FIRST IMPRESSIONS: St. Petersburg
First Impressions, IndyCar — By More Front Wing Staff on March 25, 2012 4:42 pmFirst Impressions is a new feature from More Front Wing for 2012 where Paul and Steph give their off-the-cuff thoughts of each event shortly after its conclusion.
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PAUL’S IMPRESSIONS:
Welcome to a new era of INDYCAR racing!
For several years we’ve looked forward to this race as we hoped it would truly be the dawning of a new day. While I won’t say the day was a disappointment, I think it’s fair to say that some people, perhaps myself included, may have hyped this event just a tad too much. In the end, I really did think it was an enjoyable race but not necessarily a revolution as many had hoped and prophesied.
I think what we saw was that the big teams are still going to be be the big teams, and anyone that wants to win is still going to have to beat Penske and Ganassi. You can quit telling me about the parity brought about by the DP-01 and how it changed everything in Champ Car. The simple truth is that Champ Car didn’t have near the horses that INDYCAR does today, and while a couple of other teams did beat Newman/Haas that year, they didn’t beat Penske or Ganassi. If you don’t believe that, you’re simply naive. The DW12 will reshuffle the deck, no doubt, but Penske and Ganassi are still playing with a lot more kitty.
So, about the race…
First off, I think it might be a bit tough to judge just how enjoyable this race really was because of the abysmal television coverage. The only thing I really have good to say about the coverage is that they did a nice job covering the entire field, and at no point did I feel like they were solely focused on a single driver throughout the field (especially the 17th place driver or anything like that). Sadly, that is about the end of the positive. Too many passes were missed; too much action was ignored for no apparent reason. And way too many drivers were suddenly shown out of the race with no mention or explanation from the broadcast crew. Among the notables here were Sebastien Bourdais, who was having a stellar run, and JR Hildebrand. Okay, enough lamenting about the TV coverage. Sadly, we’ve just come to expect that.
The biggest surprise to me was the complete non-factor that Will Power was after the first 15 laps of the race. Once again, Will showed that he does not seem to be capable of moving back through the field when he falls behind. Typically I make this statement on ovals, but it holds true on street courses as well. Obviously, when he is in front, he is blindingly fast and nearly impossible to beat. Once behind, though, he’s mortal, if not unimpressive. Likewise, Dario was completely uncompetitive as well. His troubles were confined solely to the race, though. I think Franchitti would rather just forget about this weekend and start his title defense in earnest next week at Barber.
My final quick hit is this: I think a lot of IZOD IndyCar Series fans loved the romanticized idea of mechanical issues before this race. Sadly, mechanical failures don’t discriminate only against Penske and Ganassi. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that those with the great resources, i.e. the deepest pockets, are able to effectively foresee such gremlins and engineer their way around them. In that vein, mechanical reliability is often more devastating for the smaller, less-funded teams.
One more note, just to be fair: ABC/ESPN did a fantastic job with the Dan Wheldon tribute in the pre-race. As I sat in the same spot on the same couch watching the same TV I was when the announcement of Dan’s passing came down, it was difficult to hold back the tears as so many emotions came flooding back. I thought ESPN did a very nice job capturing the emotion without being overly dramatic or sensationalistic. Due credit to the production team for a job well done with that piece.
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STEPH’S IMPRESSIONS:
It was a great race and a fitting launch to the rebirth of INDYCAR that was marred by subpar television coverage that didn’t come remotely close to doing it justice. The pre-race was phenomenal and the post-race was acceptable, but the in-race analysis showed every key pass as a replay and did nothing to explain all the fascinating storylines to the viewers at home.
Here are the things we should have had explained:
– the differences in cornering between the Chevy and the Honda are going to be a story to watch all season, as most clearly demonstrated by Helio’s outside pass on Dixon (but why was Dixie able to do so much more with his Honda motor than anyone else in spite of this?);
– a bunch of teams miscalculated fuel at the end due to the many new variables in the equation this season (and Helio just scraped by himself as he had to be towed in after his victory laps);
– the pit stops were almost universally flawless despite the many new challenges facing the crews this season;
– Power and Franchitti were non-factors late in the event, which may turn everything we think we know about the championship battle on its head.
