Firestone Twin 275's Race Thread

[DanicaFan]

Race 6 of 17

Race - Firestone Twin 275's

Location - Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas

Date - Saturday, June 11th

Time & TV Schedule - Race Pre-show -8:00pm Eastern - Green Flag for Race #1 - 8:45PM, Green Flag for Race #2 - 10:45PM Eastern - VERSUS

Course Type - 1.5 Mile Oval

Distance - Each Race - 114 Laps / 171 Miles (275.197 KM)

Practice Sessions - Friday, June 10th - 1:30PM -2:45PM & 7:45 -8:15PM Eastern

Qualifications - Friday, June 10th - 4:45PM -6:00PM Eastern

2010 Pole Sitter - #6 Ryan Briscoe - 215.273 mph

2010 Winner - #6 Ryan Briscoe

[DanicaFan]

2010 Race Facts..

Length of Race - 2 hours, 4 minutes, 47 seconds
Average Speed - 159.508 mph
Margin Of Victory - 1.4629 seconds
Lead Changes - 10 among 7 drivers
Caution Laps - 36 laps for 4 cautions
Fastest Lap - #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay - Lap 117 - 215.685 mph

[DanicaFan]

A picture of the track..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/texasmotorspeedway-1.jpg

[DanicaFan]

Entry List.. 30 Cars..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/texasentrylist.jpg

[DanicaFan]

Here are the pit lane assignments..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/texaspitlane2011.jpg

[ykiki]

With "sprint" type races, does fuel strategy go out the window? How big a factor do tires play?

[Alfa Fan]

30 cars. Bloody hell thats strong. Is the 26 starters still in place? Such a shame if it is, 30 cars round Texas would be quite a spectacle.

[maxmach]

you know, kind of thought this race, Texas, was a gimmick.....and not that it isn't but I'm getting more and more interested. And, Indy seems to be getting a lot more press in general. This should be good.
Texas always makes for good tv.

[cos]

30 cars. Bloody hell thats strong. Is the 26 starters still in place? Such a shame if it is, 30 cars round Texas would be quite a spectacle.

All 30 starting (race 1 at least; spare cars depending for race 2 presumably!)

[Chris R]

so what is the deal with twin races - two winners are two sets of points? is the second race a "clean slate" (if you are out of first race can you start second race?)

[mousti]

Is Bertrand Baguette starting? Saw him in the pickem list..

[Anubis]

Going to mean being awake at some ungodly hour here in the UK, but I'm really rather looking forward to this. 30 cars round Texas, twice, with no need for fuel strategy? I sense this will get rather "gloves off". No Wheldon, I notice? Using kilometers in the naming seems a bit odd, but sure there's a reason. Probably marketing.

Danica to win both etc

[SarahFan]

Danica to win both etc

The race(s) is for second

[mousti]

Is Bertrand Baguette starting? Saw him in the pickem list..
Found the enty list and he isn't shame it is because he would be again finishing around top 10

[Wilf]

With only one stop for fuel in each race the question is will they change tires and can the Ganassi boys do a timed fuel stop correctly?

[TURN3]

They're going to need almost 4 tanks of fuel...or 3 stops to do 171 miles.

[Hoop-98]

Practice 1

http://i56.tinypic.com/10cnrtf.jpg

[DanicaFan]

Qualifications getting ready to start. The field was seperated by only a mere half second! Im thinking Danica will put the #7 GoDaddy machine on the pole today! Go Danica!

[DanicaFan]

Alex Tagliani just put down a couple flyers, he currently sits at P1.

[DanicaFan]

Congrats to Alex Tagliani for winning the pole.

[Anubis]

Qualifications getting ready to start. The field was seperated by only a mere half second! Im thinking Danica will put the #7 GoDaddy machine on the pole today! Go Danica!


Congrats to Alex Tagliani for winning the pole.


:D

[SarahFan]

Qualifications getting ready to start. The field was seperated by only a mere half second! Im thinking Danica will put the #7 GoDaddy machine on the pole today! Go Danica!


