No, no. Not because Wet ‘N’ Wild makes nail polish on the cheap and Swift’s a fancy lady. Look at the track conditions at Belle Isle. Clearly, an opportunity to co-brand (read = “get more dinero”) this car was lost. Not only did Tony Kanaan wipe out in his Taylor Swiftmobile, but three other cars wiped out with him.
Think of the money, guys. You’re leaving dolla dolla billz on the table by not taking financial advantage of this torrential downpour.
It’s a proper mess out there, with rain causing an otherwise okay road course weekend to turn into the Slippery Banana Racing League. Stefano Coletti, James Jakes and Tony Kanaan went three-wide on lap 6 when Jakes’ left rear tire bounced Coletti into Kanaan. Rahal caught up to Kanaan in the hard-to-see conditions and rear-ended the Swiftmobile, as he had nowhere else to go. Ouch!
The three other cars were repairable, but Rahal’s was not. Rahal attested to the horrible conditions.
“It’s impossible to see right now (because of the rain),” explained Rahal to MotorSportsTalk. “You just got to be smart out there, be really, really cautious. I was just playing this out as a 70-lap race or two hours, and I don’t think lot of guys are right now.”
Alternately, a Taylor Swift/Slip‘N Slide car would work quite well, too. Conor Daly, who is standing in for injured racer James Hinchcliffe this weekend, would probably approve of that idea 1000000% so long as he gets to share the Slip’N Slide with Ms. Swift.
It’s love, I tell ya. Love. Who are we to interfere with true love?
Update: The race was red-flagged early for inclement conditions, giving Carlos Muñoz his first ever IndyCar win, but not before Luca Filippi went into the tire barrier.
Fortunately, Filippi was able to get out of his car on his own after the shunt, and the race was red-flagged shortly after the incident.
According to Chip Ganassi Racing, drivers were asked to leave their cars and find shelter, as lightning strikes were in the area.
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.