[Mahler9th]

I thought NBC did a pretty good job for their first one. I think having Mike and Danica separate from the booth was interesting at times, but distracting at other times. I thought she did a good job.

Its hard to tell the personalities of the drivers from TV. Someone I know that lives in my town knows all of them-- some of them really, really well. He is a motorsports journalist. I wonder if he has favorite drivers.

I thought the red flag period was too long. And the running under yellow as well. It is possible that it just took a long time to clear the track and get all of the safety personnel back in place. But I suspect the NASCAR drama creation machine was at work. I think there is often evidence of that machine working in Indy Car broadcasts.

It seemed to me that Pagenaud and Rossi were both pretty hooked up, but in the end the Chevy had more power.

Amongst the first things Rossi said. I think it made the broadcasters nervous.

Interesting... a Frenchman caused the wreck that gave a Frenchman an opportunity to recover from excessive fuel consumption. In both cases an American driver got pimped.

I though that the Rahal and Bourdais interviews were pretty telling. Both seemed pretty sober about what happens and what's at risk at the end of the 500.

I remember visiting with a "buy a ride" Indy car driver back in 1997. With the Payton-Coyne team. I asked him why he was not going to run ovals. He was very,cvery candid. We were at Laguna and the next race was Fontana.

The risks are high at Indy.