Infineon Raceway Motorola Indy 300

[Adam43]

Kanaan drove some great laps for Dario at the end there.

[Purist]

Frankly, blocking has no place in professional motor racing, especially in open wheel! Defensive driving is one thing, but swerving a blatant blocks are another, and a line MUST be drawn.

[Knowlesy]

Yes, I should imagine those last laps were unpleasant for Kanaan but he stuck to the task extremely well.

So perhaps I should have said Tony did well to limit the damage.

[Hazard]

Someone at AGR needs firing - either Marco's spotter, or Marco himself. Good that Kanaan played the team game, but "dad's the boss" can't be used to help Marco there...find him a one car effort somewhere, get him away from those cars!

(That said, brilliant job getting to the top '2', but not at that cost).

[drdisque]

I think if you take into account all the blocking, Dixon's wasn't exceptionally bad. I think Kanaan's, especially when you take the league's stance on team order's into account, was the worst.

[luke]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I don't see why Dixon should be black flagged for blocking. This is motor racing not Champcar.

calling Champ Car not motor racing? Quite a big ausation there considering this is about the IRL race.

As for his blocking which wasn't just moving 1 side to the other, swerving and even forcing drovers onto to the grass isn't allowed. I am surprised he didn't get black flagged because the IRL doesn't tolerate blocking.

[luke]

Originally Posted by Purist

Frankly, blocking has no place in professional motor racing, especially in open wheel! Defensive driving is one thing, but swerving a blatant blocks are another, and a line MUST be drawn.

Agreed.

[Mystery]

Marco the Mirror does it again - but no doubt his mirror was broken / at the wrong angle / blocked by customs / stolen by his spotter. I'm sure Daddy is proud

[Knowlesy]

Dixon aggressively defended his lead, but there isn't a suffocating no-block rule here. He was within the rules I thought.

I would have welcomed a black flag for Scott being a desperate Dario fan , but let's be honest here. Kanaan was blocking in similar fashion!

[deejay]

When did Scott block? He defended aggresively coming out the pits a couple of times, but on both occasions gave up the position eventually. I thought that was fair. He's racing for the championship here. I would have been annoyed if he'd just relinquished his position without a fight.

I was more concerned by the tricks he was playing with Helio on the last restart - don't know quite what he was trying to achieve other than get himself punted.

Anyway, got there in the finish. AGR are doing their best to throw away this championship!

[Purist]

Dario would have been fine waiting a couple extra corners to pass Marco. I suspect Marco's spotter wasn't on his game right then. Also, that place on the course is pretty tricky. You generally use all of the room on the exit of Turn 2, which if Dario were alongside and did that would physically forced Marco off the track anyway. This tendency would have been aggravated because Dario took a tight entry and would need all of the raod on exit.

[Fish_Flake]

It was a good race if you like traffic jams. If the same thing happens next week a driver is going to find himself in Windsor without the faintest idea how he got there.

[luke]

Dixon violently swerved a number of times across the whole track. He then later forced Kanaan on the dirt when he was along side later. This isn't moving to one side this was forcing the driver off and swerving dangerously. Considering blocking isn't allowed I was shocked he didn;t get black flagged.

As for Kanaan he didn't actually block. He just made his car wide and drove slow. Hornish was never going to pass. He did move once though when he was braking early when Castronenves got past. It was funny what he was doing but it wasn't what Dixon was doing.

[NAC]

Originally Posted by luke

Dixon violently swerved a number of times across the whole track. He then later forced Kanaan on the dirt when he was along side later. This isn't moving to one side this was forcing the driver off and swerving dangerously. Considering blocking isn't allowed I was shocked he didn;t get black flagged.

As for Kanaan he didn't actually block. He just made his car wide and drove slow. Hornish was never going to pass. He did move once though when he was braking early when Castronenves got past. It was funny what he was doing but it wasn't what Dixon was doing.

Oh luke, you don't by any chance like Dixon then?

Dario had help out there today in the form of Kanaan
http://www.indycar.com/news/story.php?story_id=9794
Dixon didn't have any help (well apart from Dario's other team mate but that's a different story)

In some peoples eyes Dixon may not have drove the perfect race but hey they are driving out there for a championship. Put your self in Dixon's shoes for a minute, if that was you and you were struggling to try get around a guy would you try a few things?? Put it down to racing - the stewards obviously did.

If Dixon didn't try to at least give it a go what sort of racing is that - boring

[Adam43]

Oh NAC, you don't by any chance like Dixon then?

BTW, I have no problem with what either did. From what I saw, Dixon was the more agressive in defence, but not a problem IMHO.

[NAC]

Yep, how did you guess that??????

