[h=2]PRUETT: Watkins Glen Rewind[/h] Friday, 09 September 2016
Marshall Pruett / Images by LAT
If Pocono is known as the "Tricky Triangle," I officially submit "The Ridiculously Quick Road Course" as Watkins Glen's new moniker. I can't think of back-to-back IndyCar events where such frightening speeds were produced in less than a week.
From swarms of cars going as much as four wide while travelling over 210mph at Texas to drivers nearly averaging 150mph around The Glen's full and twisty 3.4-mile circuit, America's open-wheel racing series put on an eight-day, two-state festival of speed and Lord, am I thankful for what took place.
Direct comparisons aren't possible with NASCAR's Sprint Cup series because they don't use the full Watkins Glen circuit, but we can compare Scott Dixon's record-shattering pole lap to IMSA's visit with the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in July.
Tequila Patron ESM's Johannes van Overbeek turned a 1m35.207s in a Ligier JS P2-Honda, which set a new record for the Prototype class thanks to the repaved surface, and with its first visit to the circuit since 2010, and the obscene downforce and grip made available through aero kits and Firestone's tires, Dixon knocked almost six seconds off the previous IndyCar record with a 1m22.526s in his Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara DW12-Chevy.
That's a difference in pole times, set in similar sunny conditions, of 12.68 seconds. I can't come up with the words to adequately describe the silliness of that figure.
HANS AND FRANZ
The first solid indicator of the physical forces at play around Watkins Glen came from Will Power after the first practice session. "Turning the car through the (right-hand) carousel is like holding up a 50-pound barbell with your left hand," the Aussie said as his eyes got wide.
Team Penske's 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion had been out of the car for a little over an hour, but looked like he was intentionally flexing his muscles. Power blamed the raw and relentless nature of lapping the 4.0-mile road course at average speeds approaching 150mph.
"I'm not doing it on purpose, it's the track that does it to you; your muscles get so pumped up driving the car around here," he added. "It's mental."
THE ENGINEER'S PERSPECTIVE
Ganassi's Chris Simmons readily admits he's one of the more fortunate race engineers on pit lane. He's gone from earning championships with Dario Franchitti to working with Tony Kanaan to scoring another championship in his first season working with Dixon in 2015.
Watching Dixie take total command of the event and work his magic, according to Simmons, never gets old.
"It is easy to get spoiled," the Indy Lights driver-turned-engineer said in Victory Lane. "I've worked with some really good drivers in my engineering career. Tony, Dario, Scott, certainly three of the best right there. Nothing Scott does surprises any of us, he is that good. He is the real deal. We know if we give him the right tools he can make everybody look stupid."
THE REFEREE'S SHOW
Did you happen to catch the Referee's Show Saturday afternoon at Watkins Glen? IndyCar even managed to squeeze its qualifying session into the middle of the prolonged demonstration of trigger-happy officiating.
Part of the art of qualifying is finding a gap. Part of being a good citizen is doing all you can to keep from screwing the other drivers on a flying lap. And part of the job from an official's standpoint is to avoid meddling in a live sporting event. It could just be me, but at some point, it felt like the doling out of penalties turned into a proactive search for infractions.
And while the rapid-fire penalties for impeding felt a bit excessive, it's also worth noting there were no more than 12 cars on the 3.4-mile road course at any point in time during qualifying. I'm left wondering how or why we had so many actual (or alleged) instances of blocking and impeding on such a large track with so few cars.
Whether it was on track or in Race Control, things got a bit out of hand Saturday afternoon. I can't wait to hear what comes out of the driver's meeting at Sonoma Raceway on suggested improvements at the championship finale.