Road America, this weekend’s stop for the IndyCar Series, tends to be a favorite for fans and drivers alike. On Saturday, for many drivers at least, that wasn’t the case.
With a freshly repaved surface, the IndyCar field already knew they were in for something different at Road America Saturday. For the most part, it has been a (literally) smooth ride for all involved. That is, if you stay on track. Saturday showed that outside of the white lines, things can get rough.
As a matter of fact, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin foreshadowed yesterday’s turbulent event in a tweet last week following IndyCar testing at the track:
Turn 1 / Road America.
Speed bumps on racetracks are bad.. flew car 85ft and put a hole in the underwing, but we good. #thirsty3s pic.twitter.com/rpNhYybYWq
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) June 8, 2023
(In case you were wondering, Scott is right. Speed bumps on racetracks are indeed bad.)
Power’s Troubles
But McLaughlin didn’t seem to have too many issues on Saturday in Elkhart Lake. Those issues transferred over to his teammate Will Power. During the second practice session of the weekend yesterday morning, the Aussie was on the wrong end of a rare Scott Dixon blunder, as the Ganassi driver turned into Power’s line near Turn 12, sending both drivers into the concrete wall.
The incident prompted the return of the infamous “double bird” from Power, a gesture made famous at New Hampshire all the way back in 2011. The driver of the No. 12 proceeded to strut over to Dixon’s car, push the Kiwi around, and even kick the side of his N0. 9 machine.
Will Power was MAD at Scott Dixon.
Take a look at what led to their practice crash. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/si5KX5WGLD
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 17, 2023
More Issues in Qualifying
It only got worse for Power later in the day. The reigning champ ran off track in the first round of qualifying, sending him for a bumpy ride in the grass, leading to a starting position of 22nd for today’s race.
His interview on Peacock after the fact resulted in what can only be described as another infamous moment, as the 42-year-old blasted Road America for doing a “terrible job” at keeping the areas off the racing surface safe and called Romain Grosjean a “piece of crap” for a near miss in practice, calling for the Frenchman to be punched in the face.
I can imagine most of us had better days than Will Power.
A Day Full of Spins
Power and Dixon weren’t the only ones handling the quick new surface at RA. Grosjean, Ryan Hunter-Reay, pole winner Colton Herta, and Alex Palou each had their own issues throughout the day.
