2013 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma - IndyCar

Last year, Ryan Briscoe won his latest IndyCar win to date by beating out teammate Will Power.

Last time out at Mid-Ohio, Charlie Kimball powered to his first IndyCar victory in dominant fashion.

What will happen in wine country? We'll find out Sunday.

Entry list TBA

Hinchcliffe lead Practice one, followed by Power, RHR, Bourdais, Franchitti, Marco, Helio, Dixon, Briscoe, and Wilson.

Practice 2 had the following top ten: Dario, Dixon, RHR, Power, Helio, Marco, Hinch, Bourdais, Saavedra, and Wilson.

Source: http://www.crash.net/indycar/results/194732/1/sonoma_open_test_times.html

Viso derps on poor Wilson. Nothing new.

And now Bourdais does it to Simona.

This race is going to die of yellow fever.

Scott Dixon gets a penalty for THAT?!? He pussed out, and went into the pits. I would have pulled a Scott Goodyear, and stayed out

Wow! That is easily the most controversial call of the season.

This penalty that was just made is a million times dumber than the calls Brian Barnhart made in one weekend at Toronto. I don't care much for Ganassi but that's just plain dumb, unless maybe Barnhart is calling the shots for this race too...

Barnhart I think is behind all of this. That was the most BS penalty I've ever seen in IndyCar.

Meanwhile Sonoma has a brand new Parking Lot

Briscoe screws up and nails Kimball.

Come on Crisco.

Will Power finally gets a win in 2013!

Can't wait to read Robin Miller's Mailbag this week.

Roger pissed at Marco. Very surprised by that.

Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

Dixon got screwed out of a win and maybe out of a championship. Unbelievable.

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

No...but i think he didn't even realize what position he was in. Dixon had a wide burnout out of the pits which also resulted in the mess happening.

Sorry but Dixon's interview blew any sympathy i had for him.

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

No...but i think he didn't even realize what position he was in. Dixon had a wide burnout out of the pits which also resulted in the mess happening.

Sorry but Dixon's interview blew any sympathy i had for him.

And if the guy was carrying the tire like he was supposed to, Dixon would still have enough space to get out of his stall

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

No...but i think he didn't even realize what position he was in. Dixon had a wide burnout out of the pits which also resulted in the mess happening.

Sorry but Dixon's interview blew any sympathy i had for him.

And if the guy was carrying the tire like he was supposed to, Dixon would still have enough space to get out of his stall

Dixon took a very wide exit, so he probably still would've been hit anyway.

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

No...but i think he didn't even realize what position he was in. Dixon had a wide burnout out of the pits which also resulted in the mess happening.

Sorry but Dixon's interview blew any sympathy i had for him.

And if the guy was carrying the tire like he was supposed to, Dixon would still have enough space to get out of his stall

Dixon took a very wide exit, so he probably still would've been hit anyway.

Am I watching the same replay as you?!?



Looks to me if the guy carried the tire properly (in front of him), this wouldn't even be an issue.

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

No...but i think he didn't even realize what position he was in. Dixon had a wide burnout out of the pits which also resulted in the mess happening.

Sorry but Dixon's interview blew any sympathy i had for him.

And if the guy was carrying the tire like he was supposed to, Dixon would still have enough space to get out of his stall

Dixon took a very wide exit, so he probably still would've been hit anyway.

Am I watching the same replay as you?!?



Looks to me if the guy carried the tire properly (in front of him), this wouldn't even be an issue.

I saw the same replay. Dixon exits very wide and the tire guy doesn't realize Dixon's exiting that way (Hell i don't think he even realized Dixon was there)

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

No...but i think he didn't even realize what position he was in. Dixon had a wide burnout out of the pits which also resulted in the mess happening.

Sorry but Dixon's interview blew any sympathy i had for him.

And if the guy was carrying the tire like he was supposed to, Dixon would still have enough space to get out of his stall

Dixon took a very wide exit, so he probably still would've been hit anyway.

Am I watching the same replay as you?!?



Looks to me if the guy carried the tire properly (in front of him), this wouldn't even be an issue.

