IRL’s blocking rules will stay on books

Associated Press

LEXINGTON, Ohio

Scott Dixon watched Helio Castroneves move his No. 3 Honda a couple car widths to the outside entering Turn 1 at Edmonton two weeks ago, in an attempt to cutoff Penske Racing teammate Will Power.

Uh-oh Helio, Dixon thought. That’s a no-no.

IndyCar officials agreed, black-flagging Castroneves for blocking with two laps remaining, a ruling that helped Dixon pick up his second victory of the season while Castroneves was bumped to 10th.

“It’s a hard call to make because half the time you don’t know if it’s going to be called or not,” said Dixon, who has been penalized three times for blocking during his career.

IndyCar president of competition Brian Barnhart said race officials do the best they can trying to make sure two dozen drivers racing in close quarters at high speeds remain on their best behavior.

“We try to make it as clear as possible,” Barnhart said.

Even if it doesn’t always appear that way to fans.

Driver Graham Rahal watched the Edmonton race with his girlfriend. When he saw Castroneves hop outside to shut the door on Power, he immediately knew Castroneves had crossed the line. His girlfriend didn’t see it that way.

His message: sorry, this isn’t NASCAR.

“I think that the beauty of our sport is the clean racing,” said Rahal.

Unlike NASCAR, where “rubbing is racing” is part of the show, IndyCar drivers have to be more careful. One inadvertent clipping of wheels can send cars into the wall or worse.

It’s dangerous. It’s expensive and can make for a less than compelling product.

If officials loosened up the rules, Barnhart fears races would turn into nothing but a three-hour caution-filled parade with drivers taking turns knocking each other out.

Barnhart knows it’s up to the drivers to decide what to do, all officials can do is try to keep them in line.

“They’ve got the controls, they’ve got the wheels and they’ve got the pedals,” he said. “They make the decisions, not us and it all boils down to one thing: respect.”