Did you really think she would be on pole? if so why?

or were you just hoping she would be?


BTW heres an interesteing read

Danica Patrick lobbies IndyCar Series for more left turns - USATODAY.com (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/indycar/2011-06-10-Danica-Patrick-IndyCar-Texas-ovals-NASCAR_N.htm)

[Anubis]

Danica jokes aside (and to give her credit, tenth is no disgrace), I see we have another example of the Sato enigma. Genuine speed, but always the feeling he's going to do something silly and bin it. One of these days it'll all come together. I can live in hope...

[DanicaFan]

Here is the starting lineup for Race 1..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/texaslineup.jpg

[Hoop-98]

Last Practice.


http://i56.tinypic.com/2chbcz5.jpg

[00steven]

I can't wait for tonight, it should be a hell of a race! (or two!)

[EagleEye]

Im thinking Danica will put the #7 GoDaddy machine on the pole today! Go Danica!

The "Brand" is not longer a race driver. She said as much at the Banquet at Indy....

But do not fret, Indycar has had several top level meeting in hopes of keeping the best female race driver in the series. New sponsorship, and a top team are in the works. They seem intent to keep Simona.

No free tickets for you!

[Hoop-98]

Just arrived in Ft Worth, bringing new fans!

[DanicaFan]

The "Brand" is not longer a race driver. She said as much at the Banquet at Indy....

But do not fret, Indycar has had several top level meeting in hopes of keeping the best female race driver in the series. New sponsorship, and a top team are in the works. They seem intent to keep Simona.

No free tickets for you!


Yeah, Im hearing rumors down here in Indy too about Simona that Ganassi is looking seriously at her.

[jackmart]

when is the green flag?

[booger]

WTF!!! It's 7:40 Eastern time...1st race is supposed to go green at 7:45... Where's the b'cast? Right now they're interviewing some jockey! WTF!!!

[Anubis]

Well it is horsepower of a sort...

Do hope they haven't been at the Eurosport scheduling tablets.

[NickFalzone]

WTF!!! It's 7:40 Eastern time...1st race is supposed to go green at 7:45... Where's the b'cast? Right now they're interviewing some jockey! WTF!!!

I dunno, for the last week I've seen on IndyCar.com that the broadcast start was 8 pm. It surprisingly started at 7:45 instead but I saw nothing about a green flag that early. I expected it around 8:30 or so.

Off topic a bit, but it was good to see NBC connection getting some promo for the Texas race, they had a segment yesterday on CNBC interviewing Dario.

[Anubis]

Can someone lower the brightness on Dan Wheldon's teeth please?

Edited to add, fair play to Hilderbrand. Can't be easy to answer those questions yet again, and he must be picking up the smug waves that Wheldon will be pumping out.

[Hoop-98]

745 cst

[Shifter]

Ok, this drawing for position thing isn't doing ANYTHING for Indycar's respectability. If I were Kenny Brack I'd be going crazy watching drivers select their random starting grid at the track that nearly killed me!

[call_me_andrew]

It's probably a little late to ask, but what's the policy on push to pass tonight?

[booger]

Picking numbers, the Eddie Gossage fix is in! Can't believe Indycar has stooped to NASCAR
standards.

[Alfa Fan]

This draw is hilarious. Danica's face of thunder when she drew 20. LOL

[SarahFan]

Gotta give the draw a thumbs down

[call_me_andrew]

Darn good crowd tonight. I hope as many people are watching on tv.

[NickFalzone]

The racing was good imo, more entertaining than the usual Texas race. I give thumbs down to the random drawing, and in particular the way too long intermission between races. I do not need to hear from Viso or Pippa or really more than a couple of the 30 drivers about how their race is going... zzzz.. Long night too. Racing was pretty good though and I like Wheldon as an announcer.

[DanicaFan]

The racing was good which it always is at Texas, but this 2 race stint and the draw was exactly what I said it would be when this dual race was announced... A GIMMICK ! The draw was absolutely dumb and discredits the series in my opinion. Bernard gets an "F" for this idea. May we never see this again.

