How many of you out there found the INDY Car 105% rule confusing? Am I the only one? We were all taught in grade school that 100% is all there is. You can have a glass of milk that is anywhere from 1% to 99% full and still have room for more. But once it reaches 100% full there is no more you can add. I eat 100% of a raspberry pie, guess what you aren’t getting any. There is none left. Because the 105% mostly applies to the slower cars in the race, one would have to assume the slowest cars on the track would have to run 105%, of the lead car. Example say the leader has a lap speed of 220 mph. This would mean the slowest car, in order to maintain the 105% rule would have to be traveling a speed of 231 mph. (220=100%) (22o x .05 [ 5%] = 231.) That would be 5% faster than the leader. WAIT A MINUTE !!!! If the slowest car is running 11 mph faster than the leader then the leader can not be leading, at least not for long. Now I realize we aren’t all engineers, Thus the 105% rule was not meant to be understood by us mere mortals. Now, let me put it this way. And I think this really makes more sense, as the apparent reason behind the rule is to keep the slower cars in a safer operating range with the average race speed. So would it not make more sense to say…call it a 95% RULE. Again let us use the 220 mph model as before. 220 x .95 (95%) = 209. An 11 mph difference. Slower still but you must admit more obtainable for the LOTUS than 231 mph. Like I have said before I am no mathematician. But 105% can’t make sense in any ones mind when it comes to racing speed (except an engineer). Especially when you are talking of slower cars. But a 95% rule holds water. Is there anyone out there who can explain a car going 105% faster that the fastest car (let alone the average speed) can be the slowest car. I can see the government taxing us 105% by the time all taxes are applied to my dollar. Perhaps this is how INDY Racing came up with that percentage. That Is How I See It Post Views: 185
Category: INDY 500
Indy Hot Wheels Jump
Probably receiving as much publicity as the RACE itself was the HOT WHEELS JUMP. This was a blast from the past. We all know Hot Wheels toy cars. In fact I still have ONE, only one left. It is one my boys and I played with. I guess I keep it for old times sake when my sons used to like my company, more than now. Not that they don’t now, it is just that they have their families now too. But the real memory evoked by the staging of the Hot Wheels Jump, is the fact that when I was a small child there was a touring group of “Hell Drivers”. This group (the ones I remember were called the “Jack Kochman Hell Drivers”) drove cars on 2 wheels around a 1 mile dirt oval. They jumped cars, did a 360 degree spin. went over ever increasingly high ramps door handle to door handle. And of course the slide for life. A man would stand on the rear bumper of a convertible while others were preparing a ring of fire, which somehow they would forget turn the can upright and leave about a 5o foot long trail. The fire was lit, the driver sped forward into the fire. the bumper rider would then step off the rear bumper and slide along the track and through the fire. Now what does this have to do with the Hot Wheels Jump? One of the acts in the show. I think it was called the “Plunge of Death” was having a lady climb into a little cart, atop a high, steep ramp. When the lever was released, she would come plummeting down, at the end was a curl, which lifted her up in the air, did at least one somersault, (sometimes, more, sometimes only a half), and land . To build the excitement and after stunt anticipation, she would sometimes be rescued and carried to an ambulance, which after sometime she would emerge, and take her bow. It was nice to see this old stunt revived. Thank You Hot Wheels for a walk down memory lane. That Is How I See It. more than they have Post Views: 417
INDY 500 2011
Indy 500 was filled with controversy this year. One item on the controversy agenda was….DOUBLE CAR RESTART. Never having raced at the track, I see nothing wrong with a double row restart, after all the official start has them racing 3 abreast. So what is the big deal restarting with one less row? Seems to me you have more room than at the start of the race. Safety wise I see no harm here, except in the case of late race restarts, which would be safe except for the “I have to make a move now or else,” mentality of the driver, who is pressured by himself, his team, sponsors, and fans to finish the best he can. Preferably 1st. From the driver’s standpoint. Why should someone I passed be starting beside me. Actually, that is the only valid argument I can find. True INDY is a one groove track. But as my Dad would have told me. “Find a way to use the rest of the track”. I’ve never seen it in the rules, but doesn’t the lead car have the choice of his racing line for the restart. He can use that to his ability, and be in the groove for the restart. Back to the Car I Passed, scenario. If I am above the groove, then the cars in the line behind the leader has an advantage. From the Fans standpoint. I like it. Controversy number 2. The purchase of a ride by Michael Andretti from A.J. Foyt. If Andretti could not field a car capable of qualifying with Hunter-Reay, why should he be allowed to purchase a ride qualified by an obviously (by means of qualifying), better driver. I wonder if A.J. sort of choked when he talked about how INDY had made him. He sold Junqueria’s chance to make his name. Controversy number 3. THE PASS UNDER YELLOW! Yes. Hildebrand crashed. HOWEVER he did maintain forward motion. As the leader it is up to him to set the pace until the pace car arrives. Apparently this rule does not apply in all instances. The new track management seems to have deemed a disabled car cannot lead the race. How many times I wonder have cars either ran out of gas and coasted to a win. Or crashed just as they were about to cross the finish line. This seems to me to be a rule that needs more definition. As for me. Hildebrand is the true winner of the 2011 INDY 500 I’m sure you all have opinions on these 3 things. I invite you to post your comments here, and also let the people running the INDY 500 if they made the right calls. That Is How I See It. Post Views: 229
Indy 500
Let start by saying this is only a RUMOR, I heard about 3 or 4 months ago. Rumor only. What I heard is that after the ousting of Tony George, as President (or whatever position he had), There was movement to divest the Hulman family’s ownership of the fabled track. Reason is unknown to me. I suspect the family had grown too large and for some reason wanted to collect the money and split it. Or perhaps their other holding were in trouble and this is their way of propping up those other businesses. A report in the news media has stated the family has been drilling for oil on their properties. I don’t know. The move to open offices in California seems to add fuel to these reports. It was said that the sale would not be announced until near INDY 500 race time. I suppose we will just have to wait and see. At any rate if they sell all the holdings of the INDY 500 It would be a massive bill. Because of the surrounding real estate that it owns is humongous. Just the sale of the Track facilities would be (given just land prices) would probably reach billions. Like this is just a RUMOR I heard 3 or 4 months ago. There may be nothing to it. This Is How I See It. Post Views: 118