July 27th, 2009 
Journo It never ceases to amaze me how people can turn seemingly non-controversial issues into vast conspiracies (especially this season). Of course this weekend we saw one of those issues.
I’ll be the first to say I was rooting for Juan Pablo Montoya this weekend. His car was bad fast and what a historic moment that would have been; the first driver to win both the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400. Unfortunately Montoya screwed up. On his last pit stop he was caught speeding on pit road and it likely cost him the win.
Understandably Montoya was upset. He swore the lights connected to his tach were green and was positive he didn’t speed. He also had choice words for NASCAR, which I think anyone would have had.
Of course Montoya questioning the penalty brought out NASCAR’s leaders of logic, our very own conspiracy theorists. Among the gems I saw were those claiming NASCAR was trying to drive out Hispanics and so they faked his speeding penalty, or that they had somehow colluded with Hendrick to allow one of his cars to win.
I’ll let you in on a secret: if there was anyone who wanted Montoya to win that race it was NASCAR. NASCAR likes to be able to tack “first” on anything and with all the negative stories they have been dealing with lately this would have been a great distraction for them. Jimmie Johnson winning another one, not so much.
Saying this was some sort of racist conspiracy is not only ignorant, but offensive. Racing is a sport where there are a lot of variables and human error is very often the most prominent error.
Now Montoya said the lights on his dash were green. Because there is no speedometer in the cars, there is a light system connected to the tach. This system is calibrated by the drivers before every race. NASCAR allows a 5 mph grace zone and every team pushes it to the limit. Unfortunately this is not a perfect science, so things go wrong. Montoya, according to NASCAR, was 5.11 and 5.06 mph over the limit. This is obviously a very small variance, and could well have been a result of human error.
So I have a favor to ask. Before we start blaming the evil empire for stealing this win from Montoya, please consider the facts and the logic of the situation. It doesn’t make any sense for NASCAR to have stolen this win from Montoya, and if anyone knows how fast Montoya was going it’s the folks who oversee the computerized timing and scoring, not the green lights on Montoya’s dash.
On a side note, did everyone really think the race was that boring? I’ve seen a lot worse, and I think everyone forgot this was Indy. It’s a flat, one lane, two and a half mile track. The Indy 500 is like this too.
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So you’ve seen worse races and any race at Indianapolis is expected to be bad. How does any of that justify a boring race
as acceptable. Yes, this was a boring race except for the first 10 and last 20 laps. Being there in person instead of watching on television did nothing to amp the excitement.
As a newish (3rd year) NASCAR fan, I have to ask… Is it really that hard to put a spedometer on the damn car?
1 vote for boring Indy.
Montoya and speeding on pit road. Yea, but lets wind the clock back a decade and a half. No pit road speed limits in any form of motorsports made for some really wild racing. Dangerous? You bet.
The race really wasn’t that boring (at least if you compare it to last year’s atrocity) and I agree, Montoya brought it on himself. Johnson was so good that he would probably have gotten around Montoya anyways, even if they had started 1-3 instead of 1-2 with Martin.
Missouriracefan- Sorry, I should have said I thought the race was OK. That being said, it’s Indy and we should know what kind of racing to expect.
“As a newish (3rd year) NASCAR fan, I have to ask… Is it really that hard to put a spedometer on the damn car?”
The cars have a tachometer, which is used to figure out the approximate speed. It just happens to show RPM instead of supposed MPH. But don’t think that an speedometer as you have in your street car would be any more accurate. All of those stats are approximations and impossible to get 100% accurate (without any electronic help, I guess). Try it the next time you drive by one of those “This is your speed” stations the local police like to put up.
Montoya was leading by 4-5 seconds, and he got a 5mph pit road buffer as everybody else. He still managed to exceed 60mph. That’s his own fault, as much as it hurts.
May be it wasn’t Montoya’s fault if his guide lights were not working accurately. Brian Pattie was going to examine if his equipment gave Montoya an inaccurate reading.
Yes, TC…the race was that boring. Unless the equipment, was faulty I trust NASCAR on this one. The last thing they wanted was to see the 48 win again. They are trying to generate interest…the same drivers winning all the time doesn’t do it. As for the boring race…the Indy 500 is just as boring…all hype.
