Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Circus sideshow only adds to IndyCar troubles


Last Sunday, Ryan Hunter-Reay won his first race of the season at the famed Milwaukee Mile, tightening up the championship race, and providing a multitude of possible story lines, including the success of the Michael Andretti -led promotion of the event. Instead, the buzz afterwards focused more on yet another blunder by the governing body of IndyCar.


During the race, IndyCar penalized championship contenderScott Dixon for illegally passing before a re-start, a decision that resulted in dropping Dixon down the field, where he eventually finished 11th. Unbelievably, a failure in IndyCar’s timing and scoring system led race officials to review the wrong replay of the re-start, a previous effort that was waved off. There hasn’t been such a high-profile error in timing and scoring since Arie Luyendyk had to literally fight for his win at Texas in 1997, and this story only gets worse if it ends up costing Dixon the series championship.

Losing ground to NASCAR and Formula 1 for mindshare of American fans, IndyCar can’t seem to either catch or break or get out of its own way. A quick run-down of hard luck and miscues preceding the Dixon debacle include:

Dirty laundry. Following the relative success of this year’s Indianapolis 500, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard went public on Twitter revealing an unnamed car owner was trying to get him fired. Unlike the past, today’s IndyCar CEO reports into an independent board of directors and not the car owners. In probably an unnecessary move, Bernard put the question of his job security squarely in the glare of the public and media scrutiny. For a sport that lives by sponsorship, the perception of instability at the top does no favors.

Illegal parts, but a legal win. Justin Wilson won the race at Texas Motor Speedway, a great result for a small team looking to break into the upper echelon of the series. That was the good news. The bad news was the car utilized illegal body parts. IndyCar did the right thing by letting the result stand, following NASCAR’s lead over the years – fans deserve to leave the track knowing who won. The worst news is that IndyCar couldn’t discover the illegal parts until after the weekend was over. The perception of lax scrutiny and inspection only erodes credibility. 


Missing pieces.  Mid-way through the race in Detroit, the red flag flew, not for the accident that claimed James Hinchcliffe, but rather for the cause of Hinchcliffe’s crash – a track surface that deteriorated and came up in unbelievably large chunks, necessitating a long delay for patching. IndyCar took a calculated gamble on the track surface surviving the race weekend, and it lost. One more tick on the wrong side of the ledger.

Grid barely filled at Indy.  Qualifying for the biggest race in the world was largely anticlimactic after the race for the pole, as there simply weren’t enough cars and engines to have attempts by drivers to “bump” into the field. In the glory days of Indy, Bump Day was every bit as exciting as Race Day, as tens of cars made the frantic, last moment dash to get into the field for the richest payday in racing. This year, IndyCar just barely filled the field, and two of the cars – Di Silvestro and Alesi – were blacked flagged on race day for failing to keep adequate pace.

IndyCar brings its show to Iowa this weekend, and desperately needs to put on both a good show and an uneventful show. For a series that is struggling to overcome the loss of media magnet Danica Patrick and the tragic death of popular driver Dan Wheldon, the series just can’t afford another high-profile mistake.  

Race along on Twitter @RayHartjen.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Conor Daly Q & A: An American Racer in Europe


Growing up in Noblesville, Indiana, almost in the shadow of  the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 20-year old Conor Daly dreamed of following his father Derek, a veteran Formula One and CART driver, as a professional racer. With a win under his belt at the Indy Light race at Long Beach in 2011, Daly set off to Europe where he competes in GP3 for Lotus GP, and where he eyes an opportunity to compete at the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula One. Daly’s win at the sprint race in Barcelona earlier this year thrust him squarely into the spotlight and positioned him well in the Drivers’ Championship, where he currently sits in 5th place. 


Daly and I recently traded off this quick Q & A via email:

Question:  You have been to victory circle once already this season. Does it come as a relief or does it add pressure in the form of increased expectations?

Conor Daly:  I think it is a massive relief. I have proved I can win over here now and the goal is to keep winning. It was so cool to have the American national anthem playing at a Formula 1 weekend!

Read the full interview here on Yahoo!



Run laps on Twitter @RayHartjen.