[SarahFan]

Was the draw randys or eddies idea?

[NickFalzone]

Was the draw randys or eddies idea?

I'd guess the latter.

[SarahFan]

And I gotta agree and sdisagree with Andrew...

Sure it was a darn good crowd.... But Texas has a slow steady decline in attendance for 5 or 6 years now .... And tonight's was down a tad again

[jackmart]

i had to leave right away the end of the race. what the heck happened to graham rahal, thought it was fuel but then he climbed out of the car, did something break?

[NickFalzone]

And I gotta agree and sdisagree with Andrew...

Sure it was a darn good crowd.... But Texas has a slow steady decline in attendance for 5 or 6 years now .... And tonight's was down a tad again

Lol, you have not accurate way to predict that. Did you see a layout of sold seats directly from Gossage? I'm not saying it was up, or down, but it looked about the same to me. "Down a tad" based on a few camera shots of the crowd is ridiculous assertion.

[bennybigb]

The random draw seems so gimmicky.... how could this get approved? Is nobody in charge at the IRL?

Tony George would not have let this happen. Please step aside Mr. Benard.

[SarahFan]

Lol, you have not accurate way to predict that. Did you see a layout of sold seats directly from Gossage? I'm not saying it was up, or down, but it looked about the same to me. "Down a tad" based on a few camera shots of the crowd is ridiculous assertion.


Simmer down nick.... It's clearly been in decline ... It's simPly not that hard to to tell based on the Broadcast

[NickFalzone]

Simmer down nick.... It's clearly been in decline ... It's simPly not that hard to to tell based on the Broadcast

ok, whatever you say Nostradamus.

[uncommonsense52]

The random draw seems so gimmicky.... how could this get approved? Is nobody in charge at the IRL?

Tony George would not have let this happen. Please step aside Mr. Benard.

You're kidding right?

1) Bernard has done a great many things RIGHT since taking over. The fact that this is controversial is both good and bad. Mostly bad, i hope it goes away... but it's not bad enough to really warrant him getting thrown out.

2) Tony George. Really? That's the guy you want in charge? The guy who put this sport into the position that it's in, having to relegate itself to gimmicks in order to try and draw an audience? That's the guy you want running the show? Thanks but no thanks.

[jimispeed]

Hate to say it, but I kind of enjoyed it!

[SarahFan]

ok, whatever you say Nostradamus.


???

Did I predict something?

Your being silly

[Hoop-98]

I'm at a bit of a disadvantage actually attending the race, but 2011 over 2009 definitely seemed better, and as a ticket purchaser, I know I had to pay face value this time. Those are anecdotal reports and not scientific.

This was before the start of the drawing, it got more full around us (SEC 432) when the 2d race started.

http://i52.tinypic.com/2km0bl.jpg

The view from my seat and not a scientific representation of attendance.

I guess Eddie would be the one who knows the cash value of tickets sold....

rh

[shazbot]

I guess I'm a little out of touch with Indycar not having Versus so I only just found out about drawing for grid positions. DRAWING FOR GRID POSITIONS? Seriously. Oh boy, has it really come to this?

[champcarray]

Thumbs down on the draw. I was surprised by the number of drivers and owners who said an inverted starting order was OK with them. As gimmicks go, I can live with it -- but the second race should probably be longer than a 275 k sprint to sort it all out.

I'd like to know what happened to Graham, too. That was nearly a big incident...

[Hoop-98]

Fuel pump.

[Nikki Katz]

The drawing was a stupid idea in the first place, and the way they did it made it that much worse, much too much like one of those daytime US gameshows. I have no idea why they didn't just do a reverse grid, it would have been much fairer and given the points on offer the drivers are less likely to retire early intentionally to get pole for the next race.

Still, they were pretty good races, and it was good to have a commentator actually commentating rather than just naming sponsors and plugging unrelated shows. I hope that if Wheldon doesn't get a seat then they at least keep him along for that. Sadly I doubt both...

