~Robin Miller
Q: The race at Barber Motorsports Park was one of the best road races I've seen in a long time. I don't know (maybe you can enlighten me?) whether it was the fact that the ICS now has three different engines to go along with two different sets of tires, but whatever it was, it sure made for some great racing! Watching Simon P cut his way through the field to watching Marco, Conroy, Rubens, Seabass, RHR, Sato & Dario slicing & dicing their way around each other was spectacular in my book of road racing history. Although, I'm still getting used to the new look cars, they sure sound like the old turbo-charged cars from the CART/Champ Car days. They look sleek and sexy from the side and front view, but I'm still struggling with that back/side view. (I'll get over it, safety must come first) If this is an example of the kind of racing we're going to have this year, then we're all in for some tasty treats as the season progresses. Also, if Seabass & Justin Wilson were driving for The Captain, The Chipster, or The Celebrity Apprentice, they would no doubt be serious title contenders.
Steve Sporer, Chicago
RM: Will Power and several others gave much of the credit to Firestone for building tires that were strong and went off pretty quick – accelerating the overtaking all through the field. Chevrolet and Honda are pretty equal and, obviously, that’s a big plus.
Q: What a GREAT RACE!!! NBC Sports Network’s Coverage was EXCELLENT and the SPEED coverage and reports were GREAT! Bourdais proved why he is a four-time champion. I just wonder, what would he do with a Chevy engine strapped to his car? I hope Ford/Cosworth joins the series and some of these teams join their ranks because Simona, Oriol and Seabass deserve a better engine...
Daniel Martinez
RM: Bourdais was dazzling and had seventh place until that final restart. As Power said in my column: "Can you imagine if he (Bourdais) was driving for our team or Ganassi?’’
Q: I want to bitch. I want to rant...but I just can't. Last Sunday’s INDYCAR race was awesome. The new Race control won me over. No insta-yellows. The process of thought was evident by every driver. Honestly, this may have been the raciest race we have seen in 15 years. I'm in awe. Now...if we can just fix the ugly car (I fit one bitch in there somewhere...). Kudos to the entire INDYCAR organization from the top down. This is Racing.
Paul, Salem OR
RM: Between the aggressive but fair driving to the great restarts to all the passing, it was as good as gets on a road course. Especially when you consider it was on a track built for motorcycles. And it was a helluva crowd as well. A lot of promoters could take lessons from the folks at Barber.
Q: Wow!! We were there and I have to say it was one of the best races I have seen in a long time, reminiscent of the old days where there was racing everywhere on the track. We took someone who has never been to a road course and guess what, we hooked them! Close racing action everywhere and throughout the whole grid. I'll bet Franchitti never worked so hard for a 10th place finish. I also applaud race control for sending the lap down cars to the back and allowing the lead cars settle things among themselves. We all understand the Penske, Ganassi and Andretti will be in the forefront of development because of the resources and the money, my question to you is how long do you really think the diversity amongst everyone will last? I do believe that the Big 3 are beatable if right situation occurs.
Rick Dodge, Rossville, Tn.
RM: Dario admitted as much afterwards. I think if Pagenaud had been able to start where he qualified (sixth) at St. Pete he would have been a factor in the outcome and Mike Conway is meshing nicely with Don Halliday so he’ll be a regular threat. And Justin Wilson can never be counted out. Not sure if you consider Graham Rahal as part of the Big 3 but he’ll be up there all season and I think Kanaan and Rubens have a shot as well. J.R. Hildebrand came to life last weekend and Ed Carpenter is usually stout on all ovals. Not saying they can all win but it’s not out of the question.
Q: I know there was a lot of talk about all the passing at Barber Motorsports Park, and it was well deserved. But, it also helps when you have a quality/professional sports network covering it too. I thought NBC Sports Network did an excellent job for their "official" first time coverage of Indy cars. I thought Townsend Bell did a stand up job as well. You'll have to work on the timing for the "Grid Run" though. I think everybody enjoys watching you hustle through the grid dodging everything that moves. It was a lot of fun watching Marco borrowing P.T's Chrome Horn. I'm sure Paul was smiling back home in Vegas. Also, watching what SeaBass did was remarkable. Talk about getting all the juice out of the orange, or lemon? Sorry Lotus. All in all, the race was one of the more memorable in recent history. I can't wait to see how the new cars work on a true street track like Long Beach.
Doug, Murrieta,Ca.