I saw the same replay. Dixon exits very wide and the tire guy doesn't realize Dixon's exiting that way (Hell i don't think he even realized Dixon was there)

I'm sure in the pits during a race, crews have to be at a top level of awareness to know what is going on. He was lucky to come away with bruises and such from not being aware. That was totally on him, not on Dixon

As a crew member on a race team, it is job to help your team win the race. It is also your job to make sure you are aware of other teams. The gentleman on the #12 pit crew did not appear to do the latter of those things. Did he do it on purpose? Probably not. Could it be argued that he did? Absolutely. To be honest, I think this is a lesson learned for everyone, because you need to be alert of all of your surroundings.

Also, I really did not like how Barfield explained the penalty. While he did say the penalty came from Dixon's car hitting the crew member, he also said that it was easy to rule because Dixon went through their box. IndyCar apparently does not use the pit box lines painted on pit road, they use their own, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst excuses ever.

Penske abusing the rules?! Never heard of that happening before.

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:

PYLrulz wrote:

Alta wrote:Dixon penalty was fair. Come at me bro.

Good to see Power get a win after a horrible season so far.

So it was ok for the pit guy to casually walk around with the tire to the side like that?!?

No...but i think he didn't even realize what position he was in. Dixon had a wide burnout out of the pits which also resulted in the mess happening.

Sorry but Dixon's interview blew any sympathy i had for him.

And if the guy was carrying the tire like he was supposed to, Dixon would still have enough space to get out of his stall

Dixon took a very wide exit, so he probably still would've been hit anyway.

No, if Dixon turned harder, the guy would have been clobbered by the full force of the left rear.

flyingturns89 wrote:Also, I really did not like how Barfield explained the penalty. While he did say the penalty came from Dixon's car hitting the crew member, he also said that it was easy to rule because Dixon went through their box. IndyCar apparently does not use the pit box lines painted on pit road, they use their own, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst excuses ever.

Well, they don't. Those pit boxes are for the Cup cars, not IndyCars.

At the end of the day, though, if that crew member had carried the tyre properly this would not have happened. He was either paying absolutely no attention to Dixon's car, or deliberately walking towards it. Neither of which are supposed to be done by crew members. I fully support safety for them, but in a case like this where the guy was endangering himself, what can you do?

RetrogradeRenegade wrote:

flyingturns89 wrote:Also, I really did not like how Barfield explained the penalty. While he did say the penalty came from Dixon's car hitting the crew member, he also said that it was easy to rule because Dixon went through their box. IndyCar apparently does not use the pit box lines painted on pit road, they use their own, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst excuses ever.

Well, they don't. Those pit boxes are for the Cup cars, not IndyCars.

At the end of the day, though, if that crew member had carried the tyre properly this would not have happened. He was either paying absolutely no attention to Dixon's car, or deliberately walking towards it. Neither of which are supposed to be done by crew members. I fully support safety for them, but in a case like this where the guy was endangering himself, what can you do?

The easiest way to carry a tyre is to your side by your waist or upper leg.

flyingturns89 wrote:As a crew member on a race team, it is job to help your team win the race. It is also your job to make sure you are aware of other teams. The gentleman on the #12 pit crew did not appear to do the latter of those things. Did he do it on purpose? Probably not. Could it be argued that he did? Absolutely. To be honest, I think this is a lesson learned for everyone, because you need to be alert of all of your surroundings.

Also, I really did not like how Barfield explained the penalty. While he did say the penalty came from Dixon's car hitting the crew member, he also said that it was easy to rule because Dixon went through their box. IndyCar apparently does not use the pit box lines painted on pit road, they use their own, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst excuses ever.

To me he explained it very well...Funny enough.

Spannerhead29 (Nelson) wrote:

RetrogradeRenegade wrote:

flyingturns89 wrote:Also, I really did not like how Barfield explained the penalty. While he did say the penalty came from Dixon's car hitting the crew member, he also said that it was easy to rule because Dixon went through their box. IndyCar apparently does not use the pit box lines painted on pit road, they use their own, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst excuses ever.

Well, they don't. Those pit boxes are for the Cup cars, not IndyCars.