[maximilian]

I think the blind draw is grossly unfair and should not have taken place - I can only hope that the championship will not come down to these random points, that would be truly horrible. Fantastic drives from both Ganassi guys to get as far as they did. I'd have to say, the second race should have been longer than the first to give the frontrunners starting in the back more of a chance to fight all the way through the field. Obviously a reversed grid is the answer to all that, and while still gimmicky, it would at least be fair in the sense that the frontrunners are all in the same boat without undue randomness. I could live with the reversed grid, and that would be fun... perhaps the race again a bit longer to compensate (Twin 300s, anyone?)

All that said, I thoroughly ENJOYED the draw, because it was a nice showcase of the drivers, getting to see the entire field up close, which we don't usually get to do to this extent. IndyCar has some really GREAT personalities, and the more they can showcase some of them, the better.

[Marbles]

Can't say the second race lotto was a bad idea. Nice to see a curve ball thrown but maybe we could cut about 45 minutes out of the deal and throw TMS a few bucks to make up for the number of hot dogs and sodas they sold during the break. Ridiculously long intermission.

Congrats to Sato on finishing and finishing well and on not having to hide parts from the team in your pockets on your walk back to pits.

"Old Man Tracy" had no right doing what he did... especially driving for a B team. Some members here must be absolutely peeved at his boldness in being competitive.

Ooohh!!! The Danica Scowl! Who did she wish into the cornfield when she turned that lotto tire? Gulp!
Has anyone seen Jay Howard?

Nice to see the 2 juggernauts split this thing down the middle. Pre-race handshake? Thank God for the even playing field of spec racing. Where were these guys at Indy?

Congrats to Power on his first oval win and no one deserves it more than him but please... get some help from choreography for the post race celebrations. Keep those fists curled in! Ugghh... I'm just glad no one asked him to throw a baseball into the crowd.

It was fun and close but no big moments. 3.0\5 stars.

[FormerFF]

By winning an oval race, Will Power is serving notice that he is the driver to beat for the championship.

[maxmach]

I enjoyed the race......s. The draw was gimmicky and unfair, but it wasn't that long ago that Indy was on the deathbed, a few dumb ideas to (hopefully) draw viewers....what the hell. Hopefully it will be gone next year. The races were good, not great but entertaining. The intermission was way too long, is there a choice in this? Wheldon's obviously got a job when he's done racing, which hopefully won't be for awhile. Nice job Dixie. And props to PT, man if He had a real car......

[beachbum]

While the random draw was gimmicky, racing is entertainment and anything to make the racing more interesting isn't a bad thing. As for the period between races, and hour isn't much time to make changes and fix small problems. Maybe it is time to bring the Lights to Texas to fill the slot.

As an experiment, it had pros and cons. Who knows if we will every see it again.

[BobbyC]

The drawing was a stupid idea in the first place, and the way they did it made it that much worse, much too much like one of those daytime US gameshows. I have no idea why they didn't just do a reverse grid, it would have been much fairer and given the points on offer the drivers are less likely to retire early intentionally to get pole for the next race.

Still, they were pretty good races, and it was good to have a commentator actually commentating rather than just naming sponsors and plugging unrelated shows. I hope that if Wheldon doesn't get a seat then they at least keep him along for that. Sadly I doubt both...

Short track racing has draw for position heat races, with the best known a short-track race in Maine, the Toronto Dominion 250. All 150+ drivers must draw a pill that will assign them to one of six heat races, where only the top four advance to the feature. This is common in short track racing, and some have "top ten" draws where the top drivers must draw for their position after the heat races before the feature.

To spice up the draw a monetary bonus ($1,000 per position gained) would compensate those who had bad draws would add spice. Can you imagine drawing #30, passing all 29 opponents, and cashing in a $50,000 bonus ($29,000 plus $10,000 for most positions gained, and a bonus for going last to first)?

[00steven]

Dario got screwed big time.

But I do have to give props to Will, I think he will win this title quite easy.

