Bob Barnard Track Engineering

What a busy weekend. I have asked before, who schedules this stuff? F1 qualifying on during the first stage of the Tour de France, and then the race on Sunday, not to mention the Wimbledon Finals and the World Cup. Crazy weekend, made worse by Daytona being rained out and run on Sunday so trying to watch Indycar from Pocono and Daytona. Tried to fit in a life between all this. Thank goodness for a long weekend. 

So Indycar at Pocono for a second year, and the race being extended to 500 miles did nothing for the size of the crowd. No wonder they reportedly do not want to finish the contract, there was no one there. Best part of the race was Montoya winning. It was sad to see the footage from back in the 80's when CART raced there to packed grandstands, but then it was Danny Sullivan winning and not a Columbian beating a Brazilian and Australians. Americans love to see Americans winning, look at the US Soccer team and how America stopped to watch them at the World Cup. When asked how to fix Indycar Robin Miller said remove pit speed limits. Really? The racing on the track is boring so let's see them race in pit lane? Is that the best you can come up with? Paul Tracy said when asked on air that he could not say or he would get fired. By who? He works for NBC as a commentator, or is NBC the series promotion company as I suspected. Come on guys, no one wants to watch spec racing with a bunch of drivers no one knows or cares about. Yes it costs more to go back to what worked, but you would then have an audience and sponsors would follow. Someone needs to invest.

Nice to see that Mercedes can share the problems around and keep the Championship alive, but it would be better if the could change Lewis' wheels at the same speed as Nico's. Good race and a full house. The English want to see their men win just as much as Americans. Nasty hit for Kimi though and it would be nice if for once the bridge was built long enough so that the verges do not have to neck in to accommodate it. Personally I would have placed a stack of tires in front of the damaged guard rail and got on with it. The chances of having that accident again were pretty remote. And dare I say it, once again Vettel is beaten by Ricciardo, who did not have to whinge and moan his way past other drivers.