Mario and I: More thoughts on Pocono

The NTT IndyCar Series likes to think of itself not only as the premier open-wheel racing series of the United States, but arguably the most competitive in the world.

But you have to wonder how those people can make such a boast when they are apparently willing to drop a bomb on their last meaningful race in the population-rich Northeastern portion of the U.S.

All because some of their super-talented drivers don’t want to be challenged?

Pocono Raceway has taken some pretty vicious criticism from some in the racing community in the past couple of days. But, consider that

·         Nothing any architect could have done would have prevented the freak series of events that resulted in the death of Indy-car driver Justin Wilson in 2015.

·         And, when multiple cars crashed on the seventh lap of last year’s ABC Supply 500 and Robert Wickens wound up with a paralyzing spinal cord injury after his car was thrown into the fence, Turn 2 was exactly where it was when the Monroe County track first hosted Indy cars in 1971.

·         And, finally, Pocono’s “tricky triangle” configuration had no role whatsoever in the first-lap disaster at the 2019 ABC Supply 500 on Sunday, either.

The future of the relationship between Pocono and the NTT IndyCar Series is very much in doubt these days, but it isn’t right to rush to judgment and put the blame on the 2.5-mile superspeedway to which Dr. Joe Mattioli gave his life’s savings more than 50 years ago, fighting one battle after another to keep it open and turn the former spinach farm into a viable sports facility.

It’s a RACE track today. Built to test speed and endurance and courage at more than 200 miles per hour and for as many as 33 or 40 cars competing at one time.

Put all those things together and you have the ingredients for potential serious trouble, because, for the men (or sometimes women) behind the wheel, there is only one object. To win.

And only one wins on any given day.

Listen to what Alexander Rossi, who was taken out in Sunday’s crash and who may have lost his chance to contend seriously for the NTT Series season championship, had to say to NBC-TV after emerging from the infield medical center:

“We were three wide. Ryan [Hunter-Reay] was on the inside; I was in the middle and [Takuma Sato] was on the outside. I can’t even begin to understand how, after last year, Takuma thinks any sort of driving like that is acceptable. To turn across two cars, at that speed, in that corner, in a 500-mile race is disgraceful, upsetting … this team works too hard … to have something like that happen.”

Sato, of course, felt different. He tweeted: “I feel I need to say a word. I’m sorry I was involved with @AlexanderRossi for the championship. Looks like he was squeezed both Ryan and I, and if you reference seams, Alex clearly moved up. We all racing very close and unfortunately we made contact.” And, later, he tweeted, “I didn’t mean I was blaming Alex at all. I just said the facts and I apologized for the situation on my previous tweet. Now I show you this as well that I just drove straight.”

I watched the replay of the crash over and over again and I don’t know where Sato is coming from. I know it’s only fractions of a second at those speeds, but Sato was NOT clear to charge to the inside.

It’s true that Sato is an Indianapolis 500 champion. But why would Michael Andretti not have him back the following season to reap the benefits of that 2017 win? Curious.

Sato is also the driver who crashed out of nine of 17 races in 2010, his first season in IndyCar. Do you think maybe he never should have had a second year?

He’s also the one who crashed out of four consecutive races in one stretch of 2012.

I haven’t seen any decisions on Sato’s immediate future. If he is not penalized for the Pocono faux pas, something is wrong.

We’re waiting, too, for the Pocono decision from IndyCar.

Eastern tracks have come and gone from the Indy-car schedules. Remember when they raced at New Hampshire, Watkins Glen, the Meadowlands, Trenton and Langhorne?

And, of course, the Nazareth Speedway.

On August 29, 2004, the final race ever held at the Nazareth, I wrote,

“If popularity is measured by the number of people who show up at the funeral, the Nazareth Speedway had more friends than we expected.”

We guesstimated that 21,000 people attended that race.

Long after it was over, I ran into Tony George, president of the Indy Racing League, who looked over the empty grandstands, asked me about what would happen to the seats when the track was shut down and then said, “It was always great to race on tracks like this and Richmond, but I guess business is business.”

The Nazareth decision was made by International Speedway Corp. and left the IRL looking for a race. This time the track is not the initiator of the breakup. IndyCar holds the decision in its hands. I can’t believe some of the owners from the glory days of the sport will permit Pocono to go away.

