The dream of CART in the 90s is alive in Portland! Welcome to the next to last Indycar event of the season. Only Laguna Seca remains (next week!) after this, so don't miss out on what could be an unpredictable finish to the Indycar Championship race -- or at least it would be if Inevitable Dixon were not in the hunt. So we all know what will happen.
Of course, it was only four years ago that Scott Dixon famously drove into the conflagration of dust and dirt and Hinches and upside-down Marcos pictured above, only to extricate his completely unscathed #9 PNC Bank car to drive off to yet another championship in a year that ends in an 8 or a 3. Having also added 2020 (and previously, 2015), it seems that a win in a year that ends in a 2 is one of the few trophies Dixon has yet to shelve, so he'll be keen to pull off another inevitable miracle to make it so. BUT! There are many other worthy drivers who are in with a shot at the title, including all but one of his teammates, so we're shaping up for an eventful two weeks. See further below.
Track map
It's the unbearably annoying "Festival Chicane" 2/3rds of the way down the main straight that is the cause of much of the consternation and gnashing of teeth that goes on when one speaks of Portland International Raceway. Twenty-six Indycars into it cannot go. Two Indycars into it generally cannot go either. In the main Indycar thread, forum member SKL has passed on some inside information that race control will be focused on creating an obstacle in the run-off area that is intended to stop drivers from running straight through. My guess is that Baldrick is now working Indycar race control and has come up with a cunning plan; one which I can only hope involves some sort of large wooden cart filled with fresh produce. That usually seems to work.
Weekend Schedule
Portland is West (Best) Coast and therefore the local time is Pacific. Whatever you normally do to figure out Eastern time, just add three to it, maybe subtract three, I dunno. Or just keep coming into this thread and asking what time green flag is until people stop getting angry with you, and that will mean the race is starting.
Friday, September 2
2:30pm PDT - 3:45pm PDT INDYCAR practice 1 (the usual 75 minute session with 60 minutes worth of tires provided)
Saturday, September 3
9:00am - 10:00am (PDT) INDYCAR practice 2
12:05pm - 1:20pm (PDT) INDYCAR QUALIFYING
4:15pm - 4:45pm Indycar practice 3
Sunday, September 4
12:30pm PDT/3:30pm EDT/8:30pm BST/9:30pm CEST INDYCAR, c'est vroom vroom!
There is also a full schedule of ladder system races as well as an ARCA race, which is something I haven't followed since Milka Duno and Jennifer Jo Cobb were mixing it up.
Weather
According to @Indycar_Wxman, we're looking pretty good right now. Pretty, pretty good.
The All Important Championship Standings, now featuring Local Foodstm
Because regional food is as important to Indycar threads as the racing itself, here are the championship contenders as represented by Voodoo Doughnut varieties.
1. Will Power 482 points
("Smothered in chocolate frosting then covered in pretzels and M&Ms and topped by a peanut butter drizzle")
Yes, it's the year 2022 and somehow Will Power is once again leading the championship standings. However, Will Power leading the championship standings means absolutely nothing, and it never has. For all we know, JPM will helm a late entry just to run into Will and take him out of the race. I've chosen the hip-hoppiest of donuts, the Mix-a-Lot, to represent the breakdancing Power as well as for his completely random history of end-of-season race results.
2. Josef Newgarden 479 points
("Raised ring with vanilla frosting and Cap'n Crunch")
Is Josef no longer the Young American? Is he Captain America now that RHR is gone? If he wins another championship, does he become second in command to the Captain Captain? (You know who I mean.)
3. Scott Dixon 468 points
("Raised ring with chocolate frosting, chocolate cream-filled cookies and peanut butter drizzle")
Because no matter who your favorite driver is, Scott Dixon is better than him. There will be eleventy more drivers of the #10 in the coming decade, and Scott Dixon will be in the #9 for all of them. Also because there may still be dirt on his car from 2018.
4. Marcus Ericsson 465 points
("Raised ring with strawberry frosting and round sprinkles")
What is the home of Indycar? Indianapolis, of course. And what is the ring road around Indianapolis? It's 465, the exact number of points Marcus Ericsson has. So he is represented by the Gomer err I mean Homer doughnut, because let's be honest... he's only this high up in the standings due to a certain d'ohble-points-paying Indianapolis-based race.
5. Alex Palou 439 points
("Raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake.")
Ever since declaring mid-season for McPonzi Racing, Palou's been at odds with his litigious boss Chip so much that it seems like the best way Alex can get back at him is to just out and out win the championship. Yeah, that'll show him! Bwahahaha...
6. Scott McLaughlin 428 points
("Devil's food cake with cinnamon sugar, cayenne pepper, and a dried red pepper.")
Chosen not only because of his antipodean upbringing on the Pacific version of same; but TWICE now local foods that have been mentioned in our threads have later ended up in Scott's mouth. Given his woeful experience with Nashville hot chicken, it seems very likely that one of these very doughnuts will feature on next week's BusBros episode.
7. Pato O'Ward 424 points
("Raised ring with vanilla frosting, bubble gum dust and a piece of bubble gum")
Because even though he's mathematically still in the title hunt, if this were basketball and it was March, Team Young Mexicantm would be "on the bubble".
And now let's check in with Rutledge Wood
Edited by prommer, 02 September 2022 - 05:04.
