Right from the beginning, we should have known that this was going to be a strange weekend after the Indianapolis 500 for the IZOD IndyCar Series.
Friday's lone practice session before the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit had already featured two red flags in its opening minutes (it would eventually have SIX of them altogether) before the third red flag came out for…a family of ducks that had waddled onto the track.
And so began a bizarre weekend that saw replacement driver Mike Conway jump into one of Dale Coyne's cars and dominate, A.J. Allmendinger not even make it through one lap in either of the two 70-lap races, Sebastian Saavedra do his best Will Power impersonation, and Power himself calling Sebastien Bourdais a "chump" after the Frenchman touched off a messy pileup in Race 2. Oh, and we also had a first-time winner (Simon Pagenaud) and Honda blasted Chevy in its backyard again.
Belle Isle Park, sitting on the Detroit River between the United States and Canada, might as well have been the Bermuda Triangle this past weekend.
But even with all of that, IndyCar's first-ever doubleheader weekend event went over well, it appears. The three-day event nabbed almost 100,000 fans and the two races got better TV ratings over the 2012 event, which was marred by track surface problems.
This time around, the circuit held strong over two IndyCar races, as well as GRAND-AM and Pirelli World Challenge sports car events. Give credit to Roger Penske, Detroit Grand Prix chairman Bud Denker and Chevrolet for their efforts in revitalizing the Belle Isle course.
And give credit to Conway and Pagenaud, who came away with feel-good wins. Conway gave up oval racing in last year's season finale, but is still one of the best road/street racers this series can offer and he proved it emphatically with his win on Saturday. Then there's Pagenaud, who parlayed a quick final stop into his inaugural IndyCar triumph.
We've all been in a situation where everything around you goes to chaos only to work out well enough in the end; a situation that leaves you with a sense of relief after having to cringe through it. This was what this year's Detroit Grand Prix was to me. It wasn't always pretty, but with Conway and Pagenaud atop the podium, I suppose we can all live with the final result.
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (2) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
2. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
3. (16) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
4. (15) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
5. (12) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
6. (11) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
7. (24) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
8. (9) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
9. (23) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
10. (3) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
11. (6) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
12. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
13. (19) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
14. (25) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
15. (20) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
16. (17) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
17. (1) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
18. (22) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 69, Running
19. (7) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 68, Running
20. (18) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 67, Running
21. (21) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 66, Contact
22. (10) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 32, Contact
23. (5) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 28, Contact
24. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 19, Mechanical
25. (13) AJ Allmendinger, Dallara-Chevy, 0, Contact
SUNDAY'S RESULTS
1. (6) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
2. (2) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
3. (1) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
4. (7) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
5. (16) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
6. (14) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
7. (18) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
8. (9) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
9. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
10. (11) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
11. (22) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
12. (19) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
13. (13) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 69, Running
14. (20) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 69, Running
15. (23) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 66, Running
16. (24) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 64, Running
17. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 61, Running
18. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 59, Running
19. (10) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 57, Running
20. (3) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 53, Running
21. (25) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 27, Contact
22. (8) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 27, Contact
23. (21) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 23, Contact
24. (17) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 8, Contact
25. (12) AJ Allmendinger, Dallara-Chevy, 0, Contact