[turbofan]

The Texas race needs to ditch the carnival idea of the draw and the two races. It did not come close to the races of the past. There was no multiple lap segments of cars side by side for position and the out come of either race was never in doubt. The drawing for that level of motorsports was a joke. There was no strategy involed in any aspect of the race if they fell back early they couldn't recover after the pitstop. The racers seemed tenative because of the risk reward with the split points, which two race with one yellow flag at Texas confirms not a lot of aggressive racing. I talk to several NASCAR fans and some newbys at the race and they were confused by it all. The biggest hurdle to work around as usual at Texas was Eddies ego, announced as the greastest racing promoter. Texas doesn't need gimmicks for good races. Eddie needs to work on driver intro the lift platform almost dropped a couple drivers as they come off of it. Texas is the low spot of the season thus far.

[downtowndeco]

I'm OK w/a lotto for one race a year. I'm more than fine with it in fact, I think it's a good idea. The only downside was the long drawn out drawing.

If you can't get from the back to the front in 275 miles you don't deserve to be there.

[SarahFan]

As far as attendance goes ..... Eddie campaigned hard to get the race following indy ....

I'm not sure if thats not s mistake .... I get wanting to build on momentum .... But packing Milwaukee in the sports heyday is a heck of alot different than packing Texas in this economy and with the level of the sports current popularity


And while I'm sure the bulk of attendees are locals or near by at least .... I know I'd like to attend Texas at some point ...but at the end of the day it's roughly the same vast to attend as Indy ....and I know I'll choose the 500 everytime


As far as the gimmick goes I can't Imigine we will see it again next year ...

I think it will be an inverted start

[Chris R]

I think an invert is probably better - one thing I did like was the "half-time" - it was cool to get the drivers to talk to/ perform for the crowd - it is a good way to add some personality to the other faceless full face helmet buried in all that padding...... perhaps there is some merit to breaking up a race to get some exposure for your main asset - which is the driver......

[ykiki]

Well, my wife (who doesn't watch many races) did like the halftime/drawing-for-positions thing. Hinch was hilarious, as was the Helio/Kanaan duo. She really liked being able to see the drivers' personalities come through. Even drivers who had a bad draw took it all in stride for the most part. She also liked that she could now put a face & personality with what until then was just a name on a screen to her.

Then there's this quote from my wife after a certain someone picked spot number 20... "Wow what a sour puss - she really is a b*tch isn't she?"


As for the actual races - it was nice to see the KV cars run up front all night and prove that they can finish well - when they finish. Dixon did a nice job getting to the front from 18.

Now, if they can only get the music turned down during the draw so we can hear the drivers instead of the song.

[Anubis]

I'm OK w/a lotto for one race a year. I'm more than fine with it in fact, I think it's a good idea. The only downside was the long drawn out drawing.

If you can't get from the back to the front in 275 miles you don't deserve to be there.

Or even 275 kilometers ;)

Didn't manage to stay awake for race two, as it was idiotically late over here. Drawing does sound a bit too gimmicky, but I like the idea of the two race format every once in a while. Now do it at an oval with a road course and have a race on each.

[Phoenixent]

I thought it was a Great event with two sprint races in one night. I liked the draw as the drivers interacted with the crowd and even the viewers enjoyed it. So much whining about Dario getting 28th starting position I just don't understand how people can whine some much. But the biggest whiner that now took the place of Michael Andretti in Dario.. If I lose the championship by those points I will be pissed what a baby. Maybe he should have thought about the points lost at Indy due to being out of fuel I am sure those will count also. Maybe to make it fair they should invert the field and add a couple of degrees of rear wing to the top 5 and see how they do cutting up the field. You want a fair race put everyone in an IROC type care so the mega teams don't have an advantage. I for one would like to see the draw happen again and and Texas is a good place for it as the top teams can still make up the point for the rest of the season.......

[garyshell]

If I lose the championship by those points I will be pissed what a baby. Maybe he should have thought about the points lost at Indy due to being out of fuel I am sure those will count also.

What makes you think he wasn't pissed about Indy? I'd say from the looks of him walking to Gasoline Alley he was damned pissed. I didn't see his comment as whining. Certainly not the whining Michael did in blaming everyone else for his own mistakes.

