Dario Franchitti Scores 30th IZOD IndyCar Series Win in Honda Indy Toronto
[/media-credit]After taking the lead on lap 71, Dario Franchitti led teammate Scott Dixon to the checkered flag for his third win in Toronto and the 30th IndyCar Series win of the year for the points leader.
“I was pretty happy just be in the company of Rick and J.R., and to get my 30th win today means a lot, especially here in Toronto,” Franchitti said. “I got my first pole here in 1997. I love racing in Canada. We had that incident with Will. He out braked himself to out brake me and opened up the door, I went down the inside, I held the wall and Will came down. I put my nose in there, I was trying to get my nose out, but ultimately he closed the door and paid the price.”
The incident, in which Franchitti spoke of with pole sitter and points rival Will Power, happened on lap 56 when they were battling for fifth in turn three. Power kept soildering on, till hitting the tire barrier on lap 66 in turn five after contact with Alex Tagliani.
“It’s just a really disappointing finish for the Verizon car today,” Power said. “My team did a great job in the pits and we were working our way back toward the front and we got past (Dario) Franchitti. We went into the corner and I gave him room and then he just drove into me. I understood he was going to get penalized but then there was no call – I just don’t understand that. After that we were just trying to get the best result possible before Tag (Alex Tagliani) hit me from behind. It’s very tough to have two DNFs (did not finish) in a row. All I can say is we’ll keep working hard and hopefully come back strong at Edmonton.”
“The contact with Will was also a shame,” Tagliani said afterwards. “Will was on blacks. I tried to pass him a couple of times in turn three. He was blocking a bit, and then I made a move on the inside in turn eight and it got tight.”
Meanwhile, it was Franchitti’s teammate Dixon who came home second for his fourth podium finish in the last five races.
“It’s frustrating because these street races are part luck, you know,” Dixon said. “Will and I were one and two, then he comes out like 18th or something like that, so it’s—and the 10 car gets it everytime, so I’ll call back on the radio and say, ‘Let me guess who’s leading. The 10 car.’ Which, is good on him, they make good strategy, and obviously Dario is quick as well and we all had to pass a lot of cars, but it’s frustrating. We were getting into a nice rhythm there, car was quick and good, and then the strategy throws it all off.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third for his best finish of the season.
“I got third and now we just have to go win one,” he said. “The Ganassi boys did a great job. Congrats to Dario. Those cars were the class of the field today. The two red and white cars – they just took off.”
Hunter-Reay’s day wasnt’ totally clean, however, as he made contact with Graham Rahal on lap 80 in turn three, though no caution was brought out due to the incident.
“Unfortunately, it is a bit of a product of Toronto,” Hunter-Reay continued. “I feel really bad for Graham on that. When Dixon went by him,
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[/media-credit]Graham kind of chopped him on the straight. Dixon went by him and really ran him wide in the corner into turn three. There’s a football field worth of real estate there and I went for it and Graham slid across so. I’m not going to blame it on him and I certainly did not deliberately do that. That was just part of Toronto. As you can see, what we had out here today was a little bit of a crash test unfortunately. I hope the fans enjoyed it and I am just really happy to get DHL, Circle K and Sun Drop on the podium. It was a hard fought day. It wasn’t a straight forward podium that’s for sure.”
Marco Andretti and Victor Meira rounded out the top five.
The race was halted by five full course yellows throughout the 85 laps this afternoon.
The first caution was on lap three when Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan made contact in turn three, causing Kanaan to go airbourne, but he’d be okay.
“I gave Briscoe plenty of room and he still took me out,” he said. “It was too early in the race to be doing stupid moves like that. I had a good car and was moving up the field, I guess I overtook four cars in the first lap, so I was going to the front. It’s a shame for the GEICO KV-Lotus guys.”
The second caution was on lap 30 when Helio Castroneves and Tagliani made contact in turn three, halting Tagliani to a stop in turn three on the course. He’d get the car restarted and carry on.
The third caution was on lap 39 when James Jakes stopped on the course.
The fourth caution came out on lap 48 for a multi-car wreck involving Paul Tracy, Victor Meira, Charlie Kimball and Sebastain Bourdais.
