Silly 100% throttle racing led to Iowa crashes

Any way you measure it, last week's Indy Car race in Iowa was a crash fest. That's what happens when you have 100% throttle racing in identical cars where no one can pass and drivers get desperate. As some drivers said, they didn't pass anyone all weekend, nor were they passed. How silly. This weekend it's Richmond, another 100% throttle endeavor, and added to the problem will be that Milka Moving Chicane Duno will be trying to get out of the way as the real race car drivers lap her repeatedly. Any predictions on what lap Barnhart will black flag her, unless of course she crashes out beforehand?

The Indy Star reports – Last weekend's six-car IndyCar Series crash at Iowa Speedway was caused by A.J. Foyt IV being too aggressive on a restart and Danica Patrick being too passive, the race's chief steward said Thursday.

Brian Barnhart gave his assessment of the accident as the series heads to similarly configured Richmond (Va.) International Raceway for Saturday's race (7:30 p.m., ESPN). Practice and qualifying are today.

Barnhart said Foyt restarted too quickly, which would have led to a penalty had the crash not occurred. Barnhart said Patrick's hesitation given the cold-tire concerns contributed to the incident.

Ed Carpenter went to Patrick's inside off the fourth turn and eventual race winner Dario Franchitti went to Foyt's outside to make it four-wide. That's when Patrick's car bobbled and bumped Carpenter's, starting a chain reaction that collected Sam Hornish Jr., Helio Castroneves and Kosuke Matsuura.

"She had been conservative like that on the previous restart," Barnhart said of Patrick. "Anthony certainly jumped the restart, but you could see it didn't take long for Ed and Dario to make it four-wide."

Barnhart said Foyt's penalty would have moved him back a few positions, just as Hornish was on an earlier restart.
Foyt believes he was innocent.

"I wasn't by her (car)," he said Thursday. "I jumped to the outside, but I didn't do anything that anybody else didn't do. It was so hard to pass that if you had the opportunity on a restart, you had to go for it."