Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa is a .875-mile tri-oval with variable banking that drives like a much bigger superspeedway. With laps under 18 seconds, “The World’s Fastest Short Track” is exceptionally demanding physically and mentally on drivers. It was designed with the second generation of SAFER Barrier around the entire perimeter of the racetrack.
Hybrid is adding another layer of intrigue! 3 unique issues and counting. Herta is offered a redo due to some sort of technical issue.
The chatter this past week was that the hybrid would not play much of a role, but maybe everyone had it wrong. The supercapacitor architecture might be more appropriate for a shorter oval (vs. road course) like this where charging and discharge can happen very quickly and consistently.
I think the in-person experience is probably superior to the tv viewer. Generally, I think it's an acquired taste for everyone, but it's unique enough in the racing world that I think it merits attention.
Going to vent a bit rn. I believe it was Marshall Pruett that reported on his podcast on Weds that NASCAR claimed that IndyCar requested a repave. That is some gaslighting BS (and MP was implying such). The repave was done purely by and for NASCAR. The uneven repave going into Turn 1 is TERRIBLE. Who planned this. I'm sadly not hopeful about the quality of the racing tomorrow...a lot of crash damage.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised though. When one of the largest series is controlled by a cabal like the France family, they are bound to glob onto anything successful and ruin it like the parasites they are. Ok rant complete!