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 (http://m.click2houston.com/news/local-2-viewer-video-of-grand-prix-of-houston-crash/-/16714936/22306500/-/n5p35lz/-/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.

[FormerFF]

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.

Or, KV could give Tony Kanaan his release and he could fill in for Dario. It would also give KV a chance to test a prospective driver for next year.

[garyshell]

Oh, when he sees the video he will most assuredly consider if it is time to retire. The operative word there being consider. I don't think he will do so, but the conversation will be had in his own head.

As for KV releasing TK to take the seat. I doubt that will happen, the sponsors would not be too happy unless they are in on the decision.

Gary

[GRW1983]

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
Gary, Dario initially tested the DW12 with left-foot braking at the beginning of 2012 because that's how the pedal setup was. However, he insisted on a right-foot braking pedal arrangement by the start of the season. Dario is the only driver in the series who still right-foot brakes. However, on an oval EVERY driver, including Dario, left-foot brakes as that is the best way from the driving/engineering side of things. However, his injuries will keep him out of Fontana without doubt. With Ryan Briscoe committed to ALMS, I reckon Alex Tagliani has to be in with a good shot at the number 10 Target car.

[steveaki13]

Just like to send my best wishes to Dario and the drivers and fans. Horrid accident.

[Civic]

There's a Columbian that's being considered for Fontana to replace Dario, and it's NOT Montoya.

[zako85]

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.

We don't fully know the details of his health condition, this could easily be the end of career for Dario. Granted, it wouldn't be a very bad/premature end (like say in Kubica's case), because at this point Dario has nothing left to earn or prove.

[pucky54]

There's a Columbian that's being considered for Fontana to replace Dario, and it's NOT Montoya.

Munoz I guess ;)

[Civic]

Looks like it's Tags subbing for Dario. I guess that means Briscoe is doing Petit Le Mans.

[Doc Austin]

This circuit was horrible when champcar raced on it. The ALMS also raced here and the place is so rough that the normally bullet proof Audis we were breaking body parts!

Indycars should never race at a place that is so rough you can split a gearbox casing on the bumps. Utterly ridiculous!

There is simply no excuse, especially since everyone remembers how rough the place was back then. Did they really think the place would just smooth out and become acceptable all by itself? Everyone had to know what they were getting into because everyone saw how badly the place beat up the champcars. You could see the wings shaking and body panels bobbing up and down. Did they really think they were going to go back to the same place and things would be better?

That, and I believe Tony Cotman helped set up both circuits, so at least one person knew how bad it was going to bet when they got there. I also believe Walker was running a team in the series when champcar raced on this circuit, so what the hell were these people thinking? Here's a simple question: Why didn't Walker or Cotman or one of their minions fly out there and drive around the place in a rental car, you know, just to check it out? Answer: They already knew how bad the place was and apparently did not care. Maybe they think because they didn't exercise due diligence in inspecting the place that they have plausible deniability.

Having said that, it's not a bad layout. The surface is just way to rough. If they could grind the whole circuit and patch up any dips, it would probably provide some good racing. The racing was actually not bad, but it would be better if the surface was smoother.

Fences, of course, have been a big problem for a lot of years. We are not a hell of a lot safer in the stands today than we were in 1955. Who's idea was it to put spectators on the outside of a 160mph sweeper anyway?

I'm a big Indycar supporter, but there is no way I can justify what they did here. It was a bad idea to go to Reliant Park, especially since everyone knows how bad the place is. They would have been a lot better off starting from scratch at a smoother location. If nothing else, since they knew how rough the place is, they had all these years to demand the city grind the place. In the end, with all the big sponsor money coming in from Shell and thinking the series was going to make a killing, they just couldn't help themselves, and they simply threw the teams under the bus, and endangered everyone.

[Starter]

Fences, of course, have been a big problem for a lot of years. We are not a hell of a lot safer in the stands today than we were in 1955. Who's idea was it to put spectators on the outside of a 160mph sweeper anyway?
Fences at a temporary circuit are always going to be a compromise. The idea that you can have a state of the art fencing system, properly anchored, built with the very limited time available to both set up and take down the course is silly. It is what it is and if you want something better you'll probably have to bag the street circuits.

[Doc Austin]

Fences at a temporary circuit are always going to be a compromise.

As many accidents as we've had with the fences failing at permanent facilities, I'de say those are a compromise too. The biggest danger to both the fans and the drivers is the fence, and that goes for any kind of circuit Indycar races on.


The idea that you can have a state of the art fencing system, properly anchored, built with the very limited time available to both set up and take down the course is silly. It is what it is and if you want something better you'll probably have to bag the street circuits.

Unfortunately Wheldon's accident didn't spur the racing industry to make a better fence. It's been two years and there's been nothing of any substance to improve any of the fences anywhere. I think it will take a really major incident (as if Vegas wasn't enough) to get anything meaningful done, but by then it could be too late.

[sejarzo]

Fences at a temporary circuit are always going to be a compromise. The idea that you can have a state of the art fencing system, properly anchored, built with the very limited time available to both set up and take down the course is silly. It is what it is and if you want something better you'll probably have to bag the street circuits.


True to some extent, but look at the fences at St. Pete, Sao Paulo, and Edmonton in recent years...they use tensioned cable in sort of an "oval lite" arrangement that does take longer to construct but is definitely better than the lightweight panels that were in use in Houston. Geobrugg makes temporary fencing that employs cables that is far more advanced than the system used in Houston. Other panel systems such as D3's are heavier than what was used at Houston, too.