The official Indy 500 chat thread

[Down F0rce]

Yeah, Dan moved down the track a bit to hold off Hornish. I don't think it was illegal, as you are allowed to move once across the track. I didn't see him move beforehand, so I don't see a reason why he should get fined or anything.

[ensign14]

You're not allowed even one move. Wheldon nearly put Hornish on the grass.

[Lee Janotta]

Dan's move was reactive, and therefore illegal. Trust is essential in this sort of racing, you have to have faith that the guy next to you is going to race you honestly.

It may be a common practice in Europe (and from watching F3000, it looks that way), but I agree wholeheartedly with Stirling Moss, who's said that young drivers trained in Europe do not realize the danger they're in, because safety is such a constant buzzword. The cars are "safe", the tracks are "safe", and as such, they believe they can wreck without really risking their safety.

If you put a driver with that mentality on an oval, it's only a matter of time before he either gets his head straight, or ends up splattered all along the outside wall.

That said, I think a reprimand from the officials would suffice this time. Dan's move was not _so_ aggressive that I'd say action should be taken. Plus, he wrecked the car, that's punishment enough this time.

I don't want to single Dan out for this behavior, it seems very widespread (witness Mario Haberfeld's controversial Champcar debut in St. Petersburg). But this is a very good example of a move which would be perfectly acceptable at Imola, but could easily get someone killed at Indy.

PS: Aside from that move, Dan did really good out there today.

[marcus]

yep , the IRL rules are clear , they were outlined to the drivers all month and all year so far for that matter , No blocking at all will be tolerated , I agree with the one move rule and think that its fair on road courses but on ovals any kind of move can become very hazardous , so thats why they canned it , so if you look at the rule in its raw form then Wheldon should at least get a talking to , but it a close call.

[evo]

So, is Dan Wheldon going to be driving the number 7 car for the rest of the year then?

[racer69]

No, he is driving #26 for the rest of the year

Regarding Wheldon's move, they IRL as mentioned have clear guidelines with regards to blocking. Remember they are travelling roughly 225mph, and Hornish was just about on the grass when he had to back out of it.

All in all a good race, not the greatest one i have seen at Indy, but certainly not a poor one. A great drive by De Ferran, but if it wasn't for AJ IV hampering Castroneves, then i don't think Gil would have got him.

What about ESPN International. The advertised start time was 1.30am Australian time, for a half hour build up before the start of the race. Then they go and put soccer on, and by the time they cut to the race it was 3 laps in......Lucky i started watching the Channel 10 coverage which started at 1.45am so i didn't miss a thing. Some of you might complain about Paul Page etc...but i'd much rather them than the ESPN coverage, not only do they not have pit reporters, but could the callers un-hype the racing anymore (that goes each race)

[Crash Test]

Full agree on everything there.

AJ IV seemed to be on another planet a couple times there...

I must admit i was rooting for someone else bar Penske, but at the end of the day, you've got to hand it to them, 12 wins is absolutely incredible, and a 1-2 is a fantastic effort.

Do you think HCN would have had a bigger go in the closing stages if it wasn't his teammate ahead of him?

[marcus]

I dunno if he had anything left , im sure he really wanted his three-peat , you just dont know, but im sure he was glad if anyone beat him it was Gil.

as for ESPN , what a shocker coverage that was , I also managed to watch the start on channel 10 and didnt miss any of it thankfully , and then swapped over to ESPN because the reception through cable is alot better than what I egt with free to air TV, but I was none to impressed with it, even the stolen pit reports from abc didnt have any sound at all.