C’mon, you know that NASCAR had their computer programmers rig the code to flash red if Montoya was in a position to win.
I saw on ESPN yesterday that drivers set the pit speed warning lights themselves when following the pace car, that it isn’t based on RPM at a given gear, and that if Montoya or the pace car were going faster than expected when he hit the button, then his indicator lights would be off. Question (and I know it’s not Wednesday): why run the risk by keying off the pace car, why don’t the teams set the lights based on RPM and gear ratios or, for example, take a radar gun onto pit road during one of the practice sessions and set the lights based on those readings?
I also noted that during the race Montoya referenced to ‘coming onto pit road’ while the speeding was supposedly on exit. So he may have been right, his lights were green on entry.
I heard yesterday that the reason drivers don’t put a speedometer on their car is the added weight. Do these things weigh that much (heard this on Sirius NASCAR channel)? Just put them on all the cars and they will all have the same added weight.
Right you are. Indy has and always will be a boring race. The only saving grace for me personally is the fact that a driver has to be really good to navigate this track at the speeds they travel, and I can appreciate that. However, this is not enough for the average race fan. They want passing to be a real factor, which is next to impossible at Indy. At least the double file restarts add some excitement, but that will not make up for the other 3 hrs. of competition. NASCAR really slays me, the way they eliminate tracks like N. Wilks. and Rockingham in the interest of markets, develope the COT, and then try to make racing exciting. Oxymoron maybe?
I generally don’t like piling on NASCAR for a boring race, but yeah- I gotta say it was absolutely no fun. Maybe a little tension in the final laps, but you just knew the 5 would never catch the 48.
I’m not an expert, and a somewhat new-ish fan. But on some tracks, that clean air for the leader seems to be just too much to overcome. And if there’s no race possible for the lead, that seems to affect the whole thing.
The perfect example: Montoya. He was absolutely killing the field for most of the race. Then you put him back in 12th, and bingo- he can’t go anywhere! That makes no sense.
But- its Indy. They claim its a crown jewel, so its not going anywhere.
Jeff: I’m not positive, but I’ve heard that its no so much weight as it is inaccuracy. The only time MPH matters in a race is trying not to speed on pit road. Its not going to measure the 1-2 MPH window you’re trying to nail.
A speedometer, even the best of them, are really not that accurate at all. So its no different than what they have now- an approximation.
I heard years ago, not sure where, that NASCAR doesn’t want speedometers in the cars due to distraction to the drivers. They feel the drivers would be looking at the speedometer to see how fast they are going, trying to beat their own personal record at said track.
If you don’t answer today, put it in Wednesday column, on why there aren’t any speedometers in cars.
I agree that Montoya has no one to blame but himself, not sure if Jimmie would have caught Montoya, but I have a feeling it would have came down the last couple of laps.
Just say no to conspiracies. The official pit road timing is done by NASCAR. The teams can have their own warning devices, but they’re not official. Montoya blew it. I wish he hadn’t, I really do, but he did.
Maybe most of the race was boring, but I didn’t see it that way. I was rooting for Montoya, so every lap was a nailbiter, wondering if he’d make it through 160 laps. And the finale with Johnson and Martin was terrific stuff. Why could Martin make up ground in turn 2 only? You could tell how close to the edge they were driving. I saw two great drivers using every ounce of skill to bring off a great finish. It helps that several drivers said that Indianapolis is one of the hardest tracks to drive.
stockcarscience.com has just posted a great article on tachs and gear ratios and how JPM could have (somewhat correctly) thought he wasn’t speeding and nascar was correct in saying he was.
once again, the science involved trumps the black helicopter theorists . . .
(and i don’t know if the racing stunk @ indy b/c i was watching espn — but i know for dead certain the racing stunk on espn! as has become the norm, i’m afraid.)
