2016 Verizon IndyCar SeriesOpen Wheel 

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If Andretti has to miss any time and it's proven there is no problems with the leader, park the 12 car until Andretti returns. Really really stupid.

They threw the green early so he slows down..... makes perfect sense.
 
I cant believe they did nothing to Will Power after that move

The racing was solid and competitive as usual. Just wish they would drop the tire gimmick. Gimmicks in racing need to die.
 
I cant believe they did nothing to Will Power after that move

The racing was solid and competitive as usual. Just wish they would drop the tire gimmick. Gimmicks in racing need to die.
The green flag wasnt waving when Hawksworth's radio said "green" so how is that Powers fault? Those guys were crashing before Power reached the start cone.
 
Looked like someone was trying a little too hard to anticipate the restart and caused a log jam. Can't really blame Power the whole time because it was a simultaneous thing.
 
From what Scott Dixon said in his interview, they apparently moved the restart line.
 
The green flag wasnt waving when Hawksworth's radio said "green" so how is that Powers fault? Those guys were crashing before Power reached the start cone.

Instead of accelerating he slowed down to 30mph. The 2nd restart was done correctly. Its a good thing Power is in Indycar. If he were in NASCAR he wouldnt finish the next race.
 
From what Scott Dixon said in his interview, they apparently moved the restart line.
Huge miscommunication somewhere. Either way, hate to see cars getting torn up over something like that
 
Saw the highlights. Didn't seen anything wrong with the way Power handled that restart. He went at the line. It's just that about 8-10 cars back from him decided to accelerate out of the corner.
 
Shows how planning needs to be taken into consideration for niche market sports. Not a lot of people are going to be watching IndyCar when the Elite 8 is going on as well as when NASCAR is at Martinsville. Also, baseball has started, so it's a really oversaturated tv market for sports in America right now
 
And all the hotshot rookies are a bunch of columbians and an englishman. NASCAR once again won in the driver battle and snatched up Kyle Larson from Indycar.

If Indycar cant attract top notch American talent, the series will never grow again where it needs to first: in the states. If Indycar could pay drivers anything near NASCAR money, you would have AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Larson in the sereis right now. And things would be very different, or at least better.
 
And all the hotshot rookies are a bunch of columbians and an englishman. NASCAR once again won in the driver battle and snatched up Kyle Larson from Indycar.

If Indycar cant attract top notch American talent, the series will never grow again where it needs to first: in the states. If Indycar could pay drivers anything near NASCAR money, you would have AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Larson in the sereis right now. And things would be very different, or at least better.
Heck, NASCAR has been getting all the top U.S. talent for a while. Jeff Gordon was originally going to be an open wheel star, but he went to NASCAR. No one knows about these young rookie IndyCar drivers when they show up. The support ladder isn't marketed at all. Indy Lites is rarely even shown. In NASCAR, you know who's next up for a Sprint Cup ride because you see the guys in Nationwide and Camping World Trucks battling the likes of Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.
 
Heck, NASCAR has been getting all the top U.S. talent for a while. Jeff Gordon was originally going to be an open wheel star, but he went to NASCAR. No one knows about these young rookie IndyCar drivers when they show up. The support ladder isn't marketed at all. Indy Lites is rarely even shown. In NASCAR, you know who's next up for a Sprint Cup ride because you see the guys in Nationwide and Camping World Trucks battling the likes of Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.

First off not sure how you can gauge that since this sport is more likely to promote a drive to F1 then NASCAR ever will. Also NASCAR drivers through the years have easily wanted to jump in a Indy car especially for the big race. The problem that you and @Earth seems to forget is that Indy has as much talent as Cup and will keep having as much but the money to be made between the two is vastly different. A mid pack driver makes a decent wage especially if supplied with sponsors than that of a lower top ten to fifteenth placing driver. NASCAR has all the money and Indy really doesn't have a ton of money to throw around unless your a top tier winning driver.

Danica is making more now in Cup then she would be in Indy.
 
First off not sure how you can gauge that since this sport is more likely to promote a drive to F1 then NASCAR ever will. Also NASCAR drivers through the years have easily wanted to jump in a Indy car especially for the big race. The problem that you and @Earth seems to forget is that Indy has as much talent as Cup and will keep having as much but the money to be made between the two is vastly different. A mid pack driver makes a decent wage especially if supplied with sponsors than that of a lower top ten to fifteenth placing driver. NASCAR has all the money and Indy really doesn't have a ton of money to throw around unless your a top tier winning driver.

