Whoa Indy...and ND Woes

Yesterday was a great day at IMS; more lead changes than ever before. The nearly 70 lead changes can be attributed to the parity among teams due to the identical chassis and two engine packages...but the highly-skilled field also had something to do with it.

People can say what they want about the DW12 chassis- it's not sleek enough, it's a bit of an ugly duckling...perhaps.  But, if you like to watch racing as a contest of grit, timing, will and skill, then you probably loved yesterday's 500.

Like everyone else, I want the cars to be faster...and I want more innovation and flexibility within the rules, but yesterday's race was crazy fun to watch. The cars probably have a bit too much downforce right now and not quite enough horsepower, but the end product is close to unbeatable.

All of that said, the strategy and overall approach of race day has drastically changed from mere years ago. With the white flag waving, you no longer want the lead...you want to be in second or third place. No one can really pull away from anyone else; I guess that's alright.

Indy is now officially the antithesis of F1. The mostly-Euro series is almost solely a series based on preparation, homework, outspending the next team and "rolling the ball out" (if you will).  I love the look of those machines and the innovation and trickle down of technology over there.  I don't like the glorified parade that those races are.

With just a few laps left yesterday, 22 cars were separated by about 10 seconds...something I've never seen before. Ed Carpenter's tenth place finish after starting from the pole is viewed by some as a failure of a day.  BUT, had the race finished under green, he would have finished just seconds behind the leader.

The fastest cars, especially in the last 50 laps were clearly better than everyone else...and Chevy had a decided advantage (which needs to be adjusted).  But even the guys who weren't in the top-5 were really right there. It's kinda crazy to think that a guy who is 9 seconds behind after around 170 laps is waaaaaay off the pace, but it kinda felt that way.  Guys like Scott Dixon weren't far behind at the end of the race...but weren't really contenders either.

I've been to 25 Indy 500 races now...and have never seen a crowd as elated for a winner as they were when Tony Kanaan earned the checkered flag.  Like me, I think many in the crowd thought that his last chance of winning went away when he lost his Andretti ride a few years ago...I was very wrong- in two years, he's had a top-3 and a win; not bad for a guy left for dead by many.

TK leads a pair of Andretti Racing machines across the yard of bricks

I had thrown him onto the scrap heap of guys like Raul Boesel and (ironically) Michael Andretti- great drivers who shoulda won it, but never will.  Glad I was wrong.

I've heard that the league will finally allow some new aero packages around the safety tub of the DW 12 chassis in 2014; I hope they do as I think we're only a half-step better than we were a few years ago when just Honda was supplying engines to power the old Dallara Indy chassis.  I'm still no fan of spec racing (in theory).  That said, I love the cars being safer and more consistent. The days of qualifying a four or five year old chassis while panhandling for an engine is gone; that's a good thing.  The fact that the cars aren't going 238 mph is a bad thing.

Days like yesterday are nothing but positive for Indy and the league around it...But if they can double the winner's purse, and get the speeds up in the upper half of the 230s, we might see Indy return closer to her former glory.

Even my BS counterpart, J Money had to admit that yesterday's race was exciting...and he's a pseudo-NASCAR apologist.

Bad news for Gunner Kiel and Brian Kelly
Almost two months ago, Gunner Kiel decided to head to the greenest of football pastures, the University of Cincinnati, of course.  He wasn't pleased with the fact that two QBs were in front of him at UND and another was really neck-and-neck with him at the third spot in the Coach Kelly's rotation.

Things change quickly in college football sometimes- This Spring has been one of those for Notre Dame's offense.

Last year's starter, Everett Golson did something nefarious according to the university's academic police.  We really don't know exactly what it is that he did, but it looks like he cheated in some way. The end result is he's no longer enrolled at UND and no longer on Notre Dame's football team.

The erratic, but adequate Senior QB, Tommy Rees will probably be the starter.  BUT, Kelly hasn't ever given him a vote of confidence...Plus, he had a legit run in with the law last season that might have even caused Kelly to second-guess his leadership.  Sure, it's OK for some on their roster to get arrested, but striking an officer kinda makes you lose your job, even for Coach Kelly.  I guess it's a good thing he wasn't kicked off the team last fall, right UND fan?

