Indianapolis

Day Two – First Day of Qualifying

Camera:
Canon EOS 7D MK II
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II – from CPS

Lenses:
EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM – from CPS

I was up at 5:00 am. I needed to arrive early, if I wanted to get my spot in the Press Box again. It was misting outside as I was driving. I just assumed it would blow over. It did, but it was cloudy and cool. When practice opened, only a hand-full of drivers went out. Yesterday, I talked with one of the Yellow Shirts (the name for the employees who manage the flow of fans throughout the track). He and I got along and we talked about the drivers and the teams. Today, there were two more Yellow Shirts working the Press Box. We had a good time talking about the drivers and what we expected to see today for qualifying speeds and who would be fast.

We were watching the weather and knew a big line of thunder storms were coming our way. Sure enough, the speedway issued a warning and we quickly had to leave the stands. It rained heavily and thundered for about an hour. We were finally allowed back into the stands by 1:30ish.

The track was soaked and you could see standing water. After a half hour, the safety trucks came out and started drying the track. I assumed it would take three hours or more to dry it!!! Nope, the sun came out and it was mostly dry in an hour. They send another hour drying the stubborn spots.

When I watched on TV, the place always looked full. Maybe it was the rain, but it was just a little busier than a normal weekday practice session. As the afternoon went on, it seemed to get busier!

Because of tradition, the qualifying rules and program are a little messed up!! Through the 1990’s, there were always way more cars than the thirty-three cars that would start the race. The traditional qualifying process was spread over two weekends. The first Saturday, the top eleven were locked in, however, all fully qualified car’s times were kept. On Sunday, the next eleven were locked in. On the next weekend’s Saturday and Sunday, the last eleven are set. That weekend was the last throw of the dice for the rest. That Sunday was referred to as “Bump Day.” Up until 6:00 pm, there would be last minute deals for cars and drivers, as well as, cars making a last-ditched effort to find a little more speed. It was great drama and I do miss it. In those days, the cost to field a car and take a chance of getting into the race was acceptable. That was then – now, the cost to just show up at Indy is a couple million dollars.

Indycar underwent a “split” in 1996 and it devastated the sport. It is way too long of a story for this blog, but it hurt the interest in Indycar. While the split was healed in 2008, the interest in IndyCar stayed about the same. With the new car that was introduced in 2012, the racing has gotten much better. In fact, the last three years have been the best racing I have seen anywhere. Sadly, the interest in IndyCar has barely increased.

Now back to the “new” qualifying rules. It has been difficult to get the thirty-three cars needed to fill the field, so there is no more bumping. All cars that show up get into the field! They shortened the qualifying into two days on the weekend before the race. To have some resemblance of bumping, the first day is only used to separate the “Fast Nine” from the other twenty -four drivers. No times are kept, only the order that you qualified in determines which group you are in. Both groups go again on Sunday and that time is used to determine starting position. However, you cannot move to another group if you are faster or slower. It is a contrived method to determine starting position!!! There must be something better!!!!

With the shortened time to qualify today because of the rain, everyone was going to have one opportunity to qualify. If there had been more time, some cars could go out again to better their time. It was interesting to watch the drivers get as much out of their cars as they could. Several cars touched the wall coming off Turn 2. They didn’t lose much speed after touching the wall!!!!

As each car went out, the speeds generally increased. Sebastian Bourdais was putting in the fastest laps at the time when he lost the rear of the car. It shot straight into the wall and the car tumbled!!! It was one of the nastiest wrecks I have seen. He fractured his hip and pelvis in several places.

There were drivers that you would have just assumed they would be in the fastest group. They were setting times that would put them around fifteenth to twenty-fifth!!!! I was surprised to see these drivers back this far!!!

When qualifying was finished, I was happy that Will Power was in the top nine. Tomorrow they get to run again to determine the final starting positions!!!

Here are the “Fast Nine:”

1) Ed Carpenter - 230.468 mph
2) Takuma Sato - 230.382 mph
3) Scott Dixon - 230.333 mph
4) JR Hildebrand - 230.205 mph
5) Alexander Rossi - 230.148 mph
6) Will Power - 230.072 mph
7) Fernando Alonso - 230.034 mph
8) Tony Kanaan - 230.007 mph
9) Marco Andretti - 229.924 mphRead more