It’s nice to see Newgarden finally win it, even though the last 14 laps were painful to watch. The drivers using the pit entrance to break the tow is really sketchy though. Indycar should ban that asap.
I was rooting for McLaren, but they threw that away.
My cousin was row 10 right next to the wheel with some of his trauma colleagues. Talk about irony... they lucked out though. His wife was with the kids further up the track and got debris in her hair lol. Apparently the wheel mutilated some little compact car in the parking lot.
In addition, if you look at the replay in detail, the tire just barely cleared the fence. But there's really no fence high enough to stop a tire that was struck by another car from clearing the catch fence. That's why it's completely essential that the tires remain secured to the car to begin with.
Apparently, the cars were running upgraded, stronger tethers on the rear for 2023, but it still failed
The NTT IndyCar Series will introduce new and stronger rear wheel tethers in an effort to ensure the heavy suspension and wheel/tire assemblies stay connected to the chassis in the event of a crash…
racer.com
And I still don't get why openwheel cars still exist. They're based on century old designs, where speed was more important then safety. Enclose the wheels. Openwheels create such a needless extra risk to autoracing just so the cars can have the 'openwheel' look. There's been countless bad accidents related to openwheels.
Also, they need a rule limiting red flags late in the race.
And they need a rule not allowing people to weave below the white line on the front stretch before the pit straight
Thanks to living in Indy, the race was blacked out and shown later on tonight last night. Why is that still a thing? I was trying to avoid spoilers all day and just got around to finishing it. The ending felt like recent Daytona 500's. Unending cautions and red flags. The tire going over the fence was frightening. They were lucky it landed where it did and not in the stands.
I wouldn't say that this race was a farce. The decision to throw the red flag for the last wreck was totally justified in my opinion. Cars had to be recovered from BOTH sides of the track, creating a very precarious situation to drive through. Not to mention the large amount of debris. If they did it for a single car wreck I would've cracked it and cried "this is being done for entertainment!" but thankfully I didn't. We got a fair race to the line and a deserving winner who didn't simply luck out.