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Wow, a very entertaining race! Jr, I don't know what to say. I like you and hope you recover from this, but this is one of the biggest chokes in sports history. A couple of big golf chokes come to mind, Greg Norman blowing the Masters with a huge lead and the French guy gagging on the final hole of the British Open with a 3 shot lead. But the final corner of the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500, that has to be maybe the biggest ever.
Oh I tend to agree. But then Indy isn't the average race.Quote:
Originally Posted by hornet
I came here thinking about the amazing, epic and heartbreaking finish, but I see that people are still talking about Danica. Oh, dear.
Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis for the World Snooker Championship in 1985 is up there as well. Black ball game to win it and they both managed to choke several times before Taylor won. Tension was unbearable.Quote:
Originally Posted by DBell
Back to JR, should the team perhaps have been coaching him home more, bearing in mind his rookie status? Don't know if we got all the radio transmissions, but did they warn him about the slow car? Two schools of thought I suppose, as you could just as easily consider that a distraction.
Huuummmmm, race was on, he was leading yellow on, and he still going when passed and made it over the finish line.Quote:
Originally Posted by gm99
looks like a clear rule violation, but do not think for a second that the IRL will uphold that appeal and destroy all the winning images by having a busted car finish first.......
But they did it to Paul Tracey
At what?? Passing crashed cars to win??????Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Someone posted this - http://twitpic.com/54bhhcQuote:
Originally Posted by markabilly
Don't try and include logic here, that would curtail all the amusing attempts at trolling.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrewmcm
I guess that makes me a killjoy then!
Actually, are the in-car yellow lights and track lights synchronised following the 2002 debacle?
unbelievable finish to a great race....shame for Hildebrand...an amazing victory for Wheldon & Herta.
My understanding of the IndyCar rule bookis that this is actually an unprotestable issue:
I wonder if this particular rule was introduced after the 2002 Indy 500...Quote:
Section 12.3
E. Decisions Not Subject to Protest or Appeal -
(5) Whether a Car was properly positioned upon the
declaration of a yellow condition; whether the Safety
Car signaled a Driver to pass during a yellow
condition, whether a proper passing signal was given
during a yellow condition, whether the Safety Car or
another Car was improperly passed during a yellow
condition or whether a Car was properly positioned
as it crossed the point designated as the end of the pit
lanes.
Color me surprised. I really thought Dario was going to have it in the last 15 laps, and then I was pulling for JR. Things happen though....
I was disappointed with PT though. I've been a fan of his since his Penske days, when he had brown tasselly hair and the glasses. But I have to think it's probably time for him to retire.
Simona gave it a good shot, and was classy with her apology to the team.
Now I understand about Danica...I'd never really paid that much attention to her before, but realized when she had all that downforce put into the wing, it dragged down not only her speed, but fuel mileage. So her performance is really all her--to her credit, she kept it off the wall and finished 10th, but she gets blamed for needing so much downforce that her mileage suffered and needed to pit so late in the race. I say let her go to the cabs full time so someone else will pick up the TV tab. No doubt GoDaddy got their exposure money's worth though. It's a pity they covered her so much though, and not some of the others.
For instance, I only saw Pippa mentioned when she nearly wrecked TK in the pits. And Bia? Maybe one mention of her on the track.
Last corner or the last lap ...Quote:
Originally Posted by DBell
Inexperience was the root cause for poor JR... an experienced driver would have backed off around lapped traffic in the last corner with a big lead and not push it up the track into the marbles... I hope he recovers but seriously do we ever think he will ever be in the lead at the 500 on the last lap in the last corner again ?
What do you want Wheldon to do, slot in behind the coasting remains of Hildebrand's car to see where he ends up?! What if he'd simply spun without contact and was in the process of gathering it all up when Wheldon arrived, or maybe had run out of fuel and was coasting slowly enough to warrant a yellow? It's a ludicrous line of argument. We surely have to consider a car as inactive as soon as the contact occurs, not on where it finally comes to a halt, otherwise you'd be penalising people all the time. For example, I count nine cars passing Viso under yellow here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzXOn0octTcQuote:
Originally Posted by markabilly
I'm as gutted for the kid as anyone, and indeed don't especially like Dan Wheldon, but the protest is just desperate clutching at straws. Anyway, as already posted, the green light was on, so it's a moot point.
