Indycar 2023

RacerBoy75 said:

It was a dramatic qualifying today! You have to feel bad for Graham Rahal, as well as Jack Harvey, who bumped GR out of the show.  It's interesting how the whole RLL team has lost their way this month.

It was tough to watch Graham afterwards. Gotta feel for the guy.

Anyone want to pick their favorites for the win next Sunday? I'm a big Dixon fan, but I also think Palou, O'Ward, and Rossi will be very strong. 

I'm not betting against Ganassi at the Speedway, especially after last year. I know picking the pole sitter is kind of a cop-out, but Palou sure looks like he has it all together at the moment. But you're right, the McLarens also made a very strong showing. It would be pretty wild if TK were to win another one.

CGR will be hard to beat, I think the best storyline would be Foyt car finishing in the front.

I think RLL will be making some hard decisions I imagine engineering is going to be the first domino, but GR attracts sponsors and indy can effect whether the sponsors come and go. You have to wonder if next year will have 3 fulltime cars.

No love for Kanaan in his last Indy race?

He seems to have the speed.

Maclaren qualified 3,5,7 and 9.  Only one odd single digit number to go, they say.

Hard to imagine it won't be Ganassi or Maclaren winning.  I'd kinda like to see Rossi win, just so he has a proper place on the trophy instead of a gas mileage spot.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

While I'm a fan of Indycar I haven't kept up with the rules. Now that it looks like Stefan Wilson won't make the 500 who takes his spot? Does G Rahal move up and in or can Dreyer get to put someone else in the maybe rebuilt car?

In reply to L5wolvesf :

He can put someone in the car.  Rahal would be a good bet, since he's been there all month, running each day.

Engine conflict makes this unlikely.

Rahal will stand in for Wilson in the 500

STM317 said:

Rahal will stand in for Wilson in the 500

Wow. I'm shocked that Honda is OK with that.

You heard it here first:  Bobby paid Katherine to wreck Stefan Wilson so that Graham would have a seat.  

I'm curious what people think about the Legge-Wilson crash in practice yesterday.  Too bad there wasn't more video.  Townsend Bell seemed to think there was an obvious check up ahead  Hard to see.  I can certainly expect Katherine was mighty shocked when suddenly (everyone?) ahead slowed without apparent warning (or reason?).

It's been pretty impressive not to have any accidents up until then.

In reply to Russ McBride :

That's what Katherine posted to Facebook, that she came around the turn and suddenly there were slow(er) cars in front of her.

STM317 said:

Rahal will stand in for Wilson in the 500

The racing Gods have said no.  Not even going to take the green flag.

alfadriver said:

STM317 said:

Rahal will stand in for Wilson in the 500

The racing Gods have said no.  Not even going to take the green flag.

At least he's on the track now, but starting the race 2 laps down is, well, rough.

Made it almost half the race without incident. 

In reply to johndej :

But one incident has lead to another.  Oops.

And an embarrassing incident.  Looked like a Mustang leaving a car show.

Yeah lucky no team members have been hit the way they're treating pit lane.

Yeah, that pit row looked like a lot of cars were, err, secretly Ford Mustang powered.

johndej said:

Yeah lucky no team members have been hit the way they're treating pit lane.

Highlighting the more interesting word there- why are so many having traction problems exiting their pits like that?  Just before Veekay did that, Rossi hip checked another car doing almost the same thing farther back.  And Legge also did it earlier.  Really odd.

In reply to alfadriver :

I think a bunch of it (the way they leave) has to do with the real danger of stalling the car when it has a gear that will go 234mph, so wheelspin is good.  A bit too much wheelspin, well, it's cars & coffee time.

Entry, driving at 60mph, or whatever the pit speed limit is, seems like walking pace after running at speed.

Did you get enough heat in the brakes, which have been touched once since 40 laps ago?

I think it's a shock they don't crash more.

And Colton just ignored his front tire guy and drove into his team mate.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

This is nothing new, so the curious part, to me, is the more issues with control compared to previous years.  Wheelspin on the concrete has been a major part of this race for decades.  Sometimes there are spins, but not to this extent, seems to me.

In reply to alfadriver :

It is really bizzare; especially given the level of car control these guys possess.

Where did that tire land???

The year we went to Indy, a fan was killed by a tire going into the crowd.  This was back in the 80s.

At the beginning of the broadcast I was thinking I hate the aero screens.......right now I'm really loving the aeroscreens.

Glad Kirkwood wasn't seriously hurt.