At the end of the day, though, if that crew member had carried the tyre properly this would not have happened. He was either paying absolutely no attention to Dixon's car, or deliberately walking towards it. Neither of which are supposed to be done by crew members. I fully support safety for them, but in a case like this where the guy was endangering himself, what can you do?

The easiest way to carry a tyre is to your side by your waist or upper leg.

This...Infact now that i think about a little more it's probably the most common way tires are held in Indycar....Seriously if you were to go back and look at older races you would notice the same thing.

I feel like i need to expand on my opinion a little....

The penalty when considering Barfield's statement makes sense...They're simply watching out for the dudes on the pit road and despite the pit member being in a pretty bad spot...Dixon did a burnout out of the pits and still managed to hit him...Dixon's fault.

Now even know i can understand the other side of the argument on this issue....I can't see how anyone feels bad that Dixon got cheated or that the pit crew guy did it intentionally.

For those who think he the pit crew guy did it intentionally? Why would somebody on a race team go out of their way to hurt themselves/their colleagues just to slow an opposing car up in the race...and for those that use the championship battle as an argument...why? Power's not even in the hunt and Castroneves was no where near the top 5 in that race for even the Penske team to try something sketchy. Roger Penske is not an owner who would have his crew screw over someone's championship on pit road (Hell i won't be surprised if Pesnke fired the dude just on his own principals)

To those that felt for bad for him? Two things really made me not care about Dixon getting screwed over

(1. Past circumstances. If you haven't watched Indycar in the last 3 years there have been many times where Indycar's calls have been questionable and downright dumb. A good portion of those bad calls have involved the Ganassi team getting away with penalties people felt they rightfully deserved....That penalty proved to me by precedent that this isn't the old indycar of the past few years that plays favorites with certain teams.

(2. Dixon's Demeanor afterwards. A thing that annoyed me with Dixon's interview is he didn't a care about if he injured the pit crew member...(He's lucky it wasn't more severe or he would've came off as a bigger douchebag)and rather implied that they guy try to kill his championship hopes for a stupid pit road incident. The fact that he believes that some dude would try to kill himself and another member of Power's crew on his car pretty much ended all sympathy i had for him...The fact that he doesn't care about someone getting hurt and is more worried about MUH CHAMPIONSHIP!1 is just downright assholish.

It's funny he thinks the title hunt is over when he's just coming off 3 wins in the last 5 (For the Ganassi team itself, 4 wins in the last 5), Plus he's been constantly faster then Castroneves in these last few races. So stay quiet Scotty.

3rd year in a row some wild controversy at Sonoma. 2011, the "blocking" penalty on Pantano when he was running like 6th. Last year, Tag dumping RHR and almost costing him the title. Now this lol

Alta wrote:

Spannerhead29 (Nelson) wrote:

RetrogradeRenegade wrote:

flyingturns89 wrote:Also, I really did not like how Barfield explained the penalty. While he did say the penalty came from Dixon's car hitting the crew member, he also said that it was easy to rule because Dixon went through their box. IndyCar apparently does not use the pit box lines painted on pit road, they use their own, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst excuses ever.

Well, they don't. Those pit boxes are for the Cup cars, not IndyCars.

At the end of the day, though, if that crew member had carried the tyre properly this would not have happened. He was either paying absolutely no attention to Dixon's car, or deliberately walking towards it. Neither of which are supposed to be done by crew members. I fully support safety for them, but in a case like this where the guy was endangering himself, what can you do?

The easiest way to carry a tyre is to your side by your waist or upper leg.

This...Infact now that i think about a little more it's probably the most common way tires are held in Indycar....Seriously if you were to go back and look at older races you would notice the same thing.

I feel like i need to expand on my opinion a little....

The penalty when considering Barfield's statement makes sense...They're simply watching out for the dudes on the pit road and despite the pit member being in a pretty bad spot...Dixon did a burnout out of the pits and still managed to hit him...Dixon's fault.

Now even know i can understand the other side of the argument on this issue....I can't see how anyone feels bad that Dixon got cheated or that the pit crew guy did it intentionally.

