Now that the first of three doubleheader race weekends for the Izod IndyCar series has been completed, how about some rational thought on what took place and where this may lead in the future — key word being rational.
For months leading up to the twin races there were warnings of doom and gloom of how taxing this would be on the teams, and the prospect of carnage on the race track. I think the series more than survived the weekend’s activities and if the other two doubles at Toronto and Houston go as well they should become a staple of the yearly schedule.
Here’s a synopsis of what took place over the weekend. There was the warm and fuzzy cute start to the weekend with a family of ducks needing to be scooted off the track during the Friday practice session. We had the angry birds too, as Sebastian Saavedra gave Marco Andretti the “double bird” salute after he felt wronged by Andretti during race No. 1 and crashed out of the event. As is often the case things were smoothed over via Twitter — both are okay with it now.
Brit Mike Conway came at the last minute to drive for Dale Coyne and spanked the field during the first of the two races and also had a shot to sweep and claim a $50,000 bonus. He settled for another podium finish with a third-place result.
The winner of race No. 2 was Simon Pagenaud, who scored his first IndyCar series win and also the first for Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports.
Pagenaud’s victory made it six different drivers claiming victories in the first seven races of the season, and pretty cool that two of the series’ smaller teams trounced the big dogs of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti.
There was heartbreak as well and while that’s difficult for the drivers involved it does add to the drama. AJ Allmendinger crashed on the first lap of both races. There are currently no further IndyCar races on ‘Dinger’s’ schedule but I sure hope he is back.
Alex Tagliani had a fast race car at the start of the weekend but had mechanical issues in race one and got bumped from behind in race two.
James Hinchcliffe suffered from issues that weren’t of his doing, either. ‘Hinch’ collected a tire knocked loose by another competitor and had nowhere to go during a multi-car pileup. His all-or-nothing year continues.
Definitely the biggest negative was the first half of race two that featured numerous collisions and yellow caution flags, which killed momentum and enthusiasm. Not to mention taking a bunch of cars out of contention. The cleanup and return to racing was delayed by confusion over the race-running order. This is perhaps one situation where it would have been prudent and safer to close the pits while cleanup took place since there were cars littered across the track.
Due to mechanical issues and repairs some teams worked until very late Saturday night to be ready for Sunday’s race, but that is not the first time teams have done this. And I saw no evidence that driver fatigue was the cause of any of the accidents or had an adverse effect on the racing.
Is running two full points races on one weekend present a challenge, yes. Does it also present an opportunity to showcase the teams, cars, drivers, series, and storylines and potentially grow the fan base, yes.
A full assessment of all three twin-race weekends will be necessary at the end of the season but the first indication to me is they are here to stay.