Actually, I think he could very well find himself there again in the future.Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCalPVguy
That's stupid. You get to pass the crashed car. Otherwise the race would have to come to an IMMEDIATE SCREECHING HALT! What is Panther thinking?Quote:
Originally Posted by gm99
photoshopped!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewmcm
Congrats to Dan Weldon, great job G.Rahal , good race!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hornet
All NINE needed drive throughs......................... :D :D
Oh rell, the other result would have been more fun.
Now we get Dan dancing cause he passed a crashed out car in the last corner......oh well
worse, though, is the bad news that Danica did not win.....if that streak of being a loser keeps going, nobody is going to be watching, cause all you got to do is listen to all the hype leading up the race, and it was all about Danica, at the "GO DADDY 500" or was it the "500 Sponsored by Go Daddy". :rolleyes:
worse than that, having to watch the Go Daddy stuff all over the scoring on TV, and even worse than that, the Danica commericials were stanky, she looked like an old hooker gone gothic :eek: :eek:
I shouldn't laugh, but I did :)Quote:
Originally Posted by markabilly
Hopefully she'll be gone next year and we can all get back to arguing about something else equally outside our control.
From Twitter;
"Panther Racing has not, nor will it, protest the finish of the Indianapolis 500."
Well...
It's weird, because it was an exciting race. But I'm feeling a little underwhelmed, since no one I'm rooting for did anything of note. I'm all for DeSilvestro, Sato, Franchitti, Hinchcliffe...none of them did anything. So I was left with a Big Spectacle that did nothing for me.
And, I had to battle a sour taste as Danica led the race. Funny aside - I always asked my husband "What DOES happen next?" on Go Daddy for every commercial. He always knew ;)
Good for Rahal and Kanaan. Love TK, so that was pretty fantastic when he passed almost the entire field twice to finish 4th.
Does anyone have any insight on what exactly happened on Power's tire situation? So far as I could tell, the jack dropped before the back wheel guy was done, and based on that, the lead guy gave him the go ahead. It's too bad, because I think Will Power had some stones going into this one. He's not my favorite, but he is one of the best drivers.
I'd hate to be the pit guy who has to explain it to Penske. I swear RP can shoot lasers out of his eyes....
Great drama. This is Indy!!!
If Dario is "devastated", I'd put Hildebrand on suicide watch. Tough luck! I wanted him to win at the end. Slid down in my chair when he came across that lapped car.
Awesome pre-race opening with the track walk, CG and history of Indy. Extremely, and surprisingly, well done.
If Kanaan had started at the front and avoided mishaps I guess he would have lapped the field a couple of times.
Tough for Tagliani and Schmidt. He drove a pretty sick handling car for quite a while before hitting the wall and calling it a day.
Bad day for Canadians. LOL, PT hits the wall on the first few laps, goes a ton of laps down and soldiers around to finish ahead of both Tagliani and Hinchcliffe.
Congrats to Wheldon and great to see Rahal at the front as well.
I don't care how exciting restarts are. The new rule Stinks! There is no way that a driver who has a half a lap and six lapped cars between him and his pursuer should have to restart wheel to wheel with said pursuer.
I don't know what happened but apparently waving your left arm in the air is a somewhat ambiguous sign and something that has to be ironed out before the next "Penske Pitstop". A bad race for Penske is one thing but a bad Indy for Penske is another thing entirely. Someone is going to pay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sateryn76
I wonder what Hildebrand's spotter was telling him as he approached, at a goodly pace mind, what looked to be a car that had run out of gas and was going pretty slow.
Consider what happened to Conway last year.
After looking at it several times, if he had slowed to stay behind the other car he would have had to slow A LOT, Weldon may have, may not have, been able to catch him before he could get around the other car and accelerate to the finish line. It would have been really close.
I think I would have done exactly what Hildebrand did, gone for the outside pass.