The fifth caution came on lap 56 for the incident involving Franchitti and Power, while the sixth caution came out on lap 71 for a multi-car accident involving Danica Patrick, Jakes and Tagliani.
“It was just a really frustrating day,” Patrick said. “I thought we had a good race car. After we would pit for new tires, it would feel really good, but we kept getting caught out by the yellows. I have to thank the GoDaddy.com crew for working so hard all weekend.”
The last caution was on lap 76 for another multi-car wreck involving Justin Wilson, Oriol Servia, James Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball, Mike Conway and Marco Andretti.
Rolex Series – Gurney takes advantage of Pruett mistake to win at Laguna Seca
Alex Gurney took advantage of a rare miscue by Scott Pruett, beating him out of the pits on their final stops on Lap 80 after Pruett slightly overshot his pit. Gurney then held off the Daytona Prototype championship leader for the final 28 circuits, winning by 0.431 seconds.
F1 – Alonso wins first GP of 2011 on 60th anniversary of Ferrari’s first F1 win
Fernando Alonso, with a little help from a long pit stop by Sebastian Vettel, won the Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone. It was Alonso’s first victory of the year and the first victory for Ferrari in 2011.
Surprising and Not Surprising: Inaugural Kentucky Quaker State 400
The bluegrass state, known more for its horse racing than horse power, hosted its first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the Quaker State 400. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the inaugural running of the cars at Kentucky Speedway.
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[/media-credit]Surprising: It was a bit surprising to find the biggest complaints of the fans echoed the complaints of the drivers on this historic night. And it was all about the traffic, on and off the track.
Many fans never even made it into the race because of the traffic. This situation was so bad that both the track management and NASCAR had to issue statements of apology.
Several drivers also complained vehemently about the traffic on the track as well, especially about not being able to pass. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, driving the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, was most vocal about the both sets of traffic situations.
“When the green flag dropped, I was surprised with how little grip there was because we had so much grip throughout the weekend,” Gordon said. “It was so impossible to pass here.”
“I think the only thing that made this a great race today was the green-white-checkered and the excitement and energy of the fans,” Gordon continued. “I think when Bruton (Smith) is looking at how to get the traffic in here, he’s going to have to look at the race track as well.”
“It’s rough and it’s really hard to pass.”
Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see one driver yet again prove his versatility and driving skills, especially with the spotlight shining on the inaugural run in the bluegrass state.
That driver, Kyle Busch, proved that he can not only drive from the back of the pack to the victory, as he did in the Camping World Truck Series race, but also start from the pole, lead 125 laps of the 267 laps in the race, and win the first ever Cup event at Kentucky Speedway.
“This is cool man,” the driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota said. “This is right up there with the best of them.”
“I haven’t won the big ones, so this is as good as it gets right now,” Busch continued. “I can’t put it into words. The way we ran tonight was awesome.”
This was Busch’s 22nd victory in 240 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and his third victory in 2011. The victory also catapulted the 26 year old driver into the lead in the Chase standings by 4 points over Carl Edwards.
Surprising: David Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 Tums Toyota Camry, surprisingly not only starred in the Tums commercial with team owner Michael Waltrip, but also starred in his best career finish, runner up to race winner Kyle Busch.
This was only Reutimann’s second top-10 finish for the entire 2011 season.
“It was a great race man,” Reutimann said. “It was a phenomenal race.”
“We got a run on top and got it pointed in the right direction,” Reutimann said of the final lap as he battled five-time champ Jimmie Johnson. “Jimmie gave me enough room up there and we ended up getting a decent finish.”
Not Surprising: It was not surprising that the winner of the Kentucky Speedway Nationwide race was the closest contender in the Cup race as far as laps led to the race winner. Brad Keselowski, winner of the Nationwide race at Kentucky, led three times for a total of 79 laps in the first-ever Cup race.
Unfortunately for Keselowski, driver of the blue deuce for Penske Racing, the late restarts did not work in his favor and he ended up finishing seventh in the inaugural Cup run atKentucky.
“It was an incredible Miller Lite Dodge Saturday night,” Keselowski said. “I led a bunch of laps and I have to thank my team for that.”
“But I would have liked to have gotten a better finish from where we ended up.”
