Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Postscript

Turn 1 at the start

Heartwarming is not a word I would immediately associate with American Championship Racing. However, following two 2017 races, which have produced two feel good winners, a recent stretch of positive developments such as a new car, and a TOTALLY OUT OF LEFT FIELD BOMB announcement Wednesday for this year’s Indianapolis 500, the Verizon IndyCar Series has of late, like the combination of warm California sunshine and the gentle Pacific winds on a glorious Long Beach day, provided a rather healthy dose of nourishment for the soul.

Today, in our 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Postscript, AutoRacing1 will cover those stories and more.

The Mayor

Last May, when James Hinchcliffe qualified on pole for the 100^th Indianapolis 500, I noted that the Canadian’s effort was a true testament to a race car driver’s unique capacity for compartmentalization. Less than a year about being literally shish-kebabed in a practice accident and nearly bleeding to death, Hinchcliffe went right back to the scene of the crime, focused on the job at hand, and put his No. 5 Arrow Honda on pole.

The Canadian followed up his Indy pole effort with a dominant performance at Texas, but was edged out in the closing laps by Graham Rahal for the victory. Ultimately, The Mayor of Hinchtown would conclude his first season back from injury with a somewhat pedestrian 13^th place in the standings highlighted by the pole at Indy.

James Hinchcliffe

Going into Sunday, I don’t recall Hinchcliffe being on anyone’s radar as a possible winner at Long Beach. While he qualified fourth, there was Helio Castroneves on pole, Scott Dixon second, and Ryan Hunter-Reay third. However, a disastrous start from Castroneves, Dixon opting for a three-stop strategy and Hinchcliffe getting Hunter-Reay in the pits before RHR was forced to retire (what was up with those Andretti Autosport Hondas?) gave The Mayor his first win in two seasons.

Now, I don’t want to make too much of one victory. Hinchcliffe’s place in the series and role as the face of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports are both well-established. What I do wonder (presuming more good results follow) is whether Hinchcliffe soon finds himself in place he was pre-accident: on the radar for some of the top drives in the series we know will be open in the coming years. Now 30, if Hinchcliffe is going to say be a candidate to replace Tony Kanaan at Chip Ganassi Racing, a big season probably needs to happen soon. And he may have taken a major step towards accomplishing that Sunday.

Hull/Dixon/Pit strategy

Similar to last month’s race at St. Petersburg, pit strategy was a hot topic at Long Beach. At St. Pete, the ‘short pitting ‘ tactic of taking service early in the fuel window turned out to be the optimal one. Sebastien Bourdais, the eventual winner, pit on lap 23 prior to a lap 26 caution. This allowed the Frenchman to jump leader Scott Dixon and others at the front that came to pit road under the caution on lap 27. On the ensuing restart, Bourdais would pass leader Simon Pagenaud and from there, dominate the proceedings.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Now, with a short pit delta and relatively large pit windows, there tend to be plenty of options at St. Pete for strategy. Long Beach, which added 5 laps to this year’s race and has a relatively long pit lane, tends to be a bit of a different story. In essence with some yellow, as we saw Sunday, the race can be made on two stops. Furthermore, Long Beach, which is an incredibly difficult track to pass, allows drivers the option to save fuel while not surrendering position. These factors meant the optimal strategy Sunday turned out to be the two-stop strategy. Dixon, again, was leading, and chose what turned out to be the less-than-optimal approach opting for a three-stopper.

Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull noted his frustration on television saying, “We got banged pretty hard at St. Pete because we used that other strategy," before indirectly questioning the wisdom of INDYCAR’s rules closing the pits. You might also remember last year’s race went caution free, a scenario which would have made Dixon’s three-stop strategy the optimal one.

Of course, part of the frustration could be rooted not only in what happened at St. Pete, but the fact Dixon has been out in front in each of the last 4 Long Beach races, and only won once (2015). Last season, he was jumped by Simon Pagenaud in the pits (remember the controversial crossing of the line?). In 2014, the Kiwi was forced to pit from the lead with 2 laps to go for fuel. In none of these races was Dixon passed on track. In short, these near misses, in addition to St. Pete, Toronto last year, none of which saw Dixon beat on track clearly have Hull and Dixon frustrated.

But let the record show: Honda is for real in 2017 and the remarriage of Dixon/Hull/CGR/Honda has been on point in both races thus far. The four-time series champ sits fourth in the standings and we know he does his best work late in the season. In short, while 2017 has been about the smaller teams thus far, it is actually shaping quite nicely for a fifth Dixon/Ganassi title charge.

New Car

The 2018 car should look better if the planned windscreen doesn't ruin it.

No question: the Dallara DW12 has served the Verizon IndyCar Series well. However, one lesson that has been made crystal clear in not only the 5 years of the DW12 but the decade or so prior is that that aesthetics matter. And while the DW12 has been excellent on track, no one is comparing it to the Cooper Climax.

