INDY Race at NHMS this week-end

[StephanAlfa]

And I have a pit pass for the race tomorrow as a guest of Tony Kannan of KV Racing ... not bad!
Anyone going?
Alfa will be parked in the VIP section (tsk, tsk) I hope

[breakaway500]

Looks like it didn't end nicely:

"At least one person tried to view the rain soaked accident filled finish in a positive way, even of the shot captured by a television camera of Powers raising two middle fingers toward officials as he climbed out of his wrecked car."

''I'd like to put it on our ticket brochure for next year,'' track general manager Jerry Gappens said, hoping to build interest in the event."

[WillM]

LOL. A COM member (Bill H) sent me an email with that image attached. Email subject heading: Angry Birds.

[StephanAlfa]

I'd be honest this was not one of my favourite events. i got there, was extremely well received at the credential office (the excat same window where Mark Swinehart sits for our registration events) and got free parking just outside the tunnel.
I was a guest ot Tony Kanaan. Unlike Penske, Andretti, Ganassi, etc. who had huge hospitality suites, KV Raving did not . I briefly saw Tony, Takuima Sato (I saw him before at F-1 races in Montreal), and I quickly chatted with Ernesto Viso. I spend time by the north garages (way to the end) near their 3 motorhomes (no access there) and I actually got bored. I left the track before the race started and had a smooth drive home decarbonizing the Alfa ...
Made it home before one drop fell and watched it of TV.
I'd say this race was a bit botched in the end by the officials. I guess we all could have been officials there with enough savvy to tell them "no-green" just prior to the massive spins on the last restart... that was stupid for sure.

[chaos4NH]

I too had pit passes for all 3 days and thoroughly enjoyed my self! Got to chat with Ken Squier a bit Sat night and tasted a few of Bruce Allen's selection of "exotic" beers.

The key to the pit passes was patience. Bruce, my daughter and son-in-law and I were in the pits for Indy car practice Sunday morning and really got a taste of the event!
As for the race itself, it was very entertaining. The officials never should have restarted the race after the last rain shower, and the scanner traffic was filled with more than a couple of F bombs directed their way. In the end, the finishing order was in the same order as the cars were positioned at the time of the last Yellow, so, except for about $2,000,000 worth of wrecked cars, no harm, no foul (hee hee). Danica did start the last melee, but, give her credit, she admitted it on the radio!

After watching 6 single car crashes exiting turn 2, over the 3 days, I think the track should take a hard look at the track surface for contributing factors. The most serious was Pippa Manns crash in Saturday practice.

The Indy Lights werea bit boring, only 12 cars and the winner lapped the field.

I had a great time there, great variety of competition over the weekend, albeit after watching the modifieds and Indy cars run in practice, the ACT stockers looked slow!

[Ivan B]

I enjoyed going to the race but I don't think I will attend another Indy race at NHMS unless I am lucky enough to get pit passes. Even though it was an exciting race with lots of action(crashes), watching the race got boring at times.

I am pretty surprised they let them run for as long as they did in the rain, and they restarted the race while it was still raining. Did they call the race because it ran for too long? Does Indy have a time limit like F1?

Sam, I think I spotted your Mazda3 in the parking lot. It is the red one with a roll bar and COM stickers on the windows right?

[brucesallen]

some pix I took. I RV'ed at NHMS from THursday to Monday. The concurrent four race series kept ;us busy. Saturday was 12 hours or track action. Thanx to Sam for the pass-it-along pit passes. I passed it to two others.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24821762@N ... 317400217/
includes two short videos. Indycars are just a little faster than my FE. 170 mph average, 180 top speed at the one mark turn-in and maybe 155-160 through the oval. Tagliani told me that they do over 4 Gs and 4,000 lbs of downforce. They sure had lots of rear wing dialed in. Now if they would just put on those rain tires that they used to wheel the cars to pit lane!

And what I missed at the Glen:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slu ... ess-081511

[chaos4NH]

I enjoyed going to the race but I don't think I will attend another Indy race at NHMS unless I am lucky enough to get pit passes. Even though it was an exciting race with lots of action(crashes), watching the race got boring at times.

I am pretty surprised they let them run for as long as they did in the rain, and they restarted the race while it was still raining. Did they call the race because it ran for too long? Does Indy have a time limit like F1?

Sam, I think I spotted your Mazda3 in the parking lot. It is the red one with a roll bar and COM stickers on the windows right?

Yep, that was my car, I parked up by Bruce's camper on Sat and Sun.
They called the race due to the track conditions. Of course they should have called it when the last yellow came out and saved a bunch of cars!
Also when taking a look on the race tape, Danica was only one of 4 cars that spun out under power on that last restart.
The pit passes weren't free, by the way, but anyone with $75.00 could get one at the entrance to the tunnel and they were good for all 3 days. Having a scanner with 2 headsets adds a whole new dimension to the race. The driver/spotter/crew chief chatter fills in any "boring" portions and it is not censored like the chatter they share on national TV