I have not watched the broadcast yet because I was at the race, but I did record it and will watch it within the next couple of days. So I cannot comment on what I gather was one of the worst broadcasts in the history of IndyCar racing. I will say I'm not surprised by this, but it is a huge let-down considering this was supposed to be IndyCar's showcase on national television. Does this further fuel the NASCAR-paying-off-ESPN-conspiracy-theory? I'm starting to become a believer!
The prime-time Texas race presented an outstanding opportunity to prove to the nation what the rest of us diehards already know: IndyCar gives us exciting, fast racing entertainment. Unfortunately that did not happen, and I am hugely disappointed. Not in IndyCar per se, because I don't think it's their fault. Every now and then you have a race like this, and we have been spoiled over the past year with some of the best racing in years, so many fans may have been surprised by the lack of action. But I am disappointed because we were not able to capitalize on this opportunity to grab new fans and impress old ones.
Let's face it, the Texas race lacked thrills. My boyfriend, who attended the race with me, told me he had a hard time watching the race. He said he didn't know what to watch and he felt like he was in a trance the whole time. I suspect that's how a lot of fans felt, because there were quite a few leaving early. That happens at every sporting event though--there's always those who want to "beat the traffic." I am not one of these people, and neither is my boyfriend thankfully. No matter how bad the action in front of us is, we will always stay to the end and get our full money's worth. Plus, at TMS you get to tour the garages after the race, so I didn't want to miss out on that cool experience. I did find some action to watch. I was most impressed with Tony Kanaan's late charge, and with Ed Carpenter's battles. But overall even I have to admit I did not have the same level of enthusiasm that I have as I watch other IndyCar races.
TMS produces some snoozefests in NASCAR too. Last year's NASCAR race in April was widely criticized as one of the most boring races ever. Why was it perceived to be boring? Too much green-flag racing (what!?), single-file parade-style racing, and few challenges for the lead. Did we see that in IndyCar on Saturday night? Somewhat. We did see a lot of green-flag racing, with only three cautions and none of them caused by a wreck (Oriol Servia did spin out, but he was able to save the car from being damaged). Should IndyCar have thrown a phantom NASCAR-type caution? To maintain integrity, no. But to entertain a national viewing audience, I'd say yes and I hate that I'm saying that. I do not think we had single-file parade racing at all, though. I don't know what they showed on TV, but cars were going two- or even three-wide around the track quite often. Now, granted, that was because you had lapped cars intermingling with lead cars, but that creates drama! It also showed the great skill these drivers have to keep these cars under control and avoid crashing, especially with heavy tire wear (see the picture below of Marco's car and you'll see how worn the tires got). While there were some lead changes, there really weren't any battles for the lead. Only five cars finished on the lead lap. Marco Andretti took the early lead, and looked like he was in control, but then the sun went down and Helio took over. No one was even close to catching Helio, and I'm still not sure how he was able to run away with it considering he only made three pit stops. I kept expecting him to run out of gas or have to make one final pit stop. That's Penske and Chevy engineering I suppose.
Marco Andretti's car post-race; check out the tires!
So was it the track that caused the race to lack excitement? Considering how little action there has been at NASCAR races too, I think that's a fair conclusion. TMS has done a great job creating a safe track, let's applaud them for that. I for one am not disappointed there weren't more crashes. But last year we were able to see more evidence of tire wear affecting a car's handling and drivers' struggles to control it. Many of the drivers indicated the cars were difficult to drive, but it did not seem that way in person, or, as I've read, on television. This leads fans to wonder, are the cars too easy to drive? Or are we just witnessing a talented, skilled group of drivers who know how to control the car? I don't know what package they went with for this race, but it did not produce the kind of exciting racing we've grown accustomed to. It did, however, produce safe racing, and we should be thankful for that.
When you look at the other motorsports races from this past weekend, you'll see that IndyCar was not alone in its one-driver domination. Jimmie Johnson led most of the Pocono race, and Sebastian Vettel ran away with the Canadian Grand Prix. This race reminded me a lot of those so-called "good ol' days" of IndyCar. A Penske runaway victory with few cars on the lead lap. Is this what we have to look forward to if Derrick Walker's "technical innovation" initiatives are put into action? I am deeply concerned that yes, that will be the case. I want to tell all the viewers and race fans who attended Saturday that this is not typical IndyCar racing. The action this year and last year has been so much better than this, just stay tuned. I hope I'm not wrong on that.
(Side note about the crowd: I actually thought, and my boyfriend agreed, that the crowd was slightly bigger this year. It's very hard to judge at TMS, though, because the track has so much seating and fans can spread out so much. It's one of the things I love about the track--I hate being so uncomfortably close to someone else for over two hours, especially when you have a cooler or two as TMS allows you. But I know that does not translate well to TV. I still think TMS has higher attendance than most other IndyCar races.)
But let's end on a positive note, shall we? We must give major props to Helio Castroneves, who drove the pants off the rest of the field. Helio clearly loves racing at Texas; this was his fourth win at the track. It was great to see Spiderman climb the fence again, and he did give us another different winner this season. The rest of the top four also deserves credit: Ryan Hunter-Reay showed he is a definite title contender again with his fourth podium finish this year. Again, I repeat: he is the best all-around driver in any motorsport, period. Third place Tony Kanaan really came to life late in the race, and I'm sure they didn't show it on TV but his moves were something to admire. He is a passing beast, especially on ovals. And Ed Carpenter had a good showing, too, in fourth place. I know he was disappointed with his tenth place at Indy but this showed he's still an oval master.
Helio cemented the points lead for now, but the top three are all closely bunched and could take over any weekend. We now head to the Milwaukee Mile and IndyFest, which just looks like great family fun. I wish I could attend, but I'm going to Pocono and that's my spending limit for the year. On another positive note, the NBC Sports folks take over this weekend, so we have something else to look forward to now!
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