Watkins Glen GP thread

[Komahawk]

Wooaah, Hornish fifth on the grid? What's going on? Am I seeing things? Castroneves still the only multiple pole winner this year so far. Hope he wins this thing.
Danica way behind, surprise surprise.
Rice lookin good.

[NickFalzone]

Would be great for Helio to get the win. He's had a good car and (mostly) done a great job this season, just had a real streak of bad luck. I get the feeling both Penske drivers are getting pressure from Roger to shape up after some really poor finishes lately.

Rice is looking very good, and was even the pole in one of the practice sessions. Anyone else find it interesting that after his last couple top-5s he's said that his team has gotten better parts for his car, and that's where he's gotten the speed. What do you think they've done to his car to get him from running out of the top 10 to running up at the front? And why isn't Fisher getting these same parts?

[F1boat]

I hope that Dario will win again! :-)

[indycool]

Funny.....Paul Stoddart showed up at The Glen on Friday......wonder what THAT's all about.....

[Mark in Oshawa]

IC, you would notice that. Well Stoddart probably scooted down from Toronto, it is only about 4 hours driver or a quick jaunt in a helicopter.

AS for Hornish finishing 5th, Komahawk, do you think he should have done better or are you shocked he is that high? Hornish is not renowned for his road course work, so I would say a 5th is a pretty decent finish....

[cobre]

Would be great for Helio to get the win. He's had a good car and (mostly) done a great job this season, just had a real streak of bad luck. I get the feeling both Penske drivers are getting pressure from Roger to shape up after some really poor finishes lately.

Rice is looking very good, and was even the pole in one of the practice sessions. Anyone else find it interesting that after his last couple top-5s he's said that his team has gotten better parts for his car, and that's where he's gotten the speed. What do you think they've done to his car to get him from running out of the top 10 to running up at the front? And why isn't Fisher getting these same parts?I don't think rice is refering to the quality; more likely latest updates.perhaps fisher's sponsor has not come off with the required cash to get the latest update kits

[Komahawk]

IC, you would notice that. Well Stoddart probably scooted down from Toronto, it is only about 4 hours driver or a quick jaunt in a helicopter.

AS for Hornish finishing 5th, Komahawk, do you think he should have done better or are you shocked he is that high? Hornish is not renowned for his road course work, so I would say a 5th is a pretty decent finish....

Well, I'm pleasently surprised to say the least! I never had that on my radar! Hope he can carry that position to the checkers...damn I can already see my Pickems going down the drain.

As for Penske, they really need the big push, especially Helio. 6 poles and only one win, that's not enough. Dario must not win this race!

[Canada Cornrow]

What the hell just happened? A fight and Super Tex is nowhere in sight? That's just wrong.

[Jonesi]

What the hell just happened? A fight and Super Tex is nowhere in sight? That's just wrong.

I was surprised to see Marco jump in to get Michael away from it.

[Civic]

I missed it...I only just caught Marco pushing Michael away from something. What was all the ruckus?

[gm99]

Basically Kanaan wanted to have a word with Hornish Jr. after the race, after they had collided on track. Then Hornish's Dad got in the way, shoving Kanaan away, whereupon crew members from AGR got involved as well, as did some members from Penske.

But don't worry, I am sure it will be on the net soon enough and probably on the sport news as well...

[gerkebi]

I heard TJ Patrick was involved, anybody see him in there??

[ajallmindinger]

Basically Kanaan wanted to have a word with Hornish Jr. after the race, after they had collided on track. Then Hornish's Dad got in the way, shoving Kanaan away, whereupon crew members from AGR got involved as well, as did some members from Penske.

But don't worry, I am sure it will be on the net soon enough and probably on the sport news as well...

A great run by Scott Dixon! Totally flawless driving and pit work. Would have loved to see Dario do better given his road racing chops. As for Hornish and Kanaan, cooler heads should have prevailed. Hornish had a run on Tony and Tony blocked him and brake checked him. A racing incident? I wish Michael would have smoked Hornish Sr. in the face. :vader:

[-Helix-]

Another Indycar race, another week of talking about fights instead of racing. I get the feeling the IRL is turning into the WWE with all this off-track stuff... Or NASCAR.

[Jonesi]

I heard TJ Patrick was involved, anybody see him in there??

By the end of the broadcast, the announcers said that he had been misidentified and was not involved.

[eliostar]

The fight seemed to be the only exciting part of the day, these similar cars just can't pass on these courses. When Scott got dropped back due to a pit stop even he couldn't pass , other than the likes of Sarah and AJ 4.

[gerkebi]

By the end of the broadcast, the announcers said that he had been misidentified and was not involved.
Thanks, Jonesi. Dave Despain also covered it later on Wind Tunnel.

