The 500...Let's Do This

Holy cow, I am blown away by how quickly this month has gone. Here it is three days from the race, and I am just getting caught up that it is May as it is. Which is unfortunate, because for a lot of reasons May is my favorite month of the year. Oh well, I'm going to be in the house at the Speedway on Sunday, and in the end that is all that matters.

But this year, the 500 isn't the biggest race I'm going to watch this year. Nope, that comes tomorrow when my son Matt runs the 4x800 for Aurora Central Catholic High School at the Illinois State Class 2A track meet to be held at Eastern Illinois University.

Can I brag for a moment? Thanks. It's such an amazing thing when someone you love works hard and succeeds at something. I am super proud of him. He and his teammates had worked so hard over the past year, and now he has a state track qualifier to his name to go with qualifying for the state cross country meet last fall.

What is even cooler is the fact that because of a "multiplier" attached to private schools, Central runs a class up against schools that are twice its size. With 590 students, Central regularly competes against schools that have over 1,000 kids, and they hold their own.

They are the little school that could...sound familiar?

So there are two segues I can use from this story: first is that just like tomorrow, a year's worth of work will go into one race (or hopefully two if they qualify for Saturday's final). Matt decided after track season last year that he really wanted to dedicate himself to his running, and 2,000 miles of training later, he is where he wants to be. He ran a career-best 2:04 for his 800 leg in winning the sectional on Friday night, so he is ready to go.

The peeps in IndyCar have done the same thing. Since Memorial Day last year, no doubt the drivers and their teams have been working hard to figure out how to do even better on Sunday. Make no mistake, from the front to the back of the field, everyone wants to win this race. Lots of them have that chance.

Second, just like the movie Hoosiers, there is always room for the little school (or race team) to get a chance. Ed Carpenter, a native Hoosier, won the pole for Sunday's race and has a great chance to win the 500. For Carpenter, it would be a lifetime dream, and would add to the craziness that has become IndyCar racing the last couple of years.

Because let's be real, did any of us see Dan Wheldon winning the race in 2011? How about Dario Franchitti last year? After a putrid start to the season, Dario was slogging along all month with the Honda engine, then was spun by EJ Viso just 15 laps into the race and dropped to 29th place. Somehow he found his way back to the front and held off Takuma Sato in one of the best races ever run here.

Best races until this year, because I think with a year of experience (and if you count Fontana two 500-mile races) under their belts, the racing come Sunday could be epic...again.

So far this month, practice has given us a pretty good show, and that will transfer to the race. At least once a day during practice, a dozen cars (or more) would get together and it looked like it was the real thing with the passing and dicing that was going on. In fact, Marco Andretti radioed to his team at one point that he thought he was in the middle of the race by how hard the drivers were going.

Crazy. With Marco's name fresh on my mind, let's go through some predictions and story lines.

First, I'm sticking with my previous thoughts of the last few weeks that Marco Andretti will win the Indianapolis 500. In years past I don't know if those thoughts would ever come from my keyboard, but he was hella fast last year, and this year combines it with some calmer, smoother driving. One thing about the DW12 on an oval is that if your car is fast, you just have to stick with it and the car will take you to the front. You don't have to try so hard, which is what I think both Marco and Carpenter did last year when they spun late. Marco has been fast each of the last two years, but last year (well, in lots of years) he let his emotions get the best of him. This year he has proven to be a different guy, but it remains to be seen if he can stay that way when the pressure is on.

The weather. Thankfully, it won't be the blast furnace that it was the last couple of years. I know that I am a distance runner and all, but walking about six miles during the course of the day last year was a killer! Looking at the current forecast, it looks like it will be cloudy and about 25 degrees cooler, which is much more to the cars' (and drivers) liking. Cooler temperatures means a cooler track, which means the cars should handle a lot better.

Carpenter will be a factor. If I were throwing down odds, I'd set Ed as second to win behind Marco. Ed's fast when it counts, and don't forget he has an oval win in this car. Like James Hinchcliffe, if you are talented, winning once opens the door to winning again. With oval wins each of the last two years Ed's confidence has to be at an all-time high.

Andretti Autosport. With five drivers in the field, and all of them the Fast Nine in qualifying last weekend, there is a good chance one of them will win the race. Given past history, however, I'm thinking that should Andretti falter, two others: Ryan Hunter-Reay or Hinchcliffe, would be the ones to step up.

