[Racer X 69]

watching the Verizon Indy Car race from Portland ( live ?? ) on NBCSN

I think it may be qualifying Round 1 Group 1

It was tape delayed here. Probably everywhere.

The Indy Cars haven't been to Portland for a long time. The race used to be in June, on Father's Day. I went every year from 1985 to 1996. Saw plenty of great racers, Unser, Mears, Sullivan, Rutherford, Tracy, Johncock, Rahal, Andretti, St. James, Ribbs. When Tony George ran off CART from Indianapolis and created Indy Car with his "all American, all oval" series, all the road course events were dropped from the calendar. Also, the cars were English chassis, with Honda, Chevy (Ilmoore), Ford (Cosworth), Mercedes (and some other makes, all derived from European and Japanese manufacturers) engines. So much for "all American".

CART struggled on for a few years, with some of the former USAC stalwarts and others from the glory days of American open wheel racing who disagreed with George and the Indy Car series, but eventually died a miserable death.

There isn't enough room on the block for two open wheel series in North America.

Then, facing low car turnout, and low ticket sales, road courses began to come back to the schedule. And the best drivers were from Europe and South America. So the "all American, all oval" series regained the diversity from the CART days. Still, the series has struggled, with low car counts and low fan attendance. The racing isn't very good, and usually there are only 15 to 20 cars at a race, and today there is only one chassis (Dallara) and two engines (Honda and Chevrolet).

The bankrupt CART series reformed as Champ Car, and then reunited with Indy Car around 2008.

And now, after a long absence, open wheel racing has returned to the world class road course in Portland, Oregon.

I have raced my Z at Portland many times, beginning in 1989. The club I race with runs two configurations, without the chicane, and with the chicane (as the Indy Cars run it). I prefer the course without the chicane, as the front straight speeds are much higher, but the chicane is needed to keep the speeds safe for the high powered open wheel cars. My lap times with the chicane are around 1:32 or so. Today the Indy Car pole time set by Will Power was just over 57 seconds.

Less than a minute to circulate a 1.9 mile road course.

That's hauling the mail.

Me, at the current chicane in my Z (notice the two left tires are not touching the pavement):




The original chicane (it was changed in the early 1990's to slow the CART cars down):





Leading the pack down the back stretch to the green flag:

[Racer X 69]

Hi Racer

Gee you Won picked up a flag and grabbed the girl

What a day

Dave

I wish!

That is John Morton, in the Brock Racing prepared Datsun 510 race car, "back in the day".

[dbs]

I wish!

That is John Morton, in the Brock Racing prepared Datsun 510 race car, "back in the day".

Hi Racer

At least he races a Datsun ( Nissan to the younger folk ).
Enjoyed your race shots a couple posts back.
Did you also win that race ?

Dave

[tim60]

Ah, the diversity of the varied cultures we have in this community.

Isn't it great?

Yes, except when one touches a subject one finds neutral and other find something worthy of getting worked up over.

[tim60]

BTW, my daughter is taking a "large format" camera course this semester...should be interesting to see some of the results

Is a large format camera one with a 5.5" screen, and awkwardly big to fit into a pocket?

[LensBeginner]

watching the Verizon Indy Car race from Portland ( live ?? ) on NBCSN

I think it may be qualifying Round 1 Group 1

From Portland to where?

Oh, you mean in Portland... but... there's no point-to-point, then!

[aslyfox]

From Portland to where?

Oh, you mean in Portland... but... there's no point-to-point, then!

but there was both left hand and right hand turns

[gaweidert]

It would be great if F1 returned to Watkins Glen. NASCAR uses part of the track and . Indy cars used to race at Watkins Glen but they dropped the circuit in favor of Portland of all places. Lots of reasons for the decision and it was mutual. Scheduling conflicts etc. I think that they are working on a way to bring Indy cars back in 2021.


Indy car style racing really shot itself in the foot when it split into two separate entities. They lost a lot of fans.

[aslyfox]

It would be great if F1 returned to Watkins Glen. NASCAR uses part of the track and . Indy cars used to race at Watkins Glen but they dropped the circuit in favor of Portland of all places. Lots of reasons for the decision and it was mutual. Scheduling conflicts etc. I think that they are working on a way to bring Indy cars back in 2021.


Indy car style racing really shot itself in the foot when it split into two separate entities. They lost a lot of fans.

but wasn't the problem the fact that some favored oval racing only and others road courses only?

I saw indy at Road America, ( then the longest road track in the US 4.0 miles ), I would not go to an oval track

you could wander almost any where at RA, at least in the early-mid 90s

[Racer X 69]

From Portland to where?

Oh, you mean in Portland... but... there's no point-to-point, then!

Portland International Raceway is a 1.9 mile road course. Races there are either timed, as in the club races I enter which are 30 minutes, or for a given distance, which is scheduled to be 105 laps for the Indy Car event.


On a related note, the extremely passionate Tifosi are ecstatic in Monza today, as the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen are on the front row for the Italian Formula 1 race.

Go Ferrari!

[Racer X 69]

Did you also win that race ?

Those photos are from three different race meets. The first image is from a race that I won, the second I believe I came in second, and the last I suffered a puncture during the first lap, and finished well down in the order (but I did finish after stopping for a new tire).

[aslyfox]

. . . Go Ferrari!

isn't that what they do

very fast

[Racer X 69]

Yes, except when one touches a subject one finds neutral and other find something worthy of getting worked up over.

There will be challenges getting to know the audience and the venue. Things that make life interesting and challenging.

[Racer X 69]

isn't that what they do

very fast

They also crash very fast.

Vettel into the tyre barrier outside of Parabolica yesterday:




And just now, on the first lap Vettel got tangled up with Hamilton in the chicane after Curve Grande and comes out the loser.

After the restart Hamilton and Raikkonen have traded first and second multiple times.

Awesome racing!

[bertwert]

Morning folks!