Jalopnik: indy racing league

Detroit's 2008 Belle Isle Grand Prix: IRL Race Result Tainted By Controversy, Prickish Fans

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Last weekend saw the second iteration of the reborn Belle Isle Grand Prix and we were right there, enjoying the spectacle played out in weather so perfect Roger Penske couldn't have paid for better. Aside from a couple spin outs, Sunday's Indy Racing League run was largely unremarkable until lap 72, when things got very interesting. Helio Castroneves had been leading Justin Wilson and Tony Kanaan for the bulk of the race, but officials ordered Castroneves to yield to Wilson after aggressive blocking across the entire track. Helio gave way and Wilson eventually pulled away, opening up a lead and taking the checkered flag. Normally this would be a non-issue, as Helio was clearly blocking, but that he was issued no warning first, as is customary, has many of his fans rubbed the wrong way — as you can tell from the video.

Indeed, on the victory lap, Wilson decided he'd do a victory donut right in front of the Corvette Racing chalet, but humorously stalled it. We missed the stall, but we caught tail end of the resulting drunken tirade from a nameless Castroneves fan as Wilson was pushed to the corner for a start. We have no idea why she was screaming about transvestites and McDonalds — she's probably got a problem with their refusal to discriminate against them, but whatever.

In any case, the sentiment was shared as there were strong boos on the awards stand from the crowd in one of the saddest displays of fan assholery we've seen in a long time. We're fine with the sentiment that it was a questionable call, but Helio had 17 laps to get ahead of Wilson and couldn't manage. Too bad, that's racing. Booing the winner is just bad form.

In any case, here are the full results, and we'd like you to chime in on this controversy: Tell us what you think about the blocking, the penalty, and the fans' reaction.

[IndyCar] Partial photo credit to Alex Conley

NY Times Calls Hillary-Endorsing Sarah Fisher IRL's "Top Woman"

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:40:00 EDT

In a long article about the Indiana Democratic Primary, there's a picture of Hillary Clinton getting the endorsement of IRL racer and team-owner Sarah Fisher, with the caption "Hillary Rodham Clinton paid an election-day visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday to appear with race car driver Sarah Fisher, a top woman on the Indy car circuit, who endorsed her this week." This is true in the same way that Hillary Clinton is the top performer in the Democratic race for the White House in that "top" here means "supreme but for those other people with superior records." Technicalities.

We don't mean to indicate that Sarah Fisher isn't a capable driver or team owner, it's just that she's never won a race and her best finish is 17th. We think that "top woman" honors should go to Danica Patrick, who actually won a race. Still, after this we predict a 15-point spread for Hillary in Indiana. (h/t Hyman_Decent)

[NYTimes]

Wife Busts Tony Kanaan's Balls After Qualifying Behind Danica Patrick

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:40:00 EDT

She's everywhere these days - Danica Patrick is the Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova of open wheel racing and everyone wants a piece of the moment. Well, maybe except teammate Tony Kanaan and his wife. A quick item at Automobile relays a phone call from Kanaan's pregnant wife after he qualified third and behind Patrick at the last Mid-Ohio IRL race. When she heard about the result, she had a question for him:

"Could you do me a favor? In our motor home, in the bedroom, go to my closet. All the way in the back of the closet, there's a blue dress. Maybe you should wear it next time you qualify!"

Man, that's cold. She knows Tony looks so much better in red dresses. When asked for a comment, Kanaan replied by saying "Why do I look like Vin Diesel?" [AutomobileMag] photo source AP

CBS' Doyel Rules IRL Isn't Real Racing, Danica Is "Junior Varsity"

Mark Arnold — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:20:00 EDT

We all know what Pedro de la Rosa thinks about women in motorsport. Now, we've got CBS Sports' Gregg Doyel weighing in on Danica Patrick's win, proclaiming the Indy Racing League to be an inferior racing series. Most people will agree the IRL isn't the highest pinnacle of motorsports, but Doyel thinks

"the IRL is not real racing. Not real good racing, anyway. It's not the best car circuit in this country — that would be NASCAR ... what is the IRL? It's a training ground for decent drivers who hope to be good enough to race somewhere important some day ... Winning in the IRL isn't a matter of talent..."

" Wait, what? He thinks NASCAR takes more skill? Hmm. Certainly there are some very skilled NASCAR drivers, and sure, there is competition, but it seems to us like Doyel is just shooting his mouth off. Suggesting the IRL isn't real racing, given the timing, comes across like Gregg is trying to deny Danica's skills. Which he then proceeds to do:

"The IRL is the junior varsity of racing, is what I'm saying. Danica Patrick finally won herself a JV race, and that's good for her, and it's a neat story. The first woman to do anything — the first man to do anything, too — is always cool. But let's not take this too far, OK?"

Reading the full article, you get the feeling that Doyel doesn't think he's being sexist. Isn't that sort of like how Max Mosley doesn't think of himself as a Nazi? [CBS Sports via VWvortex]

IndyCar League Makes Play for Relevance With F1-Style Qualification

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Indy Racing League plans on rolling out a new gridification system during the upcoming St. Petersberg race and it will look a lot like the street racing version of things done over at Formula 1. Instead of being a one man one track run against the clock, cars will be slotted on the grid by way of elimination rounds. The cars will be split into even fields and race for twenty minutes, the leaders go on and the trailers fill up position thirteen and back. The top twelve will run in another heat lasting fifteen minutes from which the bottom six will be slotted in spot twelve through seven.

The top six, that's the "Firestone Fast Six" by the way, since everything from the trash cans to the retaining walls are sponsored in racing, will duke it out in a ten minute race for pole position. Naturally we expect next year to have a car carrier race off to determine pit road position and a pit bike race to settle who gets power to the trailers hooked up first. Seriously, how many races before the race must there be? [TSN]