Surprising: Old five time Jimmie Johnson made a surprisingly uncharacteristic mistake behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet. He lost count of the laps and thought there was one more lap to go in the race instead of it being completed.
“I didn’t see the white flag,” Johnson said. “I saw some type of flag when we were coming, which was the checkered, but I didn’t see the white for some reason.”
“I think the 18 was going to be the winner the way it was,” Johnson continued. “It didn’t change the outcome of the race by any stretch of the imagination.”
Johnson finished the race in the third spot. He also moved up one spot in the point standings to fifth place.
Not Surprising: While Juan Pablo Montoya, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, may be known as a fiery, aggressive driver, it is not surprising that he and his crew chief Brian Pattie are calculating their every move with the Chase fast approaching.
Montoya had a good car at Kentuckyand was up in the front lurking for much of the race. Although he finished 15th after qualifying for the outside pole, Montoya has inched ever nearer to Chase contention, moving up one spot to the 13th position in the point standings.
Surprising: Jamie McMurray, driving the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet, is having a surprisingly bad run of motor failures for the season. The engine gremlin struck him again at Kentucky Speedway and it blew up, exuding a tremendous amount of smoke that forced him to a dead stop on the track.
“Yeah, I got a little freaked out because I felt the motor start shaking and blow up and the smoke came in the car so fast I couldn’t see,” McMurray said. “That’s the first time that’s ever happened to me.”
“I’m really frustrated,” McMurray continued. “I can’t believe we broke three engines in 18 races or however many we’ve run so far. I don’t know that I’ve blown up three engines in the last five or six years.”
“So, it’s unbelievable that we seem to keep getting the engine that breaks.”
Not Surprising: After several drivers experienced challenging runs at their first ever attempt at Kentucky Speedway, it is not at all surprising that the last words out of the mouths of these drivers is how much they cannot wait to get to the next race in New Hampshire.
“That was a tough night for the NAPA Know How team,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 NAPA Good To Go Toyota Camry, said. “We started slow and then it looked like we were going to get a good finish but our car kind of plowed there at the end.”
“I’m looking forward to New Hampshire.”
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, echoed Truex’s sentiments.
“It was a fight,” Hamlin said of his inaugural Kentucky run. “We couldn’t make any moves, especially when it came night time and it seemed like our car went away from us.”
“I’m looking forward to going back to a short track likeNew Hampshire.”
Hamlin finished 11th and moved up to 10th in the point standings. Truex, Jr. finished 18th and held steady at 23rd in points.
Fans used as game pieces in power play of greed and arrogance
Up until this weekend NASCAR’s biggest debacle had been the Indy tire disaster of 2008. This weekend made that look tame. 15,000 – 20,000 people were turned away from the track that were holding valid tickets. Traffic was backed up for miles. The track was not ready for a cup date. The track knew it was not ready for a cup date in May of last year. But two words motivated the weekend. Two words that resounded loudly through every statement from the General Manager, Mark Simendinger and track owner, Bruton Smith’s mouths; those two words are arrogance and greed.
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[/media-credit]Kentucky Speedway was not ready for a Cup date. They said so themselves in May of 2010 when in a press release they stated, “a 2011 cup date at the Kentucky Track, may not be feasible because of a variety of capital improvements needed to the track.”
Kentucky added 40,000 seats to accommodate the Cup race but they did not expand parking or bathroom facilities to match that. Lines for Port a Potties were 20 to 50 people deep and mostly located inside the facility not in parking areas. By the time the green flag flew parking lots were full and fans were walking as far as three miles to get to the track.
At the drop of the green flag traffic was still backed up for 20 miles. Traffic advisories posted by the Kentucky State Highway Patrol read, “Traffic backed up for 20 miles and at a stand still. Avoid area.” Rather than apologize for the situation, track owner Bruton Smith said, “I 71 sucks. Blame the state of Kentucky.”
About halfway through the race officials began turning people away from the track regardless of the fact that they had a paid ticket. Track owner Bruton Smith stated, “15 – 20,000 ticket holders were turned away when the traffic pattern was reversed to allow flow of traffic out of the track.” By that time they were being turned away anyway, because all the parking lots were over flowing and cars were double and triple parked. The track general manager stated in response to questions on the parking/traffic situation, “It was the number of cars that threw us, not the number of people.”