#9 “drivers set the pit speed warning lights themselves when following the pace car, that it isn’t based on RPM at a given gear, and that if Montoya or the pace car were going faster than expected when he hit the button, then his indicator lights would be off”
If he would have set the indicator light wrong from the pace car, he would have been wrong all day. If the pace car was off then eveyone was off. In the big picture this hurt Nascar more than it would have had JPM won. I think Nascar wanted JPM to win, it would help the sport more than cheating him out of the win.
So IMO JPM did 1 of 2 things wrong, he was too fast when he paced the pace car, or he was speeding down pit road…
Yea it was boring, not as disgusting as last years race. As for the speedometer, I have a gps in my ride. It seem to be highly accurate and only weighs ounces.
Fellas,
I didn’t watch a race on Sunday, I watched three hours of “Follow The Leader.” Part of that is ESPN didn’t do a very good job of showing the racing that was happening through the field while Juan-Pablo left the rest of the field eating his dust.
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
some analysts said Montoya should have gone slow considering he had a 5 second lead.
but… if my math is right, and assuming the Indy pit road is 3/4 mile(?), then the difference between coming in and out at 55 MPH and 60 MPH is just over 4 seconds… pretty much all of his lead.
At a track with a shorter pit road, the difference in speed doesn’t translate to as much lost time as at a track like Indy with a pit road that seems to go on forever.
Mwasure – “As a newish (3rd year) NASCAR fan, I have to ask… Is it really that hard to put a spedometer on the damn car?”
No it’s not hard but just as the techometer that is installed in every car the are analog devices.
Red above gave the definitive response [Pit Road Speeding Explained] to all above who believe in conspiracy theories, that a speedo is better than a tach and crazy ideas about NASCAR letting them put speedos in the cars.
The race wasn’t the best but I think the one at the track was better than the one I saw on TV.
While I feel bad for Montoya, I’m not one for Black helicopters. I do however agree with Chad Knaus that Nascar should share the numbers during the race so the guys know if they are too close to the window or could actually speed up.
I think the most important consideration is that Montoya exceeded the speed limit by more than 5 MPH. Just because NASCAR allows a 5 MPH margin does not mean the driver is entitled to use it all AND go over.
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
“”It never ceases to amaze me how people can turn seemingly non-controversial issues into vast conspiracies (especially this season). Of course this weekend we saw one of those issues.”"
repeat this, over and over, keep sayting it.
THERE ARE NO CONSPIACIES.
geeeez, Some people are so paranoid. They must be insane, or something. These outsiders are just stirring up trouble. They dont seem to understand.
If they were insiders then they would understand, ya know? I mean, Why would anyone question Nascar? For that matter, why would anyone question anyone, about anything? Why cant they understand that everyone is trustworthy. These people should shut up and behave. They need to do as they are told, without question. The probelm is, these Outsiders can blend in so easy. It might be better if we tattoo these paranoid, conspiacy theorist, question askers.
You should make a rule that anyone asking questions will have PARANOID stamped on thier forearm, or forehead, just to make them easy to pick out in a crowd, then we would know who the troublemakers are.
These question asking conspitacy wingnuts must be are insane. There are no conspiracies, ever, anywhere.
They need to repeat over and over…….. THERE ARE NO CONSPIACIES.
No one, ANYWHERE, EVER does anything devious. People need to shut up and obey.
People need to do what they are told. The France family is in charge, they know what is best, and that is that…period.
Oran- Angry about this? Throughout the season there have been something like 85 speeding penalties assessed. Of those only this one turned into a conspiracy. Can you tell me why that is? No one cared when it was Kurt Busch or Carl Edwards, why is it a racist conspiracy when it’s Juan Montoya? I say question, but question intelligently.
Oran- Angry about this? Throughout the season there have been something like 85 speeding penalties assessed. Of those only this one turned into a conspiracy.
Mad? what you talkin about? Where did you read that? I revoiced your opinion that people should shut up and obey Nascar. Nascar is right, Nascar is ALWAYS RIGHT. Ask any insider, they will tell you the facts, as Nascar told them, and those are the facts. period. comeon Ya’ll
The only mad people are those losers on the wrong side of pit lane. How dare those pathetic losers even dream that thay are worthy to be on the same track as gods like tont stewart.
Oran- I think I just got whiplash from the snark. I always like to see people adding constructive comments.