658 replies to this topic

[Jim Thurman]

Concur, rs. This isn't - or shouldn't be - a hill to die on for Pruett, Shank or Pagenaud. No matter the vagueness or seeming contradiction, I go with the defined "ongoing incident" for this one. That sort of thing has to be in the rulebook, otherwise we'd have the prospect of drivers with badly damaged cars in potentially dangerous condition trying to maintain pace car speeds while attempting to limp to the finish.

Edited by Jim Thurman, 07 June 2022 - 17:10.

[Dmitriy_Guller]

Ok, so the "pace car speed" without the pace car on the track is a vague concept beyond comprehension of any human living being.  What then serves as the standard for being part of the field rather than part of the scenery?  If you're crawling along at 5 mph with one wheel missing and two more tires being flat, is everyone supposed to crawl right behind you because the pace car isn't out?

[Ross Stonefeld]

Lets assume this was mid-race, what is the procedure for the lap the yellow comes out? You have to go some speed to catch the field but you can't 'overslow' either. Is it a judgement call if you're loitering? I guess we're spared in Indycar that people don't screw around with mal-intent too much.

 

But, I dunno. Teammates 1-2, one could lag back just a little. A few car lengths but nothing too bad, and that'd still give the lead car some guarantee of getting out of the pits with their lead maintained. Say an extra second or two. 

 

Damage seems obvious. After the fact some sort of ECU check about fuel status would tell you if someone was genuinely dry. 

[red stick]

Ok, so the "pace car speed" without the pace car on the track is a vague concept beyond comprehension of any human living being.  What then serves as the standard for being part of the field rather than part of the scenery?  If you're crawling along at 5 mph with one wheel missing and two more tires being flat, is everyone supposed to crawl right behind you because the pace car isn't out?

No, that's a clear ongoing incident. And Shank's argument on vagueness was not successful.

[Dmitriy_Guller]

Lets assume this was mid-race, what is the procedure for the lap the yellow comes out? You have to go some speed to catch the field but you can't 'overslow' either. Is it a judgement call if you're loitering? I guess we're spared in Indycar that people don't screw around with mal-intent too much.

 

But, I dunno. Teammates 1-2, one could lag back just a little. A few car lengths but nothing too bad, and that'd still give the lead car some guarantee of getting out of the pits with their lead maintained. Say an extra second or two. 

 

Damage seems obvious. After the fact some sort of ECU check about fuel status would tell you if someone was genuinely dry. 

I've been thinking about some ironclad rule for FCY that would be easy to program, mainly due to playing on iRacing for a while where such issues are sometimes handled arbitrarily.  What I came up with is that every car should be entitled to be within a certain distance of the pace car, based on their position.  Let's say that if you're fifth, you're entitled to be within 10 carlengths but not any closer, and if you're 10th, you're entitled to be within 20 carlengths but not any closer.  Then you can pass whoever you want whenever you want, as long as you're not closer than allowed to the pace car.  It's up to the other cars as to whether they want to keep their place they're entitled to or hang further back.

[Jim Thurman]

Before leaving Belle Isle, a little clean up is needed...

 

To those remarking about the Canadian national anthem being played. It's quite common for the Canadian anthem to be played close to the U.S.-Canada border and at events where there are many Canadian spectators and/or participants.

 

Less common, but not unknown, is the Mexican anthem played before events near the U.S.-Mexico border, done for similar reasons.

[Jim Thurman]

And this...

While it's not technically wrong it always sounds off to me for the Indy 500 winner to be referred to as the Indy 500 champion.

 

...and subsequent posts. I didn't catch this remark, or who made it, but it's very unsurprising. The two terms are interchangeable amongst sportscasters. I don't like it either, but it is what it is.

 

Sportscasters here in the states are generally utterly clueless about motorsports, or any wheeled sport really. Since football, basketball and baseball are king here, they view the winner of the Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals as "champions", which is correct.

 

I've heard a good number of local sportscasters in various cities, and even those on national networks, state that they can't understand how someone who finishes a race in 10th can be the "champion" for the season. Similarly, I've heard the same for their lack of comprehending of how someone finishing well down in a Tour de France stage can still be the leader. This isn't because they are American, but because they are sportscasters    Perhaps the best comparison would be to compare them to a vacuous compere or presenter.

 

Never mind that the Super Bowl champion loses a few games during the regular season, or the World Series champion loses approximately 60 games a season. For some reason, once wheels are put on something, they can't fathom it.

[red stick]

Cars on track in Elkhart Lake, Jim.

[Jim Thurman]

...besides, I don't have Peacock. 

 

So, it's up to you folks for me to live vicariously through.