Scott Dixon, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, won the IRL season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday night. He took the lead for good with three laps to go when Tony Kanaan pitted with a damaged car from an earlier on track incident.
The highlights and lowdowns........
Vision Racing's two drivers, Ed Carpenter and A.J. Foyt IV, both had to start at the rear of the field after qualifying a remarkable 2nd and 3rd. This after failing inspection on Saturday morning for undisclosed violations. Carpenter did go on to a 5th place, and AJ4 finished 9th.
Danica, Danica, Danica. Ms. Patrick led 0 laps, and finished 6th, one lap down.
Marco Andretti finished 2nd, and led a race high 85 laps out of the 200 total laps run.
Tony Kanaan looked to be heading to victory until rookie, Ernesto Viso spun in front of him late in the race. TK ended up 8th.
Champ Car Teams just recieved their IRL cars in the last three weeks so the 12th place finish by Oriol Servia, which was the highest for the former series teams, wasn't that bad.
All in all a pretty good season opener. Now it's onward to St. Petersburg, FL for the next race. A beautiful road circuit on the Tampa Bay shoreline. If you're nearby, check it out. The ticket prices are reasonable, and the scenery is incredible.
A. Great avatar ... one of my favorite movies.
B. I'm beginning to fear for IndyCar more than a little bit, ... but hope some new "characters" in the form of car owners and/or drivers emerge now that the split is over (or is it ...?).
C. I didn't enjoy the race all that much - and IndyCar is my first love in auto racing. It's easy (and SO common) to blame the broadcast team when a race doesn't seem all that exciting - and in this case it may have been well placed blame. There was nothing lively or interesting about the commentary - they DESPERATELY need a true color commentator, a personality - a Bobby Unser, even Derek Daly.
Scott Dixon is one hell of a driver. Always happy to see Dixon (or Wheldon or Kanaan or Castroneves) do well. Maybe Vitor Meira or the former Champ Car drivers will emerge to make the field interesting.
A. We must have the same great taste. You also liked my past avs--Sam Elliott and Kiick & Csonka.
B. I would like to see Milka Duno 'emerge' more from the top of her uniform8)
C. I like the broadcast team. Goodyear is the most knowledgeable race analyst since Ned Jarrett. He doesn't have much personality though. I wouldn't mind Robin Miller as the third man. He would be great with his smart #### personna, IF, the IRL and ABC would let him speak the truth.
I actually watched an open wheel race last night and other than thinking it was a bunch of glorified go karts it was okay. One thing that gets me is the lack of side by side since they're justifiably wary of doing a Ben Hur and having their chariot crash... My guy got third (Weldon) but it struck me as anti-climactic... Give me NASCAR!
Dwindy.....The next IRL race is in your backyard. The track is right beside the Hilton on the Bay side of St. Pete. I stayed there three years ago during race weekend. Nothing like being awakened by the turbos whining right outside your window.
And, the scenery. I'm sure you already know how hot those Tampa/St. Pete girls are.
I agree regarding the broadcast team, and wasn't so much dissing Goodyear as wishing for someone with a flashy broadcast presence - although if they are committed to a 2 person team, one of those two has to go. The F-1 guys on the Speed Channel make (well, made, they've added one) it work with two.
I certainly agree with the addition of Robin Miller - but he simply can't play by ANYBODY's rules - and would almost certainly be fired within several days. Maybe not ... would like 'em to try.
Hanahan - Nice recap, I plain for a frame by frame post hope fully tomarrow. Danica Patrick had a 5th place car if the crew didnt bring her in to top off. That was dumb cause they new the car wouldn't make it anyway.
They do need to get a few things iron out fast. Like the start of the race was alittle fishy. The 2nd and 3rd place drivers had to start at the back, but a few rookies were giving way to them, not to get in their way. causing them to get strung out. Did you notice the 2nd restart of the race they were not last. lol
I feel some of the driver/teams are not even close, and could end up hurting IRL. I hope not.
I enjoyed the firtst IRL race of the year. Marco did well...leading most laps. Danica held her own, but nothing to get excited about. Dixon was back in form again from last year.
Glad to see both the Vision cars qualify so well...but sad that there was a penalty and they had to start at the rear of the field. Still, not too shabby of a performance by those two considering.
St. Pete will be more interesting, as it is a road course, and we will be able to see the former CCWS guys more at home on the track, and hopefully a bit more competitive.
I love Scott Goodyear in the booth. Marty Reid is OK, but I agree, perhaps someone with a bit more colorful personality to jazz it up some. I'm not too fond of Robin Miller. ALthough he can be entertaining at times. Whatever happened to Bob Jenkins...I always enjoyed him broadcasting at Indy.
Fore....thanks for the chime. Someof the teams aren't even close. I think it's because the Champ teams just got their new IRL spec cars 3 weeks ago. Not enough testing and tweaking yet.
Will you have TK's wreck in your next post? He's a great driver, but I'm wondering if he could have avoided it.
Gerrel....thanks for checking out my blog. I think Goodyear conveys his knowledge of auto racing better than anyone currently on TV. He, nor Reid has much, on air, personality though. They are more like a good football broadcast team. Just the fact and analyis, no need for screaming and yelling.
Bad deal for TK. He was probably going to win easily.
Han, are you trying to get HBMilf to respond with your Danica comments? You know she is too busy photoshopping her head on Lindsey Lohan's body, don't you?
Regarding TK's collision - was hard to tell from the replays how much notice he had of the ChampCar driver in front's loss of control (tire going down?).
But it was CLEAR that he did an incredible job of driving once he began to make the adjustment - putting his car into a little bit of a slide as he turned slightly to the left and then masterfully keeping it straight after the right front tire made firm contact with the other car. Amazing that he kept his sliding car (not with full traction) going straight after the contact.
Dave....I still have not seen the TK wreck in real time, just slow motion. That makes it hard to judge. Although I'm sure if it could have been avoided, Tony would have. It's good to see him back up front already.
Nah, it wasn't mean. I was just looking to poke the bear with a stick. She is still around, but is videotaping her blogs now.
Danica is okay with me. But would like her to win a race before she does anymore magazine spreads. Seems like she just hurts her credibility by continuing to do so.