I saw nothing of Rice, Wilson, Bia, Pippa on the coverage all day!Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo Krupe
I was wondering the same thing. It's easy to just say that JR choked, and maybe he did, but that lapped car really takes some of the blame. I think he was put in a tough position, either possibly lose his lead to Wheldon, or take a risk by going around the lapper. In the heat of the moment, he made the decision a lot of us would make, and those damn marbles made it an impossible pass to actually pull off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nem14
I agree with both of you guys. If he would have let up too much Weldon could have blasted past him & the only thing worse than choking is to be too timid. He went for it & lost. Glad to see he at least slid across in 2nd. IMO he has nothing to be ashamed of.
Great race!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickFalzone
Did the lapped car play a role? Yes, it did. Is it to blame? No, it isn't. The lapped car, driven by Charlie Kimball, did exactly what you want a car being lapped to do. Stay on "it's" line. The last thing you want a lapped car to do is the "Chicken Dance" to try and get out of your way. Race school basics.Quote:
Originally Posted by NickFalzone
When is the yellow light coming on going to return to being based on what is happening on the track and not some chicken-little dumb-**** afraid some one might cut their finger?Quote:
Originally Posted by markabilly
The lapped car is 100% to blame! The lapped cars aren't supposed to hold their line, they're supposed to avoid any semblance of the leader's line. Kimball should have gone for the warmup lane. He was certainly going slow enough to drive there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marbles
Best Indy 500 I've ever watched though.
I sure hope he does too, beachgirl !!! I'd hate to think "that was it" for him...Quote:
Originally Posted by beachgirl
Not to get too far off topic, but the entertainment value of this years 500 made me wonder what things will be like next year, and not necessarily in a good way. With the spec cars we seem to have reached the point where almost any decent team has a shot at Indy. This year probably had the most even field in terms of equipment and highest quality of teams/drivers that Indy has seen in a long while. Once the field is split up by different engines/aeros, etc. we may be back to a "which team is the richest" scenario of blowout wins. Which is not to say that I am against that. I believe it is necessary. But this years race showed to me that the current spec can actually produce exciting racing. Also, I think the 2-wide restarts were contributed to the show as well. Barnhart, for all the crap he gets, deserves some props for the quality of this year's race.
Can someone give mRNA quick explanation of what happened to Simona today?
Assuming for the moment that Hildebrand was in front of Wheldon when the yellow came out (WHICH HE WAS NOT), the results still stand because Hildebrand brought out the yellow; therefore, Hildebrand was the one driver whose position wasn't frozen when the yellow came out (as opposed to Castroneves v. Tracey where the yellow was unlreated to the actions of the leading cars).Quote:
Originally Posted by markabilly
What a spectacle of the most immense human drama possible! I absolutely love the Indianapolis 500, and this was as good a rendition as any, if not the best of all-time. Surely the greatest I've seen. Every year the Speedway tells a story, and this one had all the elements of a true classic. Triumphs, dreams, adversity, heartbreak, and the emergence of another all-time great rising from the obscurity of "has-been" with a team of longshots. A glorious victory for Wheldon, and a glorious day for automobile racing in America! Experience outlasting the exuberance of youth as two men find their way into the archives and, more importantly, into our memories. Exactly what I'd expect from the 500, and yet nothing I could have ever predicted. Perfection.
If I sold crack, I'd want you as a customer.Quote:
Originally Posted by call_me_andrew
Only if the slower car's driver has eyes in the back of his head. The slower car should always hold it's line. It's the overtaking cars responsibilty to make a safe pass, not for the slower car to get out of the way. Otherwise people get hurt, or worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by call_me_andrew
Jochen Mass tried to get out of Giles Villeneuve's way but Giles was going so much faster and had committed to his line and couldn't do anything about it, and Giles was dead just a few seconds later.
I agree completely. Every year I have high hopes for Indy, but this is the first year, honestly that I can remember, that the race actually lived up to all the possible hype. ABC also did a great job with the pre-race Centennial videos.. I particularly liked this one:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Mister
[youtube]cfI305ZR78Q[/youtube]
A bit of history for us all and why racing schools around the world promote this very basic rule in regards to being lapped.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nem14
You may very well be able to get out of the way of a much faster car when being lapped and depending on the speed and the track you are racing on it may be a very nice gesture on your part when executed appropriately but disastrous when things go awry.
We are not talking Andrea de Cesaris and F1 blue flags here folks.