Early Pole Day

[indycool]

Interesting Pole Day so far. All the "big guys" ran but Penske's cars, and Penske held 'em back for the late hour.

Several of 'em said over the P.A. that they'd go again.....with Wheldon and Dixon currently on the second row, no doubt they'll run again. Meira, Matsuura and Jeff Simmons were close, so they'll probably go.

Tune in around 5 o'clock!

[rush1]

What a great Pole Day in Indianapolis. Wish I was there.

Castroneves beating out Franchitti at the end and than Kanaan just missing Castroneves while time ran out. Castroneves, Hornish, Dixon, Wheldon, Kanaan, Franchitti and Marco Andretti with top ten finishes. Cream rising to the top. Might have been nice to watch Bourdais with all the big boys today.

http://www.indystar.com/includes/pub...fyinggrid.html

There is the grid so far. Nice to see Ryan Briscoe with a strong showing.

[indycool]

I was there and it was just wild. Danica was next in line if there was time and Kanaan didn't beat Castroneves for the pole, but time ran out.

[rush1]

Originally Posted by indycool

I was there and it was just wild. Danica was next in line if there was time and Kanaan didn't beat Castroneves for the pole, but time ran out.

It looked great on TV. So you want to give an estimate on the crowd? Maybe 35, 40 thousand?

That format will only get more people interested in my opinion.

[Fish_Flake]

No big surprises: the Penskes, the Ganassis, and all five of the Andretti-Greens found their way into the top 11. Tomas Scheckter is always fast when he's not wrecking the car; 10th is just about where I'd expect him to be. I didn't see Ryan Briscoe's qualifying attempt, but if he's starting 7th, I wish I did, because it must have been impressive. I'm a little shocked not to see Vitor Meira in the top 11, but with the rest of the big boys out of the picture he should be the fastest tomorrow.

I'm a little miffed by my local TV coverage. There have been thunderstorms scattered throughout the Atlanta area, and every cut to a severe weather alert seemed to coincide with a qualifying attempt. The worst was when Sam Hornish went out for the second time. Sam had a fast opening lap, then the coverage cut away. The meteorologist lost his breath while trying to explain to explain the bombardment of 3D radar maps being thrown on the green-screen while the director must have been screaming in his earpiece to analyse the images he couldn't see behind him as fast as possible so the channel could return to the national feed before the end of Hornish's run. They made it just barely: once the station identification card wiped out, Sam was yards from the finish line.

[indycool]

Naw, couldn't estimate the crowd in a big place like that.....seemed to be a lot of folks in the tower terrace area as usual and those who wanted to stay cool were in the covered stands across the track. Bunch for the concert. But it sure was exciting, even without any surprises in the top 11. How they got there was the fun part.

[JohnSSC]

I was actually entertained by the process. A lot of strategy, smoke and mirrors and just plain psych jobs going on. Those covers over the sideview mirrors Penske had going were priceless! Floyd was probably ordering his X-Ray Vision glasses from the Bazooka bubblegum wrapper just to see what they were covering!

Seriously, Penske's interview was a hoot as he deadpanned away saying: "somehow we all get caught up in it (going for Pole)" and I thought he was going to kill Arute on the spot for reminding him of the '95 debacle...and Danica looked like she was ready to spit because the gun went off before she got out of the line an onto the track.

Tension, some drama and some terrific pressure drives! Good stuff today!

[Ryan_Briscoe1]

Good strong start for Briscoe, hope it continues. Well done to Helio Castroneves aswell.

[rush1]

Originally Posted by indycool

Naw, couldn't estimate the crowd in a big place like that.....seemed to be a lot of folks in the tower terrace area as usual and those who wanted to stay cool were in the covered stands across the track. Bunch for the concert. But it sure was exciting, even without any surprises in the top 11. How they got there was the fun part.

I'm from Indianapolis, I go to every 500 but have not been to 1st day qualis for about 10 years. That crowd was not impressive with what looked like good weather. I try to make Carb day every year and that has picked up, I will take a gander and say the attendence at last years Carb day was about 60,000 people, so that is moving in the right direction.

[ozrevhead]

Originally Posted by Fish_Flake

I didn't see Ryan Briscoe's qualifying attempt, but if he's starting 7th, I wish I did, because it must have been impressive

Ryan was third before they had bump day/period

did they really need to have one

no seriously, it was great attempt and should of gotten better reward for his effort......BRILLIANT chance for a podium

GO RYAN!

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by rush1

It looked great on TV. So you want to give an estimate on the crowd? Maybe 35, 40 thousand?

That format will only get more people interested in my opinion.

Robin Millers take http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/37327/

[georgeboi999]

Nice read.

[indycool]

Robin just has all the answers to the world's ills, doesn't he?

