What a way to end Memorial Day Weekend 2012! Mark Webber pulls off one heck of a win at Monaco. Dario Franchitti pulls a brilliant move on Takuma Sato to win him his 3rd Indianapolis 500, and Kasey Kahne ends his winless drought and gives Rick Hendrick his 201st win as a car owner. Seems like the greatest weekend of racing ever right? Well, some would argue, but I will not. That was, unbelievably fantastic. I woke up in the morning to watch Monaco. Now, Monaco has never disappointed me in the past, but this time it surely did not. With Formula 1's extremely competitive 2012 season, I expected another surprise winner at Monaco. And I sure got it with Mark Webber. Mark Webber has been in the shadows of Sebastien Vettel for far too long now, in my eyes. Vettel dominated so much in 2011, I half expected Red Bull Racing to say bye-bye to Webber after 2011. Good thing they didn't. However, two people whom I don't think got enough credit this weekend are Nico Rosberg and Bruno Senna. Rosberg did a really good job all race long (or at least up until I left for Indianapolis) and really impressed me with his 2nd place finish. Bruno Senna, has been called the Dale Jr. of Formula 1. He has that famous last name and a lot of expectations to live up to. I personally believe that Senna's 10th place run at Monaco, was a step in the right direction for him.
Moving away from the world of Formula 1 now, I attended my 5th Indianapolis 500 yesterday. My 3rd in a row. First being 2006. Hands down it was the best I'd seen since '95. The amount of passing out there was second to none. The new DW12 chassis was a really good factor in causing that. Sure the thing looks like the Batmobile, but after it's all said and done, the thing races pretty darn good. I compared it a lot to CART's Hanford Devise. Yes, the DW12 chassis has nothing like the Hanford Devise, and it in fact barely has a rear wing to begin with, but the car in terms of aerodynamics punches such a huge hole in the air, the car itself becomes a Hanford Devise. In the last 20 laps, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, and Scott Dixon swapped the lead more times than I could count. Which was just what I was expecting. And it sure caused a great show. So many factors played into Indy. There are so many story lines that I could talk about this in a full story. But to keep you the readers interest, I will stop myself here. To wrap up the IndyCar portion of this article, I will leave all of you people out there who think that Takuma Sato got robbed, or was essentially screwed over by Dario Franchitti that Sato was not going to win that race no matter what happened. Sato was drafting by Franchitti on the frontstreach and he couldn't get by him until he went into turn one. Well, Sato wasn't going to lift (and I sure as heck don't blame him for not lifting. I wouldn't either) so he didn't. But what happened? Franchitti had a protective line going into turn 1. That protective line forced Sato to the very bottom of the track. Without the apron any more, the car wouldn't stick and Sato went spinning. That, my friends, is an example of Dario Franchitti's brilliant driving. And the reason why he is a 3 time Indy 500 champion.
To close, it's been a long while since I watched a NASCAR race from start to finish. I understand that NASCAR is doing everything they can to engage the fans, create and environment where winning is everything, and create exciting finishes. To be honest (as well as fair) they are doing everything right. The problem is, it's not showing on track. Drivers are still points racing, cars aren't breaking down or crashing as often, and Danica Patrick isn't doing enough to get the casual fan (or crazy sex pervert) to watch NASCAR anymore. However, the thing that still keeps me at least watching SOME NASCAR nowadays is the intense competition in the sport. Look at the truck series. Who is John King? I thought he was just an average Joe. Nope. He's a winner at Daytona. What about James Buescher? Look at the roll this kids on! Or what about Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s dominance in the Nationwide Series? I love this kid and he is making me watch the Nationwide Series every week. But in the Cup series, it's same old same old. Same drivers winning. Same long strung out races. Same everything. FOX is doing a great job as always at keeping the fans engaged, but right now, I just can't wait until the summer series in all 3 NASCAR Series kicks off this Friday. Road America, Montreal, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Daytona, Indy, Iowa, it's all fantastic. And I simply cannot wait for what lies ahead in NASCAR. If it was as good as it was last year, I think we're in for a treat this summer.
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