The General Manager of the track Mark Simendinger estimated the total number of fans in the stands to be 97,000 people by ticket scan. But the capacity of Kentucky Speedway is 107,000 people. The numbers given by both GM and Owner lead one to believe that the track was over sold by 5 – 10,000 seats.
The truly sad part is people in the area said, “We knew it would be bad. But this is way worse than we anticipated. This is a nightmare.” There appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the traffic patterning. There appeared to be no communication between Kentucky Speedway and other SMI tracks that handle Cup date traffic on a regular basis. It appeared for all practical purposes to be a power play by both the state of Kentucky and Bruton Smith who used the traffic fiasco to leverage his bid for highway and road improvements by failing to utilize 4 lanes of road leading into the track in favor of using only 2. Perhaps sadder still paying fans were used as the pieces in a game of mine are bigger and I’ll show you.
In temperatures and humidity that reached critical points, the speedway was unprepared to fill the hydration needs of it’s patrons with several sections running out of food, water and ice during the race. Interestingly enough, Kentucky is one of the few tracks remaining with a no coolers policy which leaves spectators at the mercy of the track in regards to prices and availability. Reports of four dollars for a bottle of water and nine dollars for a cheeseburger, two dollars for a cup of ice were reported by fans on Social Media sites like Twitter and Facebook. It should be noted that it is illegal in Kentucky to allow coolers according to Smith.
The track itself was in need of improvements and repair as well. Former series Champion, Tony Stewart stated on Friday, “They don’t have enough SAFER barriers yet. Not near enough SAFER barriers for what we’re doing here and how close the wall is to the race track. Hopefully, none of us will have to test that out and see anything.”
Four time champion Jeff Gordon echoed his sentiments saying, “I was just making a comment after last week’s announcement by Richmond(International Raceway). ‘I wonder why other tracks don’t have Safer Barriers.’ Then I came here and saw the inside wall. Hopefully that is the only time I notice it this weekend. You understand that they have put a lot of effort, you can tell they’ve put a lot of time and money and effort into getting this race track ready. Hopefully it’s not an issue. We’ll see. There is definitely some areas out there that could be addressed. Right now, the way that this track is, I see that the inside is not as much of an issue as maybe it is at some other tracks. But, we’ll have to get through a race and I’m hoping I’m not the crash-test dummy this weekend.”
The track itself showed deterioration with bumps all around the track. Dale Earnhardt Jr stated, “Well, the last time I tested here, the track was in a whole lot better shape. It’s kind of deteriorated a ton since we tested here last time. I think it was a couple years ago.” Bob Pockgrass of Scene Daily who participated in the pace car ride with former driver Brett Bodine at the wheel stated on twitter, “Pace car ride showed me that track has lots of small bumps. Not many big bumps but it’s the number of bumps that is issue.” When asked if the bumps were worse than those often talked about at Charlotte, he responded, “definitely more of them and no way to avoid them.”
Track owner Bruton Smith, made light of the drivers concerns, stating, “If they just follow Kyle Busch and drive where he drives they will be fine.” When he was asked about possible repave before next year, he stated, “That is all talk. We will look at it maybe after the 2013 race.”
The race itself didn’t rescue the venue from the arrogance of its owner; the long drawn out lack luster race was boring to say the least. Even TV commentator Kyle Petty concluded the broadcast with, “This wasn’t the most exciting race. But some guys really made something happen here.” Unfortunately for Petty it wasn’t the TV broadcast people. With poor camera work and too many specialty features the race was mainly silent. Many commented that after having watched the whole race they still were not sure what exactly had happened. Sadly, TNT went from the best broadcast of the season in Daytona to the worst broadcast in Kentucky.
The follow the leader racing on a two groove track was drawn out. The lack of cautions turned it into a mono tone recital of the same song that most, not all, of the1.5 mile cookie cutter tracks have fallen into. Track position was everything. Fuel mileage was a must. And aero and handling were premium. In short the drivers raced the track and the inherent disadvantages of the car of today rather than other teams and drivers. When it is viewed in light of the full day test on Thursday, the true impact of the poor race becomes clear. Changes are needed to the car if we are to ever return to the type of racing that made that NASCAR a household word.
