Lucky Dogs

by Glen Alden on September 17th, 2010

Celebrating the welcome news of the IZOD IndyCar Series’ impending return to the world’s oldest continually operating speedrome in 2011, the Rennsport Racing League assembled at the Milwaukee Mile on Wednesday night for 72 laps of action-packed online racing.

Whether because the Rennsport regulars each carried a weight penalty after packing away a T-bone  or two at Milwaukee’s famed “5 O’Clock Club” or because he’s just a wee bit better than said regulars, Grand-Am star Jordan Taylor set the pace in practice at 22.036s.  Fortunately for said regulars, however, Taylor obviously had better things to do than lap the field a few times and opted not to race.  His exit paved the way for series points leader (and pretty fair pro racer in his own right) M. Brandon Davis to take pole at 22.039, thank you very much.  In fact, all save one of the sim racers qualified within .7s of the pole, promising a pretty competitive evening of racing.

Phillips found himself facing the wrong direction on lap one.

Davis duly got the drop on the field and led the first lap from Chris Lock and Patrick Guerin only for David Phillips to smack the wall (with an assist from behind) exiting Turn Four, bringing-out the first of the night’s eight cautions.

While Phillips and fellow iRacing staffer (and Rennsport Czar) Kevin Bobbitt repaired to the pits (the latter having incurred not one but two black flag penalties in the first mile of racing), the rest motored around preparing for the restart.   Davis again jumped to the lead from Lock, Guerin and Gregory Deems and the order remained unchanged until the leaders all pitted around lap ten lap mark, promoting iRacing staffer Sean Siff into the lead.

By this stage Bobbitt had managed to figure out how to award himself a “Lucky Dog” pass and, on subsequent cautions, duly got not one but two laps back with wave-bys of the pace car.  Perhaps owing to a radio call from his pit crew informing him that the rival mechanics were preparing to burn him in effigy, more likely out of a sense of Noblesse Oblige (he did live in Paris for a year or two as a youth), Bobbitt subsequently extended the chien heureux to anyone who needed it . . . namely everyone except those whose names begin with M, end with Davis and have a Brandon in the middle

Bobbitt 'tested' the waveby by issuing one to himself early in the race.

Thus, despite a steady stream of cautions from about Lap 50 onward, all the competitors stayed on the lead lap, regardless of their contretemps with one another and Milwaukee’s ancient but unyielding walls.  Doubtless, this helped insure that all but one of the starters maintained their interest all the way to the checkered flag – and kept Davis from running away with things.

Nevertheless, Davis got his just deserts when he took said checkered flag 1.4s ahead of Gary Miller with Lock right behind in third.  Try as he might, Bobbitt could not quite catch the lead trio in the closing laps and settled for fourth while Phillips led a scrabbling pack consisting of Siff, Deems and Jack Ulstad home in fifth, Guerin having been the lone disconnect of the night as he was (evidently) in a hurry to repair to Liquid Johnny’s for some post-race refreshment.

In a caution filled race, even the race winner made contact with the wall - too bad for everyone else it was during his victory celebration.

The results leave Davis well out front of the Rennsports championship battle but Guerin drops him into a tie with Miller, while Lock remains in striking distance of the lead in fourth spot.  What and where will the Rennsportians race next?  Tune-in next week and find out!