Nonetheless, on March 29th, INDYCAR took a significant step in presenting a more visually pleasing racer in publicizing the drawings presented drawings of its 2018 car.

But again, repeating the theme that aesthetics matter, there is another step: sound. The current engine just doesn’t produce that visceral sound so vital creating that WOW Factor (yes, I just quoted Brian France).

So far, INDYCAR has the visuals right. Can they complete the job?

Alonso

Fernando Alonso

By now you know that two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso and McLaren will team with Andretti Autosport and Honda to contest this year’s Indianapolis 500. And there are many directions one can go with this WTF BOMBSHELL dropped on the racing world Wednesday. For one, it can be seen as part of Honda’s overall upping of their game in 2017 (i.e. getting m Ganassi back in the fold). Second, one has to think recently appointed McLaren executive director Zak Brown’s relationship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had something to do with the partnership. I mean, can you imagine such a deal coming together between Michael Andretti and Ron Dennis?

However, once you remove the shock of the announcement of this strange Alonso-McLaren-Brown-Andretti-Honda-IMS multi-lateral partnership my overarching thought is simple: I seriously doubt this happens with one Bernard Charles Ecclestone still in the picture. And if you think I’m talking crazy, note Mark Miles’ comments yesterday that he would welcome Formula One back to IMS at the right price. Now, you could say that Miles was feeling his oats on a day of celebration for IMS or that such a statement is simply an uttering of the obvious. But, again, can you imagine Miles making such a suggestion with Ecclestone in charge?

Simply put, Ecclestone has been the most prominent, most powerful figure in motor sport for four decades. Imagining the motorsports landscape without him is difficult even now, without him. But I think Wednesday’s both heartwarming and shocking announcement, gave us a little glimpse into a post-Bernie motorsports world.

The Long Beach GP – the race hardly anyone saw

Because I did not travel to this year’s Long Beach race, I spent my Sunday in front of the television watching the race and The Masters. When Long Beach falls on Masters Sunday, the combination of Augusta National’s pristine not-a-blade-of-grass-out-of-place layout and the picturesque views of Shoreline Drive in my opinion combine to make for the best afternoon of TV Eye Candy on the calendar.

And while I marveled at the glorious television sight that was the 42^nd annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, I’m sad to report: not many others did. IndyCar’s 2^nd most important event pulled a lame 0.21 on NBC Sports Network. That is certainly far from the exposure the City of Long Beach wants and deserves for putting on a world class event, and far short of the mileage INDYCAR should get from its second most prominent event.

Now, the simple solution would seem to be using one of the series precious network TV slots for Long Beach. After all, the visuals of Long Beach beat the Indy GP and Detroit. But to be fair, placing the race on network TV is not the simple solution it might seem.

Remember, the race date will shift in a given year depending on Easter, as it did this year. Furthermore, even if Easter was not this coming Sunday, the NBA traditionally airs a West Coast playoff game on ABC with a 3:30 p.m. ET tip (right at race time). And we know the NBA Playoffs are not getting bumped for IndyCar.

Last, the notion of moving the race date would be crazy for the series, city, and promotion group with 42 years of date equity in early-mid April.

In short, the race is going to be on NBC Sports next year, and probably pull another lousy rating. However, with Mark Miles maneuvering to get the series exclusively on NBC network, one hope is that IndyCar’s second biggest race can get the platform it deserves before long.

Quick Notes

That was a crazy-dangerous move by Mikhail Aleshin on J.R. Hildebrand on the final lap. Hildebrand is lucky he went down the run off. A head-on collision – even into the tire barrier in turn 1 – would have been disastrous.
Don’t look now but Dale Coyne Racing and Sebastien Bourdais sit atop the points standings following two races, as the Frenchman followed victory at St. Pete with a 2^nd at Long Beach. I still don’t believe Bourdais is a title contender, as DCR has struggled mightily on the ovals in recent years. However, the Frenchman is a contender to win any street race this year, and will probably play spoiler to someone’s championship effort.
Also, Bourdais’ teammate Ed Jones finished 10^th at St. Pete and 6^th at Long Beach making for 4 top-10s in two races for DCR.
This won’t be a popular opinion but I lay the majority of the blame on Will Power for the first lap accident that eliminated Charlie Kimball from the race, and forced Power to soldier home with a 13^th place effort. Yes, Kimball came down on the 2014 champion, but even if Kimball holds his position, there is zero room for cars to run side-by-side in the exit of that turn. Also, given Kimball reputation as not one to give way, Power has to use a little more discretion there.

Brian Carroccio is a senior columnist for AutoRacing1. He can be contacted at BrianC@AutoRacing1.com.