Alonso hit the wall today

Originally Posted by legion

I guess McLaren got (bought) dampers from Andretti and data from Penske.

I feel like IndyCar bent over backwards to get Alonso into the show, but at the same time refused to bend any rules to make it happen. I respect that.

I agree. Indycar is doing a pretty good job these days. Maybe even gaining some viewers leaving NASCAR.

Heard an interesting POV from Bourdais. He thinks Alonso is relieved to be out--he'd rather not run at all than barely make the show in a bad car.

Bourdais has been doing a series of really good interviews with Racer.com on their website. I don't think Seb's heart is in it this year. He's still delivering top performance, but he doesn't seem to be having fun. A great racer and real gentleman of the sport.

[wayner]

Man did Alonzo ever take a jolt backing into that wall!

[astrochex]

Originally Posted by legion

I guess McLaren got (bought) dampers from Andretti and data from Penske.

I feel like IndyCar bent over backwards to get Alonso into the show, but at the same time refused to bend any rules to make it happen. I respect that.

Why would you surmise Indycar might bend rules to get a particular driver in?

[legion]

Originally Posted by astrochex

Why would you surmise Indycar might bend rules to get a particular driver in?

I think it is widely accepted that having Alonso in the race is good for IndyCar, good for Alonso, good for the Indianapolis 500, and good for American racing in general.

That said, a driver ahead of Alonso could have been suddenly and mysteriously disqualified or some other shenanigans. That didn't happen. It seemed like this kind of stuff used to happen in F1 a lot. I was complementing IndyCar on keeping their integrity despite pressure to do otherwise.