460 replies to this topic

[Frood]

 

 

Come one, come all, to the maize of fun, the cornucopia, the full on racing corn-ival of car racing that we call IndyCar! The series rolls in to Newton, Iowa's Iowa Speedway (imaginative name, boys) for round 10 of the Verizon IndyCar series. Wait, round 11? Or 10? Who knows? Who cares? Having attended the track myself on more than one occasion,  the first thing that hits you is the fact that It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered Recreational Vehicle viewing area along the backstretch.^{[citation needed]}

 

More seriously, the track was designed with input from something called a "Rusty Wallace". I'm not quite sure what that is, but I'm sure a bit of WD40 in the right places will get it right as rain in no time.

 

Incidentally, Iowa produces about 63 million tonnes of corn a year. They're kind of obsessed.

 

So where are we racing, again?

 

Being a Brit and being more worldly than our American brethren, I have delved deep into the journals of American geography to bring you, the humble reader, the exact location of Iowa on a map as I'm sure many of you don't know.

 

 

Now we've got that sorted out, let's talk about the track.

 

Length: 7/8mi (0.875mi) or 1.4km

Capacity: 30,000 people. They'll be lucky.

Banking: Front stretch 10°; Back stretch 4°; Turns 12-14°

Number of laps: About 10 more than Max Chilton will manage

Lap record: 17.2283 seconds (181.777 mph) by Helio Castroneves, 2014. Wow!

Green flag: 5:40 ET (21:40 GMT)

 

Of course, being a proclaimed connoisseur of American open-wheel racing, I can tell you all four of Iowa Speedway's banked turns have their own distinct personality.

 

 

...okay, what's the schedule for this weekend, then?

 

I'm glad you asked!

 

Saturday

IndyCar Practice - 10:00 CDT (15:00 GMT)

Indy Lights Practice - 13:15 CDT (18:15 GMT)

IndyCar Qualification - 14:00 CDT (19:00 GMT)

Indy Lights Practice - 17:15 CDT (22:15 GMT)

IndyCar Practice - 18:15 CDT (23:15 GMT)

 

Sunday

Indy Lights Qualification - 11:00 CDT (16:00 GMT)

Indy Lights Iowa Challenge - 14:15 CDT (19:15 GMT)

IndyCar Iowa Corn 300 - 16:40 CDT (21:40 GMT)

 

(Remember to add +1 hour GMT if you're in the UK or Portugal, +2 GMT Central European time)

 

That's your lot. No Pro Mazda this weekend.

 

So who's in the running for the IndyCar race, then?

 

The Championship Top 5

 

 

See-mon Pagenaud has been very unlike himself this year. Usually priding himself on flying under the radar and stealthing his way into good finishes, he has been at times dominant this year. This can mainly be attributed to a freak accident at the Penske factory involving an unhealthy dose of gamma radiation. As such, whenever provoked, both Pagenaud and his car become The In(dy)credible Hulk! You won't miss him due to the fact he's been BURNED INTO YOUR RETINAS!

 

 

Helio Castroneves has taken up the “stealth” spot on Penske's team previously inhabited by the aforementioned Pagenaud. Expect him to be dancing on the fringes of the top 5 throughout the weekend.

 

 

Will Power has had a season that can only be described as “a Will Power kind of season.” From concussing himself out of a good start to the season, through anonymity to a shocking Indy GP weekend, only to bounce back with two wins on said bounce in Detroit 2 and Road America. He's the form man of the moment. This means maximum Will Power is likely to be achieved within the next two races.

 

 

Scott Dixon has had little luck of late, but a strong early season has kept his points tally somewhere near the front despite only scoring one decent result since Long Beach. Should luck be on his side, he's one of the favourites for this one.

 

 

Josef Newgarden is having another decent season. However, an enormous crash at the currently-in-limbo Texas round has left doctors baffled, as Josef now solely exists in children's book illustration form. Experts known as "those guys who made the video for a-ha's Take On Me" are currently working on a cure to bring him back into the real world. As such, obsessive race suit collector Oriol Servia is hanging around by his telephone and will probably be wanting to add another item to his burgeoning collection. It's the only reason he races.