If Doc Mattioli were still alive today, he might well tell IndyCar to go shove it.

But his grandson, Nick Igdalsky, the current CEO at Pocono, cares. A lot. It was a pretty brave move when Pocono courted a staggering series in 2013 and invited the open-wheelers back. The track undoubtedly continues to lose money, but Igdalsky’s love of IndyCar racing – a love shared by his grandmother, Dr. Rose Mattioli – keeps him going.

I guess Nick has more than a little bit if Doc’s Italian intensity in his DNA and will one day be rewarded for it. He’s working at it.

MORE WITH MARIO

At 79 years of age, Mario Andretti, the Italian immigrant who came to the U.S. and lived the American dream to the fullest, should probably be kicking back in a La-Z-Boy recliner.

But if the NTT IndyCar Series is running somewhere, he’s almost surely going to be there.

You may find him in the pits, or you may see him driving the series two-seater Indy car at over 150 miles per hour, giving celebrities and VIP’s a taste of what he felt while winning four Indy-car national championships, a Formula One world championship a Daytona 500 and more than 100 other races in almost every kind of car.

He was home after a couple of days at the lake in the Poconos, but now it’s on to Canada tomorrow at California the next day. Can’t keep him down.

He was on a roll when he got talking about Pocono and racing’s future there. The story is in Thursday’s Morning Call, but I had lots of leftover quotes, so here are some of them.

FAVORITE TRACK – “I always say that was my favorite superspeedway. Why? Because it presented challenges no other superspeedway does as far as the compromise requirement in the setup and the difficulty in negotiating the corners, each totally different in radius, banking … Pocono is not for sissies. It’s that simple. Some of the incidents that we’ve had could have happened anywhere.

TAKING CHANCES – “Now me, as a driver, I know better now because I made plenty of mistakes. So, it’s all about rethinking a little bit more and saying, you know what, let’s have a little more patience or something. I don’t know if that’s even possible with drivers’ mentality because we’re all the same in that sense." ... “Obviously, the series is so well placed right now with top equipment across the board, and because of that, it’s hard to pass. So, on starts or restarts, everybody is trying to gain whatever positions they can because track position is king.”

DON’T BLAME A TRACK – “The mentality of the drivers is to try to pick on  somebody’s weakness, and that’s where you push the envelope and get caught out on these situations. I guarantee you that whoever feels responsible will be a little more cautious next year. You always try to learn from the mistakes. But nevertheless, no matter where go, it’s still the drivers’ responsibility not the track’s fault when things happen. Pocono does provide different challenges, no doubt, but again, I think the drivers that usually get the job done, they love it. The drivers at that level love the challenges. I certainly did. I loved this place. I love it just driving the two-seater. With the two-seater, Pocono is the best ride of any oval because of the different corners. I love driving it today as much as I did competitively.”

IF NO POCONO -- Nothing here. The series should keep as many ovals intact as possible. That’s what makes the series what it is, a very diversified series and you cannot afford to lose the ovals. They are the backbone of what Indy race was.

DIVERSITY -- Now it’s so diversified that it separates itself from any other discipline. Indycar was at the forefront of diversification. Personally, it’s the most coveted championship in all of motor racing because the champion needs to be proficient in all the different aspects of racing – short ovals, super speedways, street courses, road courses. All that.

NO-NO RICHMOND – When I asked Mario about the possibility of Pocono being included in a rotating schedule with a track like Richmond, thus having a race one year, but not another, he shouted, “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! You have to keep the continuity. I disagree vehemently with that!!” I think it meant it. Instead, he said Pocono’s people should inquire about the events at ST. Louis and Mid-Ohio, where crowds come out in droves for the Indy cars.

WHAT ABOUT  MICHAEL -- I asked Mario whether he and his son were on the same page concerning Pocono’s future. “Not always with Mike, and that’s why we try not to discuss it,” Mario said. “He does his thing; I do mine. We don’t have to always agree together and many times we don’t. I express my views; he expresses his. He doesn’t have to have my approval; I don’t have to have his.” Of course, Michael has a lot to lose when his cars are involved in wrecks like Sunday's. Two of his cars went out, and while they got back, they lost lots of valuable sponsor-recognition time and also replacement cost. Being an owner is a double-edged sword sometimes.