Round 7: revised calendar. The 104th running of the Indianapolis 500. Aug 12-23, 2020

[joeb]

Originally Posted by mstets

No argument about finishing under yellow from me. Ganassi may have another opinion.



I had no idea that it would take that long to fix the end of the pit lane wall. When I was on a pit crew, it was just solid concrete and there was no pit lane speed limit. So I'm not advocating a return to "the good old days".



Any word on injuries to VeeKay's pit crew?

I haven't seen anything on the crew member, but the tv broadcast here reported that he was fine - no major injury.

[tux]

Pigot was so lucky, something punctured his aero screen in the accident.

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/...-174036-45.jpg

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Easy to get wires caught there, but either way, we’ve had times in the past when the race has finished early or finished under caution, so this race is not unique

Anyway good news about Pigot, credit to the safety facilities that he got away relatively unscathed

Not really. If you watched the race, then you would know the race finished under yellow and if you weren't able to watch the race, then read the race report in any of the online motorsports magazines.

Previous races have finished early or under caution, though with 4 laps to go this was setting itself up nicely for a good finish.

[Mogster]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It didn't remind me of 2018. I thought there was a decent amount of overtaking, without the field being drawn out like it was in 2018. Dixon and Rossi traded the lead numerous times.

Dixon and Rossi were rotating the lead to save gas.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Not really. If you watched the race, then you would know the race finished under yellow and if you weren't able to watch the race, then read the race report in any of the online motorsports magazines.

Previous races have finished early or under caution, though with 4 laps to go this was setting itself up nicely for a good finish.

Yeah I did read the report and just got mixed up, probably not helped by seeing a BTCC race red flagged early. No worries, yes it was shaping up to be a good finish, but that’s the importance of making sure you lead at the right moments

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mogster

Dixon and Rossi were rotating the lead to save gas.

I subsequently read Dixon initially let Rossi into the lead in order to save fuel and make it the rest of the way on just two stops, Correspondingly the lap speeds went down to 211mph. When Rossi went back into the lead, they were back up to 215mph and they continued to trade places.

[NaBUru38]

Congratulations to Takuma Sato! He's the 20th driver to claim multiple wins at the Indianapolis 500.


Television time is tyrant.

Originally Posted by tux

Pigot was so lucky, something punctured his aero screen in the accident.

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/...-174036-45.jpg

Holy windscreen!

[fieldodreams79]

I guess I never put it all together yesterday, only a third of it, but Bobby Rahal's interview right after the race was very intriguing. I was thinking about his emotions with his son so close to winning and winning as an owner but totally forgot Pigot as an RLL driver. What an emotional time for him and he was cool as hell, even though you could hear the emotion in his voice.

Also, the cane! Read he's using it b/c of an aching back. A win should help!

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Spencer Pigot has been released from hospital, which is excellent news.

https://racer.com/2020/08/23/pigot-r...from-hospital/

Great news!!

Originally Posted by broadrun96

The latest I've seen was at least an hour to fix the attenuator...

I took one look at it and thought at the very least, 30 to 45 mins; minimum. He destroyed it and to make it safe, it was going to take a long time to get it right. Once Sato got past the Kannan, I thought it was pretty much over and didn't want to sit around to watch green/white and checker. Then if we look at it, the yellow came out with three laps to go, right? So you lose one lap there, then only one lap under caution leading to green, with no pitting? I don't think there was any other way, looking at it now.

edit - MP did tweet at the time that he was shocked it was n't a red for a safety issue w/ Pigot's car location...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result:

All in all, I thought that was not a bad race. The only thing that marred it, were the commercial breaks. I don't understand why, if they must show them during the race, it's while there is a caution period and not during track action?

It felt like it took a while to get going. There was the early caution on Lap 6, due to Davison's right front wheel catching fire and the restart on Lap 12, then fourteen laps later there was the second caution when Ericsson went out. After that is when it felt like the race started to get going.

The battle with Dixon and Rossi trading the lead was great to see, with O'Ward, then Sato closing in on them. Though when the FCY came out, as Palou crashed out on Lap 122, it put an end to what was shaping up to be an interesting three way battle.

It was a shame the race ended under caution. After Rossi first incurred his back of the field penalty and then ended up in the wall, it looked like there was no stopping Dixon but Sato was able to take the fight to him and again it looked like the race was shaping up for what could have been potentially an exciting finish, with only four laps to go. Ending under caution doesn't take anything away from Sato and as Scott Dixon is fond of saying, it is what it is.

Chevy must be scratching their heads, as Honda dominated the whole event from practice right up the chequered flag.

[chillibowl]

not as exciting as last year but i also agree that a restart was not the way to go. for sure some disappointed people but so be it.

that tire fire was crazy, shame for Rossi but his restart was really fun to watch, difficult day for the rookies, O'Ward made a good show of it, much respect to Sato and Dixon (for the old guys) and nice to see Alonso no where which is probably mean to say but i said it.

Hinchcliffe's face mask was truly terrifying.

props to treehouse guy and i never got used to no fans there.

