Spoiler Alert: IndyCar Series races in the rain, chaos ensues
The series formerly known as the IRL held its first-ever race in the rain on Sunday, in an eventful (and definitely TiVo-worthy) race at the famous Watkins Glen road course.Details after the jump...
Well, it was a wild one... Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon (shown at right in his new livery) survived the carnage to win the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix after a nail-biting white flag restart. It was Dixon's second win in a row at the Glen.The wet and changeable conditions played havoc with the rest of the field, with much of the field spinning off into the greenery at least once. With yellow flags waving through the day, and the safety car getting more miles than some of the racecars, the race ended up shortened to 55 laps (with 21of those laps behind the safety car!). The chaos created opportunity for some, allowing two underdog teams to make rare podium appearances, with Panther Racing's Vitor Meira claiming second place and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Ryan Briscoe (in a one-off appearance) scoring the team's best finish in five years, finishing third.
Marco Andretti continued to show that he's the real deal, running as high as second and pulling off a series of highlight-reel-quality overtaking moves. Unfortunately, the 19-year-old's last video highlight wasn't very pretty, as the rapid Andretti was punted into the guardrail by a less-than-rapid Eddie Cheever (who was a lap down at the time).
In honor of Sunday's spin-fest, our choice for full race coverage this week is, who else?, Crash.net!
[photo courtesy Watkins Glen International]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ben 11:22AM (6/06/2006)
Marco was awesome in the race!
Unfortunately, Cheever, being a lap down did a very unsportsmanlike action. You cannot tell me that he didn't see Marco nor anticipate being passed by the fastest guy on the track! Funny that Danica and Michael called him an idiot. Sounds like a pattern developing.
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Ian 12:00PM (6/06/2006)
It's funny how everyone is beating up ONLY on Cheever. I seem to recall a whole multitude of experienced drivers crashing out and crashing out other drivers. For instance Tony Kanaan ruined Bryan Herta's (his own team mate) run, but a suicidal run in from the rear.
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Matt 1:05PM (6/06/2006)
IRL please merge with ChampCar!
I would watch the race, but I can't because I'm boycotting both series!
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Dave T. 1:40PM (6/06/2006)
Not to be an ass but seriously covering a live sports event on a major network shouldn't be considered a spoiler or tivo alert. People know not to read the scores in the newspaper if they have a game taped. If you like IRL and you didn't catch any of the race I don't think on a tuesday on autoblog anyone should be upset. I thought it was an interesting race though. And once everyone went to slicks it was really interesting.
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David 7:05PM (6/06/2006)
Danica got me back into watching IRL last year. Good thing since that's meant watching Wheldon, Kanaan, Dixon Hornish and Castroneves. Now, after two brilliant Indys, the return to Watkins Glen and the emergence of Marco, I'm glued to it.
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Mike from Scarborough 11:15PM (6/06/2006)
How many people showed up 5,000??
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