What a week or so. Dixon and Rosenquist to Arrow McLaren. This means Lungaard and Siegel are out. Lungaard from my understanding might be an engineering thing where he is a great driver, but he isn't as good with the communicating the better car setup needs with the crew. Siegel appeared to be rocketing to the top, performing very well in NXT and winning LMP2 at LeMans, but that has not transitioned anywhere near success in Indycar. Armstrong to stay with MSR. Sting Ray Robb almost certainly out of a ride. Unlike Conor Daly, who is good at ovals, Veekay is showing what can be accomplished with a Dale Coyne and JHC car, and Robb can't measure up at all. MSR or JHC could possibly work for Veekay, but JHC would need money.... see available driver Siegel (who unlike Robb, has a class LeMans win).
Mid-Ohio Indy Great Bake (Broil?) Off 2026
Friday - Got to the track early-ish as I wanted to try and sneak my car into a premium spot overlooking down the track past the Essess Curves. It is hot! Temps nearing mid-90s, Heat Index above 100 degrees. The covered pavilion that usually has corporate rentals is open! The day wasn't too eventful. Some spins in the USF levels race(s). Indy gets on the track. We are exhausted. Veekay performs top 10 for the day! There was a closed practice earlier in the season, so that might have something to do with it. Siegel is just under Veekay, and he has been practicing well-ish, but not racing well-ish. Power, Palou, Lungaard are at the top.
Saturday - The races were interesting. A good deal of localized passing in the lower USF event we watched from the grandstands while it wasn't broasting hot yet. The pavilion remained open providing some shelter from the sun. Also, allowing unfettered access to Turn One for watching and photography. Fitipaldi won the first NXT event. No... his grandson. Qualifying for Indy was then about ready to start. But the clouds got very dark, winds started picking up, rain began storming to the ground, lightning strikes blasting thunder in the air. Not where we were, it just kind of showered a little, instead the storm was about 6 to 10 miles south of us, and regs say lightning within 8 miles starts a 30 minute clock to reopen the track. Supposed to start at 2:30. It is now 4:15, but over the radio Race Control says 4:45 get moving. And at roughly 4:30, the inclement weather warning pops up again. They have extended to 5:12 (5:17?). My daughter is done with the heat for the day. And qualifying is starting to look less likely. Another delay to 5:30 or so. Time to pack it up.
Get to the hotel, and turn on FS1 just in case and they are qualifying. *BLEEP!* But at least we can watch it. Fast Six are Lungaard, Malukas, O'Ward, Veekay, Rasmussen, and Power! That'd be 5 teams represented among the Fast Six.
Sunday - The storm helped kick the temperature down (or the temperature went down because the heat dome weakened which allowed the storm would be more accurate). We do our typical stop and drop to get our "spot". Did some walking about, trying to find some drivers. We do the grid walk, first time for us doing that. Get lunch, get to our seats, lets get racing. There are two key moments of the race. The first one is Veekay clinically moving up two spots from 6th to 4th into the Essess and holding it. There will be two strategies, drivers on blacks and drivers on alternates. Veekay was first in the alternates strategy. The alternates start pitting around ten laps which split up the race. It'd take a while to find out. Once the first full pit sequence was done, it was O'Ward, Lungaard, Veekay, Kirkwood. Malakus was up in third, but Penske, not JHC had a hiccup in the pits. This also meant Veekay had legit speed! Then at lap 40, my daughter's prescripted time to get a smoothie because there had been no yellows yet, we go to get the smoothie at the nearby truth. We order, have it prepared, served, and paid for. That probably isn't as interesting as the dual between O'Ward and Lungaard that we missed during that time that moved O'Ward up to first. Final pit sequences happen and JHC is just a tad slow enough that the Andretti crew can help get Kirkwood out in front of Veekay for a podium spot. Without a restart, Veekay would be stuck in fourth, but still a remarkable finish. During the Grid Walk I did ask his crew if they were getting him to the podium today. So close!
Was able to gets of daughter with Malukas and Armstrong (who we really kind of forced, politely), Rahal (Graham), some Dutch driver I hadn't heard of named Rinus van Kalmthout, Jacob Abel because we noticed him and why not, and Rasmussen. Most dramatically I met my first celebrity during the Pit Walk, Lambchop. Got a pick of her and some random guy that had his hand up her butt, not certain what that was about, but I'm not judging. Food truck options increased and for the good.
Turn 1
