Now if they'd only show the races "live"
upon Peacock-lite, nee NBCSN like they did previously, as Y'all caught the
action from Long Beach this past weekend, right?
Way too G-O Starship HC for inserting Anderson
Promotions as Indy Lights series director! As Dan Anderson's company was already
running the USF2000 and Pro Mazda ladder series and Wallah!
As noted previously, Indy Lights seemingly has
now turned the corner most triumphantly in its sophomore campaign with its
modern era Dallara-Mazda/AER single seater racing car. Even with longtime title
sponsor Firestone walking away from Lights, with Cooper tyres replacing them, who
after all previously were the Presenting Sponsor of the Champ Car Atlantics. As
the series once on life support can now definitely put away the defibulator
paddles as a firm Heartbeat has returned!
Surely the introduction of last year's brand
new Dallara IL15 chassis powered by the Mazda MZRR two liter '4-banger turbo,
with "P2P" (Push-to-Pass added turbo boost) and Paddle Shifting technology
definitely revived interest in the final
Mazda Road To Indy (MRTI) rung.
Having learned during the St Pete weekend
that the cockpit is identical to its B-I-G' Brother, the Dallara DW 12 IndyCar. Whilst next year's two new
lower Feeder Series chassis, i.e.; USF2000 and Pro Mazda will enable the usage
of a common driver compartment/tub enabling teams to use it in both series,
intending to reduce costs...
Alas, awakening from my winter's HORRIFICLY over-longish
Off Season slumber, as SHIT Mark Miles, August 30th seems an infinity ago - with 'Ol Graveley dryly
denoting that it had been an excruciating 195-Days since IndyCar racing had
last occurred; during this year's first Fast Six Qualie' Shootout; SHEISA!
Hence, I was totally surprised, and now very
Jazzed! Over the unknown to Mwah late arrivals to the series, upon logging onto
Indycar.com for the day's final practice session Friday. As Eureka! It initially
looked like they'd addressed my request for Screen-reader friendly access to
the live streaming, WRONG!
STEEE-RIKE!
As obviously
Indycar.com does NOT give a SHIT about the difficulties incurred by a visually
impaired, nee Blind Fan's ability to access their site using a Screen-reader -
since it's NOT Screen-reader Friendly! Having missed nearly half of the Phoenix
Oval race 'cause I couldn't SEE where to click to make the broadcast play;
URGH!
But I was overly happy to hear of the
increase in participants - bumping UP to 16 quality entrants for St Pete, with whispers
of Carlin having a fourth car in its stable, along with Davey Hamilton, Jr.
rumoured to be driving for McCormick Racing sometime this season.
Hence, on March 11th, listening to Mark Graveley'
James and Nicky Salt' Yeoman calling the On-track action, when the latter
wasn't ensconced in an infatuating debate over his Klug, Krug; Uhm Me Thinks
that's some sorta champagne? Err, 'Dem Boyz were apparently discussing Clogs;
Err high fashion footwear with Jake 'Duh Riddler Query asking this riveting
Questione - As Yuhs Boyz' are doing Yeoman-like work indeedy during Friday's
return to motor racing; Hooah!
Amazingly, in this
world of 'O Uber nauseating 24/7 NONSTOP Commercialism... You'd think I'd be
able to find who Zachery Claman
DeMelo's Footwear
sponsor is? Not to mention him not even having a current website...
Alas, I was 'Uber surprised to hear the names
Stoneman and Hargrove taking part in the
season's Kickoff race, Round-1 of the St Pete Double Header; where 16-drivers aboard
the six teams entered for the weekend's
action - with nearly half the field comprising of "True Blue"
rookies, with seven set to make their debutant Lights start.
Whilst not sure if Scott Hargrove counts as a
rookie? Since the KuhNuck's competed
briefly last year before falling afoul of the nebulous scarcity 'O Sponsorship
Dinero! As this makes me think of the Conor Daly affair, like when's a rookie
not a rookie; Oh Never Mind!
