Q: For the start at St. Petersburg the first eight rows were lined up nose to tail and looked nearly perfect as they took the green flag, but the last five rows were ragged and strung out helter skelter and once they were informed “Green Green!” you can bet they were all-out immediately. It is possible to do a better job — race control would have to have an overhead look to make a proper call. If a violation is noted then a drive-through penalty next time by would most certainly change this in a hurry.
Some folks say the track is not suitable to race on with some difficult corners and concrete canyons to cope with for 100 laps, but that is no excuse and we heard the same B.S. of ovals like Las Vegas and Pocono. Along with that the subject of marbles (a dirty racetrack) is of the utmost importance and I can tell you that the IndyCar observers (who work all the ovals) are all over that constantly and when possible we sweep during caution periods. This is not a slam on the corner workers or anyone else; however, marbles will create a one-groove track which brings on a parade since it is not likely to allow racing. It is not rocket science!
Texas Motor Speedway from 1997 through 2007 was arguably the most competitive and exciting racing anywhere. It did have a severe drainage problem at the exit of Turn 2 so they decided to fix the problem and boy did they ever. In this process, they literally ruined the racing through turn 2 by any measure and it altered everything from the start of Turn 2 to the exit since if you get above lane 1 of Turn 2 you have literally no chance to run lane 2 or 3 — the guy on the bottom is going to kick your butt big time. Before the reconstruction you could race from any lane and have a real chance to come out on top.
Before reconstruction the exit of Turn 2 had a sort of reverse camber which was rather tricky to maintain your speed and that is now gone — they took the good with the bad. In addition to that they put down that JP whatever so now instead of losing 25% of the racing in Turn 2, you have lost 40% of the racing since you get above lane 1 between Turns 1 & 2 in addition to Turns 3 & 4.
Unfortunately the fans have gone away with all this mickey mouse stuff and they also have lost the date equity which was sooooo important to all that made it what it was. I can remember many TSM events of 90,000 fans or more and we had a June date and an October date and this was all right behind the Indy 500 which was like hand in glove.
Thank you for listening.
Glenn Timmis
MP: We have a few races every season where the polesitter vanishes before all of the cars have rounded the final corner, so it’s just become an accepted thing, obviously, because if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t happen a few times every year.
I know some sweeping occurred on at least one of the cautions, but we didn’t get entire laps of sweeping.
It was always a terrifying spectacle to behold, but like you, the old IRL/IndyCar races at TMS with big crowds were just magical to experience.
Q: I was enthralled with your explanation of plenum fires in the last mailbag. Would you similarly geek out on why some version of run-flat tires aren’t practical in IndyCar? Hate to see a driver’s day ruined by a cut tire which wasn’t their fault. I imagine hard sidewalls reduce responsiveness, but what about multiple interior chambers or even a honeycomb interior?
Not that IndyCar has an issue with competitiveness, but the more cars that remain in contention, the better!
Ken, Indianapolis, IN
MP: I felt for rookie Marcus Armstrong who was hit by David Malukas and lost out on a big debut finish due to the cut tire he received, but at the same time, contact between cars or cars and walls should have some sort of penalty, even if it isn’t deserved like in Armstrong’s case.
I’m sure “Professor Cara” Krstolic from Firestone Racing and her team could devise a run-flat tire for IndyCar, but honestly, I wouldn’t want to see it. Take away all the potential areas of drama, and racing becomes more of a procession. I think of this like preventing interceptions or strikeouts. We rarely have engine or transmission failures, so let’s not erase all possibilities of unpredictable outcomes.
Q: The St. Pete race reminded me of a bunch of sales guys at their annual conference doing a corporate event at a rent-a-kart track, after cocktails. The overhead shot of all the wrecked cars piling up behind the fence should be the ultimate embarrassment for all involved.
On a positive note, I can’t want to see the GTP cars on the new surface at Road America. What is your prediction for lap time improvements over last year? How great would it be if this event was an endurance round?
DA, Chicago, IL
MP: Who wouldn’t love Road America IMSA becoming the Lumbermans 500 like it was back in the day… Hard to say on lap times since IMSA governs the speed of its cars/classes with BoP, but if GTP isn’t throttled back, I’d guess 0.5-1.0s faster.
Q: What do you think of dividing the IndyCar grid into groups of nine cars each for practice and qualifying? And yes, I’m assuming a 27-car grid.
The smaller groups would go a long way to providing the entrants clean track for their practice and qualification runs. I propose IndyCar would pick the cars for each group to provide randomization.
Yes, it’s possible cars in the first group on the course may be at a disadvantage to the cars in later groups, but the group order could be swapped between session and days.
Warbird Willie
MP: I’m a big believer in making changes when changes are necessary. We’ve yet to see a need to alter practice or to modify qualifying procedures with 27 full-time cars — we had 25 full-timers last year — so we aren’t dealing with a big increase.