The general demeanor inside the Flag Room: festive. (But understaffed.) So begins the 2010 IndyCar season.
12:04 — John Green will deliver the first Colloquium comment of the season: “I’m almost embarrassed by how much I like IndyCar.” WE’RE OFF & RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!
12:10 — GREEN GREEN GR — HOLY JESUS!!!!!!!!!!
12:21 — Everything’s all crash-y in Brazil. That’s just the way it is. We knew this going in. It’ll be crash-y & probably naked. Such is life. In Brazil.
12:24 — ORGANIC SHINGLES!!!! The worst commercial in IndyCar’s long & illustrious history of awful, incoherent commercials.
12:28 — “They always yellow-flag for two laps too long, you know? Kills the momentum, man.” -Kevin, the Pagoda’s Chief Financial Officer, who may or may not be channeling his inner Cheech. Or Chong.
12:31 — GREEN GREEN GREEN!!!!!!!
12:36 — Fix your cataract, Marco. Seriously. Gross.
12:37 — Milka’s only 20 seconds down!!! Ummmm. Yay? Yep. That’s a yay.
12:39 — Bathroom break. Sorry. It’s JUST LIKE being at the track. But without the crippling emotional damage of the urinal trough.
12:46 — Kevin’s 16-Lap Recap: [holds up the "okay" sign] “You know, I thought the race was going to be cancelled. So this is all bonus.”
12:48 — A HUUUUGE debate about Butler basketball has broken out. More specifically, where they should be ranked in the Tourney. I say 4th. Of course, someone just sent tequilla shots to our table, so there’s that.
12:51 — The Silent Pagoda is NOT a feasible alternative should you have DirecTv. We don’t want that kind of — HOLY SHIT MILKA DUNO JUST CRASHED!!! Of course.
12:54 — “Will Power sounds exactly like Yahoo Serious. I can’t believe you’ve never covered this before.” -Larry Phelps, via IM.
12:56 — “The pit cameras are in the wrong spot,” says Shaun. I haven’t the expertise to comment on such matters.
1:01 — Here’s Lindy’s verbatim 25-lap recap: “Exciting race, but disappointed for a lot of people involved in the turn 1 crash. Also, I’m hoping Jack doesn’t pass out halfway through.” That’s from someone IN THE KNOW.
1:05 — TAGLIANNI TAKES OUT KANAAN!!!!!! SON OF A WHORE!!!!!
1:06 — “If there’s a ranking system, 27 out of the most 30 most knowlegable IndyCar fans on earth are here. Wherever THIS is. It makes me want to smoke cigarettes.” -Craig, the Pagoda’s Chief Correspondant of Foreign Affairs (who is by no means an IndyCar expert).
1:14 – Both Shaun & Monica (Hilton) cried at the Firestone “500″ commercial upon the first viewing. Or so we all just learned. I think I’m going to barf. GET A ROOM!!!
1:25 — Courtesy of Marc Bever, we’re RED FLAGGED. Our table was unaware of this. The wheels fell off long ago.
1:31 — Hunter-Reay interviews w/ his helmet on, just like LaDanian Tomlinson would. Next up: Hunter-Reay will fumble at an inopportune time & go on IR. Or something. (Blogging in the middle of a CROWD is next to impossible, keep in mind. Everyone’s judging & sending shots over here. Bad combinations from every angle.)
1:38 — Why yes, Will Power IS eating a turkeyleg. While parked. (Ed. note: the “turkeyleg” was actually a sandwich, according to numerous emails. You people and your quote-unquote “facts.” Pish.) Just like ANY ONE OF US would under the circumstances. Turkey legs & beer. The lunch of noblemen & general do-gooders. God I love Will Power.
1:40 — “Everything was fine until I got rammed from behind.” -Will Power (Oh that’s SOOOOOOO true. Esepcially if you’re in jail & speaking in euphemisims.)
1:41 — Our pizza just came. That we ordered 107 minutes ago.
1:44 — “It looks like a car of the future … if it were 1982.” -Craig, regarding the DeltaWing. I’m posting this without additional comment. Lest Chip Ganassi have me hanged.
1:52 — “He looks like a Mon-Chee-Chee.” -Shaun, regarding Arute. Everyone nods in agreement & goes about their business.
2:11 — Thackston’s 41 lap update: “Feel like this race has had a little bit of everything. Rain, crashes, surprises. Hate they had to get out of their cars and their groove though. But I thought will Powers’ sandwich looked good.” There you go.
2:13 — “Hunter-Reay wins this race.” -Shaun, who is an accomplished gambler. This is not an insignificant prediction.
