Stupid Indy car finish includes Will Power's salute to officials...

((ht: boston.com))

Say this for the Indy car folks, they sure know how keep themselves thought of as "Minor League". The reason we say that is the way the end of Sunday's "MoveThatBlock.com" Indy 225 finished.

The boys...and girl, were racing at the rainy New Hampshire speedway and because of that, they had to finish the race a few laps early.

Oriol Servia

Apparently, Indy car races sometimes have problems at the finish. And in this case was the winner of the "MoveThatBlock.com" 225 at the New Hampshire Speedway, the actual winner?

Ryan Hunter-Reay had the lead when the race was slowed on lap 215 for moisture on the track. Officials, desperate to finish under a "Green Flag" tried to bunch up the cars and do a double-file restart on Lap 217.

After the green flag dropped, Oriol Servia, passed race leader Reay and had the lead when cars started skidding all over the wet track. The race was summarily "Red Flagged" and the same officials decided to revert back to the standings on lap 215 and declared Reay the winner.

Servia was....shall we say, less than thrilled.

As was driver Will Power, who apparently made a "less-than-polite", somewhat obscene gesture to the official (Brian Barnhart) who made the decision to restart.

Read the entire play-by-play of what happened from Boston.com RIGHT HERE

Interesting way to finish a race here. We don't dispute Indy Car's attempt at finishing the race, but we do question the time frame here. Was it something they could have waited out before trying the restart?

What ended up happening is confusion. Chaos even. We aren't sure exactly how, if you completed a green flag lap, that you can revert back to the order before the flag dropped. But then again, we aren't race officials.

Either way, it cements Indy Car's reputation as a bit of a side show. And arguably a "minor-league" circuit that draws drivers with bigger aspirations. It's really kind of sad because for those of us old-enough to remember the days before NASCAR was the auto-racing king, Indy Car truly ruled the roost.

Here is video of Mr. Power's salute:



And video of the attempted restart/finish, featuring an agitated Michael Andretti:

Michael Andretti buys Ryan Hunter-Reay a ride from A.J Foyt

Michael Andretti

This is just plain weird. We'd say that something like this wouldn't be legal in most Sports, but this is Indy Car racing and they quite honestly do bizarre things sometimes.

Apparently, coming off a disappointing qualifying week for the Indy 500, a couple of "Big Name" car owners pulled off a swap. Ryan Hunter-Reay, a driver for Michael Andretti, who didn't qualify for the race when he was bumped on the final qualifying run by teammate Marco Andretti, will still get to race.

The reason...his team owner, Michael Andretti, bought him a spot driving a car for A.J Foyt's team, bumping the driver of that car, Bruno Junqueria from that ride.

This, needless to say, isn't going over really well in, well, nobody likes the smell of it.

Bob Kravitz of IndyStar.com says this sets "A Dangerous Precedent", read about it RIGHT HERE

And Kravitz is right. Really, what is the point of qualifying if you can just buy a ride? That's pretty much what happened here.

The fact that Andretti's cars were horrible in qualifying, that's their own fault. There should be no allowance for anyone trying to buy a ride.

It's things like this that took the fun out of the Indy 500, many years ago. When we were young, it was a great specatcle on Memorial Day weekend. Must watch TV on Sunday's. Now, it's gone. Done. The rest of the racing world passed it by 20-years ago.

Sure, a large part of that was the incompetence and over-sized ego of Tony George who split the Indy Car series in two with some ridiculous rules, chasing some of the best drivers away from the series, but it was also some really odd decisions within the series itself.

This was supposed to be the 1st year of reconciliation at the 500, when all the best drivers would be there. And most of them are. But it really takes some of the seriousness or legitimacy out of it when you hear about stories like this. The series should be ridiculed over this and for me, I really haven't watched or considered this a big event in many, many years.

The TV story from WISH-TV in Indianapolis, where the race is still considered a big deal:

Indy 500 Bump Day Leaves Casualties

((HT: Versus/IMS/msnbc.com))

Bump Day at Indy is just as frantic as it always has been...

Weather was the big culprit this time- sun, rain, and then sun again for the last 75 minutes- and the drivers needed it.

Especially, Danica Patrick...

She was waiting in the queue as the last rain fell on the speedway just to get a qualifying run. She would get one and would end up 25th overall and bump out Alex Lloyd...

Here's Danica's 10-mile run for her spot in the field...
Bob, Wally, Jan, and Dan Wheldon are in the booth...

