Sodie hangover … and other thoughts about Coca-Cola 600
All righty, I’ve drank too much of the caffeinated beverage (AGAIN!) and I’m feelin’ the rush, so I’ll jibber-jabber about Sunday’s races — Formula 1, Indy car and NASCAR.
– Lewis Hamilton rocks! Dude won again in the Grand Prix of Monaco, and the most impressive thing is that he overcame an early incident (scraped the wall six laps in), pitted for a new tire and still won.
Kills my theory that a sneeze knocks open-wheel cars out for the day, and Hamilton did have to make more than one pass en route to the victory, so that’s a pretty busy day and lots of dramatics for the Formula 1 types. (Welcome to one lap and one pit stop of your basic NASCAR Sprint Cup race).
– Don’t know what’s worse: Marco Andretti taking the low line to force teammate Tony Kanaan into the trecherous “marbles” on the high side for a spinout and a race-ending crash; or Kanaan ripping his teammate Andretti on national TV in the post-accident interview. The caramel dude (old Reese’s commercial) said it was bad for a teammate to do that to him, tho apparently it’s OK for him to rip a teammate on national TV.
– I can’t decide who threw a bigger snit on Sunday: Danica Patrick with her pit road walk/stalk to confront Ryan Briscoe (after Briscoe took her out in a pit-road incident late in the Indy 500); or Tony Stewart reportedly stomping into his hauler and kicking things after flatting and giving up the lead in the Sodie 600.
Guess I’ll pick Patrick because she did it in full view of fans and television cameras and needed to be rescued by security before reaching Briscoe’s pit. At least Stewart had the sense to pop off behind closed doors, tho he still could pop off publicly on his satellite radio show. In either case, a rookie mistake in the pits by Briscoe and a failed gamble on tires by Stewart’s crew chief, spit happens. That’s racin’.
– Is there anything more painful than watching Michael Andretti have to explain his family’s or his team’s bum luck in the Indy 500? Why yes, there is. It’s any post-race interview with an out-of-breath Dale Earnhardt Jr., who always seems to be oxygen-depleted and gasping for air after races while other drivers seem lemony fresh. Dude needs to get on a fitness program or something. (I know, I know, so do I!)
–Nice to see Kasey Kahne actually drink his post-race beverage. Well, it looked like he downed some Bud, which will make the folks on Pestolozzi happy. Usually, he’s one of the worst product-placement sodie/beverage drinkers in NASCAR. The worst is Greg Biffle, who doesn’t even look like he takes a sip when he puts sodie bottle to mouth for one-10 millionth of a second. The post-race/pre-interview sodie drinkers don’t have to slug it down in glug-glug-glug fashion ala Kyle Petty or Dale Jarrett … but they should at least really drink it and act like they like it. It’ll make the beverage sponsors happy.
– The people I felt bad for Sunday: Owner/drivers Sarah Fischer and Robby Gordon. Fischer got taken out in the collision with Kanaan at Indy, and Gordon blew an engine on Lap 184 at Sodie and finished dead last. You have to admire the drivers who try to go it alone in this day and age of the corporate super teams that dominate the highest level of motorsports in the U.S.
– As to why I picked Kahne as my underdog winner before the Sodie 600 … sure, he’s had success at Jimmie World (Lowe’s), but the owner of Kahne’s vehicle, Gillett Evernham, isn’t quite to the super-team status of Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing. As a matter of fact, Kahne is the only driver not from a super team in the Top 12 of the standings. He’s 12th, moving ahead of Roush’s David Ragan after the Sunday Sodie win.
–30–
Ryan Briscoe is no rookie. This was his 3rd Indy 500. I don’t know if Danica is right that it’s all Briscoe’s fault, but I do know that Briscoe has been around long enough to know pit road protocol.
I should have written “a rookie mistake by driver who should know better.” I don’t think that Briscoe violated pit-road protocol so much as he over-revved and spun out, which is what appeared to happen in my view. His backend fish-tailed to the right and Patrick was toast.
I don’t see anything wrong with Danica’s or Tony’s behavior. If another driver (read: male) had done the same thing, it would have been a great racing moment harkening back to old-school racin’. This situation is being played out as a spoiled little girl having a “snit.” That wasn’t “one’a them racin’ deals,” that was the Indy 500! As for Tony, he was less than three laps away from winning one of NASCAR’s crown jewels and he’s not supposed to be upset??? Why? He gets ripped for being angry in public and when he’s angry in the privacy of his own hauler for losing one of NASCAR’s most storied races, he STILL gets ripped? Finally, the Kanaan/Andretti deal: if you think Kanaan’s very minimal comments towards his teammate/owner’s son, you should go back to last year’s Martinsville race when two of NASCAR’s best drivers, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, had words after the race. It seems that, based on this post, drivers aren’t supposed to show any emotion if something bad happens because it’s “just racin’,” and “spit happens.” Not sure I understand that mindset. I guess since they’re well-paid, they’re not supposed to care if they lost. But then, if they have THAT attitude, I guess they get ripped for that as well.