Rain. Eventually it went to a timed race. Plus, every time it went green, it immediately went yellow.
I think they said only 6 green flag laps during the final 32. Is there any reason they do full course cautions instead of local cautions?
Normally local cautions are first considered if in the opinion of the chief steward the incident will clear itself quickly. If personnel have to be in danger to clear or cars are disabled with no apparent ability to clear, then a full course yellow will be displayed. Years ago (20 or more), road course racing rarely used full course yellows, the thinking being the rest of the track is clear, so race until you get to that area of caution where no passing was allowed. The area of caution flag was from the first displayed yellow flag to the actual incident. This seemed to work well enough until USAC first tried road racing just before it's demise as the Indy Car sanctioning body. I was a corner flagman at the first road race of the modern era at Mid-Ohio, and we were told that USAC would make the call on full course yellows and red flags. They almost always called for a full course yellow, in my opinion because that's what they were used to doing, without a clear understanding of how the local yellow worked.
Good race last weekend. I'd love to make it to a race at Long Beach. Not a big Dixon fan, but was glad to see him win it rather than one of the Penske cars. Looking forward to Barber.
YUSSSS Back when some friends of mine were trying to start a racing blog, I interviewed Josef about his time in the junior series, no credentials, not an article to my name, and he took time out of his schedule to answer a few questions over the phone. This dude is the genuine article and as humble as can be. He was saving fuel and pulling away from the master of saving fuel and going fast. That's almost as perfect as an IndyCar race could go, for me. EDIT: Not only did they do an over the phone interview, they suggested it. I would have been fine with rehearsed and e-mailed answers. I just wish I could have finished that article.
He's as good of a kid as they make. I've had a similar experience as you in my interactions with him. And I could type for hours on how classy his car owner is. I can garauntee this isn't a single person in the paddock who isn't happy for her.
Awesome race today and it was good to see Newgarden finally get that first win. He'd likely already have one or two if not for some shitty luck last year. He's been solid on the road and street courses, now just needs to get dialed in on the ovals. I'm hoping that teaming up with Carpenter will help them out there. As for Newgarden, he's definitely my favorite driver. I've heard nothing but good things about him from people who have met him.
I'll preface this post with the fact that I have a few jerseys and a few autographs myself, most of hang in the closet or are discretely displayed respectively. That said, I find nothing funnier than watching a grown ass adult with a back pack full of bullshit in full team gear get shot down for an autograph by a driver. Thank you Juan Pablo for making my day.
My first time at Barber in 2012, I got a shit ton of autographs. Last year I didn't even bother. What's the point?
I wish everybody could have witnesed the two dudes who were doing everything short of jerking off Paul Page this morning. I could waste a few hours talking about that.
Graham Rahal is a pretty big dbag, but there's not a guy I'd rather watch win less that Will Power. He wrote the book.
