If Will continues to stumble, it won't much matter what RHR does, he will just have to be consistent. On current form that doesn't look to be too much of a problem...
There is still plenty of Road courses, Power got screwed by that caution where as guys like RHR already pitted, the closing of the pits under caution is a stupid rule.
That said, it's much harder to make race-ruining mistakes on Edmonton, Mid-Ohio, Sonoma.
Baltimore can be tricky, but Will was in a class of his own there last year.
Fontana, well, it's another story. Ovals are pretty much his cryptonite right now.
Anyway, things are still wide open. A 34 points disadvantage is not that much, it can be overcome in one race only.
I expect Dixon to be a factor too, even though he's 54 points behind. However, I belive he was on his final engine at Toronto, so he faces one or two engine penalty(ies).
The thing that worries me about RHR is, he's never been in a title fight at that level before. He's a great, all around, consistant racer, but he can have his own streak of bad results sometimes. Remember the first half of 2011.
Maybe they should go back to single file for Toronto.
They did.
Exactly.
Actually, Beaux is always trying to keep the pits open under caution these days. I just fail to understand why he didn't do that yesterday. Maybe he knew something we didn't know, as Jack pointed out.
IMO you drive an illegal car it gets disqualified end of story, this can create dilemmas where people can purposely do it because they know they will only get a slap on the wrist once they get busted.
Curt Cavin is generally a good jourmalist, probably the one who spent the most time and effort investigating Brian Barnhart's mindboggling officiating during the past seasons, tho I agree it would cost too much for already struggling teams if the aero kits were introduced next season.
Well, better having one more year with one aerokit and 20+ cars, then having 4 kits on 12 cars. We know what can happen with teams that can't afford racing - they simply vanish and with thereby the big teams can break away to create a formula under their rules.
Sports legues including NASCAR and IndyCar sent the Speaker of the House a letter requesting that sports legues and team continue to receive military funding.
If it's not a good recruiting tool (which I'm sure it is at least in the way of getting the idea out there to people anyways), it could even be a moral booster for those in those branches of the military
I don't necessarily agree with the people calling for Randy's head over a broken promise. But the argument (especially over at trackforum where the majority of indycar internet fans visit) is that Randy flip flops on his issues way too much. The cowboy seems to get too eager and makes promises for things that he really has no guarantee over. His over anxiousness with China was a perfect example of this which is really weird that he fully announced the race without the promoters putting in a deposit or speaking to the new mayor candidates at the very least.
Saying that "Randy is the devil because he lied and he broke his promise" is silly. But you do have to admit that Randy has counted his chickens before they hatched and ran his mouth more than people would have liked.
The aerokits decision is a must. He can't force it. But he and ICONIC did back themselves into a corner when they guaranteed everyone everything without really making sure they can deliver. Again, the aero diversity was one of the key selling points of the new chassis. Just a shame they can only meet their goals half way (which tbh isn't exactly such an unattainable goal).
Personally I think this decision solidifies the fact that Indy will only have 1 aerokits for the rest of this chassis's life. I mean think about it. Indycar already asked for corps to start applying and designing aerokits and they apparently had 3 takers and now suddenly the plug is pulled again. Do you think future companies will now invest in a program so shaky for such little to no profit? If lets say Oreca spent this year planning for an aerokits and now they recieved word that it isn't going to happen why would they come back to design one next year with the DW12 gettin more and more stable and development and waste all that money with little chance of real success? Companies were already hesitent on investing in kits. Two decision to postpone it means the companies will now be even less prone to committing. Too expensive, too shaky, and indycar's too indecisive. No we'll be lucky to even get 1 differet aero kit by 2014 I imagine. Obviously this is rather grim view of the situation... Maybe I've been on trackforum for too long....
Well... Atleast the DW12 is a better car than the IR03. But damn we'll just see the same kits over and over again. Let's hope I'm wrong and in 2014 we'll have colorful range of cars (is it bad that this sounds like a pipedream to me already?)
You still explained why it is silly, and how the argument that guy used is silly.
I don't care if he promised a 900hp engines or a whole new chassis. It isn't the point. The point is that it isn't logical. Why even worry about aerokits? It's the chassis' 1st year in a series that has funding issues apart from the 3 big teams. They've spent this year trying to cut costs, yet you want them to go and jack up costs by having to design/buy aerokits? And multiple aerokits on top of it. You are then saying that because they can't get it done by the 2nd year on the chassis that it won't ever happen with this chassis. Why not? The other chassis had 8 years on it, this chassis will most likely be the same.
The whole argument seems like a 4 year old child asking for an iPhone when it obviously doesn't need it now and it's a waste of money. The child can wait and have it at the right time, and now isn't it.