[S griffin]

How Alonso must be rueing that Honda engine failure in 2017, still at least he gave it a good go. Looks like Graham Hill’s record is safe for now, unless JPM can somehow win Le Mans

[bjohnsonsmith]

Apparently Alonso's race woes were down to the clutch, or lack of it.

https://racer.com/2020/08/23/clutch-...hopes-at-indy/

[S griffin]

Yeah, saw that too. Massive shame he wasn’t able to show more of what he could do. Not suggesting he would have challenged for the win, but he certainly could have got a top ten

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Apparently there really isn't much of a list, I swore I'd seen Robin Miller write one up, but it seems you can only easily find the last couple seasons as it was published before the race. But no one knows what they actually gave Will Power because he didn't have a preference.

Only things we know for sure:

Emmo will always be remembered for his OJ in 93.
Louis Meyer drank real buttermilk after his 3 wins and started it
Ed and Hinch are nerds and have both asked for buttermilk, no they will not give that to you
Sato wanted 2%
Pagenaud asked for whole in 2019
Marcus Ericsson learned and moved from fat free to 2%
Conor Daly isn't my driver now with skim
Will Power doesn't care at all

And you can only get whole, 2% or fat free. No kids milk like strawberry, chocolate or my favorite (and a Rhode Island thing) coffee milk.

Originally Posted by Adam43

Brilliant.

On the skimmed, you may be interested to know that in the UK red top meant skimmed, here it’s full.

So here's where you can find some of the the more recent years' "preference polls"; dig all you want. There's some neat notes about Indiana diary farming, the tradtion etc.
https://winnersdrinkmilk.com/category/indy-500/

Not sure if we mentioned yet, but it was 2% for Sato.

Also, skim milk...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeNn7LCO_SU

[broadrun96]

Yeah, that was my source. They go back to 2015, guessing it wasn't really news back in the good old days.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Apparently Alonso's race woes were down to the clutch, or lack of it.

https://racer.com/2020/08/23/clutch-...hopes-at-indy/

I’m sorry (and this isn’t a pop at you BJ)....but Alonsos excuses are BS.

Clutch issues or not, he had identical equipment to his teammates who were both making their first appearances at Indy, starting around Alonso on the grid and both led and ran top 5 at various points during the race.

The clutch only hampered Alonso on ,maybe 2 stops.....

He was just slow....

.,,,I’m just glad the yanks didn’t fall foul of the hype once again

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

I’m sorry (and this isn’t a pop at you BJ)....but Alonsos excuses are BS.

Clutch issues or not, he had identical equipment to his teammates who were both making their first appearances at Indy, starting around Alonso on the grid and both led and ran top 5 at various points during the race.

The clutch only hampered Alonso on ,maybe 2 stops.....

He was just slow....

.,,,I’m just glad the yanks didn’t fall foul of the hype once again

BS? He spent the entire time saying he was struggling, spent half the race making up time and then the clutch cost them a lap. He never used it as an excuse and bluntly says they struggled "from the very beginning".

We must've read very different articles.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

I’m sorry (and this isn’t a pop at you BJ)....but Alonsos excuses are BS.

Clutch issues or not, he had identical equipment to his teammates who were both making their first appearances at Indy, starting around Alonso on the grid and both led and ran top 5 at various points during the race.

The clutch only hampered Alonso on ,maybe 2 stops.....

He was just slow....

.,,,I’m just glad the yanks didn’t fall foul of the hype once again

That's fine, I didn't take it as a pop at me. I didn't write the article and I'm not Alonso.

[broadrun96]

A mix of good and bad for the Indy coverage to year.

First, worst rating for a 500 and first below a 3 rating. 2.29 rating meaning about 3.67 million or so.

Second, best sports rating of the day and just edged out for the weekend by Lakers/Portland game Sat night, same rating but estimated 3.8 million

Third, 2nd best ratting on NBCSports since NFL playoff game in Jan.

Fourth, Indianapolis pulled at 24 rating. In theory that means 24% of families in Indianapolis turned in the race for the first live showing ever in town.

Fifth, by far the best race rating of the weekend. Nascar pulled at 1.9, Xfinity .55 and IMSA on its 3rd different scheduled slot of the weekend a dismal .17. AMA motocross doubled that at .36 on NBCSN earlier in the day.

https://racer.com/2020/08/25/tv-rati...500-dover-vir/

[fieldodreams79]

Am a little surprised with the lowest rating ever at first, but I guess that would make sense. Interesting on the rest so thx for sharing!

[broadrun96]

Yeah, it seems the pandemic has had a serious impact on broadcast numbers overall. The newest Nielsen system includes streaming, there's actually a tick box on YouTube TV to be included in the ratings, and it's still overall fairly low across the board. Racing seems to be maintaining the usual within a bit, Indy is an anomaly but so is the date, but baseball, basketball and hockey aren't getting the views. A few have posited live TV is getting hit as people want to watch streaming things they know and bring some comfort in to their lives. Doesn't explain sports figuring they'd be a distraction but ok.

[Adam43]

That’s interesting. I would have thought live sport viewing would be up. Certainly is in this household.

[broadrun96]

There's been a bit of argument about the numbers and whether things are being counted correctly right now. We'll know when football returns but it seems like people want their sports in the correct season.

[Adam43]

I want my football

I wanted to go too and that ain’t happening, but I’m going to be a mess in red zone.

[S griffin]

Having a bit later when people had other plans was bound to have an effect on ratings, although you’d think(hope?) more would stay in. Still it topped the sports viewing for the day, so obviously enough were interested