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3 Jul 2014, 16:41 (Ref:3429975) | #1 | ||
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Round 11: Pocono IndyCar 500 Fueled by Sunoco, Long Pond, PA. 5th & 6th July, 2014
The Pocono 500 started in 1971, as part of the USAC National Championship Trail and was also part of USAC's "Triple Crown", comprised of the Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and California 500. After the CART/USAC split, the race became a CART event from 1982 - 1989, after which it was dropped, mainly due to the rough track surface, as well as poor safety features, including boilerplate retaining walls, lack of run off areas and catch fencing.
After a 23-year hiatus, the IZOD IndyCar series successfully revived the event last season, as a 400-mile race, along with the "Triple Crown". The 1971–80 USAC format was adopted, with the Indianapolis 500 in May, Pocono IndyCar 400 in July and the MAVTV 500 in October at Fontana, as Ontario which held the original California 500 no longer exists. A $1,000,000 bonus prize is offered to the driver who can win all three races. Al Unser Sr is the only driver ever to win it, in 1978. This season the race will return to it's original distance of 500 miles and Ryan Hunter-Reay will attempt to win the second "Triple Crown" race. The track itself has a unique layout with three turns, each based on 3 other tracks. Turn One, with 14 degree banking, was based on the now defunct Trenton Speedway. Turn Two, also known as "The Tunnel turn", is like Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with 9 degree banking and Turn 3 has 6 degree banking, similar to The Milwaukee Mile. (I'm sure Purist will correct me if I haven't got this quite right) Track Layout: Length: 2.5 mi - 4.023 km Turns: 3 Lap record: July 6th, 2013. Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet. 221.273 mph - 356.104 kmh Last year's winner: Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi, Dallara DW12-Honda Laps: 160 Distance: 400 mi - 643.738 km Race Time: 2:04:26 Average Speed: 192.864 TV Coverage: NBCSN Green flag, 1:00pm ET. Last edited by bjohnsonsmith; 3 Jul 2014 at 17:56. |
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4 Jul 2014, 03:37 (Ref:3430139) | #2 | |||
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Future of the race in serious question. From the Associated Press:
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4 Jul 2014, 08:21 (Ref:3430201) | #3 | |||
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As the article says, Pocono does not disclose attendance figures but the race doesn't take place until Sunday, so the drop in attendance for this year's race must be based on pre-race day sales and not gate receipts, as no one has passed through the gates yet. |
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5 Jul 2014, 21:00 (Ref:3430682) | #4 | ||
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Qualifying is about to start. Power set a lap in P2 faster than any set last year.
Good intro, BJS. Turn 2 is banked eight degrees, but yeah, you hit most everything on the head. |
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5 Jul 2014, 21:05 (Ref:3430688) | #5 | ||
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5 Jul 2014, 22:01 (Ref:3430700) | #6 | ||
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Power just dropped a 223.650-mph lap, and backed it up with a 223.800-mph tour.
EDIT: Montoya grabs the pole, and sets down a lap of 223.920-mph. Last edited by Purist; 5 Jul 2014 at 22:13. |
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6 Jul 2014, 00:15 (Ref:3430724) | #7 | ||
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A good report from Autosport as well as tomorrow's starting grid.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114840 Pos Driver Team/Engine Average speed 1. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 223.871mph 2. Will Power Penske/Chevy 223.725mph 3. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 223.083mph 4. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 222.798mph 5. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 222.715mph 6. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 222.544mph 7. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 222.517mph 8. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 221.970mph 9. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 221.950mph 10. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 221.565mph 11. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 221.547mph 12. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 221.221mph 13. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy 221.019mph 14. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 220.747mph 15. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 220.604mph 16. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 220.439mph 17. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 220.377mph 18. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 219.741mph 19. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 218.502mph 20. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 216.261mph 21. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda - 22. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda - |
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6 Jul 2014, 02:59 (Ref:3430745) | #8 | ||
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John Paul! Looking forward to this as Pocono is my favorite oval for any series. Unfortunately, the scheduling of this event will lead to a very, very small crowd.