If you want to talk about drivers whose confidence is at an all-time high, look no further than RHR. After winning the championship in 2012 he's driving with the confidence and passion of someone who thinks they are one of the world's best, and right now he just might be. With two wins this year, Hinch is right there with him.

On the other hand, I don't see Munoz winning based on his inexperience, and Viso based on past experience. While I think EJ is slowing improving, I don't see him taking this kind of a leap. This race is won by winners, and I don't put him in that category quite yet.

Penske. One of the biggest story lines is the run for a fourth 500 win for Helio Castroneves. Since last winning in 2009 he has had little luck, including last year when he hit a loose tire from the Will Power/Mike Conway crash and had suspension issues all day. Is this his year?

I don't know, but I do know it won't be Power's. I feel bad when I write things like that about Will, but let's face it, he struggles in traffic on ovals. The only oval win he has (Texas) came in a race that he led almost the whole way and lasted about 45 minutes. I don't see him winning a marathon like this.

However, I wouldn't be surprised to see AJ Allmendinger in the mix. He's been fast all month and is experienced enough that he can run at the front. Plus I've got to admit to liking the guy, he has said and done all of the right things, and he gets it.

Dark horses. Maybe this is a bit of a misnomer, but it's a catch-all for everyone who I think can win but I haven't listed yet. And this list starts (and should end) with Tony Kanaan. It's crazy to look at TK's career and for everything he has accomplished it isn't accompanied by a Borg-Warner trophy. How many chances does he have left? Should he win it would be one of the most popular victories in 500 history. 

While I don't see either of them winning, it wouldn't surprise me if Oriol Servia and/or Townsend Bell make a push to the front by the end. The same is true with Simona de Silvestro.

Hondas. I'll throw everyone in this group together too, because this is one of the great unknowns. If last year is any example, the Hondas will be better on race day, but the Honda peeps were hoping for the kind of weather they got last year, and that didn't happen. Still, Dario Franchitti topped the speed chart one day during practice and the Hondas did work well in traffic in practice. But outside of Alex Tagliani, who is starting P11, the fastest Hondas have nearly a dozen cars with Chevy power in front of them. This could be a taller task than last year.

With that in mind, you know Franchitti and Dixon will make themselves some sort of factor on Sunday. Dixon has completed every lap of the race since 2006 and has never finished worse than P6 over that span, while Franchitti is, well, Franchitti.

Bottom line. If we thought last year was the most wide-open in recent history, this year it is that times two. I could honestly see anyone from a pool of 20 drivers winning this race. Believe it or not, Sunday will be the 20th race run with the DW12, and in that span there have been 10 different winners.

But what will make this race memorable will be the passing throughout the field. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say we set a record for lead changes, and it wouldn't surprise me to see 40 of them by the time the day is through.

I also think the winning pass for the lead will also come within the final two laps, maybe even down to the last straightaway. Yeah, it's gonna be that good.

Last, and certainly not least, best wishes and Godspeed to the drivers and crews who will put it all on the line Sunday. And in honor of it being Memorial Day weekend, thanks to all veterans, past and present for their service, especially those that have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country. 

Day 5 -- Consider the Gauntlet Thrown

I was looking at my posts from May of last year (mostly so I don't incessantly repeat myself) and stumbled across my title from Thursday's practice: "Day 6 -- The Rise of Dixie". In it I spoke of how Scott Dixon had quietly worked on other things all week but on the sixth day he jumped to the top of the speed chart.

History certainly repeated itself this year, albeit for another (actually two) Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers. After sitting way down in speed for the first few days while his team quietly worked on race-day setups, defending champ Dario Franchitti turned in the fastest speed of the day Wednesday when he clocked a lap of 224.236 mph.


Dario's time came during a Happy Hour free-for-all that saw at times nearly 15 cars working in a single draft in what could best be described as a full-out race sim. I don't think the teams and the owners like it much, but the drivers seem to be having a great time. I mean, three-wide in practice? Practice?
 
I think as long as nothing changes with the DW12, there will always be an intensity level to practices -- especially as the week goes on -- that we haven't seen very often before. Drivers are going at is so hard, and it looks like next Sunday's race will be as highly entertaining as last year's was.