The final observation of this disaster of a weekend is the obvious passing the buck of responsibility in regards to the Kentucky. NASCAR says it’s our job to bring the show. We brought the show we put on a race. The track says roads are not our responsibility our responsibility is to provide the track and the date. The state is responsible for the roads. The state says we gave you millions in tax abatement’s and you built seats without making accommodations for the people who would sit in them.
All three seem to be missing the point here. People who worked hard for the 170 dollars for a ticket to see the race were left out in the cold in some cases literally. The disappointment of children and adults across the board for this race is huge. Many are saying they will never go to Kentucky again.
This is the heart of racing country. With the current situation of ratings and empty seats, can NASCAR truly afford to have another half empty cookie cutter track on its schedule? Can the state of Kentucky afford the hit it will take in the department of tourism over the black eye for their highway system? Can Kentucky Speedway truly afford the loss of revenue and to start its life in Cup racing with the reputation of being the race weekend that never happened and the track that should never have had a date? In my opinion, the answer to all of the above is NO. But only time will tell how the fans will be compensated for this fiasco, will arrogance and greed take precedent over loyalty and devotion? Tune in next year to find out. Same traffic jam channel same traffic jam time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Congratulations to Kyle Busch on his Camping World Truck Series win and his Sprint Cup victory.
Congratulations to Brad Keselowski on his Nationwide Series win.
That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.
Many Thanks to Jim Utter and Bob Pockgrass for their contributions to this piece via Twitter, you guys are an inspiration.
Kentucky Race a Disaster for Fans
NASCAR does a lot of lip service saying that this sport is for the fans. It’s everywhere in advertising and in driver comments. That didn’t happen at Kentucky Speedway this weekend.
Adding 40,000 seats and not developing adequate ways to get in and out of the track are tremendous mistakes that fall on the shoulders of Speedway Motorsports and NASCAR. What were they thinking?
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[/media-credit]Fans in the area had long coveted a Sprint Cup race at the Sparta, Kentucky speedway. Never mind that is was of the cookie-cutter variety. You’ve seen them all by now and they don’t differ much from the others. Tri-oval, low banking and, unfortunately, boring racing. For long periods, the drivers seemed to resemble a long freight train with no one passing. That wasn’t the worst part.
Fans had to deal with so much adversity that I’d be surprised if they could sell half the tickets they sold this year. I consider myself lucky that I considered heading to Kentucky for the race, only to be convinced that a colleague was closer and would take the job. He couldn’t attend and I once again considered traveling to the track. I’m glad that I didn’t.
If you have a twitter account, you know what I mean. Stories of people being stopped in traffic for hours and one lady actually walking three miles to the track only to see her husband after the race started were common. Many never got to the race. I’ve been to Rockingham in the old days and spent hours in traffic, but always got out in an hour or two. I’ve heard about Texas in 1997 and have lived Atlanta way back when, but never have I heard stories like this. NASCAR fans are loyal to their sort, but with the faltering economy and things the way they are, can we really expect them to support a track that was so indifferent to getting people in and out of the facility? Can we expect fans to continue to watch racing that is somewhat mediocre at best (at one point, Kyle Busch had an unbelievable 8-second lead and many cars already a lap down) and put up with the long trip back home on a Saturday night?
A close friend who lives in Cincinnati, just up the road from the track, emailed me (oh, the glory of smartphones) that he was going across the interstate and heading home after sitting still in traffic for over two hours with the green flag only an hour away and finding himself 50 miles away. The $300 he had spent was not worth it even in these troubled times.
We have to hope that next year things get better for the Kentucky track, but one thing is certain. Before NASCAR and SMI make the decision to add a track, adequate roads need to be there for people to get to the track and get out. That didn’t happen here. It’s something that happens far too often in this sport. And it’s something that wouldn’t happen in the other major sports. That’s what separates our sport from the others. Money talks, as they say, but these days it’s going to take more than having an event and expecting folks to put up with anything to see the event. Those days are gone.
Yet, another lesson learned, I hope.