UND should still be quite good in the fall, but the loss of Golson to academics, Eiffert to the NFL, Riddick to graduation, Wood to NFL practice squad (two running backs) will make things interesting. UND's offense will have a QB who's prone to mistakes and fumbles, no sure-handed relief valve underneath and no experienced running back behind Rees.

Our Boilers are in the midst of an overhaul as new coaches try to get all the moving parts to move as a unit.  UND's offensive tumult should be a bit of music to our ears as we look ahead to the most difficult schedule in the nation.

IndyCar's Last Stop Before The Big One

Since five or six of you guys actually like IndyCar, I thought I'd write down a few thoughts of the season so far.

First off, let's talk about the Sao Paulo race that just happened yesterday, shall we?  That looks to be the tightest course in the IndyCar series...not many places to pass...but, that didn't mean the race was uneventful or boring. In fact, there were a ton of attempts to pass, lots of aggressive driving and yet another entertaining race.

Monday Gumbo (Mikesky, McKinzie, Indy and More)

The Spring game is coming...I love it for a ton of reasons, but I hate it for others.  The summer doldrums of sports are kind of already here- J and I forced to talk about IndyCar and MLB...no Purdue sports to be found...and generally, news that comes out of West Laffy in the Spring or Summer has something to do with ACLs and isn't the type of thing we like talking about.

Spring practice has been good for the Boilers though, at least from an injury standpoint. Sure, guys are banged up a bit, but that happens...there doesn't seem to be a major injury in the pipe.  And for the first time in forever, Purdue has two healthy QBs to square off in the Black/Gold game who have both started in and played significant games while at Purdue.  Who they will be throwing to though, is a different story.

For the second-straight season, depth at WR is a question mark.  Sure, Gary Bush, Antavian Edison and OJ Ross have caught a decent amount of passes, but depth and consistency remains a concern.  I still am not positive of what to expect from Ross.  He's got great speed and overall athleticism, but he ran lazy routes at times and gave up on plays.  I've always like Gary Bush as a solid option and Edison can do everything...and in spite of his lack of size, he's been very durable.

After these three, a BS favorite, Tommie Thomas has seen a lot of snaps with the 1s in the Spring.  In case you don't remember, Thomas has ping-ponged back and fourth from offense do defense and now back to offense, but should be on the two-deep come the fall.  I think we'll see Thomas play a role similar to what Gravesande did last season...but Thomas is a different guy in that he's an emotional leader and his teammates rally around him a bit.  Gravesande tended to do his job a bit more quietly.

Shane Mikesky (87), the budding track star and RS Frosh-to-be has shown an ability to go up and get the jump ball in practice so far...but admits he needs to work on strength before he can be an every-down WR in the B1G.  He's built a bit like Jonathan Standeford...and has a similar deceptive speed about his with his long strides.  ChuckT, Charles Torwudzu (17), should also make a bit of noise as he tries to be a possession receiver for TerBush and Marve...His size and strength might help him find the field.

Raheem Mostert, arguably the most exciting player on the on the team, will also try to work his way into becoming a consistent WR...but I see him as a perfect back-up for Edison as he's able to come out of the backfield, play flanker or wideout.  Ishmael Aristide (22), who along with Rob Henry just missed becoming leader of the free Purdue world last week, is working toward becoming a WR after switching from defense.

The WR position is one I'll be watching more-closely than any other this coming Saturday as LBD and I enjoy our final taste of Purdue football until August/September.  Hopefully, the OLine can protect Marve and TerBush enough that we get to see a somewhat-normal offense.

McRoth

Brush with Local Talent
When I say McKinzie Roth, most of you would probably say, "Lawfirm?" And you might be correct.  But, Roth is actually a local spokeswoman who I've been a fan of for a few years...If you're in Indy, you might know her as the Andy Mohr Ford girl? No matter. I shared this story with my wife, and she was about as impressed as you guys are about to be.

I was at the gym last week and almost ran into her...while she wasn't wearing a catsuit, she was still pretty impressive in person...good for her and her boyfriend/husband.

IndyStar Bias Shows Itself (again)
If you read the IndyStar regularly...what's wrong with you? If not, you might not have seen this.

We all know that the Star has a white-hot, undying love for all things IU...but what you might not know is that they'll shill for IU even when the opportunity isn't really there.  To the Star's chagrin, Yogi Ferrell didn't win Indiana's Mr. Basketball, but, MSU super-talent Garry Harris did.

