Almost an idyllic Wisconsin summer weekend: grass cutting and gardening and car-washing and sprinklers and a Saturday night race on TV. Well, ok, I guess any real Wisconsin idyll would have had more beer and some brats. And cheese curds. Delivered by Harley-Davidson. But I’ll take what I can get. In the summertime, I prefer the night races, mainly so my precious upper-midwest summer Sundays aren’t spent in front of the TV. Still, it becomes a carefully orchestrated ballet of dinner preparation/clean-up/child bedtime prep/green flag. The eldest got to stay up slightly late and see her Target Guys start the race (“Hey! Why is Dario Franchitti driving a blue Target car?”).
Early on, it looks like more of 2011’s theme: Mssr Franchitti jumps out to the lead and remains there, untouchable.
Race notes: Helio looks very strong-oops, another puncture. More bad luck, but I’m sure some are calling it karma for his use of his race car earlier this season.
And… Will Power has a problem in the pits. Again. Somehow, Charlie Kimball is in the middle of problems yet again, not that this was his fault. The Versus camera angle used to show the pit stops made it look like CK came from nowhere across Power’s bow, but other shots showed that he really was close enough that the Penske crew should have held Power. After he hit the wall, I wasn’t surprised that Power was diagnosed with a “mild” concussion. He was distinctly out of it during his post-checkup interview with Kevin Lee (I think I recall him saying then, too, that he did not have a concussion, and that was released later. Wonder if they re-evaluated him after his “I have a headache” comment. Didn’t they miss Simona’s concussion last weekend, too?).
Great race at the end, but it’s funny to hear TK complain about others blocking and chopping him… At least he was gracious in victory lane. That’s one thing that, I think, really endears Tony to the fans. Even if he gets the raw end of a deal (see also, Pippa Mann blocking his pit stall at Indy), he can see all the circumstances around it, brush it off, and move on.
I was happy to see Dario wearing a smile in his post-race interview.
I’m happy (and I bet Will Power and Simona De Silvestro are, too) that the series gets a week off, and that the next race on the schedule is the Toronto street circuit.
No mention of Marco Andretti...
ReplyDeleteQuite right, and that isn't fair. It's easy to miss some things while typing these out during breaks at lunch.
ReplyDeleteI've said all season that Marco looks like he's matured and could, in fact, win a race. While I'm not sure Saturday night looked like "maturity" (he drove like a wildman), it was a hard-earned victory that should go a long way toward earning him some respect.