Since Hargrove's apparently only competed twice in
last year's season opening Double Header, we'll consider him a rookie,
therefore making half the grid rookies...
TEAMS
Andretti Autosport, (3) Belardi Auto Racing, (2) Carlin, (3) Juncos
Racing, (2) Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (4) and Team Pelfrey. (2)
Interestingly, of the current six
participating teams, four have won championships with Andretti sweeping the
unified Indy Lights 2.0 crown between 2008-09 under the guise of Andretti Green
Racing.
Then the series most successful competitor
Sam Schmidt went on a tear winning four years in-a-row (2010-13) before being supplanted
by two new upstarts, with Belardi Auto Racing stopping the Schmidt Stranglehold
in 2014 before series newcomer Juncos Racing succeeded them last year.
this season features the brand new Lights
outfit Team Pelfrey whom took over the assets of 8 Star Motorsports, albeit
they're not new to the lower MRTI ladder
rungs, as simply the competition to keep Schmidt Peterson Motorsports off the
podium's top step has only intensified this season...
And the drivers themselves are NO Slouches
either, as I'm immediately torn between four drivers being successful, which
makes the series more interesting to Mwah than its Big Brother, perhaps?
As how can you not root for Zachery
"Moose" Veach who after a season on the sidelines has willingly dove
back-in with the capable Belardi outfit, as Veach is a former series winner.
Dean Stoneman's story of testicular cancer survival
is impressive enough, not to mention rebounding to become GP3 series runner-up,
as Stoneman is driving for Mikey A's beefed up three car squad this season -
whilst surely Dean would tell Yuhs there's NO charity cases on the Lights grid
this year.
Had never heard of him before Friday's first practice
of the 2016 season, but something in his demeanor just exudes confidence when I
heard the Swede being interviewed. As the young reigning Euro F3 champion Felix Rosenqvist made
me think of another Swede who did alright in Indy Cars, a one Mr. Kenneth Brack
Ya Sure Yuhs Betcha!
As that was before
Rosenqvist "Schooled" everyone in only his second ever Lights race by
leading wire-to-wire in Sunday's ST Pete feature race, which was longer than
Saturday's event...
And then there's the driver residing closest
to Mwah, albeit Up North Eh! Across Thy
Border in Surrey, BC. As Scott Hargrove's a BAD ARSE Hombre multiple Karting
champion, not to mention having Porsche Supercup Platinum GT3 and USF2000 titles
on his CV - who just hasn't had the funding so far to go the distance, for
which hopefully he'll get to run the full Lights campaign this year.
And that's just Thy tip of the Iceberg, as
the whole field seems stacked with talent, as Carlin's drivers shouldn't be
overlooked either with Felix
Serrallés having won the season opener after Veach who
was leading convincingly had a mechanical failure end his sure victory upon his
return to Lights!
With Veach coming back nicely to give Belardi a 1-3
finish in Sunday's race - as surely he's got to be one of the favourites for
victory in the Freedom 100, since many of the new drivers are lacking in
Oval-track experience...
And in another nod to how diverse the
plethora of good racing drivers has become in the series, Kyle Kiser
"Broke-his-Duck" in a dominating victory upon the Phoenix
International Raceway's one-mile Oval, en route to his maiden Lights victory by
leading wire-to-wire for Juncos Racing.
Whilst most likely
we'll have our fourth or may be even fifth different Lights winner this weekend
at the Oh, So Beautimous' Barber's, eh?
Hence, the Indy Lights championship future
now seems very bright, with about the only thing needing tweaking by my
estimation being the series season finale currently not concluding at an
IndyCar weekend, nee Laguna Seca's Pirelli World Challenge Headliner in
September instead.
Since this doesn't give the series the true
exposure it needs, as I can still recall fondly the sheer excitement of Belardi
Auto Racing winning the title on a tie-breaker at Sonoma in 2014 where the team
could be audibly heard celebrating
amidst the din of racing lumps. While
hopefully the car count and new teams influx will continue growing...