Rome wasn't built in a day, IndyCar has practically restarted and in all honesty it needs to get the track schedule straighten out and get a proper budget that all teams can meet before trying to have them throw in money for accessories that the racing doesn't need at the moment.
About Cavin, I think you shouldn't get too much on your high horses about him, he seems to be a really good guy overall. It sounded no more than a badly worded thesis/anti-thesis answer... I bet he has no strong opinions about aerokits either way.
I am listening to his radio show every week and he's a class act. He knows his subject well, he is passionate, he doesn't hold grudges(quite rare in the AOWR world...), he doesn't live in the past and enjoys the present, he does his best to remain objective, he doesn't take his stuff too seriously, etc.
The guy receives tons of negative mails and questions every day, as part of his Indianapolis Star gig. Hard to stay fully objective in those conditions. His only mistake would be to take the "fans"' tentrums and desire a bit too seriously. But somehow it's part of the job, as someone who's answering the public's questions.
Don't really know what you mean. Obviously you listen to him every week so maybe you have a bias toward him? I don't listen to him at all and have no gripe against him. All I'm saying is that his logic in what he said is completely flawed and makes no sense. Wouldn't the only person being on high horse be you for that comment? I don't really understand what you're getting at.
Hey I'm not the only asking for Randy's head argue with trackforum lol.
It's not the fact that they cant do it, it's more of the fact that IndyCar has been incredibly wishy-washy on their stances and issues. You can't go to a company, throw a business pitch, then end it with a guarantee then suddenly go back on it and go "whoops unforeseen circumstance folks but that's life oh well sorry you wasted your time or money". That's basically what USF1 did to FIA. Make grand promises to FIA when they really had no warrant to make those kind of promises.
Randy is not guilty of making a bad decision by denying aerokits. Anyone with common sense would make the decision to postpone aerokits. It's how Randy goes about making promises and guarantees he actually doesn't know he can keep and that's wishy washy and companies and corporations don't like wishy washy decision making. It would be a business risk to them, in fact more so on the fact that companies make aerokits at a loss.
Again, Randy has a habit of counting his chickens before they hatch... like China, which surprises me that he didn't talk to the mayor candidates and he didnt make sure that the contact he signed with the old mayor would hold after his term was up.
There's really 2 arguments with the outrage over the aerokits. The first sentiment of "but he promised me and he went back on his word waaaaaaaa"... sure they are just fanboys acting like little kids that they didn't get what they want for christmas. But, Randy didn't just guarantee the fans, he guaranteed the companies and corporations making the aerokits and Chevy was suppose to have started on making the kits now as Honda was also in talks with Swift about a kit as well. Not to mention Oreca wanted an absolute solid date and timeline on aerokits so they can weigh in their budget to see if they can allow for aerokits. Randy gave the world, not just fans, the world a guarantee and he went back on it which would make people who actually matter think he doesn't really have any control over the series.
Remember Randy promising and guaranteeing the owners that the DW12 was going to be cheaper when it turned out that Randy turned out to be wrong? Exact same situation. I understand that Randy has a tough job where he needs to make IndyCar look like the land of rainbows and sunshine. He needs to keep being enthusiastic and hyped and happy about everything that's coming with IndyCar. But he needs to stop making promises and guarantees he really cant keep.
Piss off the fans... well that doesnt matter... piss off the owners and constructors (which he has pissed off the owners for similar reasons why he pissed off the fans interestingly enough) and IndyCar might as well just fold now.
Essentially... when the fans say "but he promised me and he went back on his word waaaaaaaa" you can just say shut up and grow up. But you can't say that to the team owners and constructors who would potentially be saying the same thing as the fans. Heck, the owners are already saying that about the perceived guarantee costs of the DW12. Can you imagine if Swift (Honda) or Oreca actually spent all that money to develop (because let's face it, you have to start very early) on Randy's guarantee of aerokits, then Randy saying "whoops sorry we've decided to postpone it for another year" when Oreca or Swift could have been doing something else with their time and budget (especially Oreca and their LMPs). Other corporations would see this and project their kit project to be too much of a risk to invest.... Remember IndyCar has already had problems convincing corporations to create kits to begin with. Throw in some inconsistent decision making and some wasted time/money developing kits that wont be allowed due to another postponed decision and you might as well just keep using the DW12.
Randy needs to plan everything out. See how long it takes for the series to be financially stable and present a business plan to Chevy, Swift (honda) and anyone else who signed up for a kit and say "alright guys, current economics are tough but based on this solid and well-researched plan, we will be financially stable to open up kits in 2015 so start projecting your kits for that goal" instead of this whole "next year, I promise, whoops nevermind no really next year I promise, whoops nevermind no really next year I promise...."
