Note: Sorry this is later than I expected it to be. Last week was insane as my daily schedule was a little out of whack. Also had a mock employment interview (if you follow me on Twitter, you know how nervous I was) and top of that was battling some annoying effects of sinus drainage (stupid weather and pine pollen). Anyway, here is my take on the race at Barber.
“You’re not going to see much passing.”
“You’re not going to see any passing.”
“Passing will be almost nonexistent.”
How many times did we hear these and similar phrases regarding passing leading up to the race at Barber? Too many to list. Sunday, we saw more passing than we’d seen in the races first two years. The team and face on top of the podium? All too familiar.
Pre-Race: Yay. I got to watch the pre-race Sunday. I’m not 100% sure that I like the new feature of the crowd behind the stage. Too NASCAR on SPEED for me. But I did think they were less loud and annoying than the others. There was also no booing when any names were mentioned (unlike SPEED where “Kyle Busch” earns a great chorus of boos which I don’t understand).
Other than that slight issue, very good pre-race show. Kevin Lee was again on the pre-race stage and I‘m a huge fan of his. Important stories were covered and the tribute to Dan was short but excellent. He would’ve made a great broadcaster once his racing career ended. Robin Miller stole the show during his “grid run.” Not very good timing obviously but did birth my newest favorite quote: “What the hell? They’re all praying!” Classic Robin Miller.
The Race Broadcast: While the St. Pete broadcast on ABC was not very good, the broadcast on Versus - excuse me, NBC Sports Network, was an A. All of the guys on the broadcast team (yes, even Bob Jenkins with his mispronunciations at times and Robin Miller being Robin Miller) were fantastic.
I miss Lindy Thackston like crazy, but NBC did hire a good pit reporter in Townsend Bell. I’ve always liked him and am hoping he gets an Indy 500 ride this year (hearing he might be driving for Schmidt-Hamilton). He, Kevin, and Marty reported on what needed to be reported on; little fluff.
As for Jon, Wally, and Bob in the booth, thank you for reporting on the race and NOT trying to be cute and funny like the three in the booth on FOX during NASCAR races. I don’t think any brain cells died while watching the Barber race. Bob was a professional as always (I grew up with him in the broadcast booth) but did make a few mispronunciations during the race. I actually found them funny especially, “Katherine’s leg is in the gravel.”
In all, I’m sad that after Long Beach and Brazil we have to go back to ABC. Hopefully they improve their coverage especially since it’s Indy but and so happy to see the NBC Sports Network is doing a great job so far.
The Race: The racing on the track was excellent. The drivers again treated each other with respect (though I kept feeling like Marco was going to accidentally hit someone before the race was over). I’m also glad that these drivers can defend their position now. Defending is part of racing and I think Beaux Barfield is policing these guys and girls well. Passing was quite frequent and there were some exciting ones. My only disappointment was there wasn’t a huge battle for the victory at the end and the best one was for third.
There were only three mechanical failures this time around - two from Honda (Charlie Kimball and Takuma Sato) and one from Lotus (Alex Tagliani, who never completed a lap). While I feel for those teams, it does keep things interesting. So far, none of this season’s front-runners have fallen victims to issues. Should be interesting if it does happen in any of the upcoming races.
Passing Here, Passing There, Passing Everywhere: So how many people lost money for betting that there would be little passing at Barber this year? I would say that there were more passes Sunday than the first two races combined. There were some great passes. The early three-wide pass starring EJ Viso, Will Power, and Simon Pagenaud was probably the most exciting. I’m not sure what caused this great amount of passing. Maybe the new car; maybe it’s the fact that INDYCAR has gained some great talent.
“Frenchy can drive.” They came very close to winning at Lemans last June with Peugeot. One is now a (sort of) rookie running the second-best Honda this season for a team with something to prove owned by two men who have been the odds stacked against them. The other is running a Lotus for a team that has been through many team name changes and many other changes in general (especially drivers). If you don’t know who I was talking about, I’m talking about Simon Pagenaud and Sebastien Bourdais. Both have been impressive in the first two races of the 2012 INDYCAR season.