Danica is making more now in Cup then she would be in Indy.
I'm not so sure about the talent part. 3 years into Danica's IndyCar career, she was top 10 pace every week with top equipment. Now she's maybe top 25 every week with top equipment in NASCAR. Juan Montoya never won an oval race in NASCAR Sprint Cup even though he won in F1; however, I'm not saying Jimmie Johnson could go win 6 F1 titles or anything.I remember when Scott Pruett raced full season in NASCAR. He wasn't nearly competitive albeit he was on a crappy team. When Ganassi brought Dario and Evernham had Carpentier, neither had any success in NASCAR.
 
First off not sure how you can gauge that since this sport is more likely to promote a drive to F1 then NASCAR ever will. Also NASCAR drivers through the years have easily wanted to jump in a Indy car especially for the big race. The problem that you and @Earth seems to forget is that Indy has as much talent as Cup and will keep having as much but the money to be made between the two is vastly different. A mid pack driver makes a decent wage especially if supplied with sponsors than that of a lower top ten to fifteenth placing driver. NASCAR has all the money and Indy really doesn't have a ton of money to throw around unless your a top tier winning driver.

Danica is making more now in Cup then she would be in Indy.

With NASCAR's wealth, it would be a terrible business decision for a talented young American driver to choose Indycar over NASCAR, even with Indycar providing the possibility of a F1 drive. The top NASCAR drivers get paid as much as the top F1 drivers. And in NASCAR your not one bad or mediocre year from being fired like you are in F1. So in NASCAR you get paid just as much money, and you have more job security. Why go after F1? Only if you cant get a NASCAR ride. So chase the F1 dream that will likely end up in failure after 1-2 years (and be just the 3rd American driver in 20 years to race F1, with neither lasting more then 2 seasons), or go to the land of milk and honey that is NASCAR. Easy choice.

Theres loads of talent in Indycar. Maybe the best road racers outside of F1. Most of them are not American though. Australians are rooting for Ricciardo, not Power. Brazilians Massa, not Castroneves. So you really dont have the international audience. American drivers doing well in Indycar can sort of be likened to Ferrari doing well in F1. It helps the sport.
 
I'm not so sure about the talent part. 3 years into Danica's IndyCar career, she was top 10 pace every week with top equipment. Now she's maybe top 25 every week with top equipment in NASCAR. Juan Montoya never won an oval race in NASCAR Sprint Cup even though he won in F1; however, I'm not saying Jimmie Johnson could go win 6 F1 titles or anything.I remember when Scott Pruett raced full season in NASCAR. He wasn't nearly competitive albeit he was on a crappy team. When Ganassi brought Dario and Evernham had Carpentier, neither had any success in NASCAR.

Yes and Ganassi wasn't good at all during that time frame hence teaming up with DEI, and now he's not with DEI but rather using his Telemex money from TUSC in NASCAR. The equipment wasn't great at Evernham and the biggest problem was the learning curve that NASCAR creates, where these are trucks compared to what an Indy or F1 driver is use to, also there are not nearly as many cars in Indy compared to NASCAR with the season Danica ran having anywhere from 16/17-24/25 full time runners in the season. And then only a small group being top tier equipment, she ended up being last of the best equipment most times during the year. She is not a complete buffoon and has shown she can be quick even in NASCAR the problem is there are just too many bodies and too many laps for her not to get in trouble it seems. Also she too was rushed up the ladder, I mean look at the newest drivers that have battled the cup contenders week in and out and then look at those winning Nationwide and Trucks...a bunch of old hats most times with the occasional new guy beating them (which isn't hard). And you call that "talent" the only new guy I'm impressed with thus far is Kyle Larson but none of the bright stars before or at the same time have done anything special.

