Handling Adversity at Indy 500 Qualifying

This weekend's Indy 500 qualifying showed a contrast in how drivers handle adversity. I would like to look at three drivers and how they handled the stress, misfortune, and in one case the heartbreak that Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's bump day handed them.

During Saturday's qualifying, Danica Patrick qualified with a scarily ill handling race car that was capable of only the 23rd starting position. Obviously frustrated at her first lack of success at Indy and probably compounded by her team's lack of performance throughout this season, this is what she said when interviewed over the track's PA system: "I don't know. I'm very, very disappointed. I've never been bad here before. I've never been outside the top 10 on a finish or qualifying, so... it's not my fault. This car is not good." She continued to recount a previous qualifying attempt in which she qualified well with an oversteering car as proof that she has the skills to do well. The crowd booed this and well they should have. She got out of the car, and whether she meant to or not, publicly placed the blame for her ill handling car squarely on the shoulders of her team. Motor Sport is a TEAM sport; she shoulders just as much blame for the car's lack of performance as the rest of the team does. Sure, they didn't provide her with a car that was fast enough but you can also argue that she didn't provide the feedback needed by the team to make her car fast enough. I hope that, in retrospect, she regrets what she said. I also hope that she doesn't believe what she said, that it was just the frustration of a disappointing season and month of May bubbling to the surface.

Paul Tracy, one of my open wheel heroes, experienced the worst case scenario: not making the big race. He and KV Racing pulled a time that eventually would have made the race expecting that another car would bump them out. Tracy's car did not handle well in the afternoon heat and he ended up aborting the try because the speed wasn't fast enough to get in. Time ran out on Tracy and the KV squad and he didn't get a chance to go out again. Sadly, PT is missing the 2010 Indianapolis 500. Paul's response afterwards: "Turns out we would still have been in. But it's a team decision. And we worked as a team all week, and we made decisions as a team. And you win and lose as a team." This is how the situation should be handled. PT realizes that it is a TEAM sport. You win and lose as a team, something that Danica Patrick apparently forgot.

Tony Kanaan almost experienced the same fate as Paul Tracy and during the weekend proved why he is a champion. Kanaan destroyed a car on Saturday, missing not only the Fast 9, but the top 24 as well, forcing him to qualify on Sunday's Bump Day. On Sunday, he crashed again, this time sustaining damage to the car. The Andretti Autosport team labored throughout the afternoon, using parts from three of the other Andretti Autosport cars to rebuild Kanaan's car. Kanaan didn't place blame in public. He maintained his composure throughout then went out and put the car in the field with a 224.072 MPH four lap average with only 30 minutes left in qualifying. This is the first time Kanaan has qualified outside of the first two rows for the Indianapolis 500, yet he handled himself like the champion he is and carried himself like the team leader that he is. Here is what Kanaan posted on Twitter after his trying weekend: "Today I am a happy person,not because I qualifed, because I realize how many friends and fans I have.Thanks to all of you for the support." This is why TK is another of my open wheel heroes.

Mac McCormick III

NASCAR's 2010 "All Star Race"

I would have liked to have watched Indy 500 Qualifying and the ALMS race from Laguna Seca but I don't have Versus here in Brunswick and I don't have an internet connection most of the time other than a tethered Blackberry. Instead, I watched NASCAR's "All Star Race." My thoughts from an afternoon, evening, and night of a NASCAR overdose:

• SpeedTV coverage keeps calling the NASCAR All Star Race "Racing at its Purest.". Is it really? I don't think it is racing at its purest. This All Star Race still has segments and mandatory pit stops designed to fabricate drama and excitement. Instead of 100 laps split up into segments, if they wanted pure racing they should have just held a 100 lap race and let the teams stop when they wanted to, change the tires they wanted to, and add whatever amount of fuel they wanted to.

• Maybe I'm feeling cantankerous because my sinuses are raging, but... I watch racing for racing, not burnout contests and not over-the-top driver and team introductions. I've got an idea... How about they do away with the burnout contest and scale back intros and spend the money to put SAFER barrier all the way around the track. Do I really need to say anything else. Too much money is being spent on extraneous crap and not enough on the racing. It is ridiculous that a track that is making as much money as Charlotte is spending can't put SAFER barrier all the way around the track. Crashes don't just happen in the turns, they happen on the straights, too.

• TV folks know the first segment was a snoozer. DW: "Now folks don't get upset..." The majority of this race was boring to watch. The 48 dominated the first 3 segments and the racing wasn't all that good behind him. The last segment was good, but do we really have to sit through 90 laps of stale racing to see 10 laps of good racing?

• Good to hear from Keselowski about the #12's power steering issue: he wouldn't complain, just said "time to man up and go to work." I'm not a fan of Brad Keselowski, but I appreciate how he handled this situation. He really could have complained about the power steering but he didn't, he put his head down and pushed on. If he keeps that kind of attitude and matures a bit, I could be persuaded to look at him more favorably.

• Just got to see the end of the NASCAR race on the replay. Outstanding job by the #2 team to patch that thing back together for the win. On the other hand, 2 weekends in a row with uncharacteristic mistakes from Jimmy Johnson. It seems he is human after all. The Penske team did a truly great job of patching up a damaged race car; that car was pretty beat up in the first 3 segments but they fixed it up and adjusted things during the 10 minute break and Kurt Busch was able to storm through the field in the fourth segment. Jimmy Johnson put his left front on the apron and spun trying to catch Busch, but to be honest I don't know if he could have or not. As far as the Kyle Busch/Denny Hamlin business goes, I don't think Hamlin did anything wrong; he didn't force Busch into the wall with contact, but it was a race for "all of the marbles" and he did close the door on the outside very hard. If it was a points race, it would have been a different situation; I don't think Kyle Busch would have done anything different. He would have closed that door just as hard as Hamlin did.

