Infineon Raceway is tight and tough to negotiate, causing accidents and near-misses every year. One of the worst came a year ago, when Will Power broke his back in a wipeout in practice.
This year's race hadn't even started when the mayhem began.
Starting 12th, Dan Wheldon raced toward the start/finish line and tried to drop into a single-file line for the green flag. As he crossed over to the left, Wheldon cut in front of Bertrand Baguette and was clipped from behind. Wheldon's car immediately flipped over and whirled like a top upside down just before the start of the grandstand.
The track crew raced out to check on Wheldon and flipped his car over before he walked to the safety truck unhurt.
''It's rather unfortunate, but there's nothing you can do and you've got to move on,'' Wheldon said.
Baguette remained on the track, but went out after taking contact on Lap 65.
He wasn't the only one to get banged around.
Normally, because of the tight conditions at Infineon, drivers are somewhat cautious, afraid to they'll crash or drive off the course.
Not this year.
Racing hard even after Wheldon's topsy-turvy start, the drivers were more aggressive than normal at Infineon, bumping and wheel-hopping each other all day. Five cars went out with contact, but many more suffered damage in an unusually wild weekend in California's wine country.
''There was a lot of cars went past us when we were standing there with doughnuts on the side, bits hanging off them,'' said Dario Franchitti, who finished third. ''I think Dallara will make a lot of money this week on spares.''
One reason was in the tires.
With the soft-and-fast red tires lasting much shorter than usual, drivers had a harder time holding their spots and the drivers behind them saw more opportunities to try to pass. The result was more-than-usual pass attempts, creating exciting racing well behind the leaders.
''It was good to see. There was some action,'' said Scott Dixon, who finished second. ''People were really trying. You didn't have to get in a rhythm, get stuck in that rhythm, just stay in that rhythm, and try and go a lap farther.''
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DANICA'S WEEKEND: Danica Patrick ran into Takuma Sato twice over the weekend.
The first contact came in practice Friday when she damaged the front left end coming around a corner. Patrick was already struggling with her speed before that and ended up qualifying 23rd.
She was slow early in the race, but started to find speed late. Then came the second contact with Sato. This one came late in the race, when Sato had a flat tire and nearly drove her off the course. Patrick ended up 16th.
''That was a frustrating way to end a tough weekend,'' Patrick said. ''I had a solid car throughout the race and really thought that I was going to finish in the top 10, but got caught up with Sato at the end. It's hard when you have a good race but the result doesn't show.''
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INDY LIGHTS: J.K. Vernay had another dominating run in Indy Lights, starting up front and staying there for his fifth victory of the season.
Vernay earned the pole on Saturday and let up, winning green-to-checkers for third time in his career. He finished 3.42 seconds ahead of Charlie Kimball and increased his series points lead to 71 points over James Hinchcliffe, who finished third.
''After a disappointing weekend at Mid-Ohio (eighth), I really wanted to win here,'' Vernay said. ''My family came for this race, so it's beautiful for everybody. I'm really happy.''
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PIT STOPS: Will Power has won three races from the pole this season after taking the checkers at Sonoma. ... Milka Duno had another day of struggles, spinning out a few times and finishing 22nd - last among the cars still running. She was put on probation by IndyCar Series officials for not meeting competitive standards.
