Mid-Ohio Sunday Notebook

Ryan Briscoe motors to victory before a very large Mid-Ohio crowd

Dennis Ashlock/Firestone

Despite two heavy downpours in the morning before the race, a large crowd showed up on Sunday for the IndyCar race. It was at least 50% larger than Saturday's ALMS attendance………AutoRacing1.com learned that secret talks were held on Saturday between Subway officials and the IRL with the goal of hammering out a title sponsorship deal for the series. From what we hear it is very close to being a done deal. If they were smart, the IRL would suggest to Subway to create a sub-menu of sandwiches named after 6 to 10 drivers. The AJ Foyt Sandwich could be an overstuffed tummy-buster. The Danica Patrick sandwich could be the petite/low calorie vegetarian variety. All kidding aside, this would be a great way to get the drivers names out in front of the public. To this day open wheel racers suffer an identity crisis compared to NASCAR drivers, many of whom are household names……..Many cars were seen leaving before the race was over because the 2-lane roads getting out of the track are inadequate causing massive delays, so they were trying to beat the rush……Jay Howard, Dan Clarke and Jan Heylen were in and around the pits again today looking for rides. Dan Clarke tells us things are looking pretty good that he will have sponsorship for next year…….Something needs to be done about all the full course caution flags at IndyCar races. It messes up the flow of the race and forces the fans to watch a boring procession behind the pace car. Part of the problem is narrow tracks like Mid-Ohio, something you would never see F1 race on. The narrowness leaves little room for error. Mark C. reporting from Mid-Ohio