Thread by @mama_gforce

Okay, I finally watched the #Indy500 broadcast, and boy do I have THOUGHTS. Let's go.

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First of all, my goodness HUGE THANK YOU to @IndyCaronNBC for all their incredible coverage over the Month of May. We had over three hours of pre-race coverage alone! 🤯

If you didn’t feel like you got enough IndyCar coverage this month, you weren't paying attention.

Overall: I give this race a solid 7.5/10. The last 50 laps were easily a 9/10 (yes, even with all those red flags).

The first half of the race was a bit of a snoozer, but that's kinda what you get with the current speedway aero package in a 500 mile race. It was expected.

Our winner came from 17th! If you would have told me that last week, I probably would have laughed in your face. Thank goodness for tire deg, because I'm pretty sure that saved the excitement of this race.

I'm a believer that "good" racing tires aren't ones that will hold on for a bajillion laps with the same quality.

"Good" racing tires are first of all, safe, but also have a good drop-off in speed/handling so we can see which drivers/teams excel at tire management. We got that.

Related to all of this: so many issues from this race will be helped by fixing the speedway aero package—in particular getting a new front wing which is in the plans for next season.

So many issues we saw were SYMPTOMS of the illness of getting stuck in an aero train in the pack

Symptom 1: More driver mistakes in pit lane. One of the few places you can make up spots, so you push it hard. And voila! Pit lane bumper cars.

If you can pass better on track, you aren't trying to kill yourself and your friends on pit lane.

Symptom 2: Aggressive moves on restarts, at the end of tire stints, and other opportune times.

Obviously this doesn't go completely away, but a little more opportunity to pass in the middle of a stint can take some of the pressure off.

There are probably a few cures beyond the wing that will work for the lack-of-passing illness. Do we get a bigger delta if running a higher boost? Is this a problem that is solved with the push-to-pass were getting from the hybrid system? Will the new, lighter aeroscreen help?

I am THRILLED for Callum Ilott. This month has honestly been a total bitch for him, and he not only led laps, but finished 12th. That's one heck of a drive for someone who didn't even know if he was going to make the race.

I think the fine/warning for the Ferrucci tire was the right call. Yes, it went out of the pit box, but it was under control of a crew member. We all talk about how we don't want race control to determine the result of a race, so I'm fine if they err on the side of fewer penaliti

Let's talk about the big crash.

First of all, thank goodness for the aeroscreen. I got yelled at by folks telling me the roll hoop would accomplish the same thing, and maybe.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful for more robust frontal protection. And I'm sure Kyle is, too.

We got lucky that the tire flying is just a cute story about a sweet woman and her car named Snowball.

But the suspension tethers failed (or at least, something *surrounding* the tethers did) and we need to fix that issue.

IndyCar safety is top notch, and I know they are on it

Motorsports is always dangerous, but the difference is the pros learn from incidents and make fast and effective changes to improve safety.

Related to this: I wouldn’t be surprised if we see higher catchfencing at the IMS sooner rather than later.

Okay, let's talk about the trio of red flags.

The series has said (and have acted on it) for years they will do everything in their power to end under green.

It's not a conspiracy. It wasn't fixed. This is how it's been for years.

The first red flag was an easy call. They needed enough time to safely extract Kyle and clean up without rushing the safety or medical teams.

I will NEVER be angry about red flagging a race if it gives the IndyCar safety team more time to do what they need to do.

Now, a red flag at this incident sets a competition precedent for the rest of the race. And that's important to remember.

The second red flag was another easy call. 7 laps to go. You already set the precedent. Of course that's red.

On that crash: ME8 squeezed Pato. But that was also a late move from Pato. And patience is important, even with only 8 laps to go. Pato will get a win, I'm sure of it.

The third red flag: a one lap shootout was the best of two suboptimal choices.

Ending under yellow after backmarkers bonked before they even got to the start/finish would have been incredibly unpopular (with teams, drivers, fans). And break the competition precedent already set.

Beyond this, ending under yellow would have set us up for another 2002.

It took them 5+ minutes to review the data and reorder the grid properly during that third red flag. Can you imagine if we would have ended under yellow and then had to reorder the finish post checkers?

I know tire temps were mentioned a lot for the shootout, but I have seen from some reputable folks (including @marshallpruett in his Month of May wrap-up video) that the data shows that tire temperature was NOT a safety issue.

racer.com/2023/05/29/fin…

The thing I'd change with the third red is to go red IMMEDIATELY. We lost a lap to decision making. And hey, I get it, I wouldn't want the job of race control. It's easy for me to say this sitting at home three days later, but that 30 second delay opened the door for questions.

I am SO HAPPY for Josef. It was time.

I don't typically say a driver "deserves" a 500 win, but if anyone did deserve one, it was Josef. Seeing his pure joy was so fulfilling. You could see how much this meant to him. And that's all us fans ask of any winner.

On the celebration: I’ve been Team No Lift because of the delay, but I’m changing my tune because it’s given us yard of bricks celebrations like Helio’s and Josef’s.

I'm not mad about two celebrations (one spontaneous, one formal). I'm Team Lift now.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1662940267102494721

I'll end here: some were suggesting this month that a CGR or McLaren win was a sure thing.

Not only did Penske win, but 6 different teams finished in the top 10! It just goes to show that the IMS is a cruel mistress who is certainly unpredictable, but we sure do love her.