What a wild and ridiculous race from the streets of Toronto. One of the most historic street courses in open wheel history turned a lot of heads after the Honda Indy Toronto, here's this weeks Indy Car Power Ranking, the Wanker Free version.
1. Dario Franchitti- He also ranks #1 on Will Powers hit list. Both sides disagree on what went down, but everyone can agree, the Indy Car Series can benefit from some trash talking.
2. Scott Dixon- Dixon again ran a solid 2nd at Toronto, but still hasn't reached victory circle this season. He sits 28 points back of Will Power for 2nd, gaining 48 points on Will over the past two races.
3. Marco Andretti (+3)- I know I know, its hard to believe Marco could be #3, but after a 4th place finish in Toronto, coming off the win in Iowa, Marco's 26 team is one of the hottest in the series.
4. Oriol Servia- (+1)- I guess this is mainly due to the struggles of Will Power and Tony Kanaan, Servia had a solid day going but wound up 12th.
5. Will Power-(-1)- 32 Laps led, sat on the pole, Will is slipping as of late when it comes to results, but after his post race comments, who really cares? Hopefully he uses this as motivation and walks the walk at Edmonton after talking the talk after Toronto.
6. Graham Rahal-(+1)- Graham didn't get the break he needed, still a solid day leading 23 laps on the day.
7. Tony Kanaan-(-4) I think the accident with Briscoe was a racing deal, looked like Briscoe's 6 car stepped out and took out TK, either way, a last place finish is never good.
8. Ryan Briscoe-(+1) - I took Ryans side with the TK incident, but this has been a sub par season for Briscoe, three top ten's so far this season, not exactly a good season so far.
9. JR Hildebrand-(+2) JR continues to climb the chart, breaking into the top ten with another solid run at Toronto, bringing home an 8th place finish.
10. James Hinchcliffe(+2) You can take 10-20, put them in a hat, and pull it out and get the exact opposite of what I put, and still be right, Hinch gets 10th because he has to be on cloud 9 with back to back Canadian races.
11. Ryan Hunter Reay- Ryan climbs all the way to 11th with this podium finish. A well needed, well deserved effort for the entire team that has been down down down for a lot of the season, congrats on the marriage as well.
12. Danica Patrick ( -2)- Knocked out in an accident that was not her fault, I'm sure she would have rather been in Kentucky.
13. The #19 car (+5) Sebastian Bourdais returned to the 19 as the road course guy, an impressive 6th place run moves the Dale Coyne Team up after Alex Lloyd had a solid night in Iowa.
14. Helio Castroneves- Problems all day for Helio, it was a horrible, horrible day for anything Penske related in Toronto.
15. Vitor Meira-(+4) Vitor grabs his first top five of the season for AJ Foyt, overall a great day for the 14 team, kept the nose clean, that's the most important part.
16. Simona De Silvestro- Simona climbs back into the power rankings with her third top ten of the season, after what she has gone through, you have to think this is almost a victory for the team.
17. E.J. Viso- Top 10, only car not wrecked for KV, shocked? I am too.
18. Justin Wilson-(-3) - It frustrates me that Wilson has not had a top five this entire season. He should contend week in and week out on road/street courses.
19. Ana Beatriz-Ana breaks in for the first time with a solid 11th at Toronto, her best showing of the season.
20. Takuma Sato- (-12) - Takuma was 8th last week, as I gave him the benefit of the doubt for the impressive pole at Iowa, should really have been 15th or 16th after last week.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Lucas Oil Raceway Loses Nascar Events
By now, you have all heard, The Nationwide and Truck Races have been moved from Lucas Oil Raceway to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting in 2012.
From IMS's standpoint, they needed something to boost the Brickyard 400, having all the support races at the same track could bring more people in, and would be more convenient for the drivers, but the decision I cannot agree with. Most drivers who do Nationwide and the Sprint Cup series have no problem making the 8 mile trip on over to LOR, hell, some drivers travel from California to Wisconsin for a double header of racing on both series.
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The racing at LOR took you back to the roots of Nascar, and as much as Nascar is trying to grow, they have made it an important topic to stay close to its roots, the beatin and banging, 200 lap under the light feature that LOR put on was a battle of today top starts against new up and coming drivers, who all gritted their teeth on Saturday night short track racing under the lights. Now look, I'm looking on both sides, most of you think that 42 bucks for general admission to a Nationwide is a bit steep, when you can spend 30 and get a ticket to the 400, that may be true, but LOR always sold out, the stands, the hills in Turn One and along the front stretch are always full on Friday and Saturday nights, how is 40,000 fans going to look at IMS for a Nationwide race? Empty.
Now I'm not blaming IMS at all, If your co workers smoking hot girlfriend said she would rather date you, wouldn't you? I blame Nascar for wanting this, I realize LOR may be a hard sell to those corporate sponsors, but that doesn't take away from the product it puts out. Nascar wants Danica and the other up and comers to get a shot at the Brickyard. Maybe Nascar wants to add this to learn for the Sprint Cup Series to make it more competitive, But if you give me 50 bucks and say pick a race, sorry IMS, I love you to death, but I'm heading to LOR the night before to catch the Nationwide race.
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I hope LOR gets the races back, even if its a stand alone type event, I also would like to see Indy Car jump on this and put the Lights cars on the oval, and see if it is possible for the Indy Cars to get on the road course out there, to all the fans reading this, enjoy the race weekend at LOR that some have enjoyed since 1982.
From IMS's standpoint, they needed something to boost the Brickyard 400, having all the support races at the same track could bring more people in, and would be more convenient for the drivers, but the decision I cannot agree with. Most drivers who do Nationwide and the Sprint Cup series have no problem making the 8 mile trip on over to LOR, hell, some drivers travel from California to Wisconsin for a double header of racing on both series.
The racing at LOR took you back to the roots of Nascar, and as much as Nascar is trying to grow, they have made it an important topic to stay close to its roots, the beatin and banging, 200 lap under the light feature that LOR put on was a battle of today top starts against new up and coming drivers, who all gritted their teeth on Saturday night short track racing under the lights. Now look, I'm looking on both sides, most of you think that 42 bucks for general admission to a Nationwide is a bit steep, when you can spend 30 and get a ticket to the 400, that may be true, but LOR always sold out, the stands, the hills in Turn One and along the front stretch are always full on Friday and Saturday nights, how is 40,000 fans going to look at IMS for a Nationwide race? Empty.
Now I'm not blaming IMS at all, If your co workers smoking hot girlfriend said she would rather date you, wouldn't you? I blame Nascar for wanting this, I realize LOR may be a hard sell to those corporate sponsors, but that doesn't take away from the product it puts out. Nascar wants Danica and the other up and comers to get a shot at the Brickyard. Maybe Nascar wants to add this to learn for the Sprint Cup Series to make it more competitive, But if you give me 50 bucks and say pick a race, sorry IMS, I love you to death, but I'm heading to LOR the night before to catch the Nationwide race.
I hope LOR gets the races back, even if its a stand alone type event, I also would like to see Indy Car jump on this and put the Lights cars on the oval, and see if it is possible for the Indy Cars to get on the road course out there, to all the fans reading this, enjoy the race weekend at LOR that some have enjoyed since 1982.
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