After a 4 year hiatus, the Indy cars finally returned to the Detroit area. It was embarrassing.
Once upon a time, the Formula 1 series, far and away the most technologically advanced racing cars on the planet, came to the Motor City. They didn't tolerate it for very long. Low attendance, bad neighborhood, bad track, poor exposure, and other things drove them away. Think what you will of them, but greener pastures are greener pastures.
Then the Indy cars tried to fill the void. They suffered the same maladies, and eventually bailed too.
Likely due to Roger Penske, with Detroit roots, a Midas touch when it comes to all things business, and a titan in the world of Indy car racing, the Indy boys and girls were back racing on Belle Isle again. Penske had invested some $7 million of his money to spruce everything up on that island. Others had contributed fair sums of money as well.
The owners and drivers all said the right things before the race. They were overjoyed at going back to Detroit, the "birthplace" of the automobile, and let's not forget Chevrolet recently jumped back into the series providing racing engines that are every bit as powerful and reliable, if not more so, than the Honda motors which had dominated the series in recent years.
What could be better than Penske, Indy cars, and Chevrolet coming together again in Detroit for a glorious race?
Many years ago, the event took place on the streets of downtown Detroit, which would paralyze civilian traffic for several days. It was a logistical nightmare. Then somebody came up with bright idea to move it to Belle Isle. Great plan.
Even on Belle Isle, the course was less than optimal. It was (and is) narrow, making it extremely difficult for cars to pass each other, and also bumpy. Again, the drivers were politically correct about it, and said they looked forward to a "challenging" track.
Yet they all seemed to overlook the obvious. Welcome to Michigan, racing boys and girls -- the undisputed KING of potholes. Michigan has more potholes than it does trees. Maybe even blades of grass in some urban areas. Just because people poured millions into beautifying Belle Isle prior to the race -- it should have came as no great surprise that the racetrack would develop potholes. And did it ever. Big ones. The long, gaping, ditch variety you've likely seen in your neighborhood. The race had to be halted for a couple hours while repair crews attempted to fix the damage. Hard to say what the owners and drivers were thinking about during that time, but chances are they weren't exactly positive thoughts as to coming back to race in the Detroit area again.
At that, they tried to "patch" the raceway with some sort of quick-drying concrete mix. Clean out the old rubble, pour the new stuff in, smooth it out, and hope for the best.
There was a better way. After all, the race marshall was none other than Ndahmukong Suh, of the Detroit Lions. How he gets these gigs, given his reputation, is beyond me, but it's Detroit -- so anything's possible.
Most of us have seen city or county crews trying to fix potholes here or there. A big truck comes along and stops, a guy jumps off the back and shovels some of the asphalt stuff into the holes, and the truck moves on. They count on the cars and trucks running over it to pack it down. A couple weeks later it's like it never happened. It's a joke and a waste of time and taxpayers money. If you're going to do it -- at least do it right -- right?
That's where Suh could have came in handy. Forget the concrete and the guys out their with their trowels smoothing it out. Asphalt's a lot cheaper and quicker. All they needed to do was spread some of that same stuff our local boys in the orange trucks do on our roads, and get Suh back into his stomping mode. If he jumped up and down on it a couple times -- it would be as packed as it's ever going to get. Let's go racing.
But no matter how embarrassing that may have been on the Belle Isle racecourse, it still has it's advantages over the former course in the streets of downtown Detroit. These days, they might be lucky if they made it through the race without a few bullet holes in their vehicles, or even being car-jacked somewhere along the way.
Dress it up however you want, but Motown ain't what it used to be. More like Hotown, Godown, and as you're travelling through, don't Slowdown.
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