2:22 — The Dolly car hits the wall. Which begs the question, WHAT IS THE DOLLY CAR???
2:27 — BRISCOE!!!! Good God, man!! Kevin? He’s your driver. Care to comment? ”Look up ‘choke’ in the dictionary.” Ummm. Wow.
2:37 — Everyone at the table agrees: this is a “good” race. I’m glad they’re here. I need to know these things.
2:43 — Will Power. For the win.
The room is happy. The Brazilians are allegre. Will Power is ecstatic. EJ Viso might be peeeeesed.
3:27 – Forty-five minutes later, I can tell you that Will Power won the race. Thanks for stopping by. The room is clearing out and only the die-hards remain. Or the drunks. Six in one hand …
The innagural Sao Paulo race is in the books. I didn’t get to use my medieval flamethrower, but there’s always St. Pete. No matter – all the whiskey has been snorted so the Colloquium has no choice but to adjourn. Where the hell is our waitress?
3:37 – Let’s tie this off. Around the table. Or what’s left of it. Kevin? “I’m ready to ride this rodeo.” Shaun? “An entertaining [motioning air quotes] street race.” Guy I don’t know? “Reverse, from the good to the bad to the ugly.” I don’t know what that means. The race gIRL? “The track was wet. And rough. That’s the way I like it.” BAM!!!!!
Much love to the Flag Room staff who so graciously put up with us. They’re the stars of this show. Godspeed everybody. We’re shutting this down.
By Christopher Leone, March 14, 2010 @ 11:14 am
Roy, your Twitter page is down. Just sayin’.
By Larry Phelps, March 14, 2010 @ 11:28 am
Davey Hamilton is a moron. Just said one of the big negatives of the track is that “the crews can’t see any of the racing…” Hey Davey who the hell cares? Oh, and I hate DirecTV and Versus. For the love of god Versus make a deal and get your channel on satellite. How’s the Avon Orioles reunion party Hobbson?
By lazlo, March 14, 2010 @ 11:44 am
Greetings to the Flag Room – monitoring ‘live’ from the once fashionable north-side…
By Kelly Sweetums, March 14, 2010 @ 11:47 am
none of my channels carry the race so I’m living vicariously through you guys…don’t let me down!
By P Daddy, March 14, 2010 @ 11:52 am
Hola from Denver, how do I watch the live video online? I’m not getting a pic. listening, but would like to watch.
By lazlo, March 14, 2010 @ 11:58 am
Milka having a problem… shocker.
By Christopher Leone, March 14, 2010 @ 12:03 pm
Give it up for the Swiss Miss in the lead!
By Larry Phelps, March 14, 2010 @ 12:05 pm
de Silvestro is a modern day Secretariat. Yeah, I said it. The Swiss Miss has supplanted Danica. Danica is like an aging Bea Arthur her time has come and gone.
By Hamilton Fish, March 14, 2010 @ 12:08 pm
Since it’s a yellow why is it that Jon Scheyer of Duke doesn’t bother me. This is concerning. Also, has anybody ever been to Greensboro? I’m not entirely convinced it really exists.
By lazlo, March 14, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
Bad luck for TK – Tags is going to need a military escort to safely leave the track.
By lazlo, March 14, 2010 @ 12:13 pm
On queue – Danica loops – go Simona.
Love the hail… do they have tires for that?
By Sticky McCombs, March 14, 2010 @ 12:16 pm
And, there’s Noah w/ #52 Ark entry drifting into Turn 10. And…the giraffes are mating. Well, there you go.
By Hamilton Fish, March 14, 2010 @ 12:25 pm
Shock red flag. Let’s see monsoon? Check. Power outage? Check. Red flagged race? Yep. Luckily I can watch Georgia Tech score 5 pts. in the 1st 10 minutes in ACC title game. This sport just can’t catch a break. Online video has captured some extremely “talented” Brazilian women wearing white tank tops. God bless that country.
By Tom G., March 14, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
Briscoe “marticulating through the field. as they say…”
Does Arute speak a different language?
Oh no, drivers are out of their cars. Look out Ryan, Arute might start hugging.
By Jamie, March 14, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
Is anyone besides me suprised that there hasn’t been any bloodshed amongst the fans yet? I made popcorn in anticipation for some fighting that would make hockey-obsessed Canadians jealous.
By Hamilton Fish, March 14, 2010 @ 12:34 pm
At Indy they have Northrop Grumman style industrial blowers. In Sao Paulo they’ve got one woman with a push broom cleaning off the front straight. Good stuff here.
