Green / White / Checkers

[Lousada]

How is G/W/C any different from throwing the red flag the last couple of laps? Except from the fact that G/W/C is used in every Nascar race and not randomly invented by the race director at the last moment.

[garyshell]

Difference can summed up in one word, fuel.

[00steven]

They should have done it laast week too.

As for GWC...HELL NO!

[Blancvino]

GWC, The Chase, DRS, KERS, Push-to-Pass, all gimics, all should go in my view.

[heliocastroneves#3]

They should have done it laast week too.

As for GWC...HELL NO!

No, they shouldn't. A super speedway should be completely clean when it comes to debris, not red flagging the race would have been asking for more trouble. I agree about the GWC thing; NO WAY!

[Chris R]

Green white checkers changes the whole race strategy after the race has been nearly completed - red flag less so. I prefer the red flag to GWC. I'd rather see the cars sitting than wait through yet another caution..... By the same token - yellow in the last say, two laps - oh well, race ends under yellow.... Frankly, if they are going to throw the yellow and foresee it lasting for more than 5 laps at any time during the race, they should just red flag it.... The cleanup could be done faster and better.... Bring out the "cheerleaders" or the "mascot" for entertainment in the meantime..... Or have a "free beer" red flag :-)

[FIAT1]

GWC, The Chase, DRS, KERS, Push-to-Pass, all gimics, all should go in my view.

Agree.

[FIAT1]

They should have done it laast week too.

As for GWC...HELL NO!

Indycar should never stopped the race unless there is a multiple crash with life in danger. Indycar should follow their own tradition and stop copying manufactured type shows in my opinion.

[dataman1]

Last race of the season with championship in the balance. Good call for the fans & TV IMO. Difference in RED vs GWC is that cars are in impound without any service less battery back up.

For the future: Work on a way to reduce the amount of time it takes to bunch up the pack, get all cars in order, do pass-a-rounds, open the pits, etc.. Far too munch time spent in yellows. A single car brushes the wall and the race goes yellow for so long TV gets in 2 commercial breaks.

As for G/W/C no way.

[wedge]

Last race of the season with championship in the balance. Good call for the fans & TV IMO. Difference in RED vs GWC is that cars are in impound without any service less battery back up.

For the future: Work on a way to reduce the amount of time it takes to bunch up the pack, get all cars in order, do pass-a-rounds, open the pits, etc.. Far too munch time spent in yellows. A single car brushes the wall and the race goes yellow for so long TV gets in 2 commercial breaks.

As for G/W/C no way.

Completely agree.

Beaux Barfield was in a no win situation.

GWC = gimmick

yellow/chequer finish = robbed

[Lousada]

Lots of doublespeak going on here.
GWC is somehow bad, but randomly throwing a red flag because you don't like the outcome of the race is good?
Finishing under yellow is bad but then at the same time GWC is a gimmick, but a random redflag is not??
A yellow/chequered finish is now "robbery" yet nobody complained about it the last 40 years (including the last 3 Indy 500s).
Apart from ChrisR nobody is advocating for the abolition of yellow flag periods, how does that follow? Yellow flags are only bad in the last couple of laps?? Or are yellow flags only allowed if you don't like the outcome of the race??
Nascar manipulates races, even though they act the same at every race, yet Indycar is fair and balanced even though the racedirector makes every controversial decision at his own discretion???

[Lousada]

Green white checkers changes the whole race strategy after the race has been nearly completed - red flag less so.

That doesn't make any sense. If you know there might be some "overtime" with a g/w/c you take account for that in your strategy beforehand.

[anthonyvop]

No, they shouldn't. A super speedway should be completely clean when it comes to debris, not red flagging the race would have been asking for more trouble. I agree about the GWC thing; NO WAY!

So yellow flags are good when it comes to debris on a super speedway except when the laws of physics change when only 20 laps or less are left?

[call_me_andrew]

GWC is terrible because it changes the length of a race in progress.

I fail to see why a red flag thrown after a late race crash is any worse than throwing a red flag after an early or mid race crash.

[heliocastroneves#3]

So yellow flags are good when it comes to debris on a super speedway except when the laws of physics change when only 20 laps or less are left?
Yes, to avoid a finish under yellow..

[wedge]

Red flag is the lesser evil.

If Beaux Barfield called for a GWC on the spur of the moment people would be calling for his head.

[Lousada]

I fail to see why a red flag thrown after a late race crash is any worse than throwing a red flag after an early or mid race crash.

We are not talking about the concept of red flags, we are talking about artificial ways to end the race under green.

[Lousada]

Yes, to avoid a finish under yellow..

Nowhere in the Indycar rulebook does it say the race has to finish under green. The distance = the distance. With Nascar it does say it, that's why they keep going with g/w/c until it actually finishes under green.

[Lousada]

Red flag is the lesser evil.

If Beaux Barfield called for a GWC on the spur of the moment people would be calling for his head.

"spur of the moment" is the key phrase here. This was the first time this season that BB threw a red flag in order to keep the laps. That seems like a spur of the moment to me...

Again my point for those who do not understand it:
Either throw a red flag for every caution period in every race (that means, only count green flag laps), or never*.

* blabla... apart when necesarry in a big accident... blabla.

[heliocastroneves#3]

Nowhere in the Indycar rulebook does it say the race has to finish under green. The distance = the distance. With Nascar it does say it, that's why they keep going with g/w/c until it actually finishes under green.
The rules don't say that but it's better for the race it self though.

[nigelred5]

the red flag wasn't random. The situation had been discussed as early as July.
Any flag short of NASCAR's good ol competetion yellows should be spur of the moment.

My proposal is more than 10 laps, red flag as we generally know it, for major crash clean up. there's plenty of time to clean up and get back to racing at most tracks.
10-5 laps. red flag it, clean it up and give us a good 5-10 laps of actual racing. One shot at a good finish.
Under 5 laps-yellow flag it and finish it if you can clean it up in time. GWC is two laps of racing, and the way we handle restarts they may barely be up to speed by the time the white flag comes out.
The GWC is overtime and may penalize someone that had their fuel planned perfectly, and then is forced to run 2,4,6 laps or more after the scheduled race distance and looses the race because they run out of fuel.

[call_me_andrew]

We are not talking about the concept of red flags, we are talking about artificial ways to end the race under green.

As long as you're not making the race longer, why is that so bad?