So the Star wrote a piece about Mr. Harris' accomplishment...and seemed to focused on the guy that finished second.  Click here to check it out.

Also in the article, Ronnie Johnson is mentioned as a member of this year's Indiana All-Star team...along with a bunch of other names that you'll see playing D-1 basketball next season. Iowa, Butler, IU, Michigan, Purdue and others all found a gem in this year's talented class from Indiana...But I really like the guys coming to God's country next year- Have I mentioned that?

IndyCar
Because I can, I will mention IndyCar.

The new chassis heads to another road course this weekend- this time it's Long Beach...Here's to a race like what we saw at Barber with plenty of passing and action at the front of the field.

The cars will be coming to Indy, this time to prepare for the greatest spectacle, the second week of May...with practice beginning on May 13.  Hopefully they'll be up above 220 at that point at the the 2.5 mile oval...but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm one of the people that was clamoring for a new chassis...so I'm not complaining.  But, the DW12 will look a lot better going faster than it does hovering around 215 as it did at last week's practice.

Monday Gumbo

Purdue's football team continued Spring football practice last week by having the annual Steak 'n Beans Scrimmage.  This format pits the offense versus the defense and the winning squad gets a steak dinner while the loser feasts on beans.  We've spoken about this a few times- I can't cheer for either the defense nor offense to be doing well during practices and scrimmages because if domination is happening with regularity, it means one unit just isn't ready for primetime.

This contest came down to the last play that had the #1 offense in the redzone in a position to win with one more score.  Marve (who's been splitting snaps with the 1s with TerBush) tried to find Bush for the score, but the pass was broken up by Ricardo Allen.

After the game, Allen said he felt disrespected that Marve would have the gall come his way with the game on the line.  The problems with this thinking is multifold, I believe.  First, and most obviously, Allen is insinuating that his counterparts, Johnson and Harris should be the ones that should be tested in the situation...and he's simply better than them.  I like Allen...I like corners with swagger that make big plays. But, after last season, I'm not too sure if Allen's cockiness has legs here.  He was tested a lot last season...and failed a lot; by his own admission.  Why wouldn't Marve go at him?

Second, Josh Johnson is a physical corner with a few inches of height on Allen.  In short yardage, bigger corners have an advantage, generally.  And if Harris was defending a receiver on that down, he's four inches taller than Allen.  Logic says go at the smallest DB and make him make the play- Good for Allen that he made it.  Good for Marve for testing him.

Sure, I'm over-analyzing this...but what the hell else is there to do during this time of year???

According to Hope, Marve and TerBush both continue to look sharp- Marve is making better decisions, TerBush making quicker decisions.  I'm still rooting for Marve to get the nod as I think a healthy #9 can do more than TerBush behind the center.

Blooming Coaching Tree
Former Painter assistant, Rick Ray was hired as Mississippi State's Head Coach over the weekend.  If you don't follow the coaching staff moves too closely, you might know Ray as the coach who looked like Cuonzo Martin from 50 feet away.  Ray left Purdue to be the Assistant HC for Clemson a few years ago. When it happened, many Purdue fans didn't understand the move.  Right about now, the move looks pretty damned smart- he made more money at Clemson...and got a head coaching gig within two years.

Not too shabby.

For those of you keeping score at home, here are the former Painter assistants who now have head coaching positions: Paul Lusk at Missouri State, Cuonzo Martin at Tennessee and Rick Ray at Mississippi State.  Sure, you could argue that Martin belongs in the direct tree of Keady...but all of these guys are really in Keady's tree when it comes down to it.

And speaking of former Keady assistants getting richer, Bruce Weber landed in Manhattan...no, not to coach with Keady and Lavin at St. John's, but Kansas State.  Former KSU player and beard aficionado, Jacob Pullen tweeted his displeasure about the hire from Europe (where he currently plays).  Pullen wasn't offered by then Illinois HC, Weber...and Pullen is still sore about that.  But, Weber's connection to Chicago and ability to attract high-level talent to his programs will probably soothe the wounds that any KSU fans might have.  Plus, shouldn't they be angry at Frank Martin more than anyone for making the odd move to South Carolina?

