag would be almost as good for Scott.

[Mark]

Broken ankle? No way. He'll be out for the rest of the season. You can't mess with that sort of thing. If he were to crash again he could mess it up permanently.

[Parabolica]

Franchitti is one of the finest sportsmen this Kingdom has ever produced. Just a shame that he never receives the plaudits here that he deserves.

At his age, though, I have to wonder if now is a good time to hang up the overalls.

He's seen plenty of his peers either die or be seriously injured. I have to wonder if this accident will make him consider retirement.