So remember last Sunday, when the Blob wrote in this space that the Daytona 500 was its annual first robin of spring, an occasion to metaphorically power down the windows, hang an elbow in the breeze and crank the road tunes to full blare?
Well ... today is the Blob's official start of the racing season.
Today the green drops down in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the 2022 IndyCar season shrieks to life. It's always an occasion for the Blob, whose bias toward the open-wheel crowd always has been shamelessly transparent. It is the best of American motorsports, and the Blob will entertain no argument otherwise.
That's especially true now.
It's true because IndyCar is coming off its most entertaining season in memory, and it was the kids who made it so. The wily vets -- Scott Dixon, Will Power, et al -- were, and are, still around, but it was the kids who crafted the season's narrative: Series champion Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Pato O'Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Scott McLaughlin, on and on.
None of them were older than 24. All of them, together, made the 2021 season unbelievably competitive; seven different drivers won the first seven races, and nine drivers won at least one race in the 16-race schedule. The season came down to the very last weekend, when Palou finished fourth at Long Beach to claim the title.
Today, they begin the scrap again. McLaughlin sits on the pole, with Power alongside. Herta and VeeKay start right behind them in Row 2. Then there's former F1 pilot and fan favorite Romain Grosjean and Simon Pagenaud in Row 3, Dixon and Marcus Ericsson in Row 4, and two-time series champ Josef Newgarden and Palou in Row 5.
O'Ward starts on the outside of Row 8, but he likely won't stay there long.
Present and accounted for, all of them. Candidates for the title, all of them.
Drop the green, baby. Let's go.
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