Oilpressure

I have been beating this drum for a while, but I continue to get pushback on it. I was listening to Trackside the other night, and heard Kevin Lee discussing an incident in the IMSA race at Road Atlanta the weekend before that involved Ricky Taylor. Essentially, a car spun in the darkness portion of the race, sitting in the middle of the track. IMSA Race Control elected to not throw a caution, so that everyone could get their pit stops in.

Taylor had just taken the lead, when he came upon the disabled car in the dark. It could have been disastrous. As it was, Taylor clipped the front-end of the other car, virtually destroying both of them – but neither driver was injured.

I have never been a fan of closed pits. If someone feels the need to pit – they should pit. Sometimes it’s more advantageous to pit under the yellow, sometimes it helps to pit under green. It’s just the way it is. If a yellow comes out at Indianapolis as a car is in Turn Four, he or she can duck right in and get quick service long before the pace car gathers up the field. If the same car is on the front straightaway when the caution comes out – then they have to circle around at a slower speed before they can enter the pits. It’s simply the luck of the draw, just like a lot of things in racing. One incident might seem unfair, but I the long run – it probably evens out over time.

Another thing about keeping the pits open is that it shortens the length of caution periods. Under the current rules, cars may circle a few laps before the pits are open. Once they are, it is utter chaos because the entire field can theoretically come in at the same time – increasing the chances of someone’s race being completely ruined from a boneheaded move in the pits by another driver or team.

In this year’s Indianapolis 500, there were 8 caution periods for a total of 47 laps – almost a fourth of the race. That averages out to almost six laps of caution per yellow flag. Some of those laps were unavoidable, as they needed cleanup. But on Lap 56, the caution came out for Felix Rosenqvist, who suffered a blown engine. His car had to be towed back to the pits, but did it really need to take 8 laps of caution to do it? I’m sure they swept the track then, but 8 laps of caution?

Of course, I’ve seen where some have said to never open the pits under caution – only allow green-flag pit stops. I don;t think I like the sound of that at all.

There is another thing that has really concerned me over the last couple of years, and I have complained about it every time it happens – the discretionary yellow. Over the last couple of seasons, usually on a street course it seems – a car has hit the wall and is stopped in harm’s way.

Instead of the caution coming out immediately, the car sits there with the driver helplessly still in it. It is explained that the race is in the middle of a pit window, and they want to give everyone a chance to pit, without ruining their race. At one race this season (and I can’t remember which one), the race stayed green until Josef Newgarden had completed his stop. After a long delay, the yellow was finally displayed as Newgarden was exiting the pits.

Personally, I don’t think there was any favoritism being displayed – but I do have a problem with a car and driver being a sitting duck, as Race Control decides they aren’t in any real danger. To me, if a car is sitting still on the racing surface, there is a chance they can be hit.

So far, IndyCar has been lucky that no one has been injured. But we all saw what happened at Toronto this past summer, when Pato O’Ward spun in Turn One. Race Control inexplicably waited what seemed like an eternity before calling for the yellow flag. In he meantime, he was clipped by three to four cars – including his teammate, Nolan Siegel. Santino Ferrucci was the last to come through. By the time Ferrucci got there, O’Ward had been hit so many times, he had been turned completely around, to where his car served as a ramp for Ferrucci. The Foyt car went airborne up against the fencing and then landed upside down.

Marcus Ericsson and Pietro Fittipaldi were also taken out in the avoidable melee. What should have been a one-car incident ended up taking out five cars. The delay was not from holding the pits open, but it was never really explained why it happened. My guess is human error, which happens. But it serves as an example as to what can happen if there is a delay for any reason in bringing out the yellow.

In my opinion, IndyCar should let what happened in the IMSA race at Road Atlanta be a cautionary tale. So far, IndyCar has gotten away with holding the pits open before throwing a yellow. But I feel it is a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off. IndyCar should abandon this practice before a driver is seriously injured…or worse.

There is nothing wrong with the randomness of a yellow flag. I remember during the 1991 Indianapolis 500 before they started closing pits during a caution, Gordon Johncock had started dead last, but had worked his way up all day for a respectable finish. But during a late caution, he happened to be in the right place a the right time. He dove into the pits for fuel and ended up finishing sixth, in what turned out to be his final 500. Was that due to luck? Sure, but show me a driver who hasn’t benefited from some luck in their racing career – especially at Indianapolis.

I feel like holding the pits open while a disabled car sits on track is another form of manipulating results. Randomness is good. Sometimes a driver’s race gets messed up, but sometimes a bad day gets saved. That’s just the luck of the draw. Sometimes, it’s good to throw a wild card into the picture. It keeps things interesting. It’s a lot better to have a wild card, than a seriously injured driver – simply because Race Control wanted to keep the running order status quo.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on October 21, 2024 at 4:05 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.