Despite fading at the end in St. Pete, Bourdais was running in the top three… in a LOTUS for DRAGON RACING. I think before this season, the last time, Dragon had really had a sniff of the front was sometime in 2010. Fast-forward to Barber. I was impressed with Bourdais at Barber. Lotus’ first top 10 in 2012 with a 9th place finish. Not bad. I can easily see more success from Sea-bass and Dragon. Hope to see the same for Legge eventually.
What can I say about Pagenaud that hasn’t already been said by someone else somewhere else? He’s good. Sam Schmidt and Davey Hamilton (technically Schmidt’s decision rather than Hamilton’s) made a great choice. Most impressive rookie/”newbie” so far in my opinion. One top 5, two top 10’s, one Firestone Fast Six appearance, fifth in points behind Castroneves, Dixon, Power, and Hinchcliffe and ahead of Dario. And we’re absolutely sure he’s a rookie right?
Dario, Where Are You? And now we move from some of the biggest surprises of the good variety to a shocking negative one - the defending champion has led only one lap this season, has one top 10, and is 10th in points. Not only that but he didn’t even make out of Round 1 during qualifying at Barber. Yeah. I’m surprised too. Only thing right now that is similar to last season is that his hair’s still long and curly and he’s still Mr. Ashley Judd.
It seems that Dario does not have a full grasp on the new car yet while his teammates, especially Dixon, seem to have. It’s a bit surprising but it’s also a little reassuring. Many expected the front-runners (Franchitti, Dixon, Power, Castroneves, Briscoe) to almost immediately figure out the DW-12. While I don’t expect it to last long, for now I will enjoy the fact that Dario is not running at the front at his moment in time.
Will he figure out the DW12? Probably. Might there be a new champion this season after four out of five years of Dario? Right now, it’s highly likely.
Other Notables: Scott Dixon finished 2nd again and is still 2nd in points… James Hinchcliffe scored another top 10 with a 6th place finish… Rubens Barrichello scored his first top 10 of the year with an a finish of 8th… Oriol Servia and his smooth Spanish accent finished 13th, the second highest finish for Lotus… the bad luck keeps coming for Tony Kanaan; he finished 21st and is currently dead-last in points.
After the Checkers - Oh, It’s Power Again: When the checkered flag waved it was not a surprise to see who was the winner - Will Power. After starting 9th after a qualifying that knocked him out of the Fast 6 for what felt like the first time since he filled in for Helio in 2009 during his tax evasion trial (a small note that tomorrow is the third anniversary of his acquittal), he came back to win.
This was actually my favorite win by Power because he had to work hard for it and have good pit strategy to get to the front. Now if we can just forget him and Tim Cindric (whom I usually love) complaining up until green flag time about the tires.
Also, in my opinion, Mr. Power seriously needs a new victory celebration. I mean the leap is cool and all but then it’s a little boring and sort of makes him look stupid.
INDYCAR 36: I don’t know who watched but I watched and loved INDYCAR 36. For those who didn’t (or couldn’t) see it, the first featured driver was Tony Kanaan and cameras followed him at St. Pete. Great work by NBC Sports for not only featuring the weekend’s activities (including that very emotional and sweet exchange between Kanaan and Dan Wheldon’s little sister, Holly) but also talking about what got him started in racing. I give INDYCAR 36 an A+ and hope the next nine episodes are just as good.
Next Race: April 15
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach
Long Beach, CA
3:30 PM ET (2:30 PM CT) - NBC Sports Network
Defending Winner: Mike Conway
INDYCAR 36
Featuring Graham Rahal
3:00 PM ET (2:00 PM CT) - NBC Sporrts Network
Replays at Various Times Throughout the week
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