So no doubt it was in a tow and more than likely Chevy will rule the day when qualifying starts on Sunday, but Franchitti is a master at working in traffic here so you can throw the speeds out on race day, because Honda proved last year it was a pretty stout motor.

Also stepping up for TCGR was Ryan Briscoe, who jumped to fifth-best at 222.803 in a quest for his second consecutive pole and fourth front-row start. Dixon made his first appearance in the top 10 this month with the day's ninth-best speed.

The surprise of the day surely came from Townsend Bell, who like Briscoe is here on his usual one-off effort. Bell, who started fourth two years ago and didn't hit the track until Tuesday afternoon, was second fastest on the day at 223.716. He was followed by Helio Castroneves (223.699) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (223.093).

As has been the case all week, Andretti Autosport put four cars in the top 10, with Marco Andretti ranking sixth, EJ Viso seventh and rookie Carlos Munoz 10th. Out of the Top 10 mix for the first time all week was James Hinchcliffe, who was 14th, but maybe Hinch was working on something else as his 113 laps run were second-most on the day to Conor Daly's 126. Marco was also over 100 laps on the day (101) but was in the turn it loose group late in the day which was where he popped his quick time.

Through five days pretty much every team on the grid has had its moment in the sun, with a driver from each garage putting in at least one fast time. Every team, that is, except for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, who with Graham Rahal and Michel Jourdain Jr. wheeling the cars have looked painfully slow.

There is usually a team that struggles here every year, and it looks like RLL is the team of choice in 2013. Wednesday Rahal was 30th of the 32 cars that appeared on the track at just over 219 and Jourdain was DFL with a speed of 218.0. Believe it or not, those were the best times of the week for both of those guys. Not sure where they go from here, but the clock is ticking.

Because believe it or not, it's Thursday already. With the weekend in sight, look for teams to start trimming out their cars in anticipation of the increase in boost that happens tonight. While there is a bit of rain in the forecast for the next couple of days, the temperatures are supposed to drop about 10-15 degrees from the last two days. A combination of cooler temps and maybe even some cloud cover could turn these cars into rockets by the weekend.

Day 3 In the Books

It looks like the weather is starting to warm up, and with the mercury rising this week, speeds will probably begin to do the same. But even though the high temperature only reached 63 degrees Monday, things still began to get a little racy.

Monday is really the first day everybody starts to get serious, and 32 drivers hit the track today. At this point in the week, though, it's hard to say what everyone is doing. You've got three Andretti Autosport drivers and three Penskes in the Top 10, yet a team like Ganassi is lagging down the speed chart as Charlie Kimball in the 14th position is the fastest of that stable's four cars.

Then again, Ganassi didn't begin to flex its muscle last year until Wednesday when Scott Dixon made a sudden rise to the top of the chart, and according to a couple of Twitter posts from Mike Hull, they were working on full-tank runs and pit stops today. Everyone is working off of a different schedule, but as the week rolls on teams will begin getting into full-on qualifying mode.

Though it's still early, it seems like there are a few trends already developing.

*The two is strong with this one. The story last year was the way the DW12 ran in traffic...when you got a few cars together it punched a pretty big hole in the air that gave drivers extra speed. That contributed to the most competitive and memorable 500-mile races we have maybe ever had, and it looks like that same thing will be on tap again this year. Cars that are running in the 220-221 mph range all alone get way more than that when they line up.

In fact, Marco Andretti's top speed of the day (225.100) came when he was working with about a half-dozen cars, and Helio Castroneves' best time was 225.075 while running in the same group.

*Andretti rules. Not just Marco, who is picking up where he left off last May when he was a factor every day in practice and led a race-high 59 laps during the 500, but Ryan Hunter-Reay (224.386 Monday), James Hinchcliffe (223.075), EJ Viso (who went 222 on Sunday) and rookie Carlos Munoz (222.239) also look good.

Munoz has been a front-runner since the cars rolled out on Saturday, and his teammates all have Top 5 runs through the first three days.

*The rookies. Again, the 21-year-old Munoz has looked fast so far this week, and three of the four "rookies" have done well for themselves so far. I put that in parenthesis due to the experience level of a couple of them, but they are first-timers at the Speedway so it all counts.