IndyCar
I haven't done this in a while, but here are my thoughts on the IndyCar circuit (for the five of you who care).  The new chassis and engines seem to be doing pretty well in spite of many thinking they were rushed into service.  Granted, the Lotus engine seems to be having more growing pains than the Chevy or Honda packages...but no one is surprised at this since Lotus simply wasn't ready for testing as early as the other two manufacturers.

Bringing sexy back?

The looks of the new chassis grow on me every time I see it...and if nothing else, it doesn't look old or like any other series' chassis.  I think next year as the new aero packages are implemented, the cars will get back to being sexier...which we really haven't seen in the series in a decade or more.

The race in Alabama was much better to watch than the previous week in St. Pete.  Perhaps the drivers and teams are getting more comfortable...and the race course has a lot to do with the amount of passing. But changes in the blocking rule have helped the racing immensely...and removing Brian Barnhart from the raceday operations helped out a lot as well.

All-in-all, the first two races of the season are a good start...the cars won't be racing again until April 15.  Next up, they'll be testing the oval Aero package in Indy on Wednesday...I'm hoping to head to the track with LBD to watch a few laps.

Never Disappointing: Another Classic from IMS

Our view from the Southwest Vista

For those of you who have visited here for a while, you know that J and I verbally spar on the merit of Indy Car Racing and MLB. I'm not much of a fan of professional baseball, and he feels the same about open wheel racing.

But the magnitude and spectacle around the Indianapolis 500 is pretty hard to debate...but some of the logistical planners around today's race tried to ruin the day, in my opinion.

The race wasn't very well-attended last year, by Indy's standards, and seemingly, those who made decisions around the track thought this year would be the same...it wasn't. The traffic into the oldest, greatest race venue in the world was slower than I can recall in my 25 years attending the race. A pedestrian was struck and a few more accidents occurred near the track this morning, and that was the excuse we were hearing on the radio, but as we got close, we found out that wasn't the real reason.

At nearly every intersection where applicable, Indianapolis Police Officers and Marion County Sheriffs were doing a very poor, very unprofessional job of directing traffic. Perhaps the reason this was surprising is because we've become pretty used to them doing a good job and moving us to the track with ease...it seemed their job was to make law-abiding citizens frustrated and angry- they were great at that. The real problem with that is there are so many people from outside of the city here just to watch the race- they didn't get to see the best of the city today, in my opinion. But, the drivers made up for the problems outside the track.

The field looked amazingly-sound on paper. There were no under-qualified Milka Duno, no Dr. Jack Miller types. In fact, the rookies seemed solid and the part-time (not full-time on the circuit) drivers were a good-looking group. Solid, but sometimes slow, John Andretti was in, Always-fast in Indy Ed Carpenter was set in Sarah Fisher's ride. Bertrand "The Sandwich" Baguette has a year under his belt. Thomas Schechter and Paul Tracy are madmen at times, but always agressive and fast. Ex-winners, Buddy Rice and Dan Wheldon strengthened the field by their preference. The only guy that really bothered or scared me for the rest of the field's sake really, was E.J. Viso. My best hope was that he would take himself out without sweeping anyone else up in the mess (kinda got my wish).

My family and I discussed recent race winners and couldn't think of a true dark horse winning in the last few decades. In hindsight, names like Lazier and Rice seem that way, but the race was a shell of itself in the CART/IRL split days. Teams were weaker and tons of underqualied drivers were the norm.

Andretti, Ganassi and Penske have pretty-much owned the Borg Warner for the last decade. Turns out, even in a spec series, the best engineers with the greatest resources and the best drivers still dominate.

So, when Ganassi's henchmen dominated for much of the first half, no one was surprised. But, Alex Tagliani (Sam Schmidt Racing) and Dan Wheldon (Bryan Herta Autosport) kept the red cars honest by mixing it up when the opportunity arose. But, Penske machines were no where to be found...and I loved that. Plus, the Andretti machines were seemingly continuing what they had done for the past few weeks in Indy.

I don't dislike Roger Penske. I hold no grudge toward him for ancient history...in fact, I think he's great for the sport because his teams seem to be better-prepared than anyone, usually. This month was not a typical May for Penske though. They struggled finding speed in practice and qualifying. That said, this seems to happen for one reason or another every decade or so for Penske.