I saw a lot of pleas on Twitter for push to pass to be brought back. My opinion is that it’s far too early for that. Push to pass is essentially a gimmick that brought some interest into a fully spec series. I’d far prefer to see the teams go away with their race worth of data and see what they come back with at Barber — and then at Long Beach, and then again for Brazil. By the time we’re getting ready for Indy, we’ll have a much clearer picture of whether external factors need to be brought in. In the meantime, there was enough passing today to make things interesting (though seeing it live instead of on replay would have been nice), and the drivers were respectful and professional out there and took care of their cars and each other. If you look at it that way, there’s plenty to be excited about for now.
The bottom line: With new chassis, new engines, and a bunch of team shake-ups, this race not only looked like a proper INDYCAR race but was an interesting one to boot. I’m a very happy girl, and if we can just get the television crews to step their game way up to match the caliber of the on-track show, I think many others will be happy, too. Let’s see how everyone feels once NBCSN takes a stab at it.
Tags: First Impressions, St. Petersburg
having not attended a street race, I do get the feeling there’s a lot more passing going on than television has the ability to show. what is labeled a parade by the tv watcher is often more exciting to the live viewer. is it inexperienced crews and directors or is it just impossible to show?
I think they’ve mentioned adding in push-to-pass later in year, after they work out the initial bugs.
yeah, it was penske/ganassi, but I think andretti autosport will join the death star group this year. look forward to seeing more of bourdais, hinch, rubens, kanaan, conway. and I think the lotus’ will eventually get closer.
enjoyed the race. but I think the racing will get racier as the season continues.
From the St. Pete Times
Passing problems: The new car and fuel strategy appeared to limit passing.
“It’s hard to overtake,” said Justin Wilson, who finished 10th.
Wilson said the car’s wider wings increased the grip but made passing more difficult. Pit stop strategy also played a role as some drivers tried to conserve fuel instead of race each other aggressively.
“It’s definitely tough,” James Hinchcliffe said of overtaking competitors in the new Dallara DW12.
“You don’t want it too easy, right? You want guys to have to work for it. I think that’s where we’re at.”
Translation: not much passing even for St. Pete.
I mostly agree with Steph. I enjoyed the race, television did not do the race justice.
– Helio passed Dixon on the outside going into turn 1 and TV missed it live. Laughable.
– Bourdais running 6th and DNFing with no reason told on TV.
What I find most sad about the reactions I am reading today is that if Brian Barnhart was still in race control and the exact same calls came down everyone would be crying about the Helio/Ed contact (which a no call was the right call but if Barnhart would have ruled no action everyone would be up in arms!) and the “Two wide” restarts. Last year people cried like babies over fuggy starts and blamed Barnhart. Yesterday the original start and the first restart (Both controlled by Will Power) didn’t look too bad though not great but once anyone else (Dixie) lead the field to the green the leader would go early and you had at best 2 rows lined up.
Personally I think Beaux Barfield called a good race but I thought Brain Barnhart did most of the time too so it bothers me when Barfield does the same things people were losing their minds over last year and this year say nothing. It just proves that it wasn’t the calls the people were upset about it was just blind hatred towards anyone connected to the IRL era.
I am thinking we have seen the emergence of a new major player in the form of rookie driver Josef Newgarden. I am really looking forward to to watching his progress. I believe it will be swift.
Newgarden’s performance becomes even more impressive when you learn that he drove most of the race with a front wing that was damaged in his early contact with Tagliani. Sarah Fisher may have found a gem in this one.
I agree with the generaly criticism of ABC/ESPN who’s flag to flag seems unchanged on last year, but I will say they stuck with the Dixon/Helio battle for a fair while in the hope of a pass, then cut away to look at action somewhere else – which is exactly what we’re all calling for, more action elsewhere when the leaders aren’t doing anything – only for the pass to then finally happen after they cut away. So I can somewhat sympathise with their position. However they could’ve/should’ve cut BACK to the leaders at turn 1 each lap, or at least had eyes on it ready to call the switch back if something happened.
All the teams and drivers were clearly taking it easy, mostly due to the new equipment and shortage of spares but maybe also because this is the first race back after Dan. As the year goes on we’ll see them loosen up and go for it a bit more. Hopefully as soon as next race. The drivers were always going to be prudent in the first race with a new car/engine combo, especially with another race just a week later.