Penske driver AJ Allmendinger has the top rookie speed through the first three days, going 223.264 in the tow Monday afternoon, while Munoz is 11th overall. Conor Daly, who raced overseas this past weekend, made it onto the track this morning and breezed through his Rookie Orientation Program and was at 219 by the end of the day.

Tristan Vautier is the only rookie who seems to be struggling, as he is just 35th fastest at 217.5, but that may also be a bit by design too. If you remember from last year Schmidt Motorsports brought Simon Pagenaud along slowly and he got better as the week went along and finished as the last car on the lead lap in 16th place.

Though thanks to his Indy Lights experience he has lots more oval time than Pagenaud did -- and finished P4 in the Freedom 100 last year -- there really isn't a rush.

*Knocking off the rust. Townsend Bell got back into an IndyCar today for the first time this year and needed just six laps to get over 220 mph, while Pippa Mann took her first tours around the Speedway in a DW12 (and her first laps since 2011) was 24th fastest at just over 220.

So what do you think the rest of the week will bring? It's going to be 15 degrees warmer Tuesday, so speeds should climb again. Still, if you put a side-by-side comparison to Monday last year, the top speeds are just over 2 mph faster.

I'm going to be optimistic and say when the boost is turned up on Friday we could see some near-230 mph laps this weekend. Either way, it's going to be interesting.

Brazil Wrap-Up

By now plenty of the superlatives have been spoken about Sunday's Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300, but still I think there is room for more. Yes, that's how great of a race it was. I mean, when people have talked about the last 10 laps of the race, they are invoking the 1990s for crying out loud!

When you start dipping your toe into those sacred times (#sarcasm) you are onto something. I kid...through the field the racing was about as good as it can get. While the twisty circuit does lead to at times some fugly incidents (and there were seven cautions in the first 56 laps), the two long straightaways are perfect for this car.

And while we are at it, can we put any criticisms of the DW-12 to bed? And if you have any left, get over it. This car is producing some of the best racing in the world right now.

Anyway, on to the good stuff:

Winner: James Hinchcliffe. Hinch's feast-or-famine season continues. He now has two wins this season (and in his career thanks) adding Brazil to his victory at St. Pete a few weeks ago, to go along with a crash at Long Beach and a DNF at Barber. This kind of bounce back race is certainly an indication of a more confident driver, if you compare it to last year where some adversity started to send Hinch's season south.

Sunday he was very Rick Mears-ian, saving his car and letting the race come back to him. While Takuma Sato and Josef Newgarden were battling like hell in front of him, he worked himself into the fight and had the strongest car at the end.

When it came time to go, he went, taking advantage of a Sato bobble on the final corner of the final lap to squeeze his way by and take the victory, and in the process becoming the first race winner to lead just the last lap since Dan Wheldon at Indy in 2011.

Runner-up: Takuma Sato. Meet your new points leader. Yes it's true, Taku sits on top of the standings one-fifth of the way through the season. The way he has driven this season proves that he is indeed for real, and while I don't think Sato has the mettle to stay on top for the entire season, he isn't going away either.

Of course, his finish wasn't without controversy, as he was reviewed a couple of times by race control for blocking both Newgarden and Hinchcliffe. In my opinion, he threw a block on both guys at one time or another, that is indisputable. At the same time, what should have been done about it? I honestly don't know. Lots of people argue that if it is a block on Lap 1 it should be a block on the last lap, too, but do we really want Beaux Barfield settling races, or do we want to see guys fight it out on their own on the track? Barfield is in a tough spot on that one, and I think he did the right thing.

Third place: Marco Andretti. Meet your driver that is second in points. Again, just another example of what has made this season awesome. After so many years of what came across as bored indifference, Marco is driving with the passion we have come to expect from members of his family. No doubt he drove super-hard, and put himself in a couple of tight spots, but he just keeps going out there and putting up solid numbers. Heading into Indy, he couldn't ask for anything more -- well, I guess he would've liked a win by now, but he's probably more than happy to wait another 19 days for that one.

With three wins in the first four races, odds are an Andretti Autosport driver will win the 500, and Marco is sure ramping it up like he thinks it is his time.

