Pick The Podium: IndyCar - Sonoma

[IndyAndy]

MY PICKS:

Dixon
Power
Castroneves

 

[Retroram52]

I'll go with Dixon, Hunter-Reay, and Castroneves.

 

[bored at work]

Hunter-Reay
Dixon
Franchitti

 

[IndyAndy]

I'm sorry, but I absolutely, completely & vehemently disagree with the penalty assessed on Scott Dixon. That was 100% on Power's tire changer IMO, who was either (at best) inattentive or (at worst) trying to impede Scott's pit exit.

INDYCAR got that one dead wrong - and it may well cost Scott his chance at the championship this year.

Anywho... Here's how we did:

bored at work: 2 points - picked Franchitti to finish 3rd.
IndyAndy: 1 point - got Power out of position
Retroram52: 0 points

Season totals so far:

bored at work: 25 points
IndyAndy: 22 points
Retroram52: 9 points

Next up: Street racing through downtown Baltimore, next weekend.

 

[Retroram52]

And that is a good race too!

 

[bored at work]

It was definitely a questionable call. I was right with Wally and Townsend until I heard Beaux Barfield's explanation. I was thrown off by the white lines, but the tire carrier actually being in his own pit box makes the call a little bit easier for me to take. Still though, if it were up to me, I would probably have said no call, based on the lack of effort of the tire carrier to get out of the way.

But hey, all these years, I thought Indycar seemed to favor Chip Ganassi with its judgement calls. But now I'm thinking they were just favoring Dario all this time...

 

[forty_three]

It was definitely a questionable call. I was right with Wally and Townsend until I heard Beaux Barfield's explanation. I was thrown off by the white lines, but the tire carrier actually being in his own pit box makes the call a little bit easier for me to take. Still though, if it were up to me, I would probably have said no call, based on the lack of effort of the tire carrier to get out of the way.

But hey, all these years, I thought Indycar seemed to favor Chip Ganassi with its judgement calls. But now I'm thinking they were just favoring Dario all this time...

Watch any other team finish a pit stop, every other team but Penske has the right rear changer help push the car out of the box, leaving the tire on the ground til he's gone. Only Penske tries to carry around. And the only reason you'd want to do that is to slow down who ever is pitted behind you.

And I still don't agree with the call after Barfield made his comments. Watch pit stops at any track. The back corner of every pit box gets cut on every stop because the cars do not leave the box sideways. And it's not usually a problem unless the RR changer puts the tire out to far or tries to carry it out with his car still there.

Bottom line, I wish the original "slow Dixon's stop down" plan had worked and Dixon hadn't hit him, because there's no way Power would have held him off without punting him.

Power's a douche and can only win in the best car when the stewards help him, and Helio Taxevasiveness just got handed a championship by race control.

Indy Car is bush league. I guess it always will be.

 

[IndyAndy]

At the very least, INDYCAR could have allowed the race to continue & said that the results would be "pending further investigation of the incident" to give everyone a chance to step back & take a breath, and to allow both teams to make their case in person before Beaux Barfield, before making a decision that is sure to have such a profound impact on the championship.

 

[forty_three]

I wonder where the points would stand if Dixon had finished Milwaukee and Sonoma where he was when he got chumped. Two wins and two one spot lower finishes for Helio.

At least in Sonoma they were looking at the correct replay. They were looking at it with their eyes closed, but they had the right one. Milwaukee they were looking at the wrong replay.

 

[bored at work]

.

Power's a douche and can only win in the best car when the stewards help him, and Helio Taxevasiveness just got handed a championship by race control.

You're probably right. No one in the history of motorsport has won a championship without the sanctioning body screwing other teams. NASCAR gave every title to Earnhardt and RCR, but then decided to start giving them to Gordon and HMS all of a sudden, before choosing to give them to Jimmie Johnson now. And F1 has moved from favoring Schumacher and Ferrari to giving World Championships to Vettel and Red Bull. Hopefully, one of these days, we will get a legitimate championship.

 

[IndyAndy]

Marshall Pruett goes one-on-one with Beaux Barfield re: His reasoning for the penalty

www.racer.com

Sorry, Beaux: I'm still in full agreement with Marshall on this one.

 

[Retroram52]

Hey Bored. I have alsways thought that too about most series. That is why I started watching Australian supercars series, the one Marcos Ambrose came from. Those badass little Holden's with V-8s and they let drivers beat and bang and it doesn't appear to be much favortism because you often get different winners each week.

 

[bored at work]

I was actually trying to be sarcastic. Some teams benefit from certain calls, that's for sure. But I don't believe sanctioning bodies rig championships to hand them to others. It actually annoys me.. it seems every year, no matter who wins a championship, there is someone who pulls out the "...(fill in the blank) only won the title because (fill in the blank) handed it to him." Just because a judgement call goes against one team and benefits another, does not necessarily mean that was the reason the call was made. Baseball umps screw up calls. Football refs screw up calls. So it's reasonable to expect race officials to screw up calls.

But the V8 Supercars are awesome to watch. I actually have a problem of having too much sports that interest me, so I don't end up watching them too frequently. But when I do end up catching them, it's hard to turn the channel

 

[bored at work]

As for the interview, I actually thought they both had good points. I don't know what I'm missing though, if a majority is outraged, while the more I see the video, the more I agree with the penalty. I think the reactions would be different if they had their actual pit boxes drawn out. I understand drivers leave through the pit box in front of them all the time...but in looking at the shot included in the article, the crew guy is within a foot from the 12 car/crew, while Dixon's entire car passes through the 12 pit.. I would expect that if you drive through another guys pit, it's on you not to hit anything.

I think the overhead video justifies a penalty, while the others views are sort of inconclusive. After viewing the overhead video over and over (0:17-0:20, link below), Dixon ran over the spot where the tire was lying anyway and would have hit it even if the crew guy had not picked it up. He also ran over the spot where the crew guy was kneeling as he was working... so if he had trouble changing the tire, Dixon would have hit him too. The only way this guy doesn't get hit is if he carries the tire in front of him.
Scott Dixon TAKES OUT Pit Crew Members At GoPro Grand Prix!!! PENALTY!! - YouTube

Plus there is a rule about hitting someone...but there doesn't appear to be a rule about how you carry equipment following a stop. Maybe a rule should be created. NASCAR reacted to instances like this and required its teams to move/carry their equipment in certain ways.

Finally, Marshall Pruett says that costing Dixon all those Championship points doesn't factor in to his view, but I disagree. If Dixon would have monetarily penalized instead, and still won the race and received full points, would there really be any outrage? Or if this were Takuma Sato or Simon Pagenaud would people care? These types of judgement calls are always more heated when title contenders are involved.

 

[Retroram52]

Typical Penske bullshit!