[Update: Link to newer Milwaukee race's Meira post, with vid ... jump here.]
This is one of the only times that I’ve truly despised the racin’ term “second place only means that you’re the first loser”. One of those rare times, actually, and only because Vitor Meira’s impressive performance in the Indy 500 last weekend has been virtually ignored by mainstream mediots everywhere. And I’ve been waiting … waiting … waiting to see someone out there prove me wrong by writing about him, and him only — only to come up pretty empty, and on a broad scale. Well, I’m gonna’ try to fix that now, right here at anglerred, grin …
His 2nd place, balls-out run has been overshadowed by everything (supposedly more “newsworthy”) from Danica Patrick’s stormy stroll down pit road after her incident with Briscoe, to TK missing yet one more chance at victory due to what most are thinking was his own teammate’s aggressive pass on the bottom (I don’t happen to agree with that wreck entirely being Marco Andretti’s “fault”, by the way, but haven’t had time to post about that yet — hopefully that’ll come soon) … to, let’s see … maybe what the pit lizards were wearing that day, since that sorta’ photog-OCD-issue seems to dominate the IndyCar Site’s photo section for just about every race, including the 500?
To me, it’s seemed like just about everything & everyone else grabbed the headlines & beauty shots this year, except for perhaps one of the BEST parts of the whole damned event — and that was Meira’s hard racin’.
Hasn’t seemed to matter to many, though, that Meira’s showing has been grossly understated, overlooked and otherwise nearly passed over entirely by these mediots — and for none of the right reasons, as if there ever are any when someone’s worked so hard to accomplish something so significant in his career. And 2nd at the Indy 500 is very significant in Meira’s career … in fact, if he’d had just another few laps, I believe he would’ve won it, or at least been battling Andretti instead of Dixon for the checker. Damn lap traffic, anyway — they should’ve been on the apron at that point.
Wait’ll you see the vid, below — this guy has guts, and he ain’t afraid to use ‘em, grin … couple that with his obvious talent behind that wheel, and we’ve finally got another true racer to watch this year — and for performance vs. drama value, for a change.
Yet, of the scant articles I’ve been able to dig around to find including anything substantive about HIM, this is about the “best” mainstream coverage I’ve read thus far — of course, though, buried within yet another Dixon victory story:
Dixon pulled away from Vitor Meira on a restart with 24 laps remaining and held off Meira’s charge in the final four laps to win the race. Dixon led 115 of the race’s 200 laps in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Dallara-Honda, and, while it was a commanding victory, it was far from dominating. [emphasis added]
Meira, who passed Dixon with 41 laps remaining with a bold move on a restart, later lost it when Dixon’s crew got him out of the pits in front of Meira with 29 laps remaining. Dixon held the lead to the finish, despite Meira’s late charge and another by Andretti, who was turning laps in excess of 224 mph and for a time threatened to take second from Meira.
“I certainly did my best today, and so did the crew,” Meira said. “We really, really prepared this car, and everything was according to plan, but things didn’t really happen our way.”
Meira and his No. 4 Panther Racing Dallara-Honda began closing on Dixon in the final laps, shaving the lead down to four tenths of a second with four laps remaining. However, Dixon and Meira encountered lapped cars in the final two laps of the race, and the traffic favored Dixon. Full FoxSports Story Further Wiki-Type Background on Meira
Now, let’s take a real look at just one part of what made Meira’s Indy 500 run so memorable — that pass on Dixon at lap 160, which very, very few others in the field would’ve tried, let alone could have accomplished without wreckin’ himself/herself, along with probably more than a few in the process.
Still, this is someone who has been all but ignored this week, everyone else too consumed with Danamania to recognize a brilliant racin’ move (and the following wasn’t his only one, by the way — just his coolest), when they see one — especially since Patrick didn’t even finish this race? Ugh! [No offense to Patrick in the slightest, by the way; I happen to respect her incredibly, so there's none of that horrible "chick"-cattiness crap happenin' here, lol ...]
After this vid, however … perhaps you’ll rethink some of your own focus-factor, and get your Danamania fixes anywhere and everywhere else unless she’s actually racin’ again, because God knows, while we’ve covered her here, too … she’s literally everywhere else in the media, on- OR off-track. So, it’s not like you can’t get your daily fix, anyway, if you’re that nuts about her … but, for now — here — watch some actual racin’ for a minute or two, grin …
Congrats, Meira, on one helluva’ run!!!
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