Round 16, 2013 Grand Prix of Baltimore

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

You are talking split seconds of course. Bourdais' Dragon must've looked too tasty to pass up.

It did look truly awful from the TV!

He did admit to not looking in his mirrors, so yes Bourdais' Dragon must've looked very tasty indeed.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

He did admit to not looking in his mirrors, so yes Bourdais' Dragon must've looked very tasty indeed.

The onboard from Dixon provides a better view of the incident than the front on shot.

[Peat]

If Dixon claims he was 'alongside', then perhaps he should have left Rahal room at T1 because by that logic, he was alongside too.

Unfortunate incident. I don't really blame power, it's hectic, seat of the pants stuff at restarts and it certainly isn't a case of 'mirror, signal, maneuver'.

The real issue for me is the double file restarts after making them negotiate the chicane. The first 2 rows get lined up and a low speed, then go, while everyone further back comes through and exits the chicane at racing speed, giving them (Dixon) the run.

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by leothedrummer

How so? They were completely different incidents.

The worst part of the Vautier crash was his interview afterwards:

"I saw the yellow flags, but no one told me there was a car there!"

To be fair, Jay Penske said the same thing - that the team made a mistake in not telling him there was a car stopped on track.

[HJJ]

http://www.racer.com/dixon-calls-for...rticle/310147/

[Peat]

Wow.

He's lost it!

(The championship and seemingly his mind)

[Nikki Katz]

I'm not really a doom and gloomer and about a third of that race was actually really good. It's just unfortunate that the rest was a bit of a farce.

There's always going to be contact on street courses, especially with the chunky cars that they have. However, that huge period of caution seemed to be mostly down to the side by side restarts. I was against them when they were introduced and I've not seen anything to change my mind on that, certainly not the last race. IndyCar isn't Nascar, and frankly I don't think they should be allowed to get away with all the shunting in Nascar either (not that I really follow Nascar, nor is it really broadcast much in the UK, so I think we're approaching the limits of my ignorance here...)

As for Barfield, I don't really see why he's in the job in the first place. I'm not in general for upheaval and I know that the last two races have been an official's nightmare, but I think it is time for a change. There needs to be some consistency.

I guess that given the points as they are we are probably going to end up with Castroneves as champion through luck rather than anything else. But what's done is done, I just hope it's something that the series thinks about in the off-season.

Rant over, aside from getting very angry at the last two races I am actually enjoying this year.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Peat

Wow.

He's lost it!

(The championship and seemingly his mind)

No he hasn't lost his mind....
He is keeping strictly to the issues arising over the incidents relating to the Baltimore event in the light of the penalty he received at the previous event.

I said after the previous event that the judicial process seemed to be in a mess and that Indycar's processes could shoot itself in the foot....

It did. There has to be consistency and there is not. If there are questions over team strategy and game playing and Indycar cannot run its sporting affairs in an even handed manner or cannot be seen to be impartial in its judicial process then it has to accept a public debate on its performance.

In the public eyes this is a sporting competition not a business and if it is not adjudicated in an openly fair and just manner then it brings the administration of the championship into disrepute.

If that is happening then there is a lot of repairing to do or the series championship will suffer further.

[KSR88]

Seems to that Scott needs to behave more like a champion contender. He did hit a guy, drive thru a parked cars stall and run over a hose. Why was he buzzing Power's pit? If it is fair to accuse a tire changer of delibrate action it is fair to ask what the hell Scott was doing. After all he was in the 750 HP - 1500 lb machine with aggressive leading edges.
At Baltimore he went very close to the dirty side of the track wall to try and dive bomb Will Power on a restart. At that point he knew Helio was way behind. What was he thinking? It didn't matter when Power proved to be just as stupid going out on the marbles to try and outbrake Seabass. It went terribly wrong for him when he discoverd Scott had red mist instead of championships on his mind. Divebombing a restart hard against a wall seldom turns out well. And whatever the result it is always Beau's fault.
Street races are more about surviving to the last five laps and seeing if you are in position to win.

[gert]

Oh, no problem.
Barfield can walk away when Castroneves wins the championship. Mission accomplished.

[gert]

Originally Posted by KSR88

And whatever the result it is always Beau's fault.

The crash isn't. The inconsistency is.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by gert

Oh, no problem.
Barfield can walk away when Castroneves wins the championship. Mission accomplished.

Very cynical....

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by KSR88

Seems to that Scott needs to behave more like a champion contender. He did hit a guy, drive thru a parked cars stall and run over a hose. Why was he buzzing Power's pit? If it is fair to accuse a tire changer of delibrate action it is fair to ask what the hell Scott was doing. After all he was in the 750 HP - 1500 lb machine with aggressive leading edges.
At Baltimore he went very close to the dirty side of the track wall to try and dive bomb Will Power on a restart. At that point he knew Helio was way behind. What was he thinking? It didn't matter when Power proved to be just as stupid going out on the marbles to try and outbrake Seabass. It went terribly wrong for him when he discoverd Scott had red mist instead of championships on his mind. Divebombing a restart hard against a wall seldom turns out well. And whatever the result it is always Beau's fault.
Street races are more about surviving to the last five laps and seeing if you are in position to win.

Until Now Dixon's conduct in general seems to have been good regarding bad mouthing others. However there now seems to have been a series of events over the last two meetings where he questions the consistency of judgements and the ethics of events may be open to debate.

To simply stonewall someone who may have genuine grievance is just authoritarian nonsense. If there are questions that are reasonable then they have to be answered.
Someone suggested in reply to a previous post that the rules had to be followed but if that has not happened then the questions 'why not?' and is there partiality occurring need to be answered. If there is some partiality then they (Indycar) really have a problem on their hands.

Real answers, not just PR slap downs need to occur.

[Peat]

There are ways to do things. Running your mouth to the media is not one of them.

If he truly believes there is fixing going on, he should go legal. At the moment, all i hear is "Waaaaaaaah". It's a shame, i had alot of respect for Scotty a few weeks ago.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Peat

There are ways to do things. Running your mouth to the media is not one of them.

If he truly believes there is fixing going on, he should go legal. At the moment, all i hear is "Waaaaaaaah". It's a shame, i had alot of respect for Scotty a few weeks ago.

The problem with the 'strong silent guy' approach is nothing changes and the perpetual wrongs never get attended to.
Speaking out about (perceived) injustice against the flow of opinion often takes more strength and courage, especially if it is going on and being ignored.
If something is wrong and should be dealt with, saying nothing just allows it to perpetuate.

[gert]

Scott Dixon fined and placed on probation.

LOL! Punished for pointing out the obvious.

They really couldn't find some dubious phrasing somewhere in their "rulebook" to justify deducting a few championship points? 55 would do it, I think?

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by gert

Scott Dixon fined and placed on probation.

LOL! Punished for pointing out the obvious.

They really couldn't find some dubious phrasing somewhere in their "rulebook" to justify deducting a few championship points? 55 would do it, I think?

No need for points.
The 'Racer' article indicated that he was more consolatory and was prepared to take what punishment they dealt out.
The fine can be paid off by doing promotional / community work for Indycar.

They have him where they want him.

Probation means they can basically do what they like in the future and he has to take it like a lamb, because saying anything else would give them an excuse to slap him much harder....