 

6^th to 10^th

 

Tony Kanaan will be a contender here with Ganassi's usual form on ovals. Carlos Muñoz has also been showing strongly on ovals this year with the Andretti team, inbetween launching certain Mayors into walls and exuding utter desperation from Graham Rahal Rave. Juan Pablo Montoya was another casualty of the Penske gamma radiation leak after eating a contaminated doughnut and becoming The Incredible Bulk, which has accounted for his strange lack of pace this year. 100^th Indianapolis 500 Winner Alexander Rossi is still getting to grips with IndyCar and his new-found fame. And name.

 

11^th to 15^th

 

Expect a good race from Ryan Hunter-Reay who has won the previous two Iowa Corn 300 races. Apparently. I'm sure they were memorable. Also, Andretti Autosport have won 7 of the 9 IndyCar races held here. Troo fact. Charlie “Does he still have diabetes?” Kimball has had a quiet season to date and will be looking to inject some pep into his season. James Hinchcliffe has not had the best run of form this year, despite being the Mayor of Indy Quali. Sebastien Bourdais turned up in Detroit, though apparently he's been at it all season long. Conor Daly has been having a far better season than anyone expected whilst also being incredibly jovial.

 

These people are here, too

 

SATO. What would IndyCar be without our lord and saviour? Ireland's second fastest IndyCar driver (in a group of one) is Mark O'Andretti. Mekale Alotion. Yep, he's there. Maximum Hairgel Chilton will also be at the track, ostensibly not anywhere near the point at which the leader is. Nigel Mansell has once again come out of retirement to drive one of A.J. Foyt's cars. There's something called a Gabby Chaves here this weekend, but no-one has ever seen it on the television or otherwise, so it's hard to know whether it really exists. Also, someone (i.e. himself) has let “Special” Ed Carpenter play with a car again this weekend. Expect him to be somewhere near the front of the pack until he inevitably has some sort of a collision which is definitely someone else's fault.

 

 

So what are you waiting for? Get some of that Iowa corn down your gullet and enjoy our IndyCar incredibleness!

    

Edited by Frood, 07 July 2016 - 16:03.

[prommer]

Fantastic post!  Not to mention, amongst many other good things....

 

 

 

DRACONE

[Prost1997T]

Watch out for the bumps at turn 2.

 

Last year's race for those who missed it:

 

[Risil]

Excellent work Frood.

[PayasYouRace]

Rusty Wallace and The Incredible Bulk both had me in stitches. Bravo

[Afterburner]

Epic post. I lost it at the Will Power picture.

 

If anything about Indycar ever fit the 'so bad, it's good' stereotype, it'd have to be Dracone. How that guy managed to drive something like five races and still get mentioned in posts a year later is something that'd make even Yuji Ide envious. Apparently, the only thing comparable is winning the 100th Indy 500.

[Thursday]

Track map

[GoldenColt]

I stumbled across the title for some reason.

 

Great OP.   

[LeClerc]

All hail Sato, the Prince of Perch!!!

[paulb]

Track map

It looks like a,

 

[Prost1997T]

How that guy managed to drive something like five races and still get mentioned in posts a year later is something that'd make even Yuji Ide envious. Apparently, the only thing comparable is winning the 100th Indy 500.

 

His twitter outbursts were funny. As was the "fan club" that helped him get to the Indy GP weekend.

[maximilian]

I love you OP'ing guys & I love IndyCar!

[jonpollak]

A Maize ing OP there Frood. Really enjoyed gnawing on the cob of your observations. Here's what the locals are saying. http://pressdog.type...14-edition.html

Edited by jonpollak, 07 July 2016 - 03:19.

[paulb]

Comic gold OP, Frood! I had to suppress my laughter a bit so my wife would not think even less of me.

[teejay]

Charlie “Does he still have diabetes?” Kimball - tears. 

 

If every time diabetes was mentioned because of Charlie, $1 was donated to diabetes research, diabetes would be cured. 

[stewie]

Looking forward to Iowa, given it's on at a reasonable time in the you Kay for once.

