I almost wish we had a week off after the big race to digest everything and let TK take a proper victory lap. He's so busy with appearances and interviews this week (stopping in Texas today) it will be hard to concentrate on Detroit this weekend. Oh, the plight of an Indy 500 champion, huh? But now that the Indy 500 hangover is somewhat settling down, it's time to revisit the storylines from before the race and see if our questions were answered.
The first question I posed was which engine will triumph? Clearly Chevy was the big winner here, sweeping the top four spots and running in the front almost all day. The Hondas never really had a chance it seemed. Ryan Briscoe commented after the race that his car could never capture the speed of the top ten, and the other Hondas could echo that sentiment. Justin Wilson was the top Honda, and he did turn the fastest lap of the race, so evidently the Hondas are at least capable of top speed. You have to think Honda will not be pleased with this result, nor will any of the teams with Honda engines, so they will likely work feverishly over the next year to ensure more equal competition. (On a side note, who would've thought that the so-called Ganassi B-team of Briscoe and Charlie Kimball would place higher than its A-team of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti?)
Second, I asked who will find redemption? The most obvious answer is the champ Tony Kanaan, but I definitely think AJ Allmendinger deserves an honorable mention. Despite starting off conservatively, AJ eventually surged to the front of the field and led 23 laps. He may have even won the race were it not for a problem with his seat belt. Hopefully this success lands AJ in a full-time IndyCar ride, because that seems to be the best place for his talent. He also spoke of the Indy 500 with great passion every time I saw him interviewed, so you have to think his heart lies with open wheel racing.
The driver who definitely was not redeemed was JR Hildebrand. The first driver out of the race, crashing on lap 4, does not score you any redemption points. If we are to believe the reports, JR's team went with an aggressive setup more focused on speed than anything else, which indicates a lack of team competence more than driver error. I had high hopes for this team, though, because they looked great in qualifying and JR seemed to be gaining confidence with each race. Something's not quite right with this team, though. They don't seem to be "gelling," and that does not bode well for the future.
Third question: will the early-season Andretti success continue? Though they didn't win the biggest race of the year, this question must be answered with a resounding yes. Andretti drivers finished 2-3-4-18-21, and every Andretti driver led at least one lap. Most impressive was rookie Carlos Munoz, who finished second and may have even won it all were it not for that last caution. Hinchcliffe's finish was rather disappointing, but Andretti Autosport has been the team to beat this year, and they will probably remain so through the rest of the season.
Fourth: will the quest for four be achieved? Not this year! Dario was never even close, so Helio had the best chance this year. Both will instead set their sights on next year and on winning the championship this year.
Fifth: how will blocking impact the race? This actually turned out to be a non-story, surprisingly. Sebastian Saavedra ran into some blocking issues early in the race, as Pippa Mann appeared to block him, causing him to crash out of the race. This story was never followed up on by the ABC telecast so it's difficult to know exactly what happened there. Pippa is also entangled in some Twitter angst with Graham Rahal over a restart (why take to Twitter to air out grievances by the way?), and both Rahal and James Jakes received fines for not lining up properly on a restart (they're appealing), so there were some behind-the-scenes stories we were not privy to. But overall everyone appeared to drive a clean, safe race, which was good to see.
Lastly, can an American finally win the race? Again, not this year. But I don't think a lot of Americans were upset with the Brazilian who did win. Americans Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, AJ Allmendinger, Ed Carpenter, and Townsend Bell all led at least one lap, and Hunter-Reay and Andretti were definitely in contention for the win at the end. The future is bright for American open wheel racers, and I'm sure one of them will win in the next few years.
The other story that I didn't raise before the race (though in hindsight I probably should have) concerns the records that fell. Record number of lead changes (68) and record average speed (187.433). Fourteen drivers held the lead, and we had no idea who was going to win this race as it unfolded. I'm a bit undecided about the constant slingshot passing we saw, but it did make for some dramatic racing and most fans seemed to love it. Most of the rhetoric I have read since Sunday has been positive, calling it one of the best races ever (there are also those who are disappointed the race finished under caution, but that's to be expected). Overall I think most were pleased with the race and especially with the final outcome.
Now we're off to Detroit, where we saw the worst race of the year last year. After ending on such a high note at Indy, let's hope the great racing we've seen this year continues and Detroit fixes its problems from last year. In the meantime, we can keep savoring that fantastic Indy 500 race!
No comments:
Post a Comment