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

But it got better...

Alex Lloyd went for broke and found some speed- knocking out Marco Andretti and putting Ryan Hunter-Reay on the bubble...

James Jakes tried to knock out Hunter-Reay, but his attempt was waved off after two laps by the IndyCar folks for not having enough speed.

That left Marco as the final qualifier. The gun went off to end the session about 45 seconds into his run, but with an average speed of 224.628 mph, he jumped to the inside of Row 10 and Hunter-Reay was out of the field altogether.

That left three cars in for Andretti and two out. Michael Andretti said it was the worst day he's ever had, emotionally, as a car owner.

Should Milka Be Parked Permanently...? Duno...??? Probation For Now...

It has long been thought of that Milka Duno is nothing more than a field filler for the IndyCar Series... and she's a pretty bad one at that...

She's slow, she's discourteous, and she simply doesn't know how to drive open-wheeled cars very well- even with four Masters degrees and a resume that includes a naval engineer...

Maybe if she raced submarines...??

You remember her run-in with Danica a few years ago...
((HT: ESPN/IndyCar/amichi10))


Things grew again at Watkins Glen earlier this season...
((HT: Indycars))


And now, we go to Edmonton... this week's stop on the circuit...

Milka lost control of her car in her first practice, smashed into the tire barrier and shredded her rear wing. She spun out again in the second practice session and finished last.

Duno has been pulled by track officials from two races this year, including last week in Toronto, for driving so slowly she was referred to as a "hazard." She hasn't finished higher than 14th- ever. Ad the series has decided to review her status at the end of the year...

One comment from Hunter-Reay: "The scariest situation is coming up to her the first time during a race on the ovals. We're already doing 220 miles an hour. We don't need to throw another curveball in the mix. Not at that speed."

Dale Coyne would, probably, differ since Duno is his meal ticket until Alex Lloyd becomes a household name... that won't happen soon...

And this guy might disagree, too...


SATURDAY UPDATE: According to the IndyCar folks their own selves, Duno has been placed on probation for the rest of the calendar year.

From the league:

Duno's probation requires immediate and substantial improvement to her driving during the remaining events on the 2010 schedule.

Substantial improvement is defined as consistently meeting the performance standards set by the league on a particular circuit. On road and street courses this is measured in terms of time (107 percent of lead car), and on ovals it is measured in terms of speed (10 mph of the lead car). In addition to time and speed, other requirements include car control/placement and interaction with other cars on track.

Here's video of the last practice before the Edmonton Indy Sunday...
There is a cutaway in the video of Duno blocking traffic...
You REALLY have to look for her, though...
((HT: IndyCars/Versus))


Duno doesn't have a qualifying time for the race since she wrecked in practice and will start 25th in a field of 25...

She has the right, as does Dale Coyne Raacing, to appeal the penalty pursuant to the IndyCar rules. But how do you appeal that you don't suck...???

Jus' axin'...

Dario Takes the 500 Under Yellow... Still Counts As A Win

Dario Franchitti survived the last lap with a huge crash to win at the Indianapolis 500 Sunday.

Franchitti held on with 1.6 gallons of fuel left in the tank...

"Still running," the winner told his crew over the radio as he crossed the finish line.

The victory made Franchitti's boss, Chip Ganassi, the first owner to win Indy and NASCAR's Daytona 500 in the same year ((Jamie McMurray)).

Here's the last lap where Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay caused a lot of a stir when they collected each other and caused a yellow-flagged finish...
((HT: ABC/IndyCar Series))


Conway complained of a left leg injury following the wreck. He was immediately taken to Methodist Hospital for evaluation. He was flown because of the heavy post-race traffic.

IndyCar Season Gets Off The Ground... Literally...

((HT: Versus/IndyCar Racing))

The 2010 IndyCar season got off to an auspicious start with a lot of help from cement dust...

The race in Sao Paulo, Brazil has just gotten underway, and when all the cars were heading into Turn One, the dust kicked up and the cars went everywhere...

Combine that with the rain forest-based gullywasher that red flagged the race for 45 minutes, and you get a sprint to the finish in a timed event.

Will Power made a pass with a few laps to go sending Ryan Hunter-Reay to second place. Brazil fave Vitor Meira finished third. Ryan Briscoe actually had the lead late, but a late wreck sent him packing.

Bob Jenkins has your play-by-play of your early fireworks alongside Jan Beekuis and Robbie Buhl...