Who knows what happened to the 2 Indianapolis races. I saw them both live. Watched the 500 again that same night. I’ll get to the notes eventually. Maybe in the off season. However, even publishing this set of notes gets me farther into the season than I have in the past 2 years. You’re welcome. Let’s just enjoy Detroit and see what the future brings.
Command is… ok. This dude was definitely coached beforehand on what to say, and he did an excellent job, it just has no soul.
Worth noting that my TV service is youtubeTV. It’s good but very different. Sometimes it’s hard to really know what will record. Needless to say, neither of these races was captured by my cloud dvr voodoo thing. I waited and waited for someone to upload a bogus youtube version. Nothing. Then I remembered: ESPN 3! I don’t think it’s called that anymore, but a quick check of the ESPN app uncovered both Detroit races in all their HD streaming glory!
Andretti on the pole. Ok! I’m game!
—GREEN—
OMG we made it through lap 1 without major incident. Amazing.
Helicopter shots outside of Indy. Hell yes! ABC doing it right for their final few races. (I’m sure they had helicopters everywhere else)
2
I can’t believe that Andretti is driving away from the field!
Also in the I can’t believe file: How effing good TK and AJ Foyt Racing are doing this year.
3
Through the T1 complex the cars look faaaast with lots of grip. The cars look great here this year.
Booth: Dixon has Andretti is his sights. Sure. It will just take 17 laps to find a way around.
I kid. I kid. Detroit isn’t nearly that bad anymore.
In fairness, Dixon is definitely reeling Andretti in.
4
Good fight for the lead, we just aren’t being shown what else is happening through the field.
7
Newgarden in. Booth said it looks like he’s struggling. I have to wonder if he’s grasping for something today. This could be the first chink in his domination we’ve seen yet. Although I’m sure he will figure it out today.
Fast cars are stopping with him, just not the leaders.
9
Awesome helmet cam is awesome.
Wickens in early from P4. Interesting. This is shaping up to be an interesting race.
10
Now, one car at a time will stop on each lap for the rest of the race
Ugh ABC tons of commercials.
13
We are clearly looking at Kimball but the booth calls him Bourdais, Even though Bourdais is seen in shot while he is saying that. Yes, Ill be glad to see ABC leave. This is ridiculous. I’ll take the job.
Bestwick cleans it up. Thank goodness. He is the only thing keeping my sanity together.
AND WE GET TO DO IT ALL AGAIN TOMORROW!!!!1!!!
14
How is Andretti still in the lead.
This strategy game could play out in a super interesting way, but you know the game of racecar smashy smashy still has to take place. No bets accepted yet please.
16
Keep applying pressure and save gas at the same time. Come on.
Triple camera view is cool. ABC is showing some cool shots today.
19
They keep hammering this Rossi Rahal battle. Are these the closest cars on track? has the entire field crashed out? I’m confused as to why this is the only thing we’re watching.
the grandstands look full!
21
3 Americans in the top 4. Take that people who care.
22
Rahal: Rossi is faster because he can brake later. Does that qualify as a Captain Obvious comment?
I’m pulling so hard for Marco, but you know something will screw him.
Or Dixon will do the thing he does and beat everyone on fuel mileage.
24
Dixon in. Dude is in amazing position if this stop goes well.
Well ahead. Game. Set. Dixon.
25
Andretti defending attacks from behind. It’s all over. The little guy can’t ever handle the pressure.
The Juncos cars have a new paint job and they look HOT. Welcome to IndyCar Mr. Juncos.
Side note: If the broadcast is on side-by-side I get a full length commercial break, if they break away totally I get like 2 short inserted commercials and I’m back to the race. I can also fast forward through everything. A rarity for channel specific streaming services. Thank you ESPN.
(I will not give credit to ABC)
29
Rossi around Wickens. Rossi really is The Truth.
Checking my notes says Rossi, somehow, has not won a championship yet.
30
Andretti proceeding to fall through the field. Check that Bingo square off.
Note: IndyCar bingo is an excellent idea. Let’s do this!
Let’s be honest, this race has been like a 4 of 10 on the excitement scale. Some passing but otherwise a really lame affair. I’m sure if I was there I would see SO MUCH ACTION. BS. I’ve been to road races. IndyCar road races at that and it’s just not like that. The best way to experience the race is on TV and this broadcast is making this race stink.
34
Ok. Andretti hasn’t lost a spot. What a great weekend the wee boy is having!
35
The top 3 are literally 20 seconds apart.
7 Hondas in the top 7. There you go.
36
Jones and Sato are having quiet yet good days. I forgot that no one outside of the top 5 exist.
More shots of the beautiful Juncos car..
Rossi: Marco is holding me up.
Me: …
Re: Juncos paint job. A few liveries really make the GIANT front wing elements stand out and I’m not too sure if I’m into that. The cars look less racy when the snow plow front wing is some day glow color apart from the rest of the car.
39
Nose cam is amazing.