Also guys that are up for F1 feeder gigs on this side of the planet and have potential usually take the easier route that doesn't seem financially impossible and they go for Indy Racing, unless there you know U.S. born most times. Oh and just because Danica was top ten pace didn't mean she finished there, as evidence also shows in Cup racing, she is top ten pace during the weekend and ends up not in the same realm at the end of Sunday. Also I'm surprised you didn't use Hornish Jr. but I guess his run in the lower NASCAR series and even his occasional

With NASCAR's wealth, it would be a terrible business decision for a talented young American driver to choose Indycar over NASCAR, even with Indycar providing the possibility of a F1 drive.

Yeah thanks for echoing me that's what I just said...

The top NASCAR drivers get paid as much as the top F1 drivers.

Where are you getting your numbers from? Cause this isn't the case the top 3 F1 drivers make more than the top ten NASCAR drivers with the exception of Dale Jr. who makes a good amount of that money from sponsors and then contract and winnings.

And in NASCAR your not one bad or mediocre year from being fired like you are in F1. So in NASCAR you get paid just as much money, and you have more job security. Why go after F1? Only if you cant get a NASCAR ride. So chase the F1 dream that will likely end up in failure after 1-2 years (and be just the 3rd American driver in 20 years to race F1, with neither lasting more then 2 seasons), or go to the land of milk and honey that is NASCAR. Easy choice.

Once again, not sure if you understood my post or not...cause I basically more or less said this. No where in my post did I say "boo don't go to NASCAR try F1". Kind of superfluous to waste my time with this tangent.

Theres loads of talent in Indycar. Maybe the best road racers outside of F1. Most of them are not American though. Australians are rooting for Ricciardo, not Power. Brazilians Massa, not Castroneves. So you really dont have the international audience. American drivers doing well in Indycar can sort of be likened to Ferrari doing well in F1. It helps the sport.

I wasn't aware you were Australian and Brazilian. Because the support and points races in those locations have a massive outpouring for their countryman. It's like saying that none of the V8 supercar drivers from Australia have fans because they're far too concerned with DR in F1. What kind of rubbish concept is that?

decent run in Penske equipment doesn't help your argument enough.

Who are you talking to?
 
Scaling the field of NASCAR down to that of Indycar, and I don't mean just taking the top 22-26 NASCAR drivers, Danica is just as good in NASCAR as she was in Indycar. She was finishing around midfield in the points in Indycar, and so far, she's done just that in NASCAR. She's had a few bright moments in both series, including the win in Indycar, but it's mostly been average for her in regards to the overall season picture.

But, between F1 feeder and Indycar feeder, at least with Indycar feeder, the drivers are almost certainly guaranteed to make it into Indycar, whereas the last two GP2 champions are nowhere to be found in regards to being moved up to F1. Sage Karam is still too young for Indycar I think, so there's one exception to the Lights champion moving up.
 
Even if you stand a chance to make it into F1, odds are you won't make it too far, because of how Europe-centric the series is. Christiano Da Matta and Sebastien Bourdais come to mind... both CART champions, both were literally walking away with the thing, and both got to F1 with midfield teams that ended up going nowhere. Not everyone has Villeneuve or Montoya's chance to join a top-tier team from the get go (although it could be debated Williams is not a top tier team anymore), and even then, you really need to make a huge impact in order to even come up in the same conversation as GP2 hopefuls...

But of course, the biggest problem with Indycar is that they took most of the assets from the wrong series during their merger, but that's another story altogether.
 
Yes and Ganassi wasn't good at all during that time frame hence teaming up with DEI, and now he's not with DEI but rather using his Telemex money from TUSC in NASCAR. The equipment wasn't great at Evernham and the biggest problem was the learning curve that NASCAR creates, where these are trucks compared to what an Indy or F1 driver is use to, also there are not nearly as many cars in Indy compared to NASCAR with the season Danica ran having anywhere from 16/17-24/25 full time runners in the season. And then only a small group being top tier equipment, she ended up being last of the best equipment most times during the year. She is not a complete buffoon and has shown she can be quick even in NASCAR the problem is there are just too many bodies and too many laps for her not to get in trouble it seems. Also she too was rushed up the ladder, I mean look at the newest drivers that have battled the cup contenders week in and out and then look at those winning Nationwide and Trucks...a bunch of old hats most times with the occasional new guy beating them (which isn't hard). And you call that "talent" the only new guy I'm impressed with thus far is Kyle Larson but none of the bright stars before or at the same time have done anything special.