RM: I praised VERSUS (now NBC Sports Network) for its coverage the year before they hired me and I had very little to do with Sunday’s standout show. The booth guys (Wally, Jon & Bob) never lose track of what’s going on, Marty and Kevin are on top of things in the pits, T. Bell is a natural, Terry Lingner is a great race producer and Mike Wells and Gary Clem know how to keep the cameras on the action. It’s a well-oiled machine and it shows. Marco was worth the price of admission.
Q: The IZOD INDYCAR race we just saw is open wheel racing is all about. With all the great stories, there is one which needs to be mentioned. When Sato's car stalled off the track but within the barriers, race control had a decision to make. Full course caution? That would have been automatic for the previous generation of race control. But the current generation took a moment to notice that the car was off track and off line. On measure, it was not worth slowing the whole field down to pull one car off track. Then later, when Legge's car went off, in a place where another car could have landed if it went out of control, race control made the right choice to call full-course caution. And only then did they pull Sato's car off. That's when I knew we really have a new era of INDYCAR upon us. Where race control is really measuring the choices they are making, with the goal to interfere with the natural course of racing as little as possible. Indy car is back and on the right track. It's back on the path to the compulsory must watch can't miss event of the weekend!
Kevin
RM: One of the big (and legit) complaints about Indy car racing has been the caution periods that wouldn’t end and Barfield wants to do his best to stay green as much as possible. He did leave the track sweepers out for an extra lap or two prior to the last restart but, as we saw, that clean track made for some great racing to the end.
Q: What a difference a week and a different network makes! The INDYCAR race at Barber Sunday was entertaining from Uncle Bob's first verbal trip to your grid run to the race and afterwards. Great job by the whole broadcast team. The cars are never gonna look great to me but that JPS paint on SeaBass' car is nice as well as some others. What a show drivers like Servia, Conway, Marco, Sebastien, and Rubens put on, very exciting racing. Watching the coverage from the front to the back, we got to see and get commentary on Justin's evil handling car, and were kept so much more in the race than last week. Pass on my compliments to everyone at NBC sports for me. And I have a new favorite driver after Sebastien's drives the last two weeks-- that guy is something else!
Alan in Louisville
RM: Of the 300-plus emails I received this week, 75 percent of them felt like you did and gave big props to the NBC Sports Network. The coverage matched the quality of competition, no question.
Q: It seems that the series gives off a much more professional and polished appearance now. It's not just the lack of wrecks the whole product feels big league now. For the last few years it had an amateurish feel to it that I don't see anymore. Would you say that is an accurate assessment?
Matt, Dallas, TX
RM: Yes I would. The new chief steward doesn’t tell the drivers how to drive or spend the race yelling at them on his headset – he tells them what the parameters are and he put a little twist on the restarts. They are billed as some of the best drivers around and they’ve acted like it the first two races. There’s also a lot of depth in this series, the most since The Split, and the cars and teams look like the top tier of open wheel racing in this country.
Q: Wow, tell Randy not to change a thing. Power put on a clinic Sunday. Lots of passing, Barrichello gets a top ten and Bourdais puts Lotus in the top ten. I'm even starting to like the looks of the new car. All in all a great race and a lot of fun. And I love the chrome horn use by Andretti. So tell me is Randy happier with the show this week? I know I am.
Pete, Arnold, MD
P.S. Can't wait for Baltimore.
RM: He was thrilled with the competition and crowd but probably disappointed with the TV rating (.25 and lower than last year’s).
Q: ‘Bama was really good! For a track that all the TV guys said was hard to pass because it was built for cycle racing, there were plenty of passes. Good stuff. Turns out one can start from 9th AND win!! Marco was on fire/in the zone for most of the day. The NBC Sports employees/braintrust did a really good job. Everything was good. The talking. The info. The presentation. They showed a lot of moments that were missed. That was appreciated. The Indycar 36 is a great program too. Townsend is a good addition which just made me realize, Lindsey is gone. Oh well. All in all, the race was a good one. Most of the race I was saying: “Oooh look at that,” “Whoa that’s a move” & so on.’’ The details about Dario, his old school, right foot braking style & the detail about the new car not delivered with his style of pedals was a great inside story.
Bob Irvin, Salem, Virginia
RM: First off, what do those TV dorks know about racing? Yep, we were as surprised as Willy Boy. It seemed like there was something good on track on almost every lap.
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