96th Indianapolis 500 (Full Race post #430)
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I have watched Dario a lot off track (interviews, documentaries, guest appearances, etc) and became a big fan not only for the passionate and legendary racer he is, but because the real man behind the racer is a really wonderful guy.
I can identify with your feelings about his wife; not my type, either. But to each his own. The media takes opportunity to milk any situation, anyway.
Now - a quick break and on to the freaking Coke 600.
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Congrats to Dario, he ran a great race. I've always been a fan of his, so it's nice to see him get his third Indy win. Bad luck to Sato, I remember the commentators saying that he often pushes when he shouldn't. I admire that courage, but it cost him the race.
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Sato! Man I love watching him drive, always fast, always dramatic, always fails to finish!
Same happened the past couple of years when Sato got to the podium at a few of the oval races and when he led laps. Without fail he always crashes out when he does well.
Congrats to Dario though. 👍 Awesome drive from the back!
Good to see Barrichello finishing so well on his first oval race - he was fighting in the midfield on the lead lap for most of the race with drivers who have much more oval experience.
Good also to hear that Alesi wants to come back - hopefully next time not with Lotus.
Eh, he made plenty of race winning moves in the past. Its just he lets it get to his head and his aggressive style always comes back to haunt him.
Lets be honest here, Sato almost hit the wall half way through the race today, so its not just the end of races that Sato tends to drop it.
Same happened the past couple of years when Sato got to the podium at a few of the oval races and when he led laps. Without fail he always crashes out when he does well.
Congrats to Dario though. 👍 Awesome drive from the back!
Good to see Barrichello finishing so well on his first oval race - he was fighting in the midfield on the lead lap for most of the race with drivers who have much more oval experience.
Good also to hear that Alesi wants to come back - hopefully next time not with Lotus.
Eh, he made plenty of race winning moves in the past. Its just he lets it get to his head and his aggressive style always comes back to haunt him.
Lets be honest here, Sato almost hit the wall half way through the race today, so its not just the end of races that Sato tends to drop it.
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- gdwest1
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- JMarine25
Takuma Sato just can't buy one. You hate the aftermath of the former F1 racer to just go for it and end up wrecking. Dude wanted it. He wanted it all... but fate reared its ugly head and introduced Sato to the outside wall. Damn shame. Still, all congratulations to Dario Franchitti. Takuma Sato just seems to be real snakebit.
As for the race itself, it was a fabulous event. There are some people who still tend to think of events like the Indianapolis 500 as a dying sporting event. Almost like the traditional sports fan has very little reason to care about the Indy 500 as much as any other big time sporting event. How exactly can anyone NOT be thrilled about an event like the Indy 500? Almost like people would put the Indy 500 among the likes of boxing and horse racing. That's why I've basically stopped caring about what certain traditional sports fans (and even traditional sports reporters) think about a motor racing event like the Indy 500. Anyone who even remotely cares about sports should at least pay attention to an event like the Indy 500. All the lead changing and the on-track battles for position were a joy to watch. But... if someone thinks this event isn't all that great- that's your problem. Too bad not everyone enjoys motorsport as much as I do, let alone the Indy 500.
Semi-rant aside, this was a great race; and I enjoyed it. I want to give a shout out to Rubens Barichelllo and Jean Alesi. Sad that Alesi didn't get to last very long in the race, but I'll certainly look forward to seeing him challenge the 2013 Indy 500.
As for the race itself, it was a fabulous event. There are some people who still tend to think of events like the Indianapolis 500 as a dying sporting event. Almost like the traditional sports fan has very little reason to care about the Indy 500 as much as any other big time sporting event. How exactly can anyone NOT be thrilled about an event like the Indy 500? Almost like people would put the Indy 500 among the likes of boxing and horse racing. That's why I've basically stopped caring about what certain traditional sports fans (and even traditional sports reporters) think about a motor racing event like the Indy 500. Anyone who even remotely cares about sports should at least pay attention to an event like the Indy 500. All the lead changing and the on-track battles for position were a joy to watch. But... if someone thinks this event isn't all that great- that's your problem. Too bad not everyone enjoys motorsport as much as I do, let alone the Indy 500.
Semi-rant aside, this was a great race; and I enjoyed it. I want to give a shout out to Rubens Barichelllo and Jean Alesi. Sad that Alesi didn't get to last very long in the race, but I'll certainly look forward to seeing him challenge the 2013 Indy 500.
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Sato is a Japanese Ayrton Senna.
That was BALLSY!
That was BALLSY!
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I only do it in vain hopes that he'll learn from his mistakes.
After watching his entire F1 career, you start to learn to expect Sato to lose the car and/or crash into other drivers after an amazing drive. He has always been fast but erratic.
Ironically his calmest and most consistent years were when he was at the back doing wonders in a Super Aguri (overtaking Alonso in a McLaren even!). Anytime he has been in competitive cars he has always found himself doing well only to lose it.
Its why he has such a huge fanbase as he's very exciting, very dramatic despite being so so disappointing in terms of the results.
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👍
Sato is a Japanese Ayrton Senna.
That was BALLSY!
My first thought was both of them were going to end up in the fence, then I pictured both spinning, but somehow Franchitti escaped
It must be noted that Sato's aggression is what put him in position to win in the first place, he followed Franchitti past Dixon going into turn 1 in an almost equally daring move
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It seemed like Dario had the better car and I thought that Sato wouldn't have been able to get him off of 4, if he passed on the back straight then there would be a big enough gap that Dario wouldn't have been able to retake the lead.
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That's one heck of a nice crash shot. Was a scary wreck, though!
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It happened before with Marco Andretti and Sam Hornish back in 2006. Hornish erased the gap on Marco on the last lap, and slipstreamed past him to the finish. From my perspective, the current car has more pull than back then, so I'd rather wait until the last moment.
Or a more current comparison, Kamui Kobayashi.Sato is a Japanese Ayrton Senna.
That was BALLSY!
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That's one heck of a nice crash shot. Was a scary wreck, though!
Yeah actually that reminds me - when I first saw that crash I immediately thought about why are the noses and cockpits on these cars so low?
Ok, I know its to help reduce drag but if the cars are meant to be safer to prevent getting airbourne and adding protection for the driver's head, wouldn't it make more sense to have high cockpits and mandatory high-chassis sides like in F1?
F1 recently changed the rules to prevent this kind of contact with one car going under or over another.
If Power's car didn't have such a low nose, Conway probably wouldn't have gotten so airbourne into the fence.