Also guys that are up for F1 feeder gigs on this side of the planet and have potential usually take the easier route that doesn't seem financially impossible and they go for Indy Racing, unless there you know U.S. born most times. Oh and just because Danica was top ten pace didn't mean she finished there, as evidence also shows in Cup racing, she is top ten pace during the weekend and ends up not in the same realm at the end of Sunday. Also I'm surprised you didn't use Hornish Jr. but I guess his run in the lower NASCAR series and even his occasional
Give the NASCAR guys more credit. It looks simple on tv, but it takes a lot of skill to rub doors in a 3000+ pound car with super small and narrow tires with all the power those cars have.

Considering the last American F1 driver failed just as miserably at NASCAR as he did at F1 with a more competitive ride in NASCAR than he had in F1, I don't think it's too hard to say that F1 and NASCAR are both very difficult to succeed in. No big NASCAR names have started in NASCAR and then went to Indy. We'll see how Kurt Busch does here soon as he's pretty much the first. The only guy who's successfully crossed over since NASCAR has become very popular has been Tony Stewart. Montoya, Villeneuve, John Andretti, Robbie Gordon, Dario, Sam Hornish, Carpentier, Danica, Speed, Fisher, Fittipaldi, Pruett, Raikkonen, and Tracy have all not succeeded. It's not like they're going to the worst teams in the paddock either. Ganassi, Richard Childress, Stewart-Haas, and Penske have all tried one of more of these drivers. Two of those 4 teams had championship winning drivers on them, and all 4 have Daytona 500 champions on them.

Also, calling Danica top 10 pace week in and week out shows you've never watched a NASCAR race other than the 2013 Danica Patrick 500 at Daytona. She may have top 10 pace one practice every 3 or 4 race weekends.
 
What if there was an all American series of drivers that raced on good ole' American ovals and we named it like one of the stick and ball sports and called it the Indy Racing League,that would bring the glory back to the month of May and the 500.;)

oh wait that didnt work either...🤬

Look at the broadcast yesterday,on ABC with ESPN branding and yet if you go to http://espn.go.com/ can you find the Indycar section? The winner didnt even rate a mention on the bottom line on Sportscenter. Other than the 500 the only national media comes from the occasional driver appearance on Letterman or when a car flies into the catch fence injuring Ashley Judd's husband.

The racing is good now they need to commit 1000% to marketing,win back the kids.Karting programs,swag,a Indycar game on all platforms,drivers in commercials etc,etc,etc.Push to pass,red tires,and aero kits mean nothing no casual fans.
 
kits mean nothing no casual fans.
This is the truth. Market it as fun, exciting, and entertaining rather than OMGG, we are 1.3 mph faster this year at Indy. New aero kits rule! Casual fans don't pay admission to see a science fair.
 
Wasn't the whole point of Tony George starting IRL (wayyyy back when) to encourage young american talent? :sly:
For a while it did until Champcar became bankrupt, then its just come full circle with the amount of "foreign" drivers in the series, as for the money its brought both Scott Dixon (Legend) and Will Power more money than they would had they stayed in their respective countries.
 
I was actually at the St. Pete race. For what it's worth the stands were absolutely packed... It was a good race (other than that weird restart thing). I'm tempted to blame Will Power or the flagstand, but my guess is that the single file thing is making the drivers in the back-back feel a little too antsy for the green to drop. They're so far back there that they're worried about getting a little jump to try to reel in the leaders.


(Oh, and that new-ish support series they're running with? Pirelli World Challenge? Freaking amazing and an unfortunate taste of everything missing from GT :(. They were really freaking cool... http://www.world-challenge.com/ )

I still can't figure out just what happened with Sato in the pits or with the switch to the black tires, he was killing it on the reds. Truthfully the Indy racing was pretty good, much more bold than the F1 stuff. As for the talent comparisons, Juan Montoya was struggling all afternoon, but he might just be still readjusting to life in an open-wheel. At one point he even clipped a wall during practice and knocked one of his front wings lose... As for the "Tony George/American driver" thing, Ryan Hunter-Reay is American, and the others probably should've done better than they did... A few penalties here and there, and a few mechanical issues as well, and it wasn't a super great afternoon for the U.S. drivers, but it wasn't a total loss.
 