Fourth place: Oriol Servia. Mega props to Oriol and the entire Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team. After announcing last week that DRR would be unable to continue this season after Indy, the go out and put together a solid day that in the closing laps looked like a possible podium. Pretty amazing. But Servia is a pro's pro, and as a long-time participant in they IndyCar series DRR has a lot of pride, and that really shone through on Sunday.

And let's not shut off the lights on these guys just yet. Servia finished 6th at Indy in 2011 and drove like a madman to battle back from a lap down and come home 4th last year. If I had to pick a darkhorse winner of the 500, Oriol would be my guy.

Fifth place: Josef Newgarden. What a charge through the field by Newgarden, who started 25th and was in the mix and fighting it out with Sato down the stretch. He eventually wore his tires down to the nubbies and was later passed by Hinch, Marco and Servia, but it was still a great drive for him. Josef has had a lot of pressure put on him by the fanbase since day one, but he is starting to get better every week. Don't forget, he has only made 19 IndyCar starts, he is still learning and confidence is a big part of racing (heck, any pro sport). He is starting to build that confidence base.

A few others: Dario Franchitti finished P7 and jumped over 10 drivers in the points and sits at P15. Still a long way to go...Simona De Silvestro finished P9 to add that to her P6 and P8 finishes at St. Pete and Long Beach...Helio Castroneves had an interesting day that included a dust up with three other cars midway through the race. Though he finished P13 he is still third in the standings...Tony Kanaan led twice for 12 laps and had his Brazilian countrymen whipped into a frenzy, but dropped off the pace and later ran out of fuel and finished 21st...And then we come to Will Power, who's season to forget continues. A fire onboard his car put him out of the race just 17 laps in and he finished second to DFL in 25th. He sits P18 in points and outside of Belle Isle next month is looking at a long next two months.

What's next? It's three weeks before the series races again at a little oval on the corner of 16th and Georgetown in Indianapolis. No doubt the powers that be scheduled that race as a sort of home game since the track is right across from the IndyCar offices.

Who am I kidding? I love the entire series, but now it's on. Got milk?

Just Because I Feel Like Blogging

I know, not the most catchy of titles, but I've already used words like "musings" and never want to use "potpourri". I could have gone with "potent potables" like on the SNL Jeopardy skits, but whatever.

I'm in a little of a pissy mood, so this has no rhyme or reason. Still, please don't use that as a reason to temper your enjoyment of this piece.

Here we go:

* We are now 6.3 percent of the way through the season (I looked it up) and one comment I have heard about race winners or drivers who had outstanding finishes is that they "didn't turn a wheel wrong all weekend". You know what? In today's IndyCar, that's exactly what it takes to win. From here on out, it should just be assumed.

AJ Allmendinger's comment after Barber that the series is as competitive as it's ever been got a lot of traction, and for good reason. He wasn't wrong.

Seriously. With the competition as close as it is now, one wrong move or one mistake can really screw you over. It only takes being off by a half-second to put you back in the field in qualifying, or a poor decision can cost you during the race. The margin for error is just so small anymore, which is good, because that's where parity comes from.

Like last weekend at Long Beach. A Foyt, Rahal and Coyne car all on the podium at one time? I think we should get used to wacky stuff like that. When it all sorts out the majority of the races will still be won and podiums still be captured by Penske, Ganassi or Andretti drivers, but this won't be the only weekend of the year where we see what we saw at Long Beach.

* Penske will win its share of races and podiums...you would think Will Power sure hopes so. I really, really didn't see this coming. First, that it has been a year since he has won and second that he has started the season P16, P5 and P16 in the opening stretch of the season. In each of the last three years he has at least two wins in the first four races...and in 2012 he had three.

I know both of his P16 finishes are someone else's fault. There isn't anything you can do when a car drives over the top of you or someone sends their car out of the pits too early. But the point is that Power cannot afford that, he needs to do well on twisties. His deficiency on ovals isn't overstated given his one oval podium and one win came on the same day in Texas two years ago.

While he is only 37 points back -- which is a deficit he could probably make up in a doubleheader weekend this summer -- he has seven drivers in front of him. I once asked a pro golfer (ahem, Tiger Woods, ahem...but I'm not name dropping!) what concerned him more: how far he was out of the lead or how many people stood between him and the lead?

His answer? Both. Because he had no control over the other guys. He could throw out a good score but the only way he gains on the field is if others falter. If EVERYONE falters. He needs a lot to happen, and let's not forget the fact that there are other drivers behind him, such as James Hinchcliffe, who will probably move forward in the standings too.

