Beautiful Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

An article by New Track Record    No Comments

The 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Barber Race was a very good-looking race. In fact, if you were flipping back and forth between the Masters and the race, there wasn’t much of a difference in the scenery. Barber is that beautiful and I think is a great addition to the IICS lineup. However, the action on the track was what we have come to expect on these road courses. It wasn’t a complete bore but it lacked the on track activity that we got spoiled with the previous two races. Watching pit strategy play out is like watching the Antique Road Show where all you really care about is the outcome but you put up with the boring chit chat to find out if this old lady’s 18th century back scratcher is worth a couple thousand dollars. And I digress. If you missed the race because you were outside enjoying the spring weather at least check out the Race Highlights.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Another victory for Team Penske but this time it wasn’t Will Power (who started from the pole but finished 4th) as Helio Castroneve’s pit strategy played out perfectly. Don’t get me wrong, Helio was fast the entire race. He raced Marco Andretti (more on him later) hard throughout the race and it could have gotten interesting if Marco would have been there at the end. Above all, I think the smiling Brazilian needed this win as we head into the month of May. Let’s face it, when Helio is running strong heading into the 500, he is the early favorite. It also shows that he is still ‘the man’ at Team Penske as he has now proven he can also win on a road course. And just wait until you get him on an oval….

Biggest Step Forward:

Scott Dixon’s second place finish (although he insists that he was screwed by race control who called him back after taking two positions at the start of the race) was strong and much-needed. He made two uncharacteristic errors at St. Pete and made up for it with a solid run here. If the track had a few more passing areas than turn five, he might have been able to make a run at Helio near the end of the race. When Scotty D is driving well, he is scary good and this result is only a momentum builder.

Biggest Step Backward:

WTF Dale Coyne racing? What are you guys doing out there? They finished 22nd and 23rd out of 25 cars! I threw out enough heat at Milka in my last post so I do not need to repeat myself here again. It is now apparent the cars they are putting on the track are complete rubbish. Alex Loyd has talent and I wonder if he is starting to second guess his decision to leave Target Ganassi for this joke show. The road courses are supposed to be the equalizer between the racing teams but DC seemed to be far off the mark. I don’t even want to imagine what sort of circus show the first oval is going to be like…

Wanker Move of the Race:

After some thought about this, I really couldn’t think of one driver, or one particular move that was ‘wankerish’ – whatever the hell that means – so I am going to give this distinct award to the new Marco Andretti IZOD IndyCar series commercial. It is beyond cheesy and his pimp walk at the end is comical at best.

Fist Pump Worthy Pass of the Race:

Putting that commercial aside, Marco had one of the most impressive runs of any of the drivers on Sunday and on lap 15, his well-timed move on Helio for the lead was Fist Pump Worthy. He also led 58 laps and if a caution would have come out towards the end of the race, victory would have surely been his. I am curious to see if he builds some confidence from this race and puts up another strong effort at Long Beach this coming weekend.

Overall Dissertation:

I did enjoy watching this race. It didn’t get me as excited as the previous two races but it was fun nonetheless. Overall, I was impressed with the course at Barber. Yes, there needs to be more passing opportunities available, but the layout was flat-out gorgeous. And from the looks of it there was a huge crowd out there which, with Barber being right smack dab in the heart of NASCAR country, was great to see. Penske won again, but it was the crowd favorite and most popular driver (not named Danica) that ended up in victory lane. Other than the IRS, how can you not like Helio and his fence climbing celebration?

I am looking forward to Long Beach, but man, we need to get these cars back on an oval track ASAP. I need to see 200mph again and soon!

Next Race: 56th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 18th at 3:30pm on VERSUS.