Gary

[SarahFan]

INDYCAR is reporting an overnight of .38, a 12% increase in ratings


*im not sure if thats a 12% over last years final, if so its fun with numbers

[bblocker68]

.38 is great for Versus.

[NickFalzone]

.38 is great for Versus.

Ah, the disease of low expectations. Yeah, for Indycar on VS this is actually an OK number and a decent uptick over last season. Still, quite a bit off from where it should be. When the series starts getting .7s+ on Versus (ie Nationwide on ESPN) I'll have reason to be moderately impressed. In the mean time, "eh".

[call_me_andrew]

Ah, the disease of low expectations.

Catch the fever!

[Phoenixent]

What makes you think he wasn't pissed about Indy? I'd say from the looks of him walking to Gasoline Alley he was damned pissed. I didn't see his comment as whining. Certainly not the whining Michael did in blaming everyone else for his own mistakes.

Gary

That's the way he sounded after the race that the lost of points at Texas was the greatest loss ever. It's not the performance of one race that breaks a season but several errors over the course of the season. Would he have whined if he picked 3rd and won the second race? No he would have not and he would not have said it was unfair because he won...

[chuck34]

That's the way he sounded after the race that the lost of points at Texas was the greatest loss ever. It's not the performance of one race that breaks a season but several errors over the course of the season. Would he have whined if he picked 3rd and won the second race? No he would have not and he would not have said it was unfair because he won...

I don't know about that. I'm pretty sure that I heard Will say that the draw was unfair after the race when someone asked him something about his thoughts on Dario. And I think Dario would have said the same thing on principal. I don't think Dario was whining just to whine. He (and most of the drivers) honestly think that the blind draw was unfair.

[chuck34]

I've been thinking about this for a while. What I think they should do is make this like a real Saturday night show. Here's my proposal for the format. Qualify as normal. Have two heat races of like 100km (why does Texas use the metric system?). Heat 1 would be the even number qualifiers, and heat 2 would be the odds. Finishing order from heat 1 starts on the inside lane of the feature, heat 2 on the outside. The for the "draw", you have either the fast qualifier, or one of the winners draw to see if the full field gets inverted, the top 6/8/10 get inverted, or no one gets inverted. Make the feature 300-400km. I'm not sure how to do the points, maybe 1/4 points for the heats and 3/4 points for the feature or something. Anyway that's how I would do it, sort of line it up more like the local Saturday night show. Thoughts?

[Chris R]

I've been thinking about this for a while. What I think they should do is make this like a real Saturday night show. Here's my proposal for the format. Qualify as normal. Have two heat races of like 100km (why does Texas use the metric system?). Heat 1 would be the even number qualifiers, and heat 2 would be the odds. Finishing order from heat 1 starts on the inside lane of the feature, heat 2 on the outside. The for the "draw", you have either the fast qualifier, or one of the winners draw to see if the full field gets inverted, the top 6/8/10 get inverted, or no one gets inverted. Make the feature 300-400km. I'm not sure how to do the points, maybe 1/4 points for the heats and 3/4 points for the feature or something. Anyway that's how I would do it, sort of line it up more like the local Saturday night show. Thoughts?

I am not sure about all of the details - but the concept is neat and not quite as contrived as the twin races with draw in the middle... Have two good qualifying heats, that gives plenty of time for fan interaction with the drivers who are not racing etc. Everyone has to race on their own merits - luck is less of a factor.... good possibilities

[call_me_andrew]

Have two heat races of like 100km (why does Texas use the metric system?).

Because they wanted a race that was shorter than 400 miles, but longer than 300 miles, and 550 makes it sound bigger than 341.754.

[Marbles]

What would have ramped up the drama would have been to have a couple of those tires have a grid spot along WITH a big screw over it. This "screw", for lack of a better word... or fastener, would have allowed the driver to exchange his spot for any spot that was available at the time of selection. Now my wife is watching!

You don't know Jack! Loved that game.

And someone should have to eat a goat's eyeball.