It's three races in, and of course you can't cede the title to anyone, but you could sure make your life difficult in these three weeks, and he has.

* Now, I'm not just picking on WP. While it is great to see Takuma Sato in P2, Marco Andretti in P4 and Justin Wilson in P5 in the standings (hence the great parity), there are a lot of drivers who need to stop some bleeding big-time in both Sao Paulo and Indy.

Hinch is one of them. As sharp as he was the first week (didn't turn a wheel wrong, after all) he has had it go south the last two. If you look at drivers who have won titles in the past, they all get one mulligan...maybe two. If that's the case, he has used his up and needs to go on a pretty big run over the next couple of months. I'd have to say he needs to win next weekend at Brazil or at Indy to get back into this thing.

I'd probably say the same about guys like Tony Kanaan and Simon Pagenaud as well. Dario Franchitti? At 20th in points and a staggering 55 ducats behind leader Helio Castroneves, he hasn't given up, but we'd need to see some dominance that we haven't seen from him in a while.

Like I said...it's not just about piling up points, it's passing others. This isn't old-school IndyCar, passing 19 drivers in the standings isn't as easy as it might have once been.

* I brushed over Marco's name a few paragraphs ago and I have one question...who IS this guy? Has he ever been fourth in points after three races? I'm guessing no, but he has shown so much growth and maturity since the beginning of the season. We'll see what happens when, or if, he experiences some adversity this season, but from what we've seen so far this is the new normal for Marco.

It's tough to say if it's the driver coach or just a new attitude or whatever. In the end I believe it was just a bunch of soul searching that led him to the conclusion: hey, I'm a competitor, I hate losing, and I am missing an incredible opportunity here.

As a competitive person myself, if I were Marco and I put on the performance he did last year while one teammate was winning the championship and the other had a breakout season, I'd be embarrassed. There is no reason he shouldn't be in the same category as his teammates, and I think he's realized that.

I was 25 once, I get it. He had an easy path to get here and maybe he took it for granted for a while. We all get our stuff together sooner or later, and I think he's done that. If I had to pick a favorite to win the 500 right here, right now, Marco would probably be it.

* Dozens of paragraphs in and a myriad of subjects later, and I'm finally getting to the 500. One more week until May, peeps! Yeah, I know we have a little time to wait once the calendar crosses over into the greatest month of the year, but May 1 is close enough.

First of all, let's talk about the car count. It seems like there was a bit of concern over the last few days as that number has floated around in the high-20s somewhere, but a little action happened on that front when Michel Jourdain signed to run with Rahal Letterman Lanigan this week which brings us to an even 30.

That follows on the heels of rumors that people like Jacques Lazier, Townsend Bell and Pippa Mann (make it happen!) have the funding in place and are looking for a perfect fit.

But then I heard another name today that was seriously interesting: 1996 winner Buddy Lazier. Really? It would be crazy to think it but a photo floated around on Twitter today of Jean Alesi's chassis at the Dallara factory in Speedway with Buddy's name on the side.

If it happens, that would be a serious upset of major porportions. A guy who hasn't driven the 500 in five years getting a ride out of the blue?

Probably not the sexiest get of the year among the drivers who have helmet in hand, but if you read my post from two years ago, why not? Five top-five finishes shows the guy knows how to get around the place, and if you are a lower budget team with no thoughts of winning he makes sense as he has 500 experience and has brought the car home in one piece each of the last four times he's raced here.

Plus you get a little boost by having a former winner in your car. I was lucky enough to run into him in the garage area last year and he said he had something in the works a year ago but nothing came through. So we'll see what is going on with that one.

As far as total count goes, I know we will get to 33, we always do. Some teams like Ed Carpenter Racing, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing or even Sam Schmidt Motorsports might say they are tapped out already, but something with one of those teams seems to always come through.

With enough chassis and engines out there for more than 33, the question is just how far the funding will go for us to see some bumping action. Hopefully we get a couple, because despite having spent the entire qualifying weekend at the track last year I wasn't upset by not having any bumping, but I am in the minority and I want to see everyone go home happy.