[Komahawk]

Don't care much for the shoving around after the race. Dario pretty much put it in the right words. Only thing I'd add is that one racecar driver should never talk to another while either one is wearing a helmet. Been through this already in some other series.

Helio blew his title-ambitions yesterday. That was it. Better luck next year.
Hornish now is an official top gun on road coarses. 2nd at the Glen, neither Dario nor Kanaan able to catch him, that says it all.
Great drive by Dixon. One of the commentators suggested to rename the track "Dixon's Glen". Why actually not.
Meira ran out of fuel. Damn he could've won this thing! That's just a major screw-up by his team! JESUS!
And once again, AGR scripting a finish. On one of the last turns Kanaan miraculously got by Marco. "Marco, let Tony pass for the championship".
And Kim Green calling Scheckter an "idiot", live on IMS radio. I wonder if he'll get fined for "improper conduct".
Rice and Manning with nice races each.
Unless Dario gets a meanstreack soon, he's gonna with this thing.

[ACTF_ZETT]

Vitor was not screwed over by his team, they interviewed his car owner, or crew chief, I dont know who he was. He said "It would not of happened if he would have came in when we told him to."

Does anyone know who it was yet that slammed Hornish Sr. to the ground? Was that just one of Kanaans friends?

What in the world happened to Helio. He was quite upset after his crash. He usually keeps a cooler head when involved in something, but this time he went off on IRL for telling him to hold his line. I wonder if IRL was talking to him about it when he lost control. I wonder how those cars handle though constantly going from asphalt to concrete.

Team orders, I doubt that Marco let Kanaan pass.

As for the on track between Hornish and Kanaan, they never really showed those cars battling on the track, at least not that I remembered. Was Kanaan holding up Hornish at all before the contact?

Great interview with AJ after the race. Once again we get to see the priceless clip of AJ vs. Arie. LOL, man was that hilarious.

[cobre]

Another Indycar race, another week of talking about fights instead of racing. I get the feeling the IRL is turning into the WWE with all this off-track stuff... Or NASCAR.the mask is off , out with the warm & fuzzy; in with reality

[IMSAFAN1]

i flew from Kelowna BC to toronto and then drove from Toronto down to the glen to see this race. When i lived in the Toronto area I used to be there alot either working with Downing or just watching. The IRL race was very good...but big complaint...since when did they start charging for camping on the hill in the boot? every other race it's free there. It's the best track that they race on. The scenery is just great and the fans are awsome. I've been going there since grand-prix days and I was there for the first IRL race. I'll keep flying out there as long as they race there. Open wheel belongs at THE GLEN. I'm not a NASCAR fan but I want to see those cars go down the hill in the boot. I've seen vintage NASCARs go down that hill and what a sight it is. :eek:

[NYHF]

i flew from Kelowna BC to toronto and then drove from Toronto down to the glen to see this race. When i lived in the Toronto area I used to be there alot either working with Downing or just watching. The IRL race was very good...but big complaint...since when did they start charging for camping on the hill in the boot? every other race it's free there. It's the best track that they race on. The scenery is just great and the fans are awsome. I've been going there since grand-prix days and I was there for the first IRL race. I'll keep flying out there as long as they race there. Open wheel belongs at THE GLEN. I'm not a NASCAR fan but I want to see those cars go down the hill in the boot. I've seen vintage NASCARs go down that hill and what a sight it is. :eek:

The Glen has charged for camping for over 25 years now, I don't understand what you are talking about.

NASCAR does not use the "Boot" section of the race track, they run the short course and always have.

[Indy500'79]

It looked like AGR scripted two finishes. They showed Marco's car with a great run on Franchitti and an easy pass, then he backed off way before the turn came. Dario is in the championship hunt and Marco had nothing to gain - same with Kanaan.

You have to give Hornish credit given that none of the AGR cars could track him down at the end - great race Sam. Sam's dad shouldn't have been in there during the fight, but I agree with Hornish - it looked to me like sour grapes for TK.

[JPMfan]

Good clean race, but what a stupid mistake of Gaylio.
And did I hear that right in the interview after the crash, that he tried to blame Dixon for his crash?
I hope they will put someone better in that car for next year.

Good string of runs on Rice's side with a mediocre team, kudos to him.

But what the h***, the IRL now even tries to emulate Champcar's 'pit antics', do we have an identity crisis here or what?

[Komahawk]

Vitor was not screwed over by his team, they interviewed his car owner, or crew chief, I dont know who he was. He said "It would not of happened if he would have came in when we told him to."




LOL, so I guess Meira makes his own fuel-calculations in the cockpit, hehe. Anyway, another possible win down the drain. Meira is the next Raul Boesel.