[Peat]

Genuine guffaw at the OP. Well done.

Question - When is the race? I thought this was traditionally a Saturday Night race. Also OP says 2140 Green Flag, the only thing I can find on the BT Sport guide is 2230-0100 Sunday night. None of which actually matters to me as I won't be able to watch the race until midweek...

[stewie]

Genuine guffaw at the OP. Well done.

Question - When is the race? I thought this was traditionally a Saturday Night race. Also OP says 2140 Green Flag, the only thing I can find on the BT Sport guide is 2230-0100 Sunday night. None of which actually matters to me as I won't be able to watch the race until midweek...

Usually is a Saturday night race, not this year for some reason.

It's a 10.40pm green flag as Iowa is 6hrs behind us.

OP time is also GMT and we are on BST at the mo ;-)

Edited by stewie, 07 July 2016 - 08:30.

[Peat]

Ooh look! SOMEone's had their morning coffee/isn't a moron.

Thanks.

[Frood]

Added a better schedule to the OP. Information, yo!

[Sheepmachine]

Superb OP Frood.
Especially liked the driver pictures.

I would make a corn pun at this point but that would be to corny.

[Prost1997T]

Usually is a Saturday night race, not this year for some reason.

It's a 10.40pm green flag as Iowa is 6hrs behind us.

 

The new track ownership wanted the race on Sunday, it's easier for them to sell Saturday\Sunday tickets apparently.

[paulb]

I gotta say that Frood is continuing the tradition of IndyCar OPs so good that if the race sucks, we still win.

[noriaki]

Comic gold OP, Frood! I had to suppress my laughter a bit so my wife would not think even less of me.

 

Made the mistake of opening the thread at work and completely lost my poker at the point I reached Pagenaud. Now each of my lunch break colleagues thinks less of me. 

[Frood]

I had to update the OP again based on new knowledge about Josef Newgarden. Has he been cleared for the race yet, do we know?

 

EDIT: I assume we won't know until first practice, of course.

Edited by Frood, 07 July 2016 - 16:08.

[Prost1997T]

Oh, and this is Indycar's 10th year at Iowa Speedway (the track opened in 2006): http://www.newtondai...-years/apnpqvj/

[prommer]

 

 

 

 

So by the looks of it, this year's Iowa 300 is at the Kansas Speedway?

[Risil]

I find it hard to be taken seriously on this matter but Iowa is my favourite oval track.

[Prost1997T]

Indycar's video tribute to Carl Haas:

 

[Peat]

Let's, of course, not forget Iowa's second largest export:

[ANF]

SATURDAY, JULY 9
                                Newton          London        Berlin        Athens        Moscow          Mumbai         Tokyo        Sydney
                                CDT (0)        BST (+6)      CEST (+7)     EEST (+8)     MSK (+8)       IST (+10.5)    JST (+14)    AEST (+15)

           IndyCar Practice   10:00–11:15     16:00–17:15   17:00–18:15   18:00–19:15   18:00–19:15     20:30–21:45   00:00–01:15   01:00–02:15   IndyCar Practice

       Indy Lights Practice   13:15–13:45     19:15–19:45   20:15–20:45   21:15–21:45   21:15–21:45     23:45–00:15   03:15–03:45   04:15–04:45   Indy Lights Practice

NBC Qualification Broadcast   14:00–15:30     20:00–21:30   21:00–22:30   22:00–23:30   22:00–23:30     00:30–02:00   04:00–05:30   05:00–06:30   NBC Qualification Broadcast

     IndyCar Qualifications   14:00–15:00     20:00–21:00   21:00–22:00   22:00–23:00   22:00–23:00     00:30–01:30   04:00–05:00   05:00–06:00   IndyCar Qualifications

       Indy Lights Practice   17:15–18:00     23:15–00:00   00:15–01:00   01:15–02:00   01:15–02:00     03:45–04:30   07:15–08:00   08:15–09:00   Indy Lights Practice

           IndyCar Practice   18:15–18:45     00:15–00:45   01:15–01:45   02:15–02:45   02:15–02:45     04:45–05:15   08:15–08:45   09:15–09:45   IndyCar Practice


