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Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama - Officially


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Poll: Your favourite Alabama pop culture reference is... (69 member(s) have cast votes)

Your favourite Alabama pop culture reference is...

  1. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (21 votes [30.43%])

    Percentage of vote: 30.43%

  2. Forrest Gump (Greenbow, Alabama) (12 votes [17.39%])

    Percentage of vote: 17.39%

  3. Biology - Girls Aloud (3 votes [4.35%])

    Percentage of vote: 4.35%

  4. Clarkson, Hammond and May getting chased out of town by rednecks (33 votes [47.83%])

    Percentage of vote: 47.83%

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#1 PayasYouRace

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 07:56

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IZOD Indycar Series Round 2 of 19: Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Location: Birmingham (not the one in the Midlands)
Circuit: Barber Motorsports Park (the one with the giant insects)
Length: 2.38-miles
Turns: About 17 - depends on who numbered the map you're looking at
Turns right?: Yes. It's even a clockwise track.
Elevation changes: Plenty

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Who are you and what have you done with Risil?

I won the honour of starting this thread by correctly guessing the demise of Will Power in the St. Petersburg race last time out. Unless I manage a similar feat this time, it'll be someone else next time. If I do guess correct again, I'll start sending you numbers for the lottery of your choice.

What happened in Russia?

The Mayor of Hinchtown won the race in Danica's car. I'm sceptical of his actual political qualifications but this boy Jim sure can handle the wheel. Will Power was run over from behind by JR Hildebrand who wasn't paying attention under the safety car full course caution. Dario MacPizza drove straight into a wall after exiting the pits. Tony Kanaan and teammate Simona de Silvestro were involved in a team orders controversy so big that nobody dared start a thread on it on this board.

What about the last few years?

Past winners have come from the Penske stable.
2012 Will Power
2011 Will Power
2010 Helio Castroneves

What times are things on?

Friday 5th April
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM Indycar practice 1
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM Indycar practice 2

Saturday, 23 March
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Indycar practice 3
10:25 AM - 11:30 AM Indycar qualifying

Sunday, 24 March
12:00 PM - 12:30 PM Indycar warm-up
3:30 PM - 5:45 PM Honda Grand Prix of Alabama

Full weekend schudule here: http://www.indycar.c...WeekendSchedule

What about TV?

For the US

NBC Sports Network supposedly begin their broadcast of the race at 2pm at what I assume is Eastern time. Someone else will be able to provide more details, because I am lazy.

In the UK, the schedule is as follows:

ESPN - 8/Apr at 00:30 (Re-Run as live) // 9/Apr at 20:00 (Highlights) British Summer Time

Your options are neatly summed up by billm99uk

So this weekend either I have to

(a) stay up to 3-4am Monday morning and spend the day at work trying to stay awake ; or
(b) record it and avoid using the Autosport site and my iPad & iPhone for a whole day (yikes!); or
© find one of the aforementioned dodgy streams and spend the evening closing random pop-ups for penile implants and Chinese brides (which will no doubt appear just as a pass for the lead is about to be made or Will/Dario decides to back it into the wall)

It's a hard life being a British Indycar fan these days :cry:


What sort of racing will we expect?

After St. Pete this season seems to be shaping up to be quite competitive. Barber has shown itself to be quite overtaking friendly over the past few years. Expect fireworks into the plunging T5 hairpin and into the blind downhill chicane at T-7. These races are often dominated by fuel strategy but I think the race length has been changed to avoid that kind of thing happening. Expect Will Power to still dominate and then be robbed by some (no so) freak occurence, while the rest of the order behind him will be anyone's guess.

Enjoy the race, if you can watch it.

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#2 Fulcrum

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 09:24

I love this track

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Edited by Fulcrum, 03 April 2013 - 09:25.


#3 GS1

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 09:53

Alabama by Neil Young, and the Talledega oval. Go Hinchcliffe!

#4 Muppetmad

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 10:03

This was my favourite race last year: good, clean, tight racing - what more can I ask for? I hope a repeat will be in store this year!

#5 gm914

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 10:59

Great OP, PAYR!


#6 Bloggsworth

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 12:25

Sweet Home Alabama is one of those records that sounds better on a good radio than a Hi-Fi system - It's the way they mixed it.

#7 muramasa

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 13:08


what's that spider

#8 Deluxx

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 13:20

what's that spider


one of the team owners, Roger Penske

Edited by Deluxx, 03 April 2013 - 13:20.