[gm99]

Good clean race, but what a stupid mistake of Gaylio.
And did I hear that right in the interview after the crash, that he tried to blame Dixon for his crash?


No, you didn't - Helio (which is the correct way of spelling him, btw) had only himself to blame. All he said was that after the IRL contacted him and advised him "to hold his line", he tried to push harder at other parts of the circuit to keep his advantage.




I hope they will put someone better in that car for next year.



Yes, maybe they can find someone with two Indy 500 victories and ten other IRL race wins on all types of circuits :rolleyes:

[JPMfan]

Yes, maybe they can find someone with two Indy 500 victories and ten other IRL race wins on all types of circuits :rolleyes:


To be fair, he only won 1 Indy 500 and I know he won a lot of other races, but with all his recent mistakes (spinning coming from the pits, blend line violations and now this) I think he's past his prime.

Give a young gun the top drive with Penske.

And when you compare Franchitti with Helio, both coming into American open-wheel about the same time, I think Dario has done a damn better job than Helio, while Helio was in a better team most of the time.
So that says enough about Helio's qualities I think, good but not a top-notch driver.

[gm99]

Well, he did win two Indys (2001 and 2002 - the later under a bit of controversy, but win it he did).

And I think that a comparison between Dario and Helio would end up pretty even: Franchitti had one year (Hogan in 1997), Helio two (Bettenhausen in 1998 and Hogan in 1999) in mediocre CART teams, before both joined front-running teams. Certainly (Andretti) Green Racing has been a team capable of winning races and contending for the championship in every year that Dario spent with them (1998 to today) in both CART and the IRL; the same goes for Penske since 2000 when Helio joined. Neither of them has won a championship in American open-wheel racing, although both came agonizingly close (Franchitti in 1999, Helio in 2002 and 2003).

In overall race wins, Helio has 12 in the IRL and 6 in CART; Dario has 7 in the IRL and 10 in CART - again comperable, but slightly favoring Helio as he's had one season less of competition (and two less in competitive cars) than Dario to achieve those results.

As for Helio being past his prime, many would have thought the same about Franchitti after the dreadful season he had last year, yet here he is winning the Indy 500 and leading the championship.

I have to agree that he has made a stupid mistake at the Glen, and uncharacteristically many this season, but the likes of Wheldon, Kanaan & Hornish, Jr. have all had their share of self-inflicted DNFs this season, and no-one thinks they're past their prime.

[IMSAFAN1]

NYHF....what i was saying is that they charged for reserved camping on the boot for the IRL race. Every other time i've camped there it was always unreserved. Yes I know that NASCAR doesn't use the boot but i was saying is that It would be fun to see them go to that part of the track.

[Mark in Oshawa]

IMSA fan, that is just ISC trying to make more dough. Unreserved camping you cant charge a premium for......

AS for the guy who thinks Helio is over the hill, we all thought maybe Dario was getting soft last year, and look how wrong we are now. Helio is still one of the best drivers in the IRL and if Roger Penske wants to win races next year, he better keep Helio, because it is 50-50 he doesn't lose Hornish to NASCAR.

By the way, Sam, if you are gonna fight, do it like a man, take the helmet off. TK doesn't know any better to, but you should, being from Ohio and close to Canada enough to know real men drop the helmets......

[Komahawk]

To be fair, he only won 1 Indy 500 and I know he won a lot of other races, but with all his recent mistakes (spinning coming from the pits, blend line violations and now this) I think he's past his prime.

Give a young gun the top drive with Penske.

And when you compare Franchitti with Helio, both coming into American open-wheel about the same time, I think Dario has done a damn better job than Helio, while Helio was in a better team most of the time.
So that says enough about Helio's qualities I think, good but not a top-notch driver.

LOL, Dario never had anything to do with an American OW-championship since he blew the '99 CART title! Ever since, he's been inconsistant, unmotivated and quite frankly TOO SLOW! Helio's always been among the top drivers, although he blew a possible championship several times by now. However, Kanaan and Wheldon kicked Dario's butt week-in week-out at AGR, although Dario was originally supposed (or better, "expected") to be the star in the team, which can be seen in comparing his then wage to the other guys'. In fact, Dario was lucky to get this year's drive with AGR. In '06 up until Sonoma he could barely keep Herta behind him and even got beaten by rookie Marco Andretti. Personally, I like seeing a new '500 winner and a new champ, as well as Dario back at the level of the late 90s. Only it came rather surprisingly. And BTW, season ain't over yet.

As for Helio, he can win anywhere, Penske knows all too well why he hired him. And I don't see any unsigned driver or anyone in any development series on his level.

[RGM Fan]

I heard less than 8,000 showed up and probably half of that were Honda employees who got in free with their familes.