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Reading Track Forum last night... Man, some of those guys are crazy... And delusional. Still living in the past.

On the one hand, I understand the argument for letting them go out and qualify with what they had because it's single car runs and they would revert back to the race kits and lower boost anyway. On the other hand, I feel as if Indycar had to do something if for no other reason than to show they were concerned.

With that said, the whole thing was handled poorly to be sure. Red flags and all these meetings should have happened immediately after Helio crashed, not after two more cars crashed. Though I will admit that Newgardens and Carpenters wrecks I think had far less to do with aero per se than the angle they hit the wall at. But, I'm not an aerodynamicist so I don't know that for sure. Helio's wreck is the one that, to me, is more concerning as that was, to this lamen, a pure aero situation.

Can I fault them for doing something? Not at all. Can I fault them for the way they did it? Absolutely. A lot was done wrong this last 3 or 4 days and it feels a bit like Texas in '01 where Indycar (CART) went head long into something on the assumption it would be OK without any real world data to back that assumption up. I get the argument that Indy is the place to push the boundaries, and I really do like the fact the teams were doing this. I am one of those in the minority who like seeing the big speeds and I have never subscribed to the theory that you can't tell the difference between 230 and 220. But, Indycar, as a series, is not in a position to just brush aside safety concerns as they once did. They had to do something. I just question the timing of what they did.

Wasn't Derrick Walker one of those in charge of Champ Cars in 2001?

Are the cars on track again today (like last year) or is the Friday session all they have left?

Saw a couple of drivers post on Facebook and it sounded like there is a session coming up soon.

It appears that IndyCar or IMS has changed the schedule for today, Indy Lights testing was supposed to start at 4:30PM but they are finishing up a test session right now according to timing and scoring. The practice is supposed to start at 12:30PM for IndyCar

Today's practice stream up and running.

Yesterday's mandates were sort of a quick fix. It had no direct effect on cars taking off. It just massively decreased the likelihood of cars wrecking in the first place. The issue will be very much back in play for the race. The three cars we've had flip so far went over very easily. So the "slower" race pace will not change anything. If a Chevy gets into the wall backwards at full face pace, it's gonna flip. Just hoping they stay out of the fence and the trailing cars can take proper avoidance.

I think yesterday's changes were just a very late duct tape solution in slowing the cars down a tad (or rather: not increasing their speed too much) while a more permanent solution is looked for.

Thinking about it, this is probably the exact reason they started pushing the boundaries this year instead of the much vaulted 100th running of the Indy 500 next year.
This sort of thing is bad now but would've looked even worse if it was during the publicity splash of the big 100 next year.

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

ANDDDDD again

Not a full flip but definite air....

*edit* AND ITS A HONDA. Oh BOY

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

Big crash for Hinchcliffe.

That was nasty. Something must have broken because he went straight in.

That was a horrible wreck and almost another flip

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ALPINE SKIING CRASHES SPREADSHEET

Doesn't look like he's moving.

Well, now I've calmed down, with half the car gone, of course that was going to lift up

Lets try not to overreact, but damn,...not what we needed to see right now

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

That airborne kinda made sense though, compared to the rest. The right side was completely wiped away and he just had nothing left to lean on when it went into the wind.

that was nasty

Looked like something broke on the Right/Rear.

Broken suspension, maybe?

Wow. Even with the wheel tethers he ripped both right side wheels off the car. That was a really nasty impact. The full speed replays made me cringe.