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Give the NASCAR guys more credit. It looks simple on tv, but it takes a lot of skill to rub doors in a 3000+ pound car with super small and narrow tires with all the power those cars have.

Give them more credit? I've probably watch NASCAR and gone to races in this area longer than you've watched most Motorsports. I know how hard they've worked and I've spent many years being that guy to have to explain it to people who are just basketball/football mainstream fans and see guys doing laps as stupid and unimportant or difficult. So don't explain to me, especially when I'm in the actual thread participating and giving insightful knowledge and you're off complaining about Le Mans. Clearly yet again (no surprise) you've skimmed what I say to you and then come off without a clue.

Considering the last American F1 driver failed just as miserably at NASCAR as he did at F1 with a more competitive ride in NASCAR than he had in F1, I don't think it's too hard to say that F1 and NASCAR are both very difficult to succeed in.

No they really aren't. There are probably several drivers as of right now that if given the same car as LH, SV or even Alonso could pull off just as stunning performances, maybe not exactly to the same degree but at least enough to fight for championships. The problem with F1 that you don't understand or forget is that it's just as much about the car and engineering as the driver, they both are the stars. NASCAR it's about the team and the drivers and the car is just a piece of spec with a badge on the front to pretend. What makes one difficult is that you either need money or to know people to get to right spot to win and the other is somewhat the same but not nearly as much. They are also two different beasts. Trying to compare Scott Speed's run in F1 and Cup as the tell all of how difficult it is, really doesn't help your argument. His GP2 run wasn't anything to brag about even if he finished third in a season that if I recall was the one Nico Rosberg won (since the next year I followed his beginning F1 career). Then he decides to leave all that open wheel knowledge behind (Speed) for cup and though he went from the bottom up, he didn't win enough or get good enough grasp at the bottom to even be competitive at the top. Red Bull Toyota equipment was good though not the best since Red Bull weren't too focused on NASCAR and it shows they have 9 or 10 different drivers in their short span and only 1 win...

No big NASCAR names have started in NASCAR and then went to Indy. We'll see how Kurt Busch does here soon as he's pretty much the first. The only guy who's successfully crossed over since NASCAR has become very popular has been Tony Stewart. Montoya, Villeneuve, John Andretti, Robbie Gordon, Dario, Sam Hornish, Carpentier, Danica, Speed, Fisher, Fittipaldi, Pruett, Raikkonen, and Tracy have all not succeeded. It's not like they're going to the worst teams in the paddock either. Ganassi, Richard Childress, Stewart-Haas, and Penske have all tried one of more of these drivers. Two of those 4 teams had championship winning drivers on them, and all 4 have Daytona 500 champions on them.

Too bad Tony started out in Indy/CART in the mid to late 90s and won, then went on to do NASCAR. As for the rest of what you put together, the Daytona 500 champions bit is funny to say the least. Considering Bayne won with the Wood Brother's and they sure as hell are winning every weekend, oh let's not forget Furniture Row doing a 1-2 last year at Talladega boy that team is just crazy amounts of fast every weekend too (they've actually gotten better). Oh and those teams have championship winning drivers my oh my how dare I, considering Stewart already had 2 to his name due to JGR (top team), Childress hasn't had a driver in a decade plus that was a cup champion, Ganassi hasn't had one either. Penske is the only team that should be noted (SHR too I suppose but not really), with BK but even that was due to being the factory dodge team in some respects. So really I dont see where you get your conclusion that just because one driver is great on a NASCAR team then all others on the same team should be close or on par.

Also, calling Danica top 10 pace week in and week out shows you've never watched a NASCAR race other than the 2013 Danica Patrick 500 at Daytona. She may have top 10 pace one practice every 3 or 4 race weekends.

Um she just qualified 10th this last race, and you claiming that because I don't know Danica's cup record equates to me not watching NASCAR is asinine and only trying to get a rise. Excuse me if you can understand the valid point I make and have to reiterate it for you, but I never said she had top ten pace week in and week out. I said she has the capability to be fast and has demonstrated that, but doesn't know how to navigate twice the field size and twice the laps/duration of driving.

I've watched every NASCAR race since 94 to now, by the way. Good try at being a smart ass though.
 
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