IndyCar Debacle

            Oh IndyCar, you make it so hard to be a fan of your league. Just when you think IndyCar is taking a step forward, it takes two back, literally. On Sunday, it was announced that the new cars planned to debut in 2012 will have to wait until 2013. Then on the same day, the race at New Hampshire Speedway ended in complete chaos.

                
             IndyCar President Randy Bernard said the reason for the delay of the cars is money. Numerous team owners have said that they will not be able to afford enough cars to run next season. In a recent vote to decide if the cars should be used next season, owners voted 15-0 against using them. Bernard said “…we don't want to go from 27 or 28 cars (in the racing field) to 16 cars because it's cost-prohibitive. If we'd have had 16 cars, (the kits, or cars) would have been the excuse. It could have been the demise of our sport." I understand the move but it’s disappointing to have to wait another year to see the new cars in action.

                
            The part I don’t understand is how Indianapolis Star writer Curt Cavin says “Every team will have new cars; the Dallara prototype debuted last week at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course…” Every team will have new cars? Will they be new cars but with the current body? Chevrolet and Lotus will also be a part of the series next year, but again, I’m not sure how.

                
            Now, to get to the actual on track action. The race at New Hampshire was dominated by points leader Dario Franchitti until about halfway through the race. Franchitti and Takuma Sato made contact after a restart and caused Dario to crash. After that it was a three-way battle for the lead between Servia, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Scott Dixon.

                
            With 10 laps (Lap 218) to go the cars were preparing for a restart.  Several of the drivers were pleading with their spotters and crew chiefs to let IndyCar officials know the track was had moisture on it and was too slippery to drive on. The chief official, Brian Barnhart, said he never knew about the drivers wanting a red flag thrown. So the green flag was waved and cars went everywhere. Danica Patrick immediately lost control and slid into Will Power, and then Takuma Sato and Ed Carpenter crashed into Will Power. After Will Power got out of the car he flipped the double bird, on live TV, in the direction of where Barnhart was stationed at above the track. After the crash IndyCar decided that the track was in fact too wet and the race was red flagged.

Will Power in all his glory

               
            After the damage had been done, IndyCar decided they would revert back to the results before the caution came out. That meant the winner was Ryan Hunter-Reay but Oriol Servia took issue with that because on the restart on Lap 218 he had gotten by Hunter-Reay before the caution was thrown for all the spun-out cars. Scott Dixon said after the race “I was thinking Oriol won the race, Ryan Hunter-Reay deserved to win the race, but if you go by how we normally race he didn’t win. I’m not racing USAC or racing on the dirt… the caution laps count”.

               

                
            It’s safe to say that Sunday was the worst day for the IndyCar series this season. Dedicated fans to casual racing fans to newcomers had to be disappointed by the delay of the new cars. Then those fans had to be even more disappointed to see their league act like it doesn’t know its own rule book and doesn’t respect the opinion of its drivers. There have been several instances this year that have brought into questioning of how the officials of IndyCar handle situations and penalties. After this season rules need to be created, eradicated, or be made clearer so the drivers, teams, and fans can all understand what is allowed and what isn’t.

This picture taken during the race at New Hampshire was symbolic of the weekend IndyCar had. IndyCar race cars crashing in front of a NASCAR banner.