For those who think he the pit crew guy did it intentionally? Why would somebody on a race team go out of their way to hurt themselves/their colleagues just to slow an opposing car up in the race...and for those that use the championship battle as an argument...why? Power's not even in the hunt and Castroneves was no where near the top 5 in that race for even the Penske team to try something sketchy. Roger Penske is not an owner who would have his crew screw over someone's championship on pit road (Hell i won't be surprised if Pesnke fired the dude just on his own principals)

To those that felt for bad for him? Two things really made me not care about Dixon getting screwed over

(1. Past circumstances. If you haven't watched Indycar in the last 3 years there have been many times where Indycar's calls have been questionable and downright dumb. A good portion of those bad calls have involved the Ganassi team getting away with penalties people felt they rightfully deserved....That penalty proved to me by precedent that this isn't the old indycar of the past few years that plays favorites with certain teams.

(2. Dixon's Demeanor afterwards. A thing that annoyed me with Dixon's interview is he didn't a care about if he injured the pit crew member...(He's lucky it wasn't more severe or he would've came off as a bigger douchebag)and rather implied that they guy try to kill his championship hopes for a stupid pit road incident. The fact that he believes that some dude would try to kill himself and another member of Power's crew on his car pretty much ended all sympathy i had for him...The fact that he doesn't care about someone getting hurt and is more worried about MUH CHAMPIONSHIP!1 is just downright assholish.

It's funny he thinks the title hunt is over when he's just coming off 3 wins in the last 5 (For the Ganassi team itself, 4 wins in the last 5), Plus he's been constantly faster then Castroneves in these last few races. So stay quiet Scotty.

Not to mention the fact that collision could've damaged Power's car, like the tire getting a high enough bounce to knock the rear wing off.

Alta wrote:

flyingturns89 wrote:As a crew member on a race team, it is job to help your team win the race. It is also your job to make sure you are aware of other teams. The gentleman on the #12 pit crew did not appear to do the latter of those things. Did he do it on purpose? Probably not. Could it be argued that he did? Absolutely. To be honest, I think this is a lesson learned for everyone, because you need to be alert of all of your surroundings.

Also, I really did not like how Barfield explained the penalty. While he did say the penalty came from Dixon's car hitting the crew member, he also said that it was easy to rule because Dixon went through their box. IndyCar apparently does not use the pit box lines painted on pit road, they use their own, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst excuses ever.

To me he explained it very well...Funny enough.

No, he didn't explain it well at all. He admitted as much in a column he did with Marshall Pruett -- a former over-the-wall guy himself.

Alta wrote:(1. Past circumstances. If you haven't watched Indycar in the last 3 years there have been many times where Indycar's calls have been questionable and downright dumb. A good portion of those bad calls have involved the Ganassi team getting away with penalties people felt they rightfully deserved....That penalty proved to me by precedent that this isn't the old indycar of the past few years that plays favorites with certain teams.

Just because Dixon got it soft the past few years doesn't make it any less sickening when he gets shafted because Penske is up to the same cheapass tricks he was up to 10, 20 years ago (stuff like controlling who got the Chevrolet engine and politicking to no end to fuck Porsche over so that the Ilmor Chevys could dominate... until Cosworth showed them up).

Basically you're saying is that you only approved of the penalty because it screwed Ganassi over. Had it been the other way around you would be crying foul and how much Barfield should be fired because he supported Ganassi.

Alta wrote:(2. Dixon's Demeanor afterwards. A thing that annoyed me with Dixon's interview is he didn't a care about if he injured the pit crew member...(He's lucky it wasn't more severe or he would've came off as a bigger douchebag)and rather implied that they guy try to kill his championship hopes for a stupid pit road incident. The fact that he believes that some dude would try to kill himself and another member of Power's crew on his car pretty much ended all sympathy i had for him...The fact that he doesn't care about someone getting hurt and is more worried about MUH CHAMPIONSHIP!1 is just downright assholish.

Yup, because Dixon is supposed to ignore that his title rival's team didn't just screw him over. Especially when he's been gaining lots of ground with not too many races to go.

What this ruling tells us is that pitlane shenanigans will be allowed to continue. You can apparently use crewmen to run in the path of other cars and force them into getting a drive through penalty. Don't be surprised if someone tries this again.