By Larry Phelps, March 14, 2010 @ 12:47 pm
They running RAIN tires right? What am I missing here? Get back on the track please. Mississippi St. 35 Kentucky 31!!!
By lazlo, March 14, 2010 @ 12:48 pm
Re: 107 min ‘za – Is the Flag Room crowded? I was a bit concerned about table service, plus I got a really weird reaction from the wait staff the last time I pulled out the decorative opium pipe.
By Christopher Leone, March 14, 2010 @ 12:52 pm
Sure, Arute, toot your own horn on the weather prediction…
By Kelly Sweetums, March 14, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
The table needs some pie, it is after all pi day
By Larry Phelps, March 14, 2010 @ 1:25 pm
Frozen video, no timing and scoring…yep, this is IndyCar. Cue the carousel music.
By Jamie, March 14, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
Kelly, I’m sitting at home sick watching the race, and 2 of my friends just left a pie on my doorstep with a note reading “Eat some pi! Happy Pi Day!”
So, yes, you need pie. :D
By lazlo, March 14, 2010 @ 1:32 pm
Briscoe – Oooppps!
By lazlo, March 14, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
Congrats to Power. Solid drive out of RHR – gotta wonder if those Izod decals add 5 or 10 hp. Unheralded performance of the day – Ms. Anna. Stayed out of trouble, finished on the lead lap and kept all 4 wheels on it. As an “Opener”; I can only give it a “C”.
DownForce/Indy Nation/Race Control needs work – those guys can do better.
Thanks for the chance to interact. Nap time…
By Izod9, March 14, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
I don’t care what Will Power eats, I wanted to see AJ downing oreos and chips with Meira after the race. Now I know AJ’s secret training table.
By Hamilton Fish, March 14, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
The IndyCar website is beyond pathetic. It’s an hour later and they still don’t have the results up. At times these guys run their operation like a minor league baseball league.
By SpeedwayMe, March 14, 2010 @ 2:55 pm
Sadly, some minor league baseball leagues are run better. Randy Benard has a lot of work to do.
By Neon18, March 14, 2010 @ 3:47 pm
Randy is the man for the job-
He just started this job so give him some credit for handeling this bad situation as well as he did.
By Bucfan98, March 14, 2010 @ 4:20 pm
During IZOD IndyCar Series™ races, the broadcast team will give out a secret word on air which you will be able to redeem for 800 points. I have watched several races on versus including today I have yet to hear secret word mentioned
By Marc Bever, March 14, 2010 @ 4:58 pm
Great time at the Flagroom. Nice meeting the diabolical mind behind the Silent Pagoda.
Some pictures of the event: http://twitpic.com/photos/marcbever
To The race gIRL: That’s what she said.
By ernestmiller, March 14, 2010 @ 6:51 pm
Mr.Pagoda, If you really want to be of service to the Indy racing community and its fans, hire someone who can fix the “new and improved” website and its forums. What good is this website if you can’t access the parts of it you want? Best Regards, Ernest
By Jason McVeigh, March 14, 2010 @ 8:13 pm
I thought that race kicked ass, it had drama, position battles, thunderstorms, everything. That Swiss Miss is gonna be somethin special someday soon and good rookie outing from Ana Beatriz. What was my favorite Jack Arute quote of the day? “We’ve had rain, now hale, so I think next comes locusts”. Brilliant!
By Mark, March 14, 2010 @ 8:32 pm
Is this year’s drinking phrase going to be “sea salt”?
Everything gonna be alright…
By DZ, March 15, 2010 @ 7:44 am
Sorry, I didn’t participate, I barely was able to watch the race as the 12 (13 if you factor DST) of the 16 hours prior to the green flag were spent celebrating a friend’s 40th bday (toga-style). Yes he’s been on my Indy crew trip and yes this was eerily reminiscent of the majestic debauchery that is Indianapolis in late May. Excellent practice run, good race in Brazil, ready for the big show in May!
PS I heart Simona (don’t tell Danica).
By Nicki, March 15, 2010 @ 12:17 pm
BucFan—they don’t tell you it’s the secret word on the broadcast. they ask the question and you have to give the answer that was given in the broadcast to the question.
By BC, March 16, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
Just like to mention how delightful it was to see such an unexpectedly good showing for Super Tex & Vitor! And Vitor’s answer to Jack Arute after the race, when asked about “tears under the helmet” or some sort of Aruted form of that phrase:
“AJ would kick my butt if I were crying here, so I better not!”
I like that guy.