[D.R.T.]

Surely its a good thing from an IMS perspective to have ideas out there, regardless of the source.

Now I wouldnt be taking all RM's ideas on board but he had identified some deficiencies with the event, as of pole day

[indycool]

....and I'm sure he'll find more, IHO.....

[Hazza]

Originally Posted by indycool

Robin just has all the answers to the world's ills, doesn't he?

God he's full of ...

[Alwaysfirst]

It is easy to criticise but there are many good points in it, whether you like the man or not.

1) He is right in saying that the crowd for qualifying was poor, even though the line-up is looking good.
2) It is hard to argue that in todays big money racing a much bigger purse woould be more attractive to more teams. More & better prizes are always likely to attract more entries if they know that the entry can be paid for, or is worth entering. However, just saying get a title sponsor is very simplistic. If only it was that simple...
3) I disagre with his ideas for the car design. It is stupidly simplistic & very probably dangerous...though more than one main manufacturer & engine supplier is always a good thing, if somewhat harder to find.
4) His ideas for the first day are very wrong. That day is needed for rookies & returning veterans. IMS is just too fast & potentially dangerous to just let non-full time drivers out there with the big boys. Even an Andretti appreciates the need for this session. Have free entry to the public in the first full test in order to get your PR.
5) Why not sell each practice day to a sponsor & have rock bottom entry prices to the practices. If it gets a bit more money into the series along with more sponsors then all the better. The prizes for the fastest in the sessions is also an acceptable idea, if there is a reasonable source for that money.
6) IMO qualifying would be better over 3 days allocating places 1-12, 13-24 & 25-33 along with bump day. I would agree that 3 runs per driver is all that is needed. If you can't get a run together in that time then you shouldn't be in the field...though I would allow these cars an attempt on bump day.
7) I strongly agree that the clash with NASCAR is very undesirable & that a lot of big names cannot enter due to the clash. However, I would rather NASCAR was encouraged to leave the weekend of the race free, than have the 500 much earlier or on a different day.

Whilst I don't agree with a lot of what he does say I can see that some of it does make sense. It would be nice if instead of just saying that an article was s***, people could discuss the good points of the article. I'm not trying to get you to like the man, just to be reasonable with his ideas.

[indycool]

Okay, Always First, you took the bitter guy seriously, so I'll respond:

1. Pole Day crowds are never going to be to Robin's liking again. There aren't 150 or 200 mile-an-hour barriers to fall. There are many, many more choices that people make today on activities for a weekend. There has been the split. And you know, if there were a billion people there, Robin wouldn't be satisfied because he just doesn't like TG and was on CC's payroll until this year.

2. Purse money doesn't sustain anything as far as the teams go. It HELPS A GREAT DEAL that the "500" carries a $10 million purse and last-place last year paid something like $193,000. Sponsorship pays the freight, though. And I don't think they WANT a title sponsor for the "500." They'd like that name to stand on its own. Marlboro offered 'em $10 million for a title sponsorship back in the '80s and they turned it down.

3. Agreed.

4. Rookie orientation just got moved from April to start off the month of May. I can't even understand why that's such a big yank.

5. Some days ARE sponsored. Gate admission for practice days is something like $5 or $10. That's pretty rock bottom.

6. They changed the qualifying procedure two years ago to this. Weather didn't allow its impact to be felt until this year. The pole was decided by the final two runs of the day. People were bumped as second-day qualifiers. Different strategy. Different drama. The way the crowd was yelling where I was sitting, both days (Jaques Lazier was trying to bump his brother the second day at the gun), I'd say those who were there were pretty pleased.

7. The "clash" with NASCAR has been there for years. The later starting time for Indy now eliminates "double duty" drivers but that was changed to try to get better West Coast TV. Maybe you win on one side, you lose on the other. But Charlotte isn't going to give up their weekend and Indy isn't, either. Just not gonna happen.

But Robin's attacks on the IRL and the Speedway the past 12 years leave little room for credibility of any of his ideas, really, even if they might be good ones. When he suggested on his now-defunct radio show in Indy a few years ago that the split could be resolved by a "helicopter crash," referring to TG's helicopter, that was enough for most folks. Everyone knows he's just teeing it up again and finding fault and he's done it so many times where there IS none, it's just "Robin again" now.

[Hazza]

And lets also examine the NASCAR thing.

Who would you get? Robby Gordon. Wow. Big name that.

Montoya? Maybe, that is probably our loss.

Tony Stewart. He had the option a few years ago, but said that it "Wasn't in his contract" even though, according to Gibbs, it was.

It's just not going to happen. When people talk about "oh how I'd like to run the 500 one day" they're talking about a mythical happy fairly land where the more important buisness of trying to win the Nextel Cup isn't there.

Thats my 2c.