Kanaan on the move. He seem newly reenergized this year. I wonder if racing for Ganassi really stole some of his fire.
41
Watching Scott Dixon race is a pleasure. One of the few drivers I could watch turn solo laps all race long.
42
Track is taking rubber nicely.
43
Currently sending mind lasers into Rahal so we can see RHR make a moooove.
Booth notes that no one has passed Andretti on the track. Ok Ok, Ill cut him some slack. Today.
RHR and Rahal having a good ol knife fight during the commercial break.
45
Dixon in with Binder in the runoff. Excellent strategic call. Rahal with a super long stop.
I’m giving Rahal a bunch of crap today but I picked him for both races in Fantasy IndyCar so I really need to be rooting him on.
Pit stops are EXCITING!!
ZOMG RAHAL SMOKES THE WALL
—YELLOW—
Jesus that is a huuuuge hit. He clipped the curb like a ROOKIE. What the hell man. I give you an inch and you go and throw the car into the fence. Thank you.
He’s going to be sore af tomorrow.
Now. Will anyone be able to get a handle on Dixon? No. I doubt it.
Flyover the river reminded me. Can I park my crowd funded yacht at Belle Isle and enjoy the race?
Replay of Rossi’s Indy 500. What an animal.
We’ve made jokes sure, but the RHR butterball commercial just grosses me out for some reason.
—GREEN—
Everyone has been behaving nicely.
53
I can’t believe how fast Marco is. Who is this person?? Driving away from The Truth.
THE CARS LOOK SO FAST IN 1 AND 2!!
The race is definitely on!
55
—YELLOW—
WOW I can’t believe that Charlie Kimball could have possibly spun anyone! He’s such a talented and amazing driver how could he have misjudged like that?
What a waste of a seat. I hope Carlin pulls their heads out of their asses and fires him. Obviously the Diabetes sponsorship goes to Daly. OBVIOUSLY.
Ferrucci is going to feel that in the morning as well.
The trackside repair team is doing a great job.
Cool. Servia is the pace car driver.
—GREEN—
60
Rossi and Marco seriously getting it done. Marco has been a treat to watch this race.
Avoidable contact penalty for stupid Charlie Kimball. Good.
No one is touching Dixon, just throw the checkers.
RHR is honestly pretty close but I think that’s more a story of Dixon controlling the gap than RHR reeling him in.
AAAHHH I CANNOT WAIT TO BE DONE WITH THE CHEEVER QUIPS.
63
SSHHH Watching Scott Dixon drive…
64
Dust coming out of Dixon’s front brakes.
65
We are really going to finish this race watching Scott Dixon. Lame.
Because of that, it’s hard to write anything that isn’t just cutting up the ridiculous booth banter. I wish we could be shown something more compelling than the leader just clicking laps off until this the checkers fly.
67
Booth is already wrapping the race. I agree. It could have been interesting, but no one was able to get close to Dixon. And honestly, if it wasn’t Dixon it would have been RHR. And without the ability to see any more than the first few cars, it makes it really difficult to understand what happened during the race at all.
Call me a bad fan but I’m not tied to the TV during the exact moment. I don’t want to have to be signed onto twitter, listening to live radio and watching timing and scoring to really understand the race. After race day, the only thing that is left are the bootlegged copies of the race on youtube. I hope NBC wants to leave a better legacy than ABC has.
—CHECKERS—
Dixon. Well done indeed.
IndyCar victory lane is almost uncomfortable. Like we’re all quietly waiting for the winner to stand up and celebrate and when they finally do like 9 people clap and cheer. It’s really painful from my seat. But Dixon is an animal.
Marco looks like he should be driving Jack Harvey’s car. He had a great day. I’d love to see more like this from Marco. He’ll never win the championship but he could be a consistent spoiler.
The Truth has the personality of a wet noodle.
SATO is a great interview. He’s just so whimsical.
Power has great helmet hair. But he also looks crazed. Like a crazy man. But I don’t think that’s a surprise.
Good race kids, I’ll watch the other one soon!
As always, Thanks for reading!
Eric Hall
anotherindycarblog 
Agree with everything you said. ABC only seems to want to show the first few leaders and not show the race as a whole with things happening with other cars. Just like Sebastian’s car spun with a problem, they showed him being in the pits and then nothing about him because hes no longer in top 5. One thing Indycar broadcasts has to look to change is the horizontal scrolling of the order of drivers its totally distracting and not an efficient way to keep track of drivers because you have to be looking up at the right time to see when your favorite driver’s name is passing by to see where he is and how far he is behind and ahead of other drivers. This is where F1 broadcasts’ way of showing driver order on the side and the real time view time driver’s ahead and behind times are great to keep track of drivers and the change in order also changes real time in the list
Thank you for reading!! I love the vertical driver placing stack that F1 uses. The top of screen scroll is really 1990’s considering we all have widescreen televisions to watch these races on. One more race we must suffer through with ABC coverage…