* Final thought: ABC is bringing in Lindsay Czarniak as the host for the 500 is a great move. She has lots of experience as a racing broadcaster so kudos to ABC for that. They then counter that with the move of adding Eddie Cheever in the booth to join Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear.

Good lord. I can't think of a single person who liked him the first time in the booth, and I would take a random guess that if you polled most race fans he is the least popular Indy 500 winner in history. Of all the former racers who are out there you couldn't find one that would actually add something to the broadcast?

Note to ABC (and as an extension ESPN): we are getting seriously spoiled on NBCSN, you really need to do better than that!

Long Beach Post-Game

Sato-san!

Since Takuma Sato made the move to IndyCar three years ago, lots has been expected of him. He's fast, fearless and has a Formula 1 background. Unfortunately, those three traits can rear their ugly heads at times, and many times they did as Taku spent the first couple of years of his time in IndyCar breaking a lot of stuff.

Last year Sato seemed to have made some strides working under the patient eye of Bobby Rahal, and his move to AJ Foyt Enterprises over the winter made some people think he was ready to win.

To those people I say...good call! Taku won in a big way Sunday when he dominated the final half of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and became the sixth driver in history to post his first win on a street course which as always produced some great theater.

After two fairly uneventful (and by that I mean clean) races at St. Pete and Barber, we seemed to be heading for some carnage, and we certainly got it. In a place where nose jobs are aplenty (I didn't make that up, stole it from a Twitter post), more than a half-dozen cars needed a little rhinoplasty after contact with the cars ahead of them, including points leader Helio Castroneves and defending champ Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Several other drivers went into the tires, and subsequent caution flags made some teams throw some caution to the wind and come up with some great strategies.

Let's talk about it a little:

Winner -- Takuma Sato. What a start Taku has gotten off to this season, as this win goes along with his front-row start at St. Pete puts him second in points. He was pretty close to perfect Sunday, which as we should have figured out by now you need to be to win an IndyCar race. It's a great win for Taku, a great win for Japan (he's the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race) and a great win for Foyt Enterprises. Larry Foyt is putting together a very good organization there, I met him at a function a few years ago and came away impressed with how bright he is, and his move from driver to the business side of the house was a big move for AJFE.

Runner-up -- Graham Rahal. Looking lost and going P13 and P21 in his first two races driving for his father Bobby wasn't what Graham had been looking for this year...maybe this will help. Starting a season-best 11th, Rahal looked good from the start and drove a clean, patient race.

Third place -- Justin Wilson. Really? Really? The same guy who didn't even make a qualifying attempt on Saturday improves 22 spots from his starting position and gets on the podium? The guy can flat-out drive, can't he? The weekend was an utter disaster until the green flag dropped on Sunday, but he got it done when it counted for his first podium since winning Texas last June.

Fourth place -- Dario Franchitti. After finishing DFL at St. Pete, Dario made some big strides at Barber before a mechanical gremlin ended his day, and now a pole and fourth-place finish at Long Beach shows we who started to write him off shouldn't have spoken so soon. Last year this race was a springboard to a run of three races where he was P5 at Sao Paulo, won Indy and was second at Belle Isle. Oh yeah, then he won the pole at both Milwaukee and Iowa. Still, Dario has a lot of climbing to get back into the points chase. Despite a great effort this weekend, he still stands 20th.

Other thoughts -- The third round of any PGA Tournament is called "moving day" as players try to make hay before a big Sunday push. While Sao Paulo sits between here and Indy, the events of today made me think of that term, because there was a lot of moving going on as people try to build mojo heading into May.

Honda was probably the biggest mover. Just three weeks ago Chip Ganassi called them out and thought they didn't have commitment necessary to compete with Chevy. They took the first four spots today.

Sato made a big move to second in points (Castroneves still leads) and Wilson moved all the way up to fifth. Here is the team breakdown of the top five drivers in points: Penske, Foyt, Ganassi, Andretti, Coyne. Seven different teams are in the Top 10. Wow.

Today marked the first time since the series unified in 2008 that no driver from Penske Racing, Target Chip Ganassi Racing or Andretti Autosport had stood on the podium. More and more the competitive level of this series is stepping up and parity is beginning to rule.