The second half of the race was much different much to the chagrin of Chip Ganassi. The dominant 1-2 punch of the Flying Scot (II) and The Iceman was disrupted as long stretches of green racing and green flag pitstops that helped a ton of old favorites get into contention. Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti found their way into the top-10. Tony Kanaan scratched and clawed his way into the lead pack as did Graham Rahal. Oriol Servia raced aggressively and stayed out of trouble, and second-year American racer, J.R. Hillebrand hung around quietly.

The closing third of the race was a great example of why I like to watch this race. Fuel/pit strategy, new leaders coming out of nowhere, drivers putting it all on the line and an unexpected finish were the defining aspects of this period.

Old Indy fans loved watching Rahal revive the family name as he was on top. Then, the large crowd reveled in Danica leading. As she ran out of fuel, the crowd loved being surprised as "The Sandwich" held the lead, but the best was yet to come.

Baguette was forced to get a splash of fuel and relinquish his hard-fought lead, and rising star, J.R. Hildebrand took control. Everyone wondered about his fuel situation around me, but he kept his foot to the floor 7, then 6, then 5 laps remained. The white flag came out and the young American still held the lead as Wheldon, Rahal, Dixon and Kanaan fought behind him and hoped he didn't have the fuel to go the distance...But he did.

He flew around the 2.5 mile track but when he got to turn four, in view of the flag that was prepared to present his checkered flags, he stayed on the gas as he passed lapped traffic and got into the marbles. His National Guard-sponsored Dallara slammed the wall but kept enough speed to clearly get to the finish line...just not with the lead. Dan Wheldon's bright orange and White bullet streaked past the wounded machine of Hillenbrand without the yellow light flashing...and Wheldon claimed the unexpected victory, his second at Indy.

Here are a few more notes from the day:

-The double-file starts worked much better than I thought they would...and were very exciting. That said, I'm not sure if they'll work as well with a less-experienced field, but I think they served their purpose quite well for the most part.

-The Honda/Dallara era is over...and once again, the Honda engines performed amazingly. Be assured that while the two additional engines offered will return the race to what it should be, we'll NEVER see a more consistant engine than what we've watched during this era. I'm pleased that Dallara will be producing the 2012 safety cell (tub) as these cars have been astoundingly-safe.

Now, let's get back to the 230s, Indy Car...the technology can now keep the drivers safe at those speeds.

One "open wheel" concept for '12

-Hopefully the new era of Indy car racing will see a return of pace cars outside of the Chevy family. The Camaro convertible looked really slick today, but I really miss multiple manufacturers being part of the race.

Why not?

How about this for an idea: Tesla Roadsters and Model Ss pacing the field?

-Danica will probably be gone soon as a full-time Indy driver...at least for a few years, and it'll be OK. Sure, Mann, Beatriz and de Sylvestra aren't as easy on the eyes as the Go Daddy girl, but the fact that so many women are competing in the league, is nothing but positive, in my opinion. If they can go fast enough, let 'em race...and while there are great parts to the circus around Patrick, her whining and (more recently) acting like the victim just pisses me off. Her performance in the Nationwide Series has been OK, at best, but we have no reason to believe she'll compete any more in Neckcar. I hope the cashgrab is worth it for the sassy vixen.

-I hope Hildebrand, Rahal, and Bell get upgraded rides in '12. It'd be nice to see a handful of young, talented American drivers give this series a boost and become household names a la Mears, Michael Andretti and Unser (you pick which one).

-In the same way, I'm hoping for greater sponsorship dollars, and in turn, better resources and equipment for teams like Sam Schmidt Motorsports, KV Racing, Panther, Rahal and others as the economy (hopefully) continues to recover in the coming years. I'm also hoping the hayday of Nascar is nearly over and TV advertising dollars can get fed back into the unified open wheel series once again.

-Most importantly, I'm choked up, if not moved to tears, each year before the race as members of the U.S. military are honored for their brave service. I love the fact that so much reverence is shown by the oft rowdy, and sometimes drunk crowd at IMS when the 21 gun salute is fired, taps is played, patriotic songs are sung and the gigantic flag is unfurled.

Thank You.

For those of you who have protected, and continue to protect our country- Thank you. A few days a year isn't enough to let you men and women know how much your sacrifice is appreciated.