SUNDAY, JULY 10
                                Newton          London        Berlin        Athens        Moscow          Mumbai         Tokyo        Sydney
                                CDT (0)        BST (+6)      CEST (+7)     EEST (+8)     MSK (+8)       IST (+10.5)    JST (+14)    AEST (+15)

 Indy Lights Qualifications   11:00–11:45     17:00–17:45   18:00–18:45   19:00–19:45   19:00–19:45     21:30–22:15   01:00–01:45   02:00–02:45   Indy Lights Qualifications

           Indy Lights Race   14:15–15:15     20:15–21:15   21:15–22:15   22:15–23:15   22:15–23:15     00:45–01:45   04:15–05:15   05:15–06:15   Indy Lights Race

         NBC Race Broadcast   16:00–19:00     22:00–01:00   23:00–02:00   00:00–03:00   00:00–03:00     02:30–05:30   06:00–09:00   07:00–10:00   NBC Race Broadcast

              IndyCorn Race   16:40–18:45     22:40–00:45   23:40–01:45   00:40–02:45   00:40–02:45     03:10–05:15   06:40–08:45   07:40–09:45   IndyCorn Race

[Prost1997T]

I find it hard to be taken seriously on this matter but Iowa is my favourite oval track.

 

It's also tougher than it looks, with an uneven surface and over 5G experienced in the corners. I expect we'll see lower grip levels with the race moving back to the afternoon.

[HeadFirst]

I find it hard to be taken seriously on this matter but Iowa is my favourite oval track.

 

I like it alot too. Some fantastic races in recent memory.

[Prost1997T]

Stream is online for first practice:

 

 

Timing and stream at: http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

[Prost1997T]

Chilton the first to set a flying lap, goes up to 181.5mph already.

[Prost1997T]

Marco spins but keeps it off the wall.

[Prost1997T]

Tony Kanaan smashes the lap record, 186.902mph.

 

RHR hits the wall, damaging his rear wing.

Edited by Prost1997T, 09 July 2016 - 15:14.

[Spillage]

That OP is fabulous.

[Prost1997T]

Newgarden 186.585mph, P2. Rossi is the slowest that's set a full lap, 175.816mph.

Edited by Prost1997T, 09 July 2016 - 15:27.

[Prost1997T]

15 minutes to go, top 3:

 

Tony Kanaan 186.902mph

Josef Newgarden 186.585mph

Helio Castroneves 185.771mph

[Prost1997T]

Results:

 

[jonpollak]

Que paso con Munoz?

[Rob G]

Wow, Rossi did more laps than all of Team Penske combined, plus Helio again, plus Helio again.

[Prost1997T]

Wow, Rossi did more laps than all of Team Penske combined, plus Helio again, plus Helio again.

 

Making up for the lost seat time when he crashed in testing last week.

[Prost1997T]

Interesting that Pastor Maldonado was spotted in the KV pit today: https://pbs.twimg.co...Q0lVIAAYk_p.jpg

 

Is he angling for a seat with them? It is a mystery...

Edited by Prost1997T, 09 July 2016 - 17:01.

[stewie]

Interesting that Pastor Maldonado was spotted in the KV pit today: https://pbs.twimg.co...Q0lVIAAYk_p.jpg

Is he angling for a seat with them? It is a mystery...

Lock up your wife and children, Pastor is BACK!

[Prost1997T]

Dean Stoneman fastest in the first Indy Lights practice session, 163.290mph.

[Prost1997T]

Simon Pagenaud on pole position for the Iowa Corn 300. Full qualifying results: http://www.imscdn.co...sults-quals.pdf

[Frood]

Who is driving the #8 Ganassi car and what has he/she/it done with the real Max Chilton?!

Edited by Frood, 09 July 2016 - 20:26.

[HistoryFan]

Interesting that Pastor Maldonado was spotted in the KV pit today: https://pbs.twimg.co...Q0lVIAAYk_p.jpg

 

Is he angling for a seat with them? It is a mystery...

Would be awesome...