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6 Jul 2014, 03:16 (Ref:3430751) | #9 | ||
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Why is that? Shouldn't a holiday make people MORE likely to be out and about, and doing special events/activities? Also, they're not doing it on the 4th itself, when it would seem most likely that people would be with family and friends doing crazy/illegal stuff with pyrotechnics.
On top of that, this is the same weekend as last year. Why would it be good last year, and magically, not so good this year? |
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6 Jul 2014, 03:21 (Ref:3430753) | #10 | |||
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6 Jul 2014, 03:28 (Ref:3430755) | #11 | ||
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It would have been the same last year, because IndyCar and NASCAR had their races in the same calendar slots. So, once again, what's the DIFFERENCE from last year to this?
If they thought it was going to be a problem, why did Pocono go for that calendar slot in the first place for last year? |
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6 Jul 2014, 03:31 (Ref:3430757) | #12 | ||
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The 4th was a Thursday last year.
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6 Jul 2014, 03:40 (Ref:3430761) | #13 | ||
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And that's going to stop that many people from making a special weekend of it anyway? It's going to be the out-of-towners that make the difference, and if they can still afford that travel anyway, that doesn't explain there being such a large (potential) change just because of the one-day shift.
It's not like they can space it out from the June NASCAR race, and reliably go earlier in the year. |
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6 Jul 2014, 12:31 (Ref:3430893) | #14 | ||
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6 Jul 2014, 14:01 (Ref:3430958) | #15 | ||
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Let's face it, last years' numbers of 30k-35k is low for any bigtime speedway race these days. A decrease of 15% results in actual attendance figures that are downright embarrassing and lower than a lot of mid level sporting events in the US. I am not sure if the long holiday weekend is the culprit, but it is a little bold attempting to start (or restart) an event around probably the biggest "American only" holiday. Lime Rock and Daytona have done this for years and is more established. At 20k-25k, I don't think its worth opening the gates and turning on the lights at Pocono.
As JHamilton points out, I don't quite get having 3 events 6 weeks apart. Seems odd. Anyone know the exact reason? Weather has always been my thought but surely there's a longer break in the snow than June and July in the Poconos. Its a great shame because I enjoy Pocono a great deal. Go John Paul. Last edited by fieldodreams79; 6 Jul 2014 at 14:06. |
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6 Jul 2014, 14:10 (Ref:3430961) | #16 | ||
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Hawksworth to miss Pocono, with with a myocardial contusion (bruised heart muscle) following yesterday's crash.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114847 |
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6 Jul 2014, 15:41 (Ref:3431004) | #17 | ||
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6 Jul 2014, 16:16 (Ref:3431041) | #18 | ||
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This date thing would be a lot easier if they'd left Fontana in mid October, and had the option to put Pocono on Labor Day weekend.
In regards to this race, it should be interesting to see who has a good car for the race, but wasn't so hot in qualifying. They were talking quite a bit about Kanaan yesterday, and how well he was moving through traffic. |
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6 Jul 2014, 16:55 (Ref:3431060) | #19 | |||
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6 Jul 2014, 17:05 (Ref:3431069) | #20 | ||
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I know, and it's ridiculous! There is ALWAYS one of the other, big, stick-and-ball games going on during the year. Figure out how to promote, make progress, and make due.
What's next?! Are they going to decide that March Madness is too big a draw to go up against, so they can't start till April? What about Hockey after that, and Baseball over the summer? |
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6 Jul 2014, 17:10 (Ref:3431071) | #21 | |||
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6 Jul 2014, 17:11 (Ref:3431073) | #22 | ||
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Good start by Power.
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6 Jul 2014, 17:36 (Ref:3431083) | #23 | ||
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Excellent stop by Power but it looks like RH-R's Triple Crown hopes are shot.
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6 Jul 2014, 17:56 (Ref:3431097) | #24 | ||
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Another excellent stop for Power. I can see him winning this but there's still a long way to go.
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6 Jul 2014, 18:04 (Ref:3431099) | #25 | ||
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Just from what I've heard over the radio webcast, it sounds like it's been pretty darn good racing so far.
It looked like Kanaan turned up the wick to get the lead on that last stint. I wonder though, what happens when the Penske trio turn up the heat on their end. |
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