It's been less than 24 hours since Dan Weldon won the 89th Indy 500 for Andretti/Green Racing, and I'm already sick of all the griping and complaining I'm hearing...
"Danica Patrick didn't deserve the amount of media attentions She's been getting."
There's two ways to approach this question. If it's about the quality of her driving -- Check the standings. She finished fourth, ahead of twenty nine other drivers. End of discussion. If it's about other drivers being more deserving because of more on-track accomplishments -- Cry me a river. The fact is that the IRL is doing exactly what it should be doing to succeed -- marketing. They're finally learning from the folks at NASCAR. Open wheel racing is still suffering from the fallout from the breakup of the CART series nearly a decade ago. The fact is that Danica's story is an interesting one. The IRL is smart to get it out to as many people (i.e. potential fans) as possible. I have more on that below.
"Danica Patrick made too many mistakes during the race."
First of all, she's a rookie. Therefore, this is her first full year in the IRL, and her first Indy 500. Mistakes are to be expected while she gains experience. But really, mistakes are mistakes no matter who makes them, right? To be fair, compare her mistakes to some of the ones made by the other seasoned veterans out there today. I think the fact that she recovered from her mistakes to still finish fourth is more indicative of her potential to become a top echelon driver, than it is that she'll end up as a career-long back marker.
"All the announcers talked about was either Danica Patrick or Ashley Judd"
Yup. Absolutely right. They push the interesting stories. As I said earlier, if pushing Danica or showing Ashley Judd in the pits is what gets people interested in watching, then great. That's exactly what they should be doing. But that said, even I can't help but wonder what must go through Dario Franchitti's mind when no announcer can say his name without mentioning who he's married to.
"Oval track racing is boring."
Then you obviously didn't watch the race today, or probably any other open-wheel oval race for that matter. This was one of the best Indy 500s in recent memory. For me, open-wheel racing is great in any form, even ovals, and especially in the IRL. Road races are not as good on television, and they're even worse in person (if you're at all interested in watching the racing). Road courses offer limited opportunities for cars to pass, and on streets, passing is nearly impossible. Sure road or street courses are more visually interesting, but on ovals the action can happen nearly anywhere on the track. The action is constant. Look, if you don't like oval-track racing, fine. If you prefer Arena Football, or soccer, or even the WNBA, fine. Maybe you'd just rather go camping or fishing. Good for you. Just don't tell me oval-track racing is boring.
"NASCAR is better."
I like NASCAR. It's great. But let's face it, NASCAR racing often times more closely resembles glorified bumper cars than it does a real test of driver skills. NASCAR drivers are seated in the middle of a steel roll cage surrounded by a fully fendered sheet metal capsule that protects both them and the vital drive-train components. In open-wheel racing the driver is seated in an open carbon fiber cockpit, with fully exposed suspension and tires, and only a single reinforced roll bar and helmet to protect them from direct contact with little things like retaining walls, the track itself, or even other cars during a race. The sheer danger involved if two cars touch while running at racing speeds only adds to the excitement for spectators. Consider this... After the Indy 500 today, NASCAR ran the Coca-Cola 600. There were a total of 8 caution flags at Indy and the race finished in just over three hours. In Charlotte there were nearly two dozen cautions, and even one red flag stoppage during the nearly six hour race. (Yawn) Come to think about it, that argument addresses the boredom complaint pretty well too.
I've heard several other negative jabs about the race too -- some deserved, but these were by far the complaints I thought were the worst. Besides Danica, there turned out to be lots of great stories once all was said and done. Why can't the media focus more on stuff like...
Bottom line, it was great seeing an exciting Indy 500 this year. The only thing that would have made it better was if I had been there in person. I've been away far too long.
Note: I just looked up and I can't believe how much I just wrote on this subject. Perhaps it would just be easier if I would just stop listening to sports talk radio.