#9 Victor_RO

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 13:26

I won the honour of starting this thread by correctly guessing the demise of Will Power in the St. Petersburg race last time out. Unless I manage a similar feat this time, it'll be someone else next time.


I call dibs on this. :cat:

#10 Deluxx

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 14:59

Simona will come in 4th.

#11 Dolph

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 15:11

I love this track on iRacing

#12 PayasYouRace

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 16:45

I call dibs on this. :cat:


Fine by me. :up:

#13 jonpollak

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 19:21

My choice for Alabama pop culture reference was not listed.
It's a line in a Steely Dan song..
"They call Alabama the Crimson Tide....Call me Deacon Blue"
Which relates to the Tide Cheerleaders who came to our aftershow party in Tuscaloosa last year.
The eminence of these girls is held in greater reverence than the achievements of Tallulah Bankhead or Jim Nabors

I call dibs on this. :cat:

It dunny work like that...
Y'all need to make some amazing prophecy during the race otherwise the ethos of the whole thing is turned on it's ear.
Or there needs to be a local who can spread the flavour of the event...(like someone in Sao Paulo..hint hint)

Otherwise Risil is the man and he can delegate as he sees fit.
Jp


#14 Risil

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 19:25

Nice job, PaYR. :) :up: Barber's a super track, I'm looking forward to this one. Sad that Nigel Mansell never got the chance to do his home race while he was in CART.

I call dibs on this. :cat:


Only you if you promise to include the ALMS, Mister Sports Cars. :cool:

Anyway, I'm claiming my rights and calling Sao Paolo (unless we gots some Brazilians) and the Mork & Mindy 500.

Edited by Risil, 03 April 2013 - 19:27.


#15 Victor_RO

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 19:28

Amazing prophecy that will not come true? Seabass on the podium. :D

Only you if you promise to include the ALMS, Mister Sports Cars. :cool:


It'll just mean that I'll put more emphasis on the Falken grid girls. :lol:

#16 Risil

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 19:51

No touchin'

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#17 SR388

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 20:33

Sato will win it all.

Alabama is a terrible place.

The track facility is amazing.

Other tracks need to copy their efficiency of getting people in and out of the track.

I am looking forward to going to the museum this time.

I will be at the race.

#18 Risil

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 20:41

what's that spider


I for one welcome our new insect overlords.

#19 jonpollak

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 20:46

Alabama is a terrible place.

©Tom Robinson

Hey SR388.. take some pics and give us a flave of the place.
And..have a great time (just stay away from Maycomb county)
Jp



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#20 SR388

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 20:51

©Tom Robinson

Hey SR388.. take some pics and give us a flave of the place.
And..have a great time (just stay away from Maycomb county)
Jp


Will do. I may borrow a camera, since I am a cheap and miserly man who only has a iPhone for a camera.


Also the feel of the track is a park. Lots of young trees on the backstretch obscuring sight lines. The track is also a track within itself, very small footprint. Tracks like Road Atlanta are more of a perimeter and the infield takes up a huge amount of space. At Barber, you cant even go in the infield.

Last year we left home on Sunday morning, and only arrived about an hour before the race. This year I am leaving Saturday afternoon and getting to the track early Sunday. My brother-in-law is trying to get access to the Honda stands. I may or may not go for that. The nice thing about a road course is scouting around for a nice viewing spot, and near the end of the race last year I found one on the end of the backstretch.

Edited by SR388, 03 April 2013 - 20:58.


#21 PayasYouRace

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 20:53

My choice for Alabama pop culture reference was not listed.
It's a line in a Steely Dan song..
"They call Alabama the Crimson Tide....Call me Deacon Blue"
Which relates to the Tide Cheerleaders who came to our aftershow party in Tuscaloosa last year.
The eminence of these girls is held in greater reverence than the achievements of Tallulah Bankhead or Jim Nabors


There's always next year JP.  ;)

Frankly I'm a little scared that someone else picked a certain one of the options. :well:

#22 PayasYouRace

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 20:55

Amazing prophecy that will not come true? Seabass on the podium. :D



Sato will win it all.


Ooooh. Now it's getting interesting.

#23 teejay

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 02:50

That wont come true?

Marco on pole by 8 tenths of a second

#24 Chubby_Deuce

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 05:37

The spider is gnarly (for Risil) but the chick in the lake is my favorite.

Posted Image
Barber Motorsports Park by jaci starkey, on Flickr

Aw crap, it's gone though! http://blog.al.com/s...pture_bein.html

Edited by Chubby_Deuce, 04 April 2013 - 05:38.


#25 stewie

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 11:36

I think you have attached the wrong track map.

