MFW podcast episode 102: Season preview

Welcome back for 2014! I’m looking forward to your podcasts for the new season!

I’d like to pile in on the discussion about pit stops under caution and the pit line being automatically closed. I think this is a terrible idea. I concede that there is no natural way to decide this, but do you remember the road race in Motegi back in 2011? There was a car stranded on the track and all the drivers other than Dixon and Power (the two leaders) had pitted. If the caution had been thrown immediately then this would have shuffled Power and Dixon to the back of the field, which would have been deemed grossly unfair by the fanbase. However leading the track green to allow Power and Dixon to pit meant that they remained in their positions of 1st and 2nd, but a dangerous situation of a car stuck on the track remainder for far longer than it should,
until the caution was finally thrown thanks to the “discretion” [remember that Indycar buzz word of 2011?] of Brian Barnhart. For the past two years, this situation has been avoided, and additionally the pit lane has been clearer because the situation of many cars peeling into the pits occurs with lower frequency.

Calling a full course caution messes up the order of races but it is a ‘necessary evil’ because it allows the track to return to a safe condition which is the most important factor. Closing the pits under caution just increases the chances of unnecessary messing up the order of the field and increasing the chances of sending the fast drivers to the tail of the field. I’m very much against this! I want to see safe and fair competition in Indycar.