I have no problem with what Kanaan did either. It's what you would expect from a wing man

[luke]

Originally Posted by NAC

Oh luke, you don't by any chance like Dixon then?

Dario had help out there today in the form of Kanaan
http://www.indycar.com/news/story.php?story_id=9794
Dixon didn't have any help (well apart from Dario's other team mate but that's a different story)

In some peoples eyes Dixon may not have drove the perfect race but hey they are driving out there for a championship. Put your self in Dixon's shoes for a minute, if that was you and you were struggling to try get around a guy would you try a few things?? Put it down to racing - the stewards obviously did.

If Dixon didn't try to at least give it a go what sort of racing is that - boring

No. I'll say it again. I have no problem with Dixon but I did with his driving this weekend There is no blocking allowed in the IRL but multiple times he drove people off the road and swerved violently multiple times. Moving once is one thing but what he did should have earnt him a black flag. Many people agree. 3 dangerous moves, and 4th questionable one. Like I said moving once is 1 thing but dangerously swerving left then right, there is no chance anyone can pass, it's collide or grass.

As for Kanaan he just drove slow them fast the whole last stint and did make his car wide. He drove slow on purpose didn't block. There was no way Sam was going to attempt to pass. He did slow down early at the hairpin and him and Castroneves did get close.

[luke]

I just want to add I understand why he blocked as it was vital due to the points. Whatever happens, it's going to be exciting in these last 2 races. I would like to see Dario turn it around, but if Scott wins I guess he has deserved it as in affect he hasn't made any notable mistakes and has been consistently there.

[Knowlesy]

Drove people off the road? Sorry, I do not think so.

The only person that drove someone off the road was Dario (accidentally). That utterly pedantic point aside, I have looked at the moves Scott made again and again and saw nothing to my eye that was even remotely wrong.

If you really expect Scott to give up his title hopes by parking at the side of the road and waving all and sundry past then you may be disappointed to learn this will not happen. I am enjoying this title fight so far and don't expect it to be approached any differently by any of the drivers.

[luke]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Drove people off the road? Sorry, I do not think so.

Kanaan was along side but he swove across, Kanaan had to go onto the dirt. 'Sorry' but that is driving someone off the 'road'.

The only person that drove someone off the road was Dario (accidentally). That utterly pedantic point aside, I have looked at the moves Scott made again and again and saw nothing to my eye that was even remotely wrong.

Blocking isn't allowed, end of.

If you really expect Scott to give up his title hopes by parking at the side of the road and waving all and sundry past then you may be disappointed to learn this will not happen. I am enjoying this title fight so far and don't expect it to be approached any differently by any of the drivers.

I didn't say that, and I said I know what he did because it was vital he stayed a head.

[Davhut]

An insider's view of Marco's mistake...

http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/39773/

[tanalised]

ain't that the truth.
Especially the bit about Marco's win at Sonoma last year... very dubious spin by Herta assisted him greatly.
Fantastic win by Dixon; when he clearly didn't have the fastest car. But as stated in Millers article AGR committed suicide, to greatly assist him.
Michael Andretti's comments after the race prove what a bonehead he is; and that his alliance lies with his son, and not with his driver (then) leading the championship race. I'd be feeling betrayed if I were Franchitti.

[deejay]

Originally Posted by luke

multiple times he drove people off the road and swerved violently multiple times.

Wow. Once again I seem to have seen a completely different race than you. When did he drive anyone off the road? (I thought that was Dario!)

I do remember Helio banging wheels with Scott, but as Scott had the inside line and just held it, that would have to be down to Helio trying to pass. Neither driver complained about the incident after the race.

I haven't heard any complaints from any drivers about what Scott did. Dario even praised him for giving racing room when on cold tires! (unlike his own teammate).

Seriously dude, get the blinkers off.

edit: i see now you've already been reproached by Knowlesy...

[Davhut]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

But Dario seemed a bit panicced in his move.

It looked to me, and granted it was on TV, that Dario maybe assumed he wouldn't be closed upon. I didn't see any panic, just a for sure move to the right and possibly the thought that no teammate could be dumb enough not to give him room, to hit the only guy on his 4 car team with a shot at the championship. He must have been going 50 mph faster and if he had slowed, Dixon would have pounced right then.
AGR and Mikey for certain screwed the pooch big time.

[deejay]

I don't think it was really Marco's fault. Dario obviously expected Marco to just leap out of the way. I think that was a bit optimistic. Marco wouldn't have known exactly where Dario was, or Dixon, he couldn't just pull over to the side of the road and let Dario though.

Unless someone on the team specifcally told him that Marco was going to pull over for him then I think Dario should have been more cautious - or at least, you know, wait for a clear gap before diving underneath him.