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I'm looking forward to the short train ride from my house in Stratford-upon-Avon.

#26 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 11:40

The Lady in the Lake always made me think Birthing Pool.

#27 SR388

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 11:50

The bathing woman makes me wish I could swim better.

#28 PayasYouRace

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 12:35

I think you have attached the wrong track map.

Posted Image

I'm looking forward to the short train ride from my house in Stratford-upon-Avon.


Damn. Wish I'd thought of that. :cool:

#29 Pharazon

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 13:12

No touchin'

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the amount of **** he got into over that was incredible

#30 stewie

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 20:07

Damn. Wish I'd thought of that. :cool:


I have one moment of genius a year. This was it!

#31 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 20:13

Those are the fattest pro-cyclists I've ever seen.

#32 Dolph

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 21:29

Those are the fattest pro-cyclists I've ever seen.


Maybe it was a downhill course. :p

#33 red stick

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 23:44

what's that spider

That's Charlotte.

Seriously.

Although my favorite is the spider over near the museum carrying the motorcyclist back to her lair.

#34 genespleen

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 01:03

The Barber museum is absolutely spectacular. Anyone who visits should plan to spend multiple hours there drooling over the bikes. It's a world-class facility, easily.

#35 MattFoster

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 03:45

I predict as my fanciful prediction that EJ Viso will not crash in the race for the second race in a row, and he will finish in the top 10 :)

#36 Prost1997T

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 11:49

I predict as my fanciful prediction that EJ Viso will not crash in the race for the second race in a row, and he will finish in the top 10 :)


Viso hasn't crashed of his own volition in some time, unless you count lightly clipping the wall at Detroit and carrying on. The two oval crashes last year were the result of Penske drivers turning into him (depending on who you believe it was due to inadequate spotting on the team's part).

#37 HaydenFan

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 19:16

My prediction is that everyone will finish the race. No Sato taking Viso out. There is no wall for Dario to hit unless he really tries. Zero DNF's for the race.

Past that ridiculousness, can anyone stop Will Power here though? Or Penske for that matter? 3 for 3 at Barber, and showed at St. Petersburg, they are again the best team on the grid.

#38 jonpollak

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 20:24

First Practice results
First Practice Highlights

Looks like our car has contracted Diabeeetus
Jp

#39 Prost1997T

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 20:27

RHR and Vautier may be the wildcards to disrupt the usual Hinchcliffe\Castroneves\Power domination. I expect Dixon to be up there as well, he thrives on these kind of tracks.

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#40 Deluxx

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 20:31

Thanks Jp, didn't know they uploaded Practice highlights!

#41 jonpollak

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 23:23

Second session times.

Second session highlights

Found a nice pic of Simona too
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Jp

#42 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 23:45

Gather round children, it's time for This Week in Paint©

This is Dario. I'm worried about his blood sugar
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This is the one you're thinking of
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Heliooooooo is in that AAA insurance car.

Kanaan has got his fade on in the Mouser-mobile

Oriol's Charter car is not making me switch from TimeWarner. Even though they've cut me off three times by accident. And once they actually cut the cable.

#43 Deluxx

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 00:18

lol charter. I wonder if they charge Oriol for a bunch of extra stuff he doesn't want

#44 billm99uk

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 01:21

Is America really ready for a race car driver called "Tristan" though?

#45 Deluxx

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 01:31

Trist should get Tropicana advertising.

We could call him Tristicana. It might go over better with the people

#46 gm914

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 03:08

Is America really ready for a race car driver called "Tristan" though?

Well, we have a Timmy in NASCAR. Not Tim. Timmy.
http://wareracing.ne...ers/timmy-hill/

#47 Risil

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 11:17

RHR and Vautier may be the wildcards to disrupt the usual Hinchcliffe\Castroneves\Power domination. I expect Dixon to be up there as well, he thrives on these kind of tracks.


It's been one race! :stoned:

#48 Muppetmad

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 11:56

It's been one race! :stoned:


Indeed. Not only that, but RHR is reigning champion - not a wildcard in my eyes! ;)

Edited by Muppetmad, 06 April 2013 - 11:56.


#49 Prost1997T

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 12:42

It's been one race! :stoned:


I'm thinking about last year's race as well.

Indeed. Not only that, but RHR is reigning champion - not a wildcard in my eyes! ;)


His record at Barber isn't very good though, he averages about 13th.

Edited by Prost1997T, 06 April 2013 - 12:44.


#50 Victor_RO

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 13:15

Looks like AJA will be getting another race outing in the Indycars before the 500, apart from this race.