Mac McCormick III

2010 Spanish GP and GP2 Race

This morning, I stayed up after work and watched the GP2 race and the F1 GP from Spain. I was really impressed with Sam Bird in the GP2 feature race, what an aggressive strong performance after problems early. I enjoyed watching his drive through the field, it was more fun to watch than the F1 race was. The F1 race was honestly a snoozer, as a matter of fact I slept through the start and the first 20 laps, waking up in the middle of the first set of pit stops. As much as I was impressed with Sam Bird's drive in GP2 I was disappointed with Button's drive. It seemed as if he really wasn't making an attempt to get around Schumacher, who seemed to be slower and was holding Button up. I can't help but think if it would have been teammate Hamilton in the same position, a pass would have been attempted if not made. Here are my weak attempts at punditry from this morning:

• @MrSteveMatchett, David Hobbs, and Bob Varsha in fine form this morning! Flying like a Bird, Riccing, Hope In Tung, Tung in Cheek...

• Sam Bird in the ART GP2 car is impressive. Very aggressive and so late on the brakes. What a blast to watch!Botched pit stop by Mercedes on Rosberg's car following a blazing one on Schumacher's car. #F1

• Already dozed off and missed start of #F1 race, woke up in middle of pit stops.

• Schumacher really holding Button up at Lap 25. Can't help but think a more agressive driver (like his teammate) would be around him by now.

• Don't know if I can stay awake thru this #F1 race; it is like Button isn't evev trying to get around Schumacher.

• Methinks Hulkenburg should be glad #F1 cars don't have fenders or Rosberg would used them; Hulkenburg blatantly blocking and weaving.

• Wil Buxton just took the cover off of the elephant in the room and I'm glad he did. Rosberg has been screwed by Mercedes...

• Rosberg was doing very good but the team changed the car all around to suit Schumacher! Been thinking this since Friday practice results.

• RT @Formula1Blogger: If Button overtakes Schumacher I'll eat my face! #F1 >> Don't worry, he isn't even trying.

• Hobbs just said what I tweeted, Hamilton would've passed Schumacher. At least he would have TRIED!

• Hamilton loses a left front with 2 to go! Game Over! Will Vettel be on podium with failing brakes?!

• Webber wins, Alonso takes P2 and Vettel is a lucky boy as he takes P3 with failing brakes. Wee bit of drama at the end.

• Next weekend: Monaco. Now that I've used #F1 for a sleep aid I'm going to bed.

This afternoon, Pressdog tweeted the following in regards to Speed TV's new pit lane reporter Will Buxton. My reply to him follows; so far I really like Buxton, he is a good addition to the Speed TV F1 team.

• pressdog Really like Will Buxton addition to F1 posse. Makes some great points like Rosberg greating hosed in favor of His Worship.

• kf4lmt @pressdog Very much agreed. He stated something that others chose to ignore. Welcomed honesty from Buxton in the pit lane.

Mac McCormick III

IndyCar 2010 Kansas Race Thoughts

I didn't get to watch the Kansas IndyCar race live, but I did record it and I watched it this morning. Here are a few of my thoughts from the race:

• Looks like Jay Howard has put SFR behind the 8 ball going into Indianapolis. I'm not sure how Sarah Fisher Racing is fixed for back up cars and spares, but that car looked heavily damaged. That team is really going to have work hard and hope for the best because Indy qualifying will be up coming up fast

• Hideki Mutoh and Takuma Sato were impressive until the restart with 14 to go. Sato did well for his first oval race. Hideki Mutoh did a good job prior to crashing with Takuma Sato, racing in the top 10 for part of the race. It looks like Newman Haas is getting their Oval house in order. I would have loved to have seen what Graham Rahal could have done with the car. Takuma Sato did quite well for his first ever oval race. No doubt racing for KV helped him out (I'm sure he got good advice from Vasser) but you have to be impressed with Sato being in the top 10 prior to the crash.
  

• Has the Kansas race been all that much better than the street course races? I'm sure some will disagree but I don't think so. While there was some good racing in the pack and there some battles for P2 and P3 at times, the race for P1 was never really in doubt. I just don't get how the Oval-Centric folks say that this is more exciting; road/street courses and ovals are equally exciting in different ways. On ovals you have wheel to wheel racing, on road and street courses you have the excitement of seeing who can brake the latest or who can control their car deeper into the corners.
  

• Andretti Autosport may not have fully sorted out the ovals, but it looks like @TonyKanaan and @RyanHunterReay certainly did for Kansas. Danica Patrick finished 1 lap down in P11 and Marco Andretti finished 2 laps down in P13 but Tony Kanaan finished P3 in front of Castroneves and Ryan Hunter Reay finished P5 in front of Ryan Briscoe. They didn't beat the Ganassi cars, but they did beat the Penske cars. Finishing in front of one of the giants isn't bad considering the Andretti team's last few seasons. Obviously there is improvement to be made by two of the Andretti cars, but this race shows that 2 of their cars are definitely getting with the program.
  

• P3 for @TonyKanaan! Good to see one of my favorites back on the podium. Congratulations TK!

Mac McCormick III