Will we see a victory overturned in the IndyCar Series?
Overshadowed by Will Power's hilariously awesome double-bird salute to IndyCar officials at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was the result of that race on August 14.
Can you name who won? You've got until the end of this sentence.
No? OK, it's Ryan Hunter-Reay. And depending on the result of Tuesday's appeal, it could be Oriol Servia.
Servia's team, Newman-Haas Racing, has launched an official protest, saying that Servia was in front of Hunter-Reay when the caution flag flew when Power and Danica Patrick and others lost traction as rain slickened the track.
IndyCar officials immediately admitted their mistake and reverted the field back to the order it was in coming to the green flag. That meant Hunter-Reay was the winner.
But Servia and Newman-Haas contend that there were three seconds between from when the green flag flew on that (not counted as of now) final restart and when the yellow flag came out and that Servia surged ahead in that timespan.
"We're going to go back in time and say that didn't happen?" Servia asked. "Then how come some cars ended the race with three wheels? Once they call green, it's racing.
"People are saying, 'You don't want to win that way.' Well, I don't want to lose that way. It was an unfortunate way to finish the race, but I won it."
After the 2002 Indianapolis 500, Paul Tracy and Team Green protested that Tracy had passed winner Helio Castroneves before the caution lights came on. They lost. Ever since, Tracy has contended he is the rightful winner of the race.
