And 2013 Begins...

 (Note to readers: This post was written last Saturday, but software troubles kept me from uploading it until now. Sorry...)

 

The 2013 season opens tomorrow at St Petersburg. It's about time. The 6-month off-season gave plenty of time for us to forget about the greatness that was 2012's on-track action while simmering over questionable Indycar management decisions. 
It's really a topic for another blog post, but the environment exposed by randy bernard's firing went a long way towards disinteresting me in the remainder of the off-season. That's not something the sport's leadership should allow to happen, but I'll get into that at another time. For now, there's a racing season to get started! 
Some hopes and predictions for the months ahead:
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay will continue to be the threat he was in his championship 2012 season. I'm not sure he'd my pick to repeat with Will Power in the field, but he'll be a factor.
2. Alex Tagliani was a guy I always liked and someone who was fun to pull for, but I was beginning to lose faith. Until Bryan Herta Autosport got Honda engines several races into 2012. Tag ran up front consistently and was the car to beat in at least two races. I hope he continues to prove me wrong in 2013.
3. The guy with the quietest best results in 2011 and 2012 was Oriol Servia. I'm a fan of his for several reasons, but his ability to make the Lotus look fast early last year and his habit of sneaking into the top 5 mid-season and later are two of them. I'll be really, really happy if he wins a race or two in 2013. 
4. 500-mile races. Even if Indy isn't always the best race of the year, it's usually the most interesting, simply because 500 miles is long enough to watch multiple strategies develop and play out. Now there are two, plus a 400-miler. Include a car as racy as the dw12 and we have race geek nirvana. 
5. Double headers. I'm skeptical of this idea for several reasons, but it's an attempt at doing something different and stoking interest. The guy who implemented it certainly has a long career ahead of him in the series... Er, never mind...

Most Things Right, One BIG Thing Wrong

... And with that, the 2012 Indycar season is over. It's a bit strange to have it come so early in the year, but I guess I can understand why. It will make the off-season seem extra long, however.

I'll start with the positives. Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay for winning the championship by driving his heart out and doing exactly what he needed to do. It makes me proud to say I was wrong about picking Power to win. Speaking of whom, nobody will fault his drive, determination, and sportsmanship. It's not that I ever disliked him, but after his conduct in this race and speaking to him at a Milwaukee autograph session in June, it's getting easier and easier to cheer for him.
The race was great. Lots of competition, several leaders, and 500 miles of varying strategies and fortunes waxing and waning. I miss 500-mile races. I don't know that I want a whole season of them, but the distance adds a lot.

Further, I've been watching various forms of racing for more than 20 years. For most of those years, Bob Jenkins was THE Voice of Racing. He is knowledgeable, passionate, enthusiastic, and had the perfect announcer's voice-one that doesn't sound like he's working hard or straining when describing the action. After the ESPN Ride-Along Program commercials in 1997, my favorite Jenkins moment might be spotting him in the stands at a midget race in Indianapolis in about 2001. It's good to see people like him taking in a race like the rest of us.

HOWEVER. I have to talk about something else that happened in the race. The red flag that was shown when a car wrecked with only a few laps remaining. I am adamantly, vehemently opposed to this practice (as my angry, profane Twitter comments probably indicated...). It didn't even exist in top-level professional racing until May 1998, when NASCAR threw the red after a late caution at Richmond. Before that moment, nobody realized or cared that they 'deserved' or were 'owed' a green flag finish-or that one would even make the race better or more memorable. It's a fact of racing life-the action continues and laps count down until the total distance is reached. Altering that creates an artificial, contrived situation that is unnecessary and undesired for the creation of drama. Is this a sport, or is it entertainment? I thought it was a sport-one governed by consistent rules and regulations with an outcome determined by the actions of the competitors.
Strategists on the pit boxes and fans know that a very late caution could possibly bring an effective premature end to the race. That's part of the drama and the excitement. Races sometimes end under yellow. That's racing. Get used to it. I have more to say and more to analyze about this point, but I think I'll save it for later. Suffice to say that I'm disappointed. Unlike many other types, I don't like to make empty threats every time I see a race that isn't a barn-burner. I watched through the dull, dark days of 2009. 2012 is a whole different animal. Most races have been exciting and interesting. But I told others that, if Indycar started throwing red flags or doing Green-White-Checker finishes, I was done. I would quit watching. And now they've done it. I have a long off-season to think about it, but my principles have been offended. I'm not sure if Indycar leadership cares about my own little opinion, my own little voice, or the pittance I spend on race-going, but part of me says that quitting is the right thing to do. It's a shame to have ended an otherwise sublime race in such a way...

More to come. Feel free to try to talk me off the ledge,