I have always been a huge NASCAR fan and that's what I love but I also keep up with a few of the other major series; The biggest being Indycar (IRL).
I have been to all the NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) for the past four years but for the first time I saw the Indycars live this weekend at TMS in the Bombardier Learjet 550K.
The fans at Texas Saturday night were treated to one Hell of a race. Those guys (and gals) put on an amazing show and it was a great night of racing. Lots of side by side battles among the heavy hitters in the IRL made for an extremely entertaining night... Until the end that is.
With just a few laps to go a crash between second and third-place running Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay in turn three put the field under caution. But instead of stopping the race or adding on laps (ala NASCAR's Green-White-Checkered finish) Scott Dixon took the checkered flag behind the pace car.
- B/R Ticket Guide
The moment the wreck happened people started leaving the grandstands. I think that is sad. The IRL has got to figure out a way to finish races under green.
It just so happens that the previous weekends' race ended the same way. As a race fan who spent a lot of hard earned money to come and see the race it kinda makes me mad that we don't get to see a green-flag finish. The IRL has all the scoring and timing technology to be able to bring the cars down pit lane, clean the track, and let them duke it out at 215 mph instead of at caution speed.
Here's another suggestion; Indycar team members are always riding around on the those little motor scooters. Stop the cars in their running order, send a team member out on one of the little scooters to re-fire the car, and lets finish the competitive way.
I know the fuel strategy in the Indycars comes into question regarding these suggestions but those teams have smart enough engineers to be able to figure out how to get some fuel left over to finish under green.
I know there are countless things they could to do work this out and hopefully they can figure out something for the people that come out to see this great series.
What comes to mind is why people love NASCAR so much; NASCAR tries to finish under green. They at least try, and that's the big thing!
The IRL doesn't and NASCAR fans know that they are more than likely going see a green finish whereas Saturday night at Texas when the wreck happened people were heading for the exits!
Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the race! It was awesome! But i feel a little cheated missing out on being able to see two of Indycars' biggest stars Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves battle for the win under green.
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7 months ago
I have to admit that I wasn't really a big fan of the IRL until Danica Patrick. I tuned into her first Indy 500 just to see how she was doing and from that moment on I've been pretty hooked on IRL. I'm a NASCAR fan myself so it's interesting to watch and IRL race and see the difference between the IRL cars and the NASCAR cars.
I do like the fact that NASCAR at least will attempt a Green/White/Checkers and I think that maybe the IRL should look into something like that. Hey if Tony can steal fence climbing from Helio then I think the IRL can steal the Green/White/Checkers from NASCAR :)
from 7 months ago
Helio can scamper up thoses fences alot better than Tony!
from 7 months ago
Because Tony needs to get on his buddy Jarred's Subway diet plan. :-)
from 7 months ago
*Shudders* Who can eat that much Subway... that's tooo much!! I agree though Helio scampers up the fence a whole lot better and from a strictly female prospective.... The view of Heilo scampering up the fence is much better :)
7 months ago
I agree...no reason the IRL can't adapt it. It has worked well in NASCAR, and it's not like it is patented.
The IRL is still trying to get fans back into the sport after the merger. Finishes under caution will in no way help them regain fans.
from 7 months ago
Ya man you are completely right! They wonder why their fan base is not what NASCARs is...well its simple and obvious! Finish your races racing. You know its not like it happens every week but still...when it does...make the effort to try and not finish under the yellow and you might have some more fans showing up.
7 months ago
I agree with Kody's assessment. We talked on our pre-race show about how the winds might force drivers to parade around single-file, rather than two or three-wide that we're used to here at TMS.
But then the winds dropped off, and the racing was good.
What was great was seeing Ryan Hunder-Reay up front and running well. I had predicted that Vitor Meira would win, but his fuel strategy didn't play out.
The finish was disappointing. So anti-climatic. They can't just red-flag Indycars, since they have external starters, but I suppose they could. Better to just set up a green-white checker. Or better yet don't count caution laps with less than 10 to go.
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