One thing you have to do to win a championship is to somehow dig in and make the most of a crappy weekend. Scott Dixon tore up a lot of equipment this weekend in separate incidents, qualified P26, got spun out on the first lap by the only car further back in the field than he was (Tristan Vautier) -- and somehow still finished 11th. We should put a star next to this race if he is in the championship hunt at Fontana.

Marco Andretti continues to impress me. His average finish of 6.0 through three races is by far the best he has had since his IndyCar career began in 2006. If he can show the patience he has learned so far this season five weeks from now, we may be asking Marco if he's got milk. He's now fourth in points.


Some drivers/teams moved up, and others moved down. James Hinchcliffe has scored just 11 points over the last two weeks as he has in effect crashed out of the last two races. Today he was so pissed he jumped on his scooter while wearing his helmet and drove off. I'm not sure he has even stopped yet, he's probably out on I-10 between LA and Vegas and still hasn't cooled off yet. For good reason as a season with a lot of promise has become a bit perilous by now.

Next up -- Brazil. We give the IndyCar series to our Brazilian friends for a weekend so they can celebrate as only they know how. Sao Paulo has been a place where we can expect the unexpected, so as crazy as the season has been so far, who knows what will happen next!

Frenetic Friday -- Road Course Blues

Instead of going with a Long Beach preview (I'll go with a pre-game Saturday night or Sunday morning) I decided to resurrect Frenetic Friday for the first time in a while to comment about the idea Mark Miles is floating about ending the IndyCar season on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Miles' idea is to run it as a season finale in late August or early September, and start the season earlier in a series of international events. The hope is to avoid any issues with football while still getting a full season lasting several months. He also argues that bringing the race back to the center of IndyCar fandom (a large portion of it, that is) is a good thing, and since most teams are based in Indy it would be a cost-saving venture. At least that is the gist of it.

As Curt Cavin said in this Indy Star article today there are a ton of logistical roadblocks in the way of getting this to happen. Which is probably a good thing.

I'm opposed to this, but not for reasons that you may think. I mean, if you could put on the race and draw 100,000 people over the course of the weekend, it would be a good thing. Plus, while other people are against this just based on the sanctity that is IMS, I'm not. As I have stated before, I like the idea of IMS being used several times a year. After all, Daytona is used several times a year by various motorsports groups, and it doesn't take away from its flagship event.

Actually, my opposition comes from two main areas: 1) the road course sucks and 2) on principle alone I'm against ending the season with a twistie race.

Let's look at point number one. In the roughly 15 years the road course has put on a race, it has yet to provide anyone with the thrilling moments that we expect. In my mind, the mistake IMS made was keeping the four-holes that are part of the Brickyard Crossing golf course that sits in the infield intact.

I understand why, given the massive investment made in the course's redesign and the fact that squeezing those holes back outside the track probably couldn't be done. Although I played the course before the redesign and it was possible (the golf course on the inside at the time was a separate nine-hole track), it's just when Pete Dye gets his hands on a golf course you need a lot of real estate.

Still, the way the course is designed just isn't conducive to good racing. Maybe seeing the cars go two or three-wide screaming down the main straight away before diving into turn one would be cool, but outside of that I don't see a lot of passing happening.

What I wish the would have done was made the road course twist a little bit and exit back onto the track, say, in the middle of the back stretch, giving the course almost a full mile of total straightaway. Then it would be an interesting layout that would bring into play what we like about Indy. With a run from the middle of the backstretch all the way around to where it goes into that first right-hander near what is Turn 4, cars would get pretty cranked up and would require a lot of courage to dive under another car under braking.


Long story short, I hate the road course.

Point two is that the series has had some great luck when it comes down to championship battles the last several years, and those battles have been magnified because they have come on oval tracks. I don't see how it can get any better than Ryan Hunter-Reay rushing up from the 22nd starting position to win the title at Fontana, or the tension at Homestead in 2010 when Dario Franchitti took the title away from Will Power.

Sure, the twisties are an awesome product, but I don't think we could duplicate what we have had the last few years, and we shouldn't try to mess with that formula. Not only that, I will go all old school on you and say that IndyCars roots come from oval tracks, and that's how the season should finish.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem like it will happen, and if it does, we'll deal with it. I think what is interesting is how it's obvious that Mark Miles likes to think out loud -- a lot -- and I think he throws out ideas just to see the initial